My sway is starting to get real!

[dramabird]

The postal worker brought me several Amazon packages yesterday, including my Vitex, RePhresh, Sylk and Clearblue digital test strip thingies. DH's licorice root should be coming soon. Seeing all those things piled together was interesting, like, "I guess I'm really gonna try this thing!" :)

I also took my last birth control pill last week and AF is here now and I started temping on Monday. We're going to use condoms and whatnot from now until February, which is when we'll start TTC. I'm going to start the true sway/LE diet right after Christmas. Between now and then, though, I've already switched to mostly vegetarian (I'll make an exception for Thanksgiving, Christmas and the occasional restaurant ... but after Christmas is done, no meat exceptions!).

A few questions/call-for-opinions on sway things I haven't quite got nailed down yet:
I was originally going to do the extreme cardio thing. However, I'm seeing gals who talk about losing 10, 15, 20 or more pounds on the LE diet -- I'm only about 107 now, at 5'2.5" (a BMI of 19.3), and if I lose too much, I'd risk going anovulatory (and DH says he won't let us TTC if I drop below 98 lbs. or so, saying it's not healthy). So I'm concerned extreme cardio would just expedite the weight loss -- so I'm thinking no exercise at all. Agree? Disagree? I'll take advice!

If I'm already going to use Sylk and RePhresh (small/moderate amounts of both), what about acid jelly (Aci Jel)? Too much of a good thing? Or is acid jelly enough of a magic bullet (knowing that nothing is truly a magic bullet) that it would be unwise to drop it?

Also, I've certainly considered not checking pH. I don't want to invest in a digital tester and since I'm going to do all the "right" things for dropping pH anyway (caffeine-free Diet Coke and baby aspirin, among them), I'm thinking testing might just stress me out. However, I also know that our bodies can respond with high pH to sometimes-unexpected things (like Aci Jel or eating strawberries), so would I be foolish to use something like Aci Jel WITHOUT checking pH? Does anyone who DOES check have any recommendations on reliable test strips (from someplace like Amazon, preferably)?

Boy oh boy (or should I say, girl oh girl :)), it's a lot of stuff to think about, isn't it? I would love advice or anecdotes from other ladies who are/aren't exercising, are/aren't pH testing, etc.

Thank you!!!

[rainbowflower]

Not long to go now for you!

How long will you be doing the LE diet before ttc? I started out weighing 106lbs at 4ft11, lost 3lbs in my first week even without exercise and have to "cheat" on the diet just to stop myself losing too fast. I've realised that I can only really allow myself 2 ttc months on the diet before I'll be too light so will have to break then. The exercise might be overkill for you if you will be strict on the diet.

Not sure about the lubes, I'm also not planning on testing pH and just trusting the pH. Are you after the lube for swaying reasons or to prevent dryness? (sorry for Tmi question)

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[zanacal]

I used both Rephresh and Acijel and had planned on using a little Sylk but in the end didn't bother with the Sylk. I think it's entirely up to you if you want to try using them all and dropping one (or two!) if you're not getting pregnant quickly enough. Some people have said that Acijel raises their pH so I think it's up to you if you want to buy some cheap test strips and check how it works for you in advance of your sway. It may be that it raises pH because their bodies see it as a foreign substance and are over producing 'stuff' to try and flush it away - I made sure to use a little every few days leading up to our attempt in the hope that my body would be used to it.

I wouldn't do the exercise in your situation - but I'm a lazy thing so I'd be grateful of an excuse! I think as well as the weight loss factor you need to consider if you could keep it up for months on end if you took a while to get pregnant.

[TTC5]

Good luck! If you are tiny already I would do minimal cardio :)

[dramabird]

Rainbowflower's question about Sylk -- I'm planning to use it for both reasons, swaying and comfort. We didn't use any lubricants when TTC our first two children (with my understanding being that it decreased fertility ... which in this case we evidently want). I want to hit the right balance of using what will help, without incorporating so many things that I can't get pregnant at all.

I do think I'm going to have to go no-exercise for my sway. It'll be one less thing to stress about, so that's a plus! :)

I'd still love to know if anyone has found any simple pH test strips that worked for them. I look around on Amazon, but most things seem to start at 4.5 and then go up from there ... and on the ones that do have the value of 0-14, it seems like the colors for 3, 4 and 5 are so similar I might not be able to differentiate them anyway.

[atomic sagebrush]

Congrats!!! I'm so excited for you!!

1) I would not do the cardio in your case. You're absolutely right, you'd lose too much. Don't worry, not exercising is pretty good too!!

2)I personally think that Sylk, AciJel, and RepHresh is probably overkill but there is no harm in trying it IF you're not doing other things to sway. So if you're not doing abstain/jump and dump/antihistamine and you want to try all three, go for it.

I think RepHresh is better than Acijel because it keeps working for three days afterwards, but people have def. had success with both Acijel and Sylk as well. I do not believe Acijel is a magic bullet and there have def. been opposites with it.

3)I have huge regrets about checking pH and I think it did raise my T levels. There is just something about seeing those numbers on the stick match up to what they're "supposed" to be that makes you feel like you're successfully swaying and you get a big boost from that. Then I went onto conceive what was prob. twin boys with a pH of 4.5 so I know it's no guarantee!!

The thing about your body reacting opposite is, all the people out there who conceived opposites and had their pH just right and then are left scratching their heads and wondering why. A lot of the blue swayers thought their pH was perfect and still got girls - pH just can't be a make or break thing, so even if your body were to react opposite, that still doesn't mean that you'll conceive an opposite.

[atomic sagebrush]

Rainbowflower's question about Sylk -- I'm planning to use it for both reasons, swaying and comfort. We didn't use any lubricants when TTC our first two children (with my understanding being that it decreased fertility ... which in this case we evidently want). I want to hit the right balance of using what will help, without incorporating so many things that I can't get pregnant at all.

I do think I'm going to have to go no-exercise for my sway. It'll be one less thing to stress about, so that's a plus! :)

I'd still love to know if anyone has found any simple pH test strips that worked for them. I look around on Amazon, but most things seem to start at 4.5 and then go up from there ... and on the ones that do have the value of 0-14, it seems like the colors for 3, 4 and 5 are so similar I might not be able to differentiate them anyway.

Honestly, if you're not making douches and stuff, you don't need to go lower than 4.5 anyway. It's really one less thing to stress about - back on IG there are dozens of posts from people panicking because their pH went up from 3.8 to 4.2 or some such (and sadly I'm not exaggerating on that!!)