Fill your body’s iron reserves before you get pregnant, especially if your periods are particularly heavy, says Sam Thatcher, a reproductive endocrinologist at the Center for Applied Reproductive Science in Johnson City, Tennessee, and author of Making a Baby: Everything You Need to Know to Get Pregnant. “Bleeding every month is a constant source of iron depletion,” Thatcher says.

Load up now, because once you’re expecting, your body has difficulty maintaining its iron stores as your baby siphons the mineral from you. To make matters worse, too little iron at the start of pregnancy puts you at risk for postpartum anemia — a condition affecting new moms that causes your red blood cells to fall below normal and saps your energy level.

If you don’t eat much red meat or you follow a vegetarian or vegan diet, take a multivitamin with iron. And, to be on the safe side, ask your healthcare provider to test your blood for anemia at your preconception checkup.