Please help me with my diet - not getting enough calories and struggling to eat any more!

[rainbowflower]

I started my diet on Monday, and weighed myself this morning and I've already lost 2lbs... I was only 105-6lbs to begin with, I'm 103lbs this morning. I'm BF and my milk supply doesn't seem to be affected. Before this my weight had been very stable to within a lb for about 6 months. According to my BMI I won't be underweight until I reach a total of 93lbs because I'm short.

I've been struggling to plan meals that are above 1500 calories, most of them seem to come in way under that. Yesterdays was more along the 900 calorie mark so I had to force myself to eat some iced fingers I really didn't feel I had room for.


This is what I've eaten the last few days:
Day 2
crackers + cheddar : Total: 381 calories, 14.1g protein, 14.4g fat, 220mg sodium (for 8 with cheddar)
egg fried rice: Total: 529 calories, 16.7g protein, 7.6g fat, 80mg sodium
coco pops: 175 calories, 6g protein, 3g fat, 150mg sodium
2 WW lemon cake slices 160 calories 1.6g protein 1g fat 20mg sodium
4 Marshmallows 95 calories 0.9g protein trace fat trace sodium

TOTAL: 1340 calories 39.3g protein 26g fat, 470mg sodium




Day 3
1.5 pitta + salad: 225 calories, 9.3g protein, 1.05g fat, 270mg sodium
pasta + tomato sauce: Total: 790 calories, 18.8g protein, 2.2g fat, trace sodium
coco pops: 175 calories, 6g protein, 3g fat, 150mg sodium
victoria sponge 329 calories 4.5g protein 15.1g fat 150mg sodium

total: 1519 calories, 38.6g protein, 21.35g fat, 570mg sodium
plus 250mls of full fat coke


Day 4
1.5 pitta + salad: 225 calories, 9.3g protein, 1.05g fat, 270mg sodium
43g chicken: 71 calories 13.35g protein 1.55g fat 32mg sodium
philadelphia and roasted veg pasta: 249 calories, 9.3g protein, 10.6g fat, trace sodium
coco pops: 175 calories, 6g protein, 3g fat, 150mg sodium
4 Marshmallows 95 calories 0.9g protein trace fat trace sodium
1 toffee dodger 83 calories 1.1g protein 3.1g fat trace sodium
3 iced fingers 366 calories 7.8g protein 8.7g fat 210mg sodium

total with extra snacks: 1264 calories 48.65g protein 28g fat 662mg sodium
plus 250mls of full fat coke





I don't think I can keep eating as much as I did yesterday as I have had tummy ache all night too... I feel like I overate yesterday.

please tell me what I can eat that isn't filling, and will add lots of calories without going overboard on the protein, fat, and sodium. Any other meal suggestions welcome too.

[swish]

Rainbow, I'd love to be helpful but I've struggled with this myself and there are no good answers. The only things I can suggest are full fat coke and sweets! I've put 5/6 pounds back on but not as I should have, I've put it on through fat from eating chocolate and normal food, I just on't know the answer, sorry!!

[Indira]

I don´t know how desperate you are to get pink, but in your case starting off at 105 and BF-ing I wouldn´t do the LE diet, in my opinion you´re going to loose to much and become really underweight before 6 weeks are over. you might stop ovulating and you don´t know how long it will take to conceive, you might need to gain then.
I would try to really eat less meat, fish and eggs, cut down on fat and dairy and eat a lot of pasta, rice, bread, sweets, fruit, cake and drink pop and juice cake all day long. This way perhaps you would lose really slowly but your food would be more girl friendly. I don´t know if it is a good suggestion, just my personal thoughts. GL

[rainbowflower]

Aww Swish, I don't think there's a good answer is there? it seems impossible to meet the other criteria whilst keeping calories up if you don't want to lose weight.

I think Indira is right - something needs to be relaxed, but I'm not sure what that should be. Looking at Atomics list it seems that calories are most important, so I take that to mean eating more EVEN if it is higher in sodium/protein/fat...

Perhaps the way forwards for me is to simply stop counting nutrients? Pick the things that are lower in them, but not limit myself?
Who knows, maybe I'm losing weight simply because I'm eating less chocolate and cake now, things I used to eat probably twice a day. My DH says that usually the first weight to go is water retention and that after the first week it should settle, but I feel so bloated!

[Mochagirl]

Heavens - why did you stop eating cake? That's something you can have on this diet - especially when you're struggling with getting enough calories as you are now - I think you should still eat that as often as you used to. I also agree with swish that you should consider including juice or full sugar Coke for lots of empty calories.

I agree that maybe the LE diet isn't for you and I'd hate to see you lose so much weight you stop ovulating. I think as long as you follow a vegetarian, low sodium, low nutrient diet (choose simple carbs over complex carbs, etc.) you'll be swaying. What kinds of things did you eat in a typical day before the diet?

[fivebabies]

Where is the list of reccomended girl foods from this site? TIA!

[rainbowflower]

Thanks mocha, a new plan is forming in my mind! I used to always have breakfast of shreddies with full fat milk. Quite liked convenient lunches like beans on toast, those pasta sachets, sometimes ready meals, sandwiches with meat and occasionally crisps - usually aimed to get 2 portions of fruit and veg. Tea was often potatoes/pasta/rice always with meat (red meat a few times per week) and veg or salad. I'd have a cake or choc bar mid afternoon because I'd be hungry, and another in the evening as a reward for making it through the day and also because I'd have a hunger nothing else would sate!


The food lists for the LE and French diets are in the private forums

Sent from my HTC Wildfire using Tapatalk

[atomic sagebrush]

Where is the list of reccomended girl foods from this site? TIA!

It is in the Dream Members section or I can PM you a copy. Some of the people on other sites (NOT IG!!) have sticky fingers.

[atomic sagebrush]

Homemade low sodium bread with or without butter, honey, jam
Corn tortillas fried in butter
White rice
Full sugar pop/apple or cran juice/rice milk
Salads with homemade salad dressings either mayo or oil and vinegar based, with sugar, and cheese (even a bit of full fat cheese would be ok if that's all you were having.)
Apple, banana, pear, strawberries, etc (you do not need to count the protein in any fruit you eat, those are freebies.)
Potatoes/sweet potatoes
More marshmallows or other sweets
Diet yogurt
Green beans/green bean salads
Sweetcorn
Tahini/mayonnaise on the pitas

Since your issue is seeming to come from an inability to eat enough at one sitting, please feel free to resume breakfast until a couple of days prior to O. You don't need to eat much more, so I suspect that an additional meal will set you right.

Remember, if you are losing weight, your muscles are shrinking. You can get away with more protein if you need to (although frankly I usu. lose weight when I eat more protein because I get really super full.)

Question, what do you normally eat??? How do you get your calories usually?

When I'm breastfeeding, I can eat a truly amazing amount of calories. It is nothing for me to drink 3 and 4 pops a day and lose weight.

[Mochagirl]

Marshmallows are ok? I was eating them a couple of months ago then noticed they have gelatin in them and stopped.

[atomic sagebrush]

I don´t know how desperate you are to get pink, but in your case starting off at 105 and BF-ing I wouldn´t do the LE diet, in my opinion you´re going to loose to much and become really underweight before 6 weeks are over. you might stop ovulating and you don´t know how long it will take to conceive, you might need to gain then.
I would try to really eat less meat, fish and eggs, cut down on fat and dairy and eat a lot of pasta, rice, bread, sweets, fruit, cake and drink pop and juice cake all day long. This way perhaps you would lose really slowly but your food would be more girl friendly. I don´t know if it is a good suggestion, just my personal thoughts. GL


If you feel that you cannot do the LE diet for the full 6 weeks, it's certainly not set in stone that you have to. The 6 weeks number comes from the FGD and is the amount of time it allegedly takes to alter your mineral levels. Feel free to do the diet for less time if you like. The LE diet is meant to be easy to do, and flexible, not difficult.

Also, please know that you have the option at all times to choose to eat more calories, more protein, or whatever, if you like. I admit that I don't think it will sway as effectively although less is always less, KWIM??? As long as it's less than you were eating before it will still sway for you. If you do go that route I would def. switch to a vegetarian diet.

If sodium is a problem, I really really doubt that sodium sways very much if at all because SO many people love salty foods and certainly aren't avoiding them, and still conceiving girls. So if sodium is one factor that is limiting yoru diet, I hope you give that one up before you give up lowfat/low protein.

[atomic sagebrush]

Aww Swish, I don't think there's a good answer is there? it seems impossible to meet the other criteria whilst keeping calories up if you don't want to lose weight.

I think Indira is right - something needs to be relaxed, but I'm not sure what that should be. Looking at Atomics list it seems that calories are most important, so I take that to mean eating more EVEN if it is higher in sodium/protein/fat...

Perhaps the way forwards for me is to simply stop counting nutrients? Pick the things that are lower in them, but not limit myself?
Who knows, maybe I'm losing weight simply because I'm eating less chocolate and cake now, things I used to eat probably twice a day. My DH says that usually the first weight to go is water retention and that after the first week it should settle, but I feel so bloated!

Eat chocolate and cake!!! :agree: Like I said above, I believe sodium to be far and away the least important. Calories are most important and fat/protein are a toss up. I suspect protein sways harder, but fat is easier for people to live without.

If you are eating lower calories, I would not stress too much over nutrients. As I've said before, when I say lower nutrients, I mean that it's much more important to avoid huge doses of vitamin pills and things of that nature rather than worrying over the Vit. C in an orange. ANYONE eating 1800 cals when they were once eating 2500 WILL have lower nutrients than they had before.

I suspect that it will take very little cals to set things right again.

You may have lost water weight because you're eating less sodium as well. your husband may have a point about the water retention.

[atomic sagebrush]

Marshmallows are ok? I was eating them a couple of months ago then noticed they have gelatin in them and stopped.

There is a very tiny amount, not enough to amount to anything (unlike with some gummies where they are like PURE gelatin.). Some brands have no gelatin in them. I wouldn't worry about it.

[atomic sagebrush]

Heavens - why did you stop eating cake? That's something you can have on this diet - especially when you're struggling with getting enough calories as you are now - I think you should still eat that as often as you used to. I also agree with swish that you should consider including juice or full sugar Coke for lots of empty calories.

I agree that maybe the LE diet isn't for you and I'd hate to see you lose so much weight you stop ovulating. I think as long as you follow a vegetarian, low sodium, low nutrient diet (choose simple carbs over complex carbs, etc.) you'll be swaying. What kinds of things did you eat in a typical day before the diet?

:agree: although I would like to see at the very least LOWER protein and fat intake than you had before.

I want to reiterate, that since you think a lack of cake and chocolate may be the issue, that you should continue eating the cake and chocolate!!! Of anything, cake and chocolate are not boy friendly foods! An afternoon snack of a candy bar is just fine for anyone who weighs 102 pounds (IF you are reading this and you weigh 130 lbs, do not take this as permission to eat chocolate and have afternoon snacks, this is strictly for people who are already on the very thin side.) Although I would avoid the nutty candy bars and white chocolate is def. better than dark choc, with milk choc. somewhere in between - I would say something like a 3 Musketeers or Milky Way bar, that has a skin of chocolate over a nougat or caramel center, would be idea. If blood sugar is your concern, then just cut it out for a few days prior to ovulation and then a few days after (Again, if you have weight to lose, it is best not to have snacks and also to avoid chocolate, esp. dark choc. Please be honest with yourself on this!!)

[zanacal]

Atomic, I love you really I do, but tomorrow is DS1's 6th birthday and I'm having a slice of the chocolate cake I lovingly made him for my lunch :p

I figure it's a one off and I'd usually have it for pudding AFTER my lunch!

[Mochagirl]

OF COURSE you should have that cake, Z!! And Happy Birthday to your ds!

atomic - so are you saying that the no snacking rule is really only important right before and after O? If you have no more weight to lose and watch your calories, could you snack regularly during af, for instance? What about breakfast? I thought it was important to watch our blood sugar for the whole month's cycle.

[atomic sagebrush]

Atomic, I love you really I do, but tomorrow is DS1's 6th birthday and I'm having a slice of the chocolate cake I lovingly made him for my lunch :p

I figure it's a one off and I'd usually have it for pudding AFTER my lunch!

Cake is ALWAYS allowed on special occasions, I am more concerned about the people who will turn around and justify cake every day because "atomic said it was ok".

Remember, I LOVE you guys too and only want for your dreams to come true. If I had a magic wand I would wave it and we would all get our DG easily but all I have is this d@mn diet to offer!!! :)

Happy birthday to your little guy! 6 is a magic age.

[zanacal]

Cake is ALWAYS allowed on special occasions, I am more concerned about the people who will turn around and justify cake every day because "atomic said it was ok".

Remember, I LOVE you guys too and only want for your dreams to come true. If I had a magic wand I would wave it and we would all get our DG easily but all I have is this d@mn diet to offer!!! :)

Happy birthday to your little guy! 6 is a magic age.

Thanks A - you know I was kidding right?! I don't think it's a d@mn diet at all, I'm actually wondering how I'm going to eat once I get pregnant because I finally have some healthier eating habits (ie. not stuffing my face all day long!!).

I didn't realise I was commenting on 2 different diet threads!

[atomic sagebrush]

OF COURSE you should have that cake, Z!! And Happy Birthday to your ds!

atomic - so are you saying that the no snacking rule is really only important right before and after O? If you have no more weight to lose and watch your calories, could you snack regularly during af, for instance? What about breakfast? I thought it was important to watch our blood sugar for the whole month's cycle.

There is a lot of wiggle room between what is BEST, or optimal, and what is acceptible and a lot of the difference is how good a sway you want and how much weight you have to lose.

It is best to not snack and skip breakfast throughout your cycle, of course. The reason I say this is because as you guys already know, XX blasts seem to develop better in low glucose and XY in medium glucose - no one likes very high glucose. (and this has been witnessed in the lab and is the one of the very few aspects of swaying that seems to have been proven beyond a doubt to be a real difference between the conception of boys and girls.) Glucose is present in CM and other fluids in your repro tract and varies according to diet (which is why eating a lot of sugar can make you get a YI.)

Now, it may very well be the case that low blood sugar is only of critical importance just prior to ovulation, during and immediately afterwards.

But, applying a dose of theoretical evolutionary biology to the whole phenomenon, because eggs are a lot more "expensive" biologically-speaking than sperm are (we only have a limited amount of eggs and a limited window of fertility - which prior to the last two centuries used to be WAY smaller, and our bodies don't "want" to "waste" them, unlike men and sperm who have many years of potential fertility and many more sperm to "waste") I strongly suspect/predict that there is some mechanism that takes note of blood glucose levels prior to conception and alters gender ratio on the basis of whether your body is able to sustain an XY or an XX.

Your body doesn't want to expend the time and energy making/growing an egg/bean that will not successfully turn into a pregnancy due to your diet/environment. It also doesn't want to "risk" having a miscarriage or even a chemical if it can help it because that is a huge waste of resources and also in less modern, hygienic environments women even died from miscarriage and that may be several months out of your fertile window, during which you can't conceive. So it is very likely that some mechanism exists that "notices" that you have low blood sugar BEFORE you conceive and helps control for the conception of the baby with the best shot at survival.

Now, I cannot PROVE that this mechanism exists, but I think it just makes the most sense to try and keep blood sugar on the low side in advance of the few days around O in the month you're planning to conceive in the hopes of harnessing such a mechanism to sway for us. Because whatever it is, that's at least part of Mother Nature's swaying strategy - not superhuge doses of cal-mag, not cranberry, not aspartame, not douching, because for the millions of years that humans and prehumans have existed, none of those things existed and yet baby girls were still being conceived.

[atomic sagebrush]

Thanks A - you know I was kidding right?! I don't think it's a d@mn diet at all, I'm actually wondering how I'm going to eat once I get pregnant because I finally have some healthier eating habits (ie. not stuffing my face all day long!!).

I didn't realise I was commenting on 2 different diet threads!

I do know you were kidding Zana! Me too.

I just HATE having to tell you guys not to eat this or that. I wake up at 3 am sometimes feeling bad over it! o.O If I wasn't so convinced that we are on the right track, I wouldn't do it!

[rainbowflower]

thank you everyone, it really does make it so much clearer to talk this through

so really... just skipping breakfast could be OK lol. Even if nothing else changed - you'd be having a few hundred less calories overall.


my plan is to now often skip breakfast, to avoid red meat and very salty fish... I'll continue to eat poultry every couple of days or the very low sodium fish I've found in Tesco, but overall try to pick vegetarian foods.

salads I'll restrict my ingredients to the LE diet girl friendly ones (avoiding coleslaw, celery, raw tomatoes, etc.) but with an odd different one added now and again
vegetables with meals - again, limit to the girl friendly ones, perhaps with the occasional carrot or broccoli
I used to really love my potatoes, so I'll avoid those. Bye bye chips and delicious roast potatoes!

I'm going to change to white rice/pasta, choosing low sodium white bread/pitta now and again but not get too picky about how much I eat of this

I'll keep my snacks as usual choice-wise... but try to stretch the time out between them and eat some smaller portions of cake and chocolate. (Milk chocolate, or white).

Dairy - I'll switch to semi-skimmed milk, choose low sodium cheeses or just regular cheese in smaller portions

Most importantly I won't count nutrients. I've never done this before - as long as I'm eating 2 good meals per day and a good proportion of fruit+veg I'm not going to stress about the details. I've always trusted my instincts before and my body would tell me if I'm undereating. I know what I'm eating will be on the whole more pink, and that I'll be eating a bit less overall, and both of those things will sway.


How does that sound?

[atomic sagebrush]

If that is fine by you, it's fine by me! As long as you're moving in the general direction of less, you're still swaying pink (I would LOVE to see you switch to fat free milk and drop meat all together though.)

[rainbowflower]

I thought the chicken was a good idea to help keep the protein up?

TBH if I'm not having my breakfast cereal I'm not actually drinking much milk anyway! Only if I have coco pops as a snack in the evenings, which isn't very often.

[Mochagirl]

There is a lot of wiggle room between what is BEST, or optimal, and what is acceptible and a lot of the difference is how good a sway you want and how much weight you have to lose.

It is best to not snack and skip breakfast throughout your cycle, of course.

Sigh...wishful thinking, I guess. I have the hang of this diet after 4+ months on it anyway, so it's not a huge deal. As I said elsewhere, skipping breakfast is no biggie for me as long as I can have my coffee. The no snacking rule's tough but I have a snack in the evening that I count as my third meal, and it helps keep me happy - it gives me something to look forward to after the kids are in bed.

[Mochagirl]

rainbow - I think you're definitely on the right track with your new diet plan!

[zanacal]

Great post Atomic, really informative. Thank you!

[atomic sagebrush]

I thought the chicken was a good idea to help keep the protein up?

TBH if I'm not having my breakfast cereal I'm not actually drinking much milk anyway! Only if I have coco pops as a snack in the evenings, which isn't very often.

Ok I understand. White meat chicken is def. a low cal source of protein, I just thought you were not getting enough calories and getting too much protein ?right? in which case the chicken would def. be something to consider dropping.

[swish]

This is a really good post! I just wanted to say (I know I'm mixing threads but I wasn't on yesterday so I have a lot of catching up to do) atomic, I think the information is actually really clear, the only thing I think could go in (which may already has and I've missed it!) is WARNING if you are thin and have very little weight to lose you MUST stick to the higher calorie limit as you will definitely lose a lot of weight if you don't. I did read your posts thoroughly but having never dieted in my life as I'm naturally small I had no idea I would lose so much weight. It sounds really silly but I'd been basically the same weight the whole of my adult life, put on one stone with each of my pregnancies and returned to normal ipwithin 2 weeks so I just thought I wouldn't lose weight, I thought I'd actually struggle to lose any as there wasn't any to lose, I was very wrong!!!! This is definitely my error but there may be many women like me that have never dieted and do not realise there is still a lot of weight to go!!


Also, I completely agree with the girls, life comes first and you already give so much of your own time!!! We can have no guilt swaying and you can have no guilt support!!!!!:)

[swish]

Also wanted to add that knowing there was a bit more flexibility with the sodium would help me as eating out/buying wraps out for lunch would be SO much easier if you could relax on sodium sometimes and they often offer more calories

[rainbowflower]

I think a warning like swish suggests would be a good idea... but perhaps weight LOSS is not appropriate for women who genuinely don't have much to lose. Perhaps telling women who only have a few spare lbs that even losing a couple of pounds will sway encourages them to do the diet fully and maybe it's not actually possible to do the diet at all without losing weight because the ratio of what you're eating changes.

Or maybe for women who can't lose weight the "reducing maternal quality" thing that sways by weight loss could be achieved in some way by maintaining steady weight but reducing the variety (and quantity) of nutrients and also aiming to lower blood glucose by choosing regular white rice/pasta instead of wholegrain. Perhaps a completely different sort of swaying diet is needed in those circumstances. It could be that in the studies the weight loss was not the thing that sways but rather the limited diet, and the weight loss can be a side effect.

The Oxford study showed that weight itself was not a swaying factor as the boy-mums and girl-mums in that sample had identical BMIs on average at the time of conception... so that does make me wonder too. It does say that by 8 weeks the BMIs were different with girl-mums being lower, but I don't think that means that the females were necessarily dieting at the time.

[atomic sagebrush]

Well, the thing is though that I DO believe that losing a pound or two will help with the sway. My pH dropped from 6 to 4.5 and I did nothing other than lose a couple pounds. Plus, it does shrink your muscle mass (lowering t) and lower fat (lowering estrogen) and also lower blood sugar.

There are a ton of gals out there who I have talked to who are thin with very "big" high-T personalities and have boys and I'm not totally convinced that a few minor changes in diet alone can sway enough for them. There was that one gal who really WAS 85 lbs and of course she shouldn't lose weight, but for most of us, we can spare one or two pounds and it will only help. I totally agree that someone who weighs 100 lbs at 5 feet 2 in, shouldn't lose much but then someone the same height who weighs 110 lbs...they're still thin, but may have something to spare, KWIM??? And if someone was 115 at the same height and muscular, they can look very thin (thinner than someone who weighs less but is not muscular) and if they held steady at 115, I just don't think that's the right thing for their sway. These people do exist and I suspect a lot of them have boys - I just want them to have the choice to lose weight if they want to, while making sure that they know that they have the choice NOT to lose weight if they don't want to.

I totally agree about more warnings and I making sure that thin people stick to the higher caloric intake and feel free to continue eating breakfast and even eat more calories if they feel they are losing too much. I am going to go out of my way from here on in to mention that and I also think I need an essay about it, plus one for the blue swayers who are having the opposite problem and gaining too much, because I only want them to gain 3-5 pounds and some of them are gaining too much. People do tend to go overboard on swaying, but at the same time I feel an obligation to report on what I really think is swaying, I hope that makes sense??? I have to find a way to make sure and balance the two.

Thank you so much for the input, it is very helpful.

[atomic sagebrush]

Also wanted to add that knowing there was a bit more flexibility with the sodium would help me as eating out/buying wraps out for lunch would be SO much easier if you could relax on sodium sometimes and they often offer more calories

Ok, I will be more vocal about that although I think a lot of people tend to ignore me anyway..."Atomic just doesn't believe in the FGD so she doesn't worry about sodium." I worry sometimes that the more I yammer on about the minerals, I begin to come off like I am opposed to the FGD for my own personal reasons and on some crusade against it, and not because of the science behind it, if that makes any sense. :/

[Mochagirl]

We listen, atomic! When I cheat on the diet, I usually make sure the cheat is with sodium instead of protein and calories.

[atomic sagebrush]

This is a really good post! I just wanted to say (I know I'm mixing threads but I wasn't on yesterday so I have a lot of catching up to do) atomic, I think the information is actually really clear, the only thing I think could go in (which may already has and I've missed it!) is WARNING if you are thin and have very little weight to lose you MUST stick to the higher calorie limit as you will definitely lose a lot of weight if you don't. I did read your posts thoroughly but having never dieted in my life as I'm naturally small I had no idea I would lose so much weight. It sounds really silly but I'd been basically the same weight the whole of my adult life, put on one stone with each of my pregnancies and returned to normal ipwithin 2 weeks so I just thought I wouldn't lose weight, I thought I'd actually struggle to lose any as there wasn't any to lose, I was very wrong!!!! This is definitely my error but there may be many women like me that have never dieted and do not realise there is still a lot of weight to go!!


Also, I completely agree with the girls, life comes first and you already give so much of your own time!!! We can have no guilt swaying and you can have no guilt support!!!!!:)

That makes total sense that you may not have known you would lose so quickly. I've had the benefit (?) of having lost weight before and been a variety of different weights/body composition, so I understand how it can come off quickly at the beginning and also that people WILL plateau at some point, which I keep saying but I know it's hard for people to believe when the pounds are flying off. Thank you so much, that really does help me understand where I"m going wrong.

[atomic sagebrush]

We listen, atomic! When I cheat on the diet, I usually make sure the cheat is with sodium instead of protein and calories.

OK thank you! Sometimes I think I seem a little crackpot-ty when I talk about the FGD, just because they have some science-ese behind it.

[rainbowflower]

Atomic I understand what you're saying, but I think it's very difficult to do lose ONLY a few lbs if you only have a few lbs that you can lose before being underweight. Doing just the dietary changes will probably cause people to start losing weight before you include any of the restrictions on calories/protein/sodium/fat. If someone only has 2lbs to lose in total they will probably lose that within a couple of weeks of starting the LE diet. Assuming that we all do the diet for at least 6 weeks, and assuming that we all have average fertiltiy (ignoring the fact that pink swaying lowers fertility) it will take on average 6 months to get pregnant if DTD frequently and not doing a cut off. So before you begin it could take someone 7.5 months to get pregnant, and to tell someone to only lose 2lbs within those 7.5 months is going to be tricky because it is difficult to find the balance to stop losing weight and start maintaining it since this will vary between the individuals too. It's got to be a very fine line!

I do agree that muscle = T, and fat = E... but if this sways greatly you'd expect ladies with more MASS (muscle or fat) will have more boys and lower BMI ladies will have more girls. The Oxford study doesn't show this - it shows exactly the same BMI for the mums of the boys and the girls. Maybe losing the 2lbs will lower T and E levels slightly, but perhaps not enough to alter or boost a sway?


Perhaps you could include a phased approach for ladies who don't want/need to lose anything? i.e. first week drop all breakfasts, second week start to drop meat/pick only pink friendly fruit and veg, third week to lower fat intake, or whatever! this mgiht help a lady to figure out what will be the right balance for her body without losing weight too fast too soon?

I hope I don't come across as critical of your work or anything, I really think you're onto something good with the LE diet.

[atomic sagebrush]

I understand and I totally appreciate the input. I will re-stress the flexiblity factor, which I've always believed in as a part of swaying, in the diet threads.

I still think that weight loss sways pink and I have seen enough people who were losing weight and conceived girls after a string of boys, to believe that this is the case. The Oxford study, as much as I love it, is like a snapshot. A person's BMI doesn't really tell THAT much, because I really suspect that it's a confluence of diet/body condition that is doing the swaying.

[atomic sagebrush]

One other thing I forgot to mention is that the less you weigh, the less calories you burn to begin with. So people who are on the thin side, don't even NEED as many cals (of course this can vary with metabolism) as a larger person. TBH I am equally concerned about a tall/heavyset person who loses a lot of weight too quickly...jj did just this and she did end up getting sick.

And I know people don't buy this but most people plateau after having lost weight at some point. You can see this on "The Biggest Loser"...the first week they all lose like 10-15 pounds but then after that, it slows to 1-2 pounds a week. And these are very big people who prob. have very high metabolisms, are on strict diets, are exercising constantly, and are also highly motivated to lose weight.

Stating loud and clear, I don't want anyone to cut back too far, lose too much weight, etc, but I do still think that for swaying purposes, it's best to be at your lowest adult weight and to have lost a few pounds regardless of your size. No need to go overboard and become swayorexic, if you need to eat more, then DO.

[rainbowflower]

lol swayorexic - what a fantastic term! :D

[atomic sagebrush]

I hope it catches on, I've been using it for a few years now! I really do think swayorexia is a serious issue that we need to be very very careful about.