The process of egg freezing itself does not cause long-term weight gain. However, there could be transient weight gain – essentially “water weight” – that patients may experience during or following the two-week stimulation process. Most women who undergo oocyte cryopreservation (better known as egg freezing) will be self-administering medication. These medications stimulate ovarian follicles to grow to a mature size. Estrogen is secreted by the growing ovarian follicles and the corpus luteum after the egg has been released from the follicle during ovulation. While the medications themselves don’t cause you to gain weight directly, they stimulate ovarian follicles to grow in size (not number) therefore causing the body to produce more estrogen. Estrogen is known to cause fluid retention in the body, or “water weight”.
What is technically “water weight”?
To understand how estrogen causes fluid shifts and water retention, it is important to understand the body’s fluid-regulating mechanisms. Most of the body’s water is inside the cells, leaving a small percentage of water volume to be regulated. Estrogen is a steroid and it causes fluid to build up within the cells of the body, so you’ll feel a more bloating or tightening effect. Following an egg retrieval, you’ll have hormones and enzymes that are released at a higher rate than normal from the ovaries and this can result in more fluid in the abdomen and in between the cells. Patients may have some transient weight gain of several pounds due to these fluid shifts, so they may feel distended in the abdomen. Within 3-14 days following the egg retrieval, the extra weight should already start to dissipate. Learn how to reduce post egg freezing bloating here.
Dr. Jesse Hade is a compassionate and dedicated board-certified reproductive endocrinologist and infertility specialist with over 20 years of private practice experience. As one of the leading experts in fertility, Dr. Hade has mentored and trained many physicians currently in practice throughout the country and is an award-winning physician with numerous research studies. Treating complex and often overlooked problems is a specialty that Dr. Hade has mastered throughout his career.
Learn more about about Generation Next Fertility on Freeze.
