Opinions, please, on sway plan (I'm at T-minus 6 months for TTC)

[dramabird]

I would be grateful for any and all thoughts on my planning below, especially any ideas on things I should incorporate sooner rather than later (with *official* TTC happening around February 2012).

The beginning of October will be my first cycle off birth control pill. DH and I will avoid or use condom to prevent pregnancy until February-ish. I will temp every morning to get an overall trend of my cycles, as well as use a (borrowed from friend) Clearblue Easy Fertility Monitor. At the beginning of October, with the exception of holiday celebrations (i.e., Thanksgiving and Christmas), I intend to switch to a vegetarian diet and probably incorporate some French Gender Diet stuff. I will continue to exercise regularly but not excessively.

My actual full-on sway will begin after Christmas, with anticipated TTC starting in mid-February. My current plan includes:
* low-everything diet + some of the Atomic-approved qualities of the IG diet; no breakfast
* Crystal Lite, skim milk, caffeine-free Diet Coke
* at least 60 minutes of cardio, at least six days a week
* three-day cutoff (if this doesn't work after the first two cycles, I'll switch to a two-day cutoff)
* licorice root for DH if it doesn't make him feel bad or lower his libido to the point of not being able to perform
* 7-10 day abstinence for DH (if this doesn't work after the first two cycles, we'll eliminiate the licorice root and switch to having him release 2x a day for 7-10 days)
* briefs for DH (he is normally a boxers man)
* hot bath for DH prior to BD
* no big O for me; me on top for shallow penetration
* baby aspirin
* RepHresh
* antihistamine
* folic acid for baby's health
* and, of course, praying :)

Things that I am either still uncertain about or think I won't add to my sway are below. Opinions welcome, please!
* Sylk? Can that go along with the other things I've listed above?
* Aci-Jel -- very tempted, but it doesn't seem like it necessarily works with RepHresh. Thoughts? Anyone know yet how Aci-Jel + RepHresh acts pH-wise?
* Vitex -- this makes me feel uncomfortable; I've always had quite a regular cycle and I'm afraid to mess with it. Again, thoughts? ;)
* O+12 -- In general I'm a stresser and an obsessor, so I think this would wig me out. Plus, the Dutch study showed that cutoff + diet worked the best as a combo.
* Cal/Mag supps. Even if they don't *help* a pink sway, would they necessarily *hurt* it?
* pH testing -- again, I'm afraid that fussing over strips and calibrators and whatnot will raise my stress. And if I'm doing all the things in my sway above, that'll either lower my pH or not ... and if all that doesn't lower my pH, what would knowing the actual value help me to change that?
* Ions, schmions -- moon phase, schmoon phase. ;) Can't worry about everything or my testosterone will be at Incredible Hulk levels. :)

What am I missing or forgetting? ;)

Final question(s) for anyone who has the time ... are there any things included in my first list of bullet points that I should incorporate this fall rather than waiting until post-Christmas? Over on IG, someone theorized that in part the swaying helps to "shock" your system and if you do it too early before your actual attempts at conception, your body will adapt and compensate back to normal "settings." On the other hand, if starting some things (like Diet Coke) earlier rather than later will give me a better headstart, I'd be happy to do so. One thing I want to make sure I don't do is lose too much weight too early ... right now I'm sitting at about 106 lbs., at 5'2", and I wouldn't want to lose so much that I become anovulatory. So I probably wouldn't embark upon the *full* low-everything diet until about 6-8 weeks before first TTC. But elements, sure, if folks think it's wise.

Thank you, ladies!!!!!!!!!

[zanacal]

I think it looks fantastic!

Sylk and Aci-jel can both be used with Rephresh - I think I'm going to use all 3 myself in fact!

I think the fact that Vitex might mess up your cycles is good! Atomic believes that many of the 'wonky' cycles she's seen have resulted in girl pregnancies and, for me at least, my regular ovulate on cd14 cycles always resulted in boys - so I'm happy if the hormones result in something different! It might make it more tricky to plan a cut-off (though the fertility monitor could help with that) but I wouldn't worry too much about the timing of your cut-off either! I'm taking Saw Palmetto along with the Vitex, which you may also want to consider.

O+12 - I agree, don't worry about it. Same with Ions and Moon phase and pH testing (don't even buy the strips if you don't plan to use them - I can tell you from experience that it's just too tempting to use them!!).

I think turning mainly vegetarian sooner rather than later is a good idea for lowering T levels, because that can take quite some time. You'll get that 'shock factor' you were talking about by only trying to lose weight right before your attempt. I think that's a great tactic given that you don't have much weight to lose because it means you'll be doing it right at the point of conception hopefully.

Good luck!

[atomic sagebrush]

DB, I think it's absolutely brilliant!!! To address your q's:

1)You CAN do Acijel and Sylk together with the RepHresh if you like. After we looked into it, we found that the RepHresh + Acijel/Sylk did NOT make pH rise. I do want to point out that at some point, it's really going to reduce your odds of pg though.

2)Messing up your cycle may actually be good for TTC pink. Vitex has had a pretty good track record for girls (altho it didn't work for me!!) so I do think it has a place in swaying, but I don't blame a soul for wanting to skip it. Most of the baby girls ever conceived were made without benefit of vitex.

3)I don't like O+12 and you'll never see me trying to talk anyone into it! Terrible for T levels and it keeps people from getting pg. I do want to say on the record though that the Dutch study people did not test O+12, because the program that they are selling is French diet plus Shettles timing. So just because they didn't find support for O+12 does not mean O+12 doesn't work, just that they didn't look at that.

4) I ~personally~ think that cal-mag supps CAN hurt some people's sways (the Oxford study found more nutrients including cal and mag = more boys and every failed sway I've ever seen, people were at the very least taking cal-mag supps because it's easy to do...that doesn't prove anything but I do think it does prove that cal-mag is not a magic bullet the way it is made out to be. That having been said, a lot of people have gotten girls taking cal/mag supps and I don't blame anyone for wanting to include them.

5)I completely agree with everything you say about pH, moon phase, and ions!!! Standing ovation!!!

6)The "shock to the system" theory was originally my idea back when I was on IG, but I have since come to the opinion that timing weight loss/diet to peak right when you start to sway, is too stressful and difficult for people. I really got burned badly by it because I took time off to regain weight to lose it again and accidentally got pg that month. The idea isn't unsound, it's just applying it practically is fraught with opportunities to raise T levels and it's just too hard to time it.

You also make a great case with how little weight you have to lose - I would not hit it hard on diet until 6 weeks prior to TTC, but you might want to go vegetarian/vegan NOW, because I do believe that T levels can take some time to diminish and by going veg you are denying your body some of the materials it needs to produce testosterone and estrogen. So for now, keep eating breakfast, try to stay at the same weight, just cut back on the protein in favor of more veg.

Diet Coke acts fast and so you don't need to include that very far in advance at all. You may not even need to include it for the full 6 weeks if you don't want.

[atomic sagebrush]

DB, I think it's absolutely brilliant!!! To address your q's:

1)You CAN do Acijel and Sylk together with the RepHresh if you like. After we looked into it, we found that the RepHresh + Acijel/Sylk did NOT make pH rise. I do want to point out that at some point, it's really going to reduce your odds of pg though.

2)Messing up your cycle may actually be good for TTC pink. Vitex has had a pretty good track record for girls (altho it didn't work for me!!) so I do think it has a place in swaying, but I don't blame a soul for wanting to skip it. Most of the baby girls ever conceived were made without benefit of vitex.

3)I don't like O+12 and you'll never see me trying to talk anyone into it! Terrible for T levels and it keeps people from getting pg. I do want to say on the record though that the Dutch study people did not test O+12, because the program that they are selling is French diet plus Shettles timing. So just because they didn't find support for O+12 does not mean O+12 doesn't work, just that they didn't look at that.

4) I ~personally~ think that cal-mag supps CAN hurt some people's sways (the Oxford study found more nutrients including cal and mag = more boys and every failed sway I've ever seen, people were at the very least taking cal-mag supps because it's easy to do...that doesn't prove anything but I do think it does prove that cal-mag is not a magic bullet the way it is made out to be. That having been said, a lot of people have gotten girls taking cal/mag supps and I don't blame anyone for wanting to include them.

5)I completely agree with everything you say about pH, moon phase, and ions!!! Standing ovation!!!

6)The "shock to the system" theory was originally my idea back when I was on IG, but I have since come to the opinion that timing weight loss/diet to peak right when you start to sway, is too stressful and difficult for people. I really got burned badly by it because I took time off to regain weight to lose it again and accidentally got pg that month. The idea isn't unsound, it's just applying it practically is fraught with opportunities to raise T levels and it's just too hard to time it.

You also make a great case with how little weight you have to lose - I would not hit it hard on diet until 6 weeks prior to TTC, but you might want to go vegetarian/vegan NOW, because I do believe that T levels can take some time to diminish and by going veg you are denying your body some of the materials it needs to produce testosterone and estrogen. So for now, keep eating breakfast, try to stay at the same weight, just cut back on the protein in favor of more veg.

Diet Coke acts fast and so you don't need to include that very far in advance at all. You may not even need to include it for the full 6 weeks if you don't want.

[lulu040404]

Hi I'm new here and also planning my girl sway! We'll probably start in April of next year. I think your plan looks great! Sending you lots of pink dust!!!