Navigating Weight Changes During Fertility Treatments & Recovery

Question
I am a 35 year old woman who has been in the midst of surgeries and infertility treatments for the past 10 months. I had been over weight prior to that and during all this I have good from overweight to obese, putting on 20 pounds in 10 months. I started weight watchers yesterday, which has helped me lose weight in the past but my real issue is I don't exercise and for many reasons (like abdominal surgery and IVF) have been instructed not to exercise which keeps me continuously sitting on my duff. I want to get to a healthy weight, but more than that I want my fertility treatments to be successful. Any suggestions of how I can get out of this viscous cycle?

Answer
Hi Jane, I'm sorry to hear about your infertility problems, having walked that path with many clients I know how stressful it can be.

I think the big thing to think about at this stage is to come up with a list of activities you can do and then to aks your doctor which of them he/she thinks you can do safely.  For example - could you swim?  Can you walk?  Could you do gentle stretching or something like Tai Chi?  Or is there a type of exercise that you could start doing very gently and build up as you listen to your body. You'll find some tips on my ideas about this at:  http://www.ditch-diets-live-light.com/no-pain-no-gain.html You may want to read about finding the right exercise for you at http://www.ditch-diets-live-light.com/no-pain-no-gain.html

I think being that being able to maintain a certain level of fitness IS part of infetility treatment and it'll certainly help you carry healthily when you do fall pregnant.

Good luck
Cari