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[Lexim]

Hey there!
I'm brand new to this, like literally found the site today. We have only just decided to go for bub number 4. We have three boys already so really hoping for a little girl. Up until now I was just going to try the pre ovulation way but now that's gone out the window lol

So I think I'll be ok with diet. I already count macros/calories so I know how to manipulate my diet to fit. It'll just be weird eating so low protein and such high carbs. I have my macros set at
Carbs 226g (55%)
Fat 55g (15%)
Protein 62g (15%)
Does this sound ok or should I tweak?
The only thing I'm slightly confused about re: diet from reading the forums. It says chicken is a no no because you can get 50g protein from just a few bites but I've been macro counting for a long time now and 100g of chicken which is a standard serve gives me around 22-24g protein. It just seems protein amounts for meat are over exaggerated? Anyone care to elaborate?

How do I count potassium when MFP is inconsistent with adding it into food entry's?
I lift weights, should I stop that and just focus on cardio?

I plan on taking folic acid. Anything else I need to take?
Does hubby need to do anything?

And lastly DTD? I haven't used an opk in three years so ive forgotten a bit. I pee three times a day yeah and do we DTD once at the first sign of surge- first double line? And that's it. Is that right? It's just that part that is confusing me.

Anything else I can do?

Hubby is 35, I'm 29 from Australia
I'm verrrrrrry fertile. I've fallen pregnant on the very first try every single time (4 pregnancies, 1 mc)
Not sure of BMI but I'm a healthy weight, have put on a couple of kgs since Xmas so happy to lose them and get back down to ideal weight.
On period now and have just stopped pill

Thanks so much!!! :)

Thanks so much

[foxtrotmama]

I don't think it's protein amount that is exaggerated- it's the servings that a lot of "boy moms" tend to eat. Not that I'm saying we all eat a lot or anything (although I certainly did). But a lot of us tended to eat large amounts of high nutrient food.

We don't restrict potassium, so you don't need to be super diligent about monitoring exact amounts unless you have reason to believe you might be deficient. As long as you're eating foods that contain potassium you should be fine.

Lifting weights is often what blue swayers are advised to do. For a pink sway, you don't want to be building muscle. Cardio seems to help a lot, 60 minutes 5-6 times a week.

I'll leave supplement and BMI stuff to someone who knows a bit more and would be able to tell what might be good for you. There are supplements that are sometimes recommended, like vitex and saw palmetto. In addition, coffee, alcohol, and fiber supplements can all be beneficial.

Just a note about OPKs- it's not the first double line. Most women will get two lines for weeks at a time. An OPK isn't positive until the second line is as dark or darker than the control line.

For your totals, 62 is on the high end for protein. I think the general recommendation is 40-50 for most people and 50-60 for breastfeeding moms and insulin resistance/PCOS. But Atomic might have different thoughts for you.

[Throwaway_panther]

Personally, I lifted weights and did lots of cardio and got a girl -- but I did more cardio than lifting (maybe 2 hours of heavy lifting a week vs. 4-6 hours of cardio) AND low protein. I think the lower protein is a big factor here, but just favoring cardio seems to be the girl sway tactic in general. I'm very, very fertile too under even the worst of circumstances apparently and had my DD1, so don't fear fertility hindering your sway!

Your macros look similar to how mine were, though the carb and protein grams in general seem potentially high -- what's your estimated calorie count on all of that? 1500-1800 seems to be the standard rec. I think the advice on chicken isn't so much overinflated numbers but a caution to the typical boy mom who tends to eat more naturally/without tracking -- chicken can pack a lot of protein for low calories, and if you're trying to reduce protein, it can be a bit of a saboteur. So yeah, 50g of protein from chicken would be half a rotisserie chicken type deal and not necessarily a single serving... but for many boy moms, eating that much throughout the day was normal! You being familiar with tracking means you'll probably be fine, and probably be fine with chicken too.

Atomic's recommended a site before because MFP is so terrible with the potassium... it's been mentioned recently, so hopefully if I don't find it, she'll be able to share it from memory anyway. I think the government sites on nutrition tend to have good potassium counts, so maybe just tracking potassium off MFP is better.

Generally hubby doesn't need to do anything with any sways, but him jogging/biking seems to favor pink (and is a healthier rec than for him to smoke or be overweight, which also seem to sway pink haha).

I'm not confident with pink DTD advice since I'm here for a boy and got a girl despite lots of DTD -- atomic or someone else will be able to give you the good info, or you can look at the main thread on it in this forum or the General Swaying Discussion forum.

[Lexim]

Personally, I lifted weights and did lots of cardio and got a girl -- but I did more cardio than lifting (maybe 2 hours of heavy lifting a week vs. 4-6 hours of cardio) AND low protein. I think the lower protein is a big factor here, but just favoring cardio seems to be the girl sway tactic in general. I'm very, very fertile too under even the worst of circumstances apparently and had my DD1, so don't fear fertility hindering your sway!

Your macros look similar to how mine were, though the carb and protein grams in general seem potentially high -- what's your estimated calorie count on all of that? 1500-1800 seems to be the standard rec. I think the advice on chicken isn't so much overinflated numbers but a caution to the typical boy mom who tends to eat more naturally/without tracking -- chicken can pack a lot of protein for low calories, and if you're trying to reduce protein, it can be a bit of a saboteur. So yeah, 50g of protein from chicken would be half a rotisserie chicken type deal and not necessarily a single serving... but for many boy moms, eating that much throughout the day was normal! You being familiar with tracking means you'll probably be fine, and probably be fine with chicken too.

Atomic's recommended a site before because MFP is so terrible with the potassium... it's been mentioned recently, so hopefully if I don't find it, she'll be able to share it from memory anyway. I think the government sites on nutrition tend to have good potassium counts, so maybe just tracking potassium off MFP is better.

Generally hubby doesn't need to do anything with any sways, but him jogging/biking seems to favor pink (and is a healthier rec than for him to smoke or be overweight, which also seem to sway pink haha).

I'm not confident with pink DTD advice since I'm here for a boy and got a girl despite lots of DTD -- atomic or someone else will be able to give you the good info, or you can look at the main thread on it in this forum or the General Swaying Discussion forum.

I'm on 1640 cals which is my normal intake anyway for losing that is. I might lower protein to 50g

I mean I'm used to eating 130g protein during the day so yeah I absolutely need to reduce which I'm completely fine with but I just saw lots of posts in the forum saying you'll get about 50g protein from a few bites of chicken so I just wanted to double check that as it didn't sound right.

I think I'll keep meat in my dinners but not in my lunch and I'll ditch the eggs and protein shakes and greek yoghurt. I'm confident I'll be able to keep it at 50g
Honestly the thought of all those carbs excites me so much it's my fav macro lol it's always been about the protein before now


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[Lexim]

I don't think it's protein amount that is exaggerated- it's the servings that a lot of "boy moms" tend to eat. Not that I'm saying we all eat a lot or anything (although I certainly did). But a lot of us tended to eat large amounts of high nutrient food.

We don't restrict potassium, so you don't need to be super diligent about monitoring exact amounts unless you have reason to believe you might be deficient. As long as you're eating foods that contain potassium you should be fine.

Lifting weights is often what blue swayers are advised to do. For a pink sway, you don't want to be building muscle. Cardio seems to help a lot, 60 minutes 5-6 times a week.

I'll leave supplement and BMI stuff to someone who knows a bit more and would be able to tell what might be good for you. There are supplements that are sometimes recommended, like vitex and saw palmetto. In addition, coffee, alcohol, and fiber supplements can all be beneficial.

Just a note about OPKs- it's not the first double line. Most women will get two lines for weeks at a time. An OPK isn't positive until the second line is as dark or darker than the control line.

For your totals, 62 is on the high end for protein. I think the general recommendation is 40-50 for most people and 50-60 for breastfeeding moms and insulin resistance/PCOS. But Atomic might have different thoughts for you.

Thank you :)
I did understand opk I was just checking because a few posts just said with the first double line so I just wanted to see if that was right or if I wait until it was darker. Thank you for the clarification


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[atomic sagebrush]

100 g chicken = about 28 g protein = about 200 calories. This is the amount listed in every source that I have, somewhere between 27-30 g protein in 100 g chicken, depending on source (I have several cookbooks and also a quick Google search brought up several sources that stated the same numbers)

Since most people are trying to get between 40-50 g protein and need to get 1500-1800 cals a day. Eating 100 g of chicken puts you 3/4 of the way to your protein limit and you've only eaten 200 cals. Then what does a person eat the rest of the day?? Dairy, pasta, rice, beans, nuts, bread, all have protein in them. That means one has to get at minimum 1300 cals with only 10-20 g protein?? It just makes it really quite a bit harder and what happens is that people end up on these horrible subsistence diets of chicken and candy because that's all they can really eat.

You will need to look up potassium elsewhere to find out if you're getting enough. Once you get a good idea about it (making sure you're getting adequate intake) you can stop counting.

RE OPK, it depends on what you want to do - we have good results with one attempt and pos OPK is a nice easy way to time that one attempt. So yes, BD at first pos OPK (or day before you expect to O) is a handy way to time that one attempt.

[atomic sagebrush]

Thank you :)
I did understand opk I was just checking because a few posts just said with the first double line so I just wanted to see if that was right or if I wait until it was darker. Thank you for the clarification


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No BD with first, not darkest. It is your body sending itself a message and it gets the message with a whisper even if it starts yelling later on. :)

[atomic sagebrush]

I'm on 1640 cals which is my normal intake anyway for losing that is. I might lower protein to 50g

I mean I'm used to eating 130g protein during the day so yeah I absolutely need to reduce which I'm completely fine with but I just saw lots of posts in the forum saying you'll get about 50g protein from a few bites of chicken so I just wanted to double check that as it didn't sound right.

I think I'll keep meat in my dinners but not in my lunch and I'll ditch the eggs and protein shakes and greek yoghurt. I'm confident I'll be able to keep it at 50g
Honestly the thought of all those carbs excites me so much it's my fav macro lol it's always been about the protein before now


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Please see my explanation on the chicken issue. One cup of chicken (140 g) which many of us eat regularly at one sitting, and yes, if you're only eating chicken for your meal - which some do when swaying - IS just a few bites, has 43 g of protein, 231 calories. And then what does a person eat for the rest of the day?? Chicken, wine, strawberries and gummy worms is not a healthy prepregnancy diet and thus while it's not forbidden, it does make it much harder to stick to the diet day in and day out.

[atomic sagebrush]

50 g protein in chicken is NOT half a rotisserie chicken.

1 cup chicken = 43 g protein. This is according to the USDA. I regularly get chicken breasts that yield 2 cups of meat per breast. So it is entirely possible to eat 1 chicken breast (which many on high protein diets do regularly) and get 80 g protein from that and only have eaten 500-ish calories.

[atomic sagebrush]

Self. com has reliable potassium

[Lexim]

Thanks atomic.
I'm pretty clued on with my food and macros/calories and I always portion out 100g of meat when I prepare my food. So like I said I'll keep meat for dinner and ditch it for lunch. I'm not one to overeat in my meals :)

I've managed to stay under 45g protein these last few days from just meat for dinner and the bit of protein in various other foods throughout the day. My diet hasn't been as healthy as I'm used to but that's the point right?!? Lol
However I've stuck to my calories and my macros :)





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[Lexim]

No BD with first, not darkest. It is your body sending itself a message and it gets the message with a whisper even if it starts yelling later on. :)

Haha thankyou! Should get my tests in the mail this week so I'll start tracking to see what my body does.

Will BD with that first double line just the once.


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[foxtrotmama]

I just wanted to reiterate that atomic means the first positive OPK, not the first one with two lines at all. :)

What she means by not the darkest is not to sit around waiting for the test line to be darker than the control line. Many of us will have a double line our entire cycles. Many of us also get a darker OPK after the first positive.

So for example in this past cycle, I had a positive OPK on CD16 where the test line was as dark as the control line. That was my attempt day. Then on CD17, the test line was actually darker than the control line. Still positive, but if I had waited to attempt until CD17, it would likely have been too late to catch the egg.

[foxtrotmama]

Just to show what I mean. The top six tests are all negative. They were CD9-CD15. The bottom test is positive, that's attempt day.
35242
The bottom one here was my CD17 test, the next day. The test line was darker than the day before, but that doesn't mean that I should have held out to attempt that day.
35240
I hope that makes sense? The only reason I keep bringing it up is that a friend of mine had a lot of heartbreak because she thought she was ovulating really early in her cycle because she didn't realize that OPK's aren't "any line is positive" like a pregnancy test. :)

[Lexim]

Yep I get what you mean, I've used them before but I guess I've always gone by the theory to get a girl you BD before O
So just retraining my brain to try this way :)


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[atomic sagebrush]

:agree: That's great, keep up the good work. :)

99% of the people I get on here are not cued in to the amount they eat and so I have to assume that going in.

Yes Foxtrot is right, it's not the double lines you're going for, it's the first POSITIVE where the line is as dark or darker than the control. People get faint double lines all the time, I mean the first positive OPK even if the lines get darker than that later on.

[atomic sagebrush]

Yep I get what you mean, I've used them before but I guess I've always gone by the theory to get a girl you BD before O
So just retraining my brain to try this way :)


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BD at first positive OPK IS still BD before O. So if you're a big believer in timing, no worries, it will still be before O.

[atomic sagebrush]

Thanks so much Foxtrot, awesome explanation!

People have a lot of confusion with OPK just like your friend - they think they're ovulating like 20 times a cycle or on CD 5 or whatever but the test lines have to be as dark or darker than the control.

[Lexim]

:agree: That's great, keep up the good work. :)

99% of the people I get on here are not cued in to the amount they eat and so I have to assume that going in.

Yes Foxtrot is right, it's not the double lines you're going for, it's the first POSITIVE where the line is as dark or darker than the control. People get faint double lines all the time, I mean the first positive OPK even if the lines get darker than that later on.

Awesome! Thanks!
I absolutely get that! I reckon I would feel mega overwhelmed about the food so I bet it gets hard trying to coach people on that.

And thanks for the advice re: OPK. I've still got 12 weeks before we try so it'll be good to track until then and it'll give me a better understanding of when I O


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