Trying to sway pink?

[Mrs.C.]

Hello,
I *think* I'd like to try and sway for a baby girl. My son is 11months and hopefully in August we can start trying for a new baby. He was a long time coming, with a couple of losses in between (a MMC and an ectopic) so I am not too desperate for a girl, especially as I think a boy would be better for my son as a sibling, but would rather want a healthy baby.

That said, I have read what seems like tonnes of online info and I am still clueless on what needs to be done, seems very complicated!
So far I started a diet, just cutting salt (we cook with no salt anyway, for my son to join on family meals), red meat, tomatoes (raw, I still use some for cooking), potatoes not so often...and trying to eat more dairy. The hardest part is reducing calories. I currently eat between 1500-1700cal a day (&that's a huge change for me as I was having ~3200a day!) and I am 1.7m (5'7?) and 55kg (121lbs?). That should leave me losing some weight, although don't think I need it. This is my pre pregnancy weight and I still breastfeed. And I looove my fruit&bread, but try to keep it within the calorie intake. I also run 2/3 times a week arouns 10-11k (an hour). That is more for my mental health than anything.
As supplements I used to take bf suppl with omega 3, I swapped that for 800mg Ca and 375mg Mg, cranberry tablets and folic acid. And I also take Ubiquinol CoEn Q10 for egg quality as it seemed to have helped first time. Is this too many nutrients?? I am confused. I do feel better on the Mg though, less tired.
I used to drink tonnes of green tea, made from leaves rather than tea bags and I dropped that. I only drink decaff coffee and decaff green tea and sometimes peppermint or more likely camomile - as it helps with my stomach.And sometimes a bf tea. Are these allowed?
I think we'll try abstinence and then one attempt either before or at +OPK, but I am not keen on measuring pH of Cm etc, that seems a bit too far for me.
Also thinking of using Sylk lube.
Is there anything correct in what I am doing? anything else I should be doing?
Many thanks!

[atomic sagebrush]

Hi and welcome to the site!

Things like avoiding tomatoes and potatoes don't really work. Neither does cutting out sodium. It's fine to do that if you want, it's just that we can't rely on that to sway for us.

Since you are slim already and breastfeeding, I want you eating more like 1800-2000 cals a day, with 50-60 g protein and fat (not counting the protein and fat in fruit and veg, adn NOTHING in low carb veg - they are free and unlimited, no need to count them.) I think dropping that far in calories is going to make weight fly off. You are already below my cutoff weight for stopping weight loss. I do not want you to lose any more weight, just hold steady where you are.

I do not ever recommend any more than 600 mg calcium and 300 mg Mag maximum. (WITHOUT any Vit. D added, though!) You may want to cut that back a bit for your safety. I also do not recommend cranberry as that has caused some risks and side effects.

Folic acid and ubiquinol are fine to take - but what dose are you having of those?

I would stick to coffee only, drop the green tea totally (even decaf).

When it comes to herb teas, have any kind you want but only 2-3 times per week. Don't have any type of herb tea daily, just have a variety a few times a week that way you'll never have any negative effects from them.

:agree: we don't recommend checking pH anyway. It never seemed to predict whose sways would work and whose didn't.

[Mrs.C.]

Hi and welcome to the site!

Things like avoiding tomatoes and potatoes don't really work. Neither does cutting out sodium. It's fine to do that if you want, it's just that we can't rely on that to sway for us.

Since you are slim already and breastfeeding, I want you eating more like 1800-2000 cals a day, with 50-60 g protein and fat (not counting the protein and fat in fruit and veg, adn NOTHING in low carb veg - they are free and unlimited, no need to count them.) I think dropping that far in calories is going to make weight fly off. You are already below my cutoff weight for stopping weight loss. I do not want you to lose any more weight, just hold steady where you are.

I do not ever recommend any more than 600 mg calcium and 300 mg Mag maximum. (WITHOUT any Vit. D added, though!) You may want to cut that back a bit for your safety. I also do not recommend cranberry as that has caused some risks and side effects.

Folic acid and ubiquinol are fine to take - but what dose are you having of those?

I would stick to coffee only, drop the green tea totally (even decaf).

When it comes to herb teas, have any kind you want but only 2-3 times per week. Don't have any type of herb tea daily, just have a variety a few times a week that way you'll never have any negative effects from them.

:agree: we don't recommend checking pH anyway. It never seemed to predict whose sways would work and whose didn't.

Ahhh, thank you so much for your reply, very helpful!
The advice seems to vary so much, doesn't it?
I first bought Ca, then read it's not good, then that it needs to be Ca citrate, so bought that and now that it has to be without D3? why is that? should I buy another one? (the one I have would be 500mg so 50%NRV and D3 is 7.5microgr so 150%NRV per tablet).
I think the doses I was taking were the daily recommended doses, didn't go over that, but could cut that to half or 500mg max? it's a pain I need to buy another ones though without the D3��*♀️Also, why is the cranberry a no go? I thought being from fruit it was fine for both me and DH...should I have him take OLE instead? what about me?
The folic acid I take is standard 400microgr and Ubiquinol is 100mg as is Vesisorb rapid absorbtion and that's the daily dose stated on them.��

Would the Sylk lube be recommended? we used pre seed first time round with my son.

Also the theories about ions, any of that true??

Good to know about the green tea decaff, wouldn't have thought! maybe that brought me a son first time round, haha. I still had 1 a day until now unfortunately. Will limit all other teas and have only decaff coffee with milk.

All I read was that you need to lose weight, skip breakfast and trick your body it's in 'poor' conditions...so that's why I dieted. However, I don't know how could I count the protein and fat I am having??? also, those ranges are including beans & other legumes?

Also I don't drink drinks high in aspartame...but I do chew gum ?
How long do I need to be on the diet before attempting? Again, the advice varies with this across the board so don't really know when to start trying!

Thank you & sorry for all the questions!

[atomic sagebrush]

I know it's extremely frustrating when the advice doesn't always mesh, but it's because different sites use different bodies of knowledge and no one really knows what works and what doesn't. Most sway sites all use this old outdated information from studies that were done 50+ years ago and ignore everything that has been done since. Those of us who made this site had opposites doing things that way and started doing research into more modern theories of gender swaying and that is why we diverge from those recommendations - because they didn't work for us and we know more modern evidence debunks them.

The best study ever done on maternal diet and gender conceived (and indeed, the ONLY one that wasn't done by someone selling mineral balancing diets) found that women who had more calcium and magnesium intake had more BOYS, not more girls. That having been said, I understand it's hard to give that up so I allow people to take cal-mag in supplement form but only without the Vitamin D. Vitamin D has been shown to improve fertility, condition, and raise testosterone, and likely sways blue. So I don't recommend calcium with Vit. D in it for anyone (I got my 3rd and 4th boys taking cal/mag/D and gave it up to get my girl). I would def. try to find one without Vitamin D, even if it means having to resort to Tums.

I like you guys to take more like 1200 mcg folic acid or folate. Unless you have reason to believe your egg quality is low I'd stick with 100 on the coq10.

Preseed is believed to sway blue so :agree: with giving that up. We have not found any of the jellies do much for pink sways, with the same number of people getting girls with and without them, but fine to use Sylk to start with if you'd like to. I have the full case against pH here: https://www.genderdreaming.com/forum/gender-swaying-general-discussion/11684-ph-pickle.html

Ions don't work, and the essay debunking them (with apologies as this is rather long, but it took that amount of time to investigate thoroughly) is here: https://www.genderdreaming.com/forum/gender-swaying-general-discussion/63173-ion-insanity.html

There are some people out there who try to sum up the Low Everything Diet (and unfortunately get it wrong sometimes). But this is my diet, I invented it, so I'm the one who's got it right on the recommendations. The losing weight and skipping breakfast are actually about the least important elements of the diet - it's the limits that matter (and many people don't have the weight to spare!) and spending more of your day without food coming in. Some do this by skipping breakfast, others skip dinner or just eat 3 meals spaced out over the course of the day. Whichever option will work best for you is fine as long as you're in the limits.

To track your food intake you'll need to Google the stuff you're eating or use food labels or some other nutrient tracking resource and then keep a loose tally. You can do this on a piece of paper, or online using an app of some sort like My Fitness Pal. It's actually much easier than it sounds at first and it only takes a few days till you get the hang of it. Once you have a sense of how much you can eat, many people even stop tracking all together (which is fine as long as you don't inadvertently start cutting back more and more).

Legumes you count protein and calories in them. And any fat you've added (in their natural state they're basically fat free) needs to be counted as well.

Gum is fine between meals. But aspartame likely does nothing to help your sway.

12 weeks on diet or more has gotten best results for us. 2-4 weeks was very poor results so I would give it at least 6.

[Mrs.C.]

I know it's extremely frustrating when the advice doesn't always mesh, but it's because different sites use different bodies of knowledge and no one really knows what works and what doesn't. Most sway sites all use this old outdated information from studies that were done 50+ years ago and ignore everything that has been done since. Those of us who made this site had opposites doing things that way and started doing research into more modern theories of gender swaying and that is why we diverge from those recommendations - because they didn't work for us and we know more modern evidence debunks them.

The best study ever done on maternal diet and gender conceived (and indeed, the ONLY one that wasn't done by someone selling mineral balancing diets) found that women who had more calcium and magnesium intake had more BOYS, not more girls. That having been said, I understand it's hard to give that up so I allow people to take cal-mag in supplement form but only without the Vitamin D. Vitamin D has been shown to improve fertility, condition, and raise testosterone, and likely sways blue. So I don't recommend calcium with Vit. D in it for anyone (I got my 3rd and 4th boys taking cal/mag/D and gave it up to get my girl). I would def. try to find one without Vitamin D, even if it means having to resort to Tums.

I like you guys to take more like 1200 mcg folic acid or folate. Unless you have reason to believe your egg quality is low I'd stick with 100 on the coq10.

Preseed is believed to sway blue so :agree: with giving that up. We have not found any of the jellies do much for pink sways, with the same number of people getting girls with and without them, but fine to use Sylk to start with if you'd like to. I have the full case against pH here: https://www.genderdreaming.com/forum/gender-swaying-general-discussion/11684-ph-pickle.html

Ions don't work, and the essay debunking them (with apologies as this is rather long, but it took that amount of time to investigate thoroughly) is here: https://www.genderdreaming.com/forum/gender-swaying-general-discussion/63173-ion-insanity.html

There are some people out there who try to sum up the Low Everything Diet (and unfortunately get it wrong sometimes). But this is my diet, I invented it, so I'm the one who's got it right on the recommendations. The losing weight and skipping breakfast are actually about the least important elements of the diet - it's the limits that matter (and many people don't have the weight to spare!) and spending more of your day without food coming in. Some do this by skipping breakfast, others skip dinner or just eat 3 meals spaced out over the course of the day. Whichever option will work best for you is fine as long as you're in the limits.

To track your food intake you'll need to Google the stuff you're eating or use food labels or some other nutrient tracking resource and then keep a loose tally. You can do this on a piece of paper, or online using an app of some sort like My Fitness Pal. It's actually much easier than it sounds at first and it only takes a few days till you get the hang of it. Once you have a sense of how much you can eat, many people even stop tracking all together (which is fine as long as you don't inadvertently start cutting back more and more).

Legumes you count protein and calories in them. And any fat you've added (in their natural state they're basically fat free) needs to be counted as well.

Gum is fine between meals. But aspartame likely does nothing to help your sway.

12 weeks on diet or more has gotten best results for us. 2-4 weeks was very poor results so I would give it at least 6.

Thanks again for all the advice, appreciate it!
The LE diet seems sooo confusing, not sure what you should eat since all foods are on the 'naughty' list: garlic&onion, meat and eggs, full fat dairy, nuts&seeds, beans etc...so not much else left 😬 And actually my life before having my son was pretty much eating once a day, at dinner time and I still got a boy...

My Fitness pal is what I'm using actually so👍 I've set targets of 67g of protein (which I find hard to meet with no/very little meat, eggs, dairy&beans!) and 50g of fat. Are these targets ok? should I ditch the Ca&Mg? Also, I struggle to meet the iron requirements and I have been anemic since giving birth (probably due to bf), are iron supplements allowed? or foods rich in iron at least?

Do you think my DH should take folic acid as well?
Also, what are the risks with cranberry please? should DH have Olive leaf extract instead?

And also, does exercising raise testosterone? could I still run or do cardio?

I think I will keep the diet for 6weeks max and try in August.

Thank you so much for all the info!!

[atomic sagebrush]

The limits are what matter. Some of that stuff is targeted at people who can't give up the "old school" sway diets - they want to avoid garlic, meat, etc.

But you can have ALL THOSE THINGS if want to, provided you just stick in the limits. Some people want to do more than that, but you don't HAVE to.

Why 67 g protein again? Most people do 50-60. You can have dairy, eggs, beans in the limits. 50-60 g fat is great.

Please take 18-60 mg iron daily. that is fine and I have lots of people do that. After 6 weeks you can try going to 3x a week instead of daily (but please bump it up again if you feel poorly after cutting back.)

No, I don't think hubby should take folic acid.

Cranberry a)does not work according to our results and b) has lots of risks and side effects because it's a blood thinner. Even the ones that are coming from fruit are blood thinners. So they can make you bleed/bruise very easily (possibly even fatally if you had bleeding in your stomach or brain, or were in an accident or needed emergency surgery), can give you super heavy periods which will only make anemia worse, may contribute to miscarriage, and the way people take cranberry 2 weeks on, 2 weeks off, it can even end up causing blood CLOTS because people's bodies really crank up the clotting factors while they're taking it, and then they stop it suddenly at ovulation, so they go from very thin blood to super thick blood overnight. You can end up with possibly fatal blood clots that could cause a stroke, DVT, or heart attack.

Plus, since you are nursing cranberry is a massive no-no because regardless of the claims on other sites, cranberry DOES come out in your milk and thins your baby's blood. I know this because before I started doing my own research, I took cranberry while tandem nursing after being told it was safe on another site, and within the span of 2 days after starting it, both my toddler and my baby (and I) were covered in bruises and my baby got a small cut on his thumb the size of a paper cut that gushed blood for hours till I finally had to glue it shut with Super Glue. Then it kept opening up and bleeding profusely for another couple days afterwards. I have been a mom for 29 years now and never seen anything like it before or since and it was 100% caused by the cranberry. Once I stopped taking it the bruises went away and we all went back to normal again. It is just too great a risk for something that does not work anyway.

I feel OLE has more consistent results for DH and I'd give him that instead.

No we have great results with exercise. If at all possible I'd do cardio 60 min. a day 4-7 days a week.

[Mrs.C.]

The limits are what matter. Some of that stuff is targeted at people who can't give up the "old school" sway diets - they want to avoid garlic, meat, etc.

But you can have ALL THOSE THINGS if want to, provided you just stick in the limits. Some people want to do more than that, but you don't HAVE to.

Why 67 g protein again? Most people do 50-60. You can have dairy, eggs, beans in the limits. 50-60 g fat is great.

Please take 18-60 mg iron daily. that is fine and I have lots of people do that. After 6 weeks you can try going to 3x a week instead of daily (but please bump it up again if you feel poorly after cutting back.)

No, I don't think hubby should take folic acid.

Cranberry a)does not work according to our results and b) has lots of risks and side effects because it's a blood thinner. Even the ones that are coming from fruit are blood thinners. So they can make you bleed/bruise very easily (possibly even fatally if you had bleeding in your stomach or brain, or were in an accident or needed emergency surgery), can give you super heavy periods which will only make anemia worse, may contribute to miscarriage, and the way people take cranberry 2 weeks on, 2 weeks off, it can even end up causing blood CLOTS because people's bodies really crank up the clotting factors while they're taking it, and then they stop it suddenly at ovulation, so they go from very thin blood to super thick blood overnight. You can end up with possibly fatal blood clots that could cause a stroke, DVT, or heart attack.

Plus, since you are nursing cranberry is a massive no-no because regardless of the claims on other sites, cranberry DOES come out in your milk and thins your baby's blood. I know this because before I started doing my own research, I took cranberry while tandem nursing after being told it was safe on another site, and within the span of 2 days after starting it, both my toddler and my baby (and I) were covered in bruises and my baby got a small cut on his thumb the size of a paper cut that gushed blood for hours till I finally had to glue it shut with Super Glue. Then it kept opening up and bleeding profusely for another couple days afterwards. I have been a mom for 29 years now and never seen anything like it before or since and it was 100% caused by the cranberry. Once I stopped taking it the bruises went away and we all went back to normal again. It is just too great a risk for something that does not work anyway.

I feel OLE has more consistent results for DH and I'd give him that instead.

No we have great results with exercise. If at all possible I'd do cardio 60 min. a day 4-7 days a week.

Thank you so much for addressing my questions once again!
Is it any particular strength or form (tablets/liquid) that OLE needs to be taken? I would hate to buy again the wrong stuff haha
Sorry to hear about your bad experience with cranberry, must have been concerning, to say the least.

I do not intend to take iron, but will try to compensate through food first. In case I do become anemic, it's good to know is still allowed. Not that I would know anyway, without blood tests...
So I will keep taking folic acid, Ubiquinol, Mag 300mg (will give up the Ca with D3, will try and eat at least some dairy every day) and OH will take OLE.

So the LE diet is in fact Low calories, low protein and low fat if I got it right?
The 67g limit is only because MyFitnessPal doesn't allow a taget of 50g, Basically, out of the total 1800cal it splits 60% from carbs, 25% from fat (thus the 50g) and remaining 15% from protein (thus the 67g). I can only change it to 10%, but that would mean 45g of protein and thought that's too low? There is no in between. I try to stick under it anyway and if not, if one day I have too much, I try to average it over a couple of days so that it's still under the limit. Hope that makes sense?

I seem to be all right (I think!) on these limits, does it mean the diet doesn't work? first few days I already lost 1kg and felt my milk supply coming down, but after you told me to increase to 1800 I think that is manageable.
Also, if I tend to eat most of my calories at lunch, no breakfast and dinner is lighter, is this wrong? should I snack often and little to avoid a sudden rise in blood sugar?

Gosh, I wish I had time for 60min cardio 4-7 days a week! I run 10-11k about 2 times a week though, probably less now with less energy from good. And some cardio at home when time allows, but my LO wakes up almost every hour these days so quite hard. For the workouts, MFP seems to add calories, is that right? I should eat more in the days I exercise? or should I ignore that?

Many thanks again and hopefully now I know a bit more to feel more confident with it all. Hope I will manage to keep it for that long though! ��
Will come back here to update :)

[atomic sagebrush]

500-1000 mg dry leaf on the OLE, if using liquid (some think liquid is more effective, I doubt it but I"m fine with you guys using it) please use dose on the bottle as liquids have many formulations and I can't give a blanket set of guidelines for that.

The cranberry thing was incredibly alarming but I am now in retrospect happy it happened, since it clued me in to cranberry being a potential issue for people and then once I started researching it, I understood why and am better able to help you guys. My kids are 12 and 10 now and are fine but at the time it was terrifying.

It's lowER protein, fat, and calories. But it's just the lower end of normal. It is not abnormally low. I don't want anyone to think they'll get better results by eating less, because people who starve themselves end up having more opposites because they end up stopping ovulation and have to stop dieting all together, even sometimes eating a blue friendly diet just to get their cycle going again.

The diet gets good results even without losing any weight at all.

It's fine to eat in whatever pattern will work for you provided you are keeping to 2-3 meals a day and sticking in the limits. Sometimes people have experienced weight loss/milk drying up if they don't eat at least 3 meals or even 4 so I would keep that in the back of your mind.

No, please do not snack. It's fine for your blood sugar to rise at meals because it will drop between meals. Whereas with snacking it stays up all the time. Our good results are in people not snacking and most of us with all boys were all-day grazers so that's definitely something to avoid..

If MFP is not being helpful, then you're going to either have to give up using MFP to track or come up with a way to ignore the recommendations and just eat 60 g if you can. Don't change it to 10%, just accept that you're going to be a little bit below what MFP has recommended. Keep in mind too that MFP does track fat and protein in fruit and veg and we don't track those things (and we track nothing in low carb vegetables, not even calories) so you may be in the limits if it is adding that stuff in. You may even need to eat MORE, that happens sometimes.

Keep going with the 2 days a week exercise as long as you're not gaining weight and eating the lower protein, lower cal diet.

Do not add calories burned from exercise. Just exercise, eat the LE Diet in the limits, and then let weight loss if any and milk supply be your guide. if you lose weight or milk dries up even a little, eat more, either temporarily or constantly. If you don't, carry on eating just as you are.

[Mrs.C.]

500-1000 mg dry leaf on the OLE, if using liquid (some think liquid is more effective, I doubt it but I"m fine with you guys using it) please use dose on the bottle as liquids have many formulations and I can't give a blanket set of guidelines for that.

The cranberry thing was incredibly alarming but I am now in retrospect happy it happened, since it clued me in to cranberry being a potential issue for people and then once I started researching it, I understood why and am better able to help you guys. My kids are 12 and 10 now and are fine but at the time it was terrifying.

It's lowER protein, fat, and calories. But it's just the lower end of normal. It is not abnormally low. I don't want anyone to think they'll get better results by eating less, because people who starve themselves end up having more opposites because they end up stopping ovulation and have to stop dieting all together, even sometimes eating a blue friendly diet just to get their cycle going again.

The diet gets good results even without losing any weight at all.

It's fine to eat in whatever pattern will work for you provided you are keeping to 2-3 meals a day and sticking in the limits. Sometimes people have experienced weight loss/milk drying up if they don't eat at least 3 meals or even 4 so I would keep that in the back of your mind.

No, please do not snack. It's fine for your blood sugar to rise at meals because it will drop between meals. Whereas with snacking it stays up all the time. Our good results are in people not snacking and most of us with all boys were all-day grazers so that's definitely something to avoid..

If MFP is not being helpful, then you're going to either have to give up using MFP to track or come up with a way to ignore the recommendations and just eat 60 g if you can. Don't change it to 10%, just accept that you're going to be a little bit below what MFP has recommended. Keep in mind too that MFP does track fat and protein in fruit and veg and we don't track those things (and we track nothing in low carb vegetables, not even calories) so you may be in the limits if it is adding that stuff in. You may even need to eat MORE, that happens sometimes.

Keep going with the 2 days a week exercise as long as you're not gaining weight and eating the lower protein, lower cal diet.

Do not add calories burned from exercise. Just exercise, eat the LE Diet in the limits, and then let weight loss if any and milk supply be your guide. if you lose weight or milk dries up even a little, eat more, either temporarily or constantly. If you don't, carry on eating just as you are.

Thank you!
would a milk coffee be considered a snack?? I have that in the morning...no breakfast though.
Also, the proteins from bread - do I need to count those?

[atomic sagebrush]

It depends on how much milk you use. We allow enough milk or cream in coffee to lighten it, but if you're having, say, a latte with a cup or two of milk, and sugar in it, then you'd want to have that with a meal. But coffee with a couple tablespoons of milk (like the amount in a jigger or so) is fine

Yes you count protein in grain foods like rice, bread, and pasta. :)

[Mrs.C.]

It depends on how much milk you use. We allow enough milk or cream in coffee to lighten it, but if you're having, say, a latte with a cup or two of milk, and sugar in it, then you'd want to have that with a meal. But coffee with a couple tablespoons of milk (like the amount in a jigger or so) is fine

Yes you count protein in grain foods like rice, bread, and pasta. :)

Many thanks for all your clarifications!🤗

[Mrs.C.]

Many thanks for all your clarifications!��

Arghhh just as expected, I am in the middle of my 3rd week (started 28th of June) and failed already ��. Diets have never been my strong point unfortunately and for the past few days I felt hungry ALL THE TIME. I did well at the beginning, even lost some weight but maybe it becoming more difficult now perhaps it was the sign things were starting to work. I think maybe all the supplements are increasing my appetite too? don't know.
Anyway, today I binged, think I had about 5000cal.
My question is do I now need to start the countdown all over again starting from tomorrow? what can I do in the future? if I have a day when I eat more (let's say 2500cal), can I eat less next day and overall across 2days is still fine? or is the constant low nutrients intake that is needed?
Also, I eat A LOT of fruit and vegetables so perhaps not that low on nutrients? I have so much respect for people doing this for >12weeks! it's hard! I think I find it all too stressful for it to work for me....I always stress about it and read about it and from what I learned fretting about it like this is only likely to increase testosterone.
Also, please can you advise about the timing? I was thinking one attempt next day from+opk but unsure...
And the exercises...are aerobics/pilates/HIIT not cardio?? Think I read somewhere pilates is not recommended as it bulds muscles...this is what I do, together with running. I never considered walking as exercising, but does that count? I do walk at least 5k daily...
Also, people seem to be taking fibres? should I include those too?

Sorry for coming back with all these queries still...the more I read the more confused and anxious I get!��

[Mrs.C.]

sorry, just realised I replied to my own comment! 🤦*♀️

[atomic sagebrush]

What you need to do when you are hungry is EAT MORE. Stop to think "what is it I really want to eat here" and have it. Do not try to white knuckle it through eating lettuce and rice cakes because here's what will happen - you'll eat 3000 calories of rice cakes and then realize you've blown the limits anyway, and then you'll decide "well, I've ruined everything now, may as well have what I want" and you'll eat everything in the house.

If you're very hungry for several days, up limits SLIGHTLY. Don't go hog wild, but sometimes due to hormones or whatever you're hungrier for a few days. Just eat a bit more. Far, far better to simply increase limits than to binge!

DO NOT and I repeat DO NOT try to cut back to compensate. That simply sets up a binge purge cycle where you cheat wildly then cut too far back then cheat wildly over and over again. The cheat happened. It's no biggie and in many cases a big blowout like that just passes right on through pretty quick and not that much is even absorbed. Some have even noticed that occasionally they even LOSE weight after a splurge. Just pick it up from here and go on.

The "nutrients" we are worried about are fat protein, and calories, and then the highly concentrated nutrients in vitamins and fortified foods. Nutrients in fruit and veg has not seemed to sway. High carb veg and fruit, you count only cals, not protein or fat, and low carb veg are free and unlimited, no need to count them at all.

It is not too stressful to work for you. You need to snap out of the mindset where you're doing all or nothing. There is a huge wiggle space between eating so little you are miserable and eating a boy friendly diet. People have this misconception taht if you don't do eveyrthing perfectly all the time you may as well do nothing, but that couldn't be further from the truth. Even if you only change one or two little things that is still a pink sway.

Do not go down the 'but doing this will raise testosterone' rabbithole. I have already eliminated everythign that is not necessary from the sway. DO NOT then try to eliminate the stuff that actually works - diet, exercise, number of attempts - out of a misguided thought that "stress raises testosterone" because those things are what will help you get your daugther. Feel free to drop anything like timing or pH stuff or antihistamines, etc, but keep the things that work! Even if you have to tweak them somewhat. The only things you should avoid are the things that don't work.

I recommend one attempt. We have that on the day of first positive OPK simply because that's an easy goal to reach, but if you prefer to do a 2 day cutoff that's fine too.

I prefer you don't do Pilates or HIIT as they may build muscle. Running and walking are both ok. Walking 5k a day is great.

Yes, go ahead and take fiber if it's suitable for you. A low dose of fiber (not the high doses on the bottles, those are for other people and not us) about 30 minutes before eating any meal containing fat. If not eating fat, don't take the fiber.

I'm going to have to go back and look at your supplements to see if there are any that might make you hungry. But I suspect it's just that you've lost a bit of weight and your body is saying "wth is going on here" and has ramped up hunger to compensate.

[atomic sagebrush]

ok specifically what are you taking now? Sorry I am not sure from the last page what you're actually taking and what you're not. I suspect coq10 is the culprit here but just want to be sure I"m not overlooking anything.

And again I want to reiterate what I said on the previous page - you need to stop losing weight as you're already slim and do not need to lose more.

[Mrs.C.]

What you need to do when you are hungry is EAT MORE. Stop to think "what is it I really want to eat here" and have it. Do not try to white knuckle it through eating lettuce and rice cakes because here's what will happen - you'll eat 3000 calories of rice cakes and then realize you've blown the limits anyway, and then you'll decide "well, I've ruined everything now, may as well have what I want" and you'll eat everything in the house.

If you're very hungry for several days, up limits SLIGHTLY. Don't go hog wild, but sometimes due to hormones or whatever you're hungrier for a few days. Just eat a bit more. Far, far better to simply increase limits than to binge!

DO NOT and I repeat DO NOT try to cut back to compensate. That simply sets up a binge purge cycle where you cheat wildly then cut too far back then cheat wildly over and over again. The cheat happened. It's no biggie and in many cases a big blowout like that just passes right on through pretty quick and not that much is even absorbed. Some have even noticed that occasionally they even LOSE weight after a splurge. Just pick it up from here and go on.

The "nutrients" we are worried about are fat protein, and calories, and then the highly concentrated nutrients in vitamins and fortified foods. Nutrients in fruit and veg has not seemed to sway. High carb veg and fruit, you count only cals, not protein or fat, and low carb veg are free and unlimited, no need to count them at all.

It is not too stressful to work for you. You need to snap out of the mindset where you're doing all or nothing. There is a huge wiggle space between eating so little you are miserable and eating a boy friendly diet. People have this misconception taht if you don't do eveyrthing perfectly all the time you may as well do nothing, but that couldn't be further from the truth. Even if you only change one or two little things that is still a pink sway.

Do not go down the 'but doing this will raise testosterone' rabbithole. I have already eliminated everythign that is not necessary from the sway. DO NOT then try to eliminate the stuff that actually works - diet, exercise, number of attempts - out of a misguided thought that "stress raises testosterone" because those things are what will help you get your daugther. Feel free to drop anything like timing or pH stuff or antihistamines, etc, but keep the things that work! Even if you have to tweak them somewhat. The only things you should avoid are the things that don't work.

I recommend one attempt. We have that on the day of first positive OPK simply because that's an easy goal to reach, but if you prefer to do a 2 day cutoff that's fine too.

I prefer you don't do Pilates or HIIT as they may build muscle. Running and walking are both ok. Walking 5k a day is great.

Yes, go ahead and take fiber if it's suitable for you. A low dose of fiber (not the high doses on the bottles, those are for other people and not us) about 30 minutes before eating any meal containing fat. If not eating fat, don't take the fiber.

I'm going to have to go back and look at your supplements to see if there are any that might make you hungry. But I suspect it's just that you've lost a bit of weight and your body is saying "wth is going on here" and has ramped up hunger to compensate.

Thank you for your patience and advice!
Yes, I do think my body was lacking something as I craved nuts and peanut butter so thinking fat. I have gone vegetarian to make it easier for me to be on the diet so who knows. Truth is after eating yesterday, today my milk supply has improved so much! so definitely something was going on. I lost 1.5kg but then wasn't happy and gained 0.5kg back. So I am slightly thinner 54kg (119lbs) but only just. As I tried keeping at 1700-1800 cal (recommended by MFP in order to maintain this weight) I kept bf, expressing (as my son is due to start nursery) and exercised as before and think it caught up with me. Or maybe just hormones.

I take Folic Acid (not quite 1200mcg but 800mcg as thought is too much alongside with everything else I am taking), 100mg Ubiquinoil CoEnQ10, 300mg Mg, 500mg Ca citrate (no D3) (not all days) and 3 times a week 14mg of Iron. DH only takes OLE. Will perhaps look to see if I can take fiber as well potentially. And I drink decaff coffee and no alcohol.
From what the expert "Google" told me it seems folic acid is responsible for increasing appetite. But who knows.

You are right and by no means I'm not trying to make excuses, I just need to find my balance and stop reading about the subject as it consumes so much of my time and logging calories, cooking separately is already so much effort. I really need to simply it. Or maybe once I'll be on it long enough, it will come like second nature.
Just to confirm, do I need to start the count again? as in the no.of weeks on the diet.

Thank you so much for everything ❤

[atomic sagebrush]

Please ignore the recommendations of My Fitness Pal and have 1800-2000 cals a day. That has been more reliable to keep milk supply going. The most likely reason you're hungry is because, well, you're hungry! :)

We have thousands of people on folic acid who do not report increased appetite. We do have many people on Coq10 who DO report increased appetite. This is because Coq10 can lower blood sugar and so many people have noticed increased appetite after starting it, even though they'd been fine on folic acid alone for many months.

Either way, it's irrelevant because you MUST take the folic acid. It's non-negotiable. So it is not something I even consider dropping for any reason at all and did not think it was worthy of mentioning it because I'd never have you drop it anyway.

I don't think you're making excuses, sorry if my response sounded terse - I type really fast and just get out as much info as I can quickly so I can help everyone in a reasonable time frame.

What I did when I was swaying was just make normal meals for my family and then I didn't have the meat option. So I would have a side dish, vegetable, and salad, and then also give my family meat along with that. Could that help you at all??

You do not need to start over. This is no big deal at all, just regroup and move on from here. :)

[atomic sagebrush]

By the way since you had a decrease in milk supply, let's skip the fiber for now. Don't add it in. You need the nutrients to keep making enough milk.

[Mrs.C.]

Well, today or tomorrow is our first attempt!
Needless to say LE diet went out the window, but I did my best and kept mostly vegetarian anyway so 🤞it did something!

Now for our one attempt: just read on the website that actually abstinence decreases chances of conception 😭we abstained, tomorrow would be our 9th day.
I had a +digital OPK today CD12 and usually it's + for 2 days, on ovulation day too which is CD13, for me, tomorrow. Then goes -. This was the same over the last couple of months.
So since tomorrow is O.day, I thought we should attempt then, but now wondering we've hindered our chances by abstaining so long. Would tomorrow be too late? does the one attempt have to be at 1st + OPK i.e today? I am confused as to when the one attempt needs to happen in our case.🙈
Was also thinking hot baths before, but not sure we would want an even lower sperm count?..btw, DH is 32 and I've read abstain is more of a problem after 35, but we had a Down syndrome mmc before...

Also, I think I took too much folic acid, 1200mg per day but since I wasn't on the LE diet...we shall see.
Thank you!

[atomic sagebrush]

You can still get pregnant with an abstain though.

You should attempt TODAY. Attempt on O Day is actually quite a lot lower than the day before O Day.

Hot bath is at your discretion. I wouldn't do it, but that's because I don't think it does anthing for swaying. If it's something you wanted to do then you may want to give it a month - who knows, you may get pregnant that way.

1200 MCG is NOT too much folic acid even if you're not on the diet. That is ok.

[Mrs.C.]

You can still get pregnant with an abstain though.

You should attempt TODAY. Attempt on O Day is actually quite a lot lower than the day before O Day.

Hot bath is at your discretion. I wouldn't do it, but that's because I don't think it does anthing for swaying. If it's something you wanted to do then you may want to give it a month - who knows, you may get pregnant that way.

1200 MCG is NOT too much folic acid even if you're not on the diet. That is ok.

Thanks! we actually attempted CD12 but really late like midnight as was concerned we wouldn't be able to next day with little one. It was very shallow though, would it be worth another attempt today? as OH was out when it happened and not much did get in I'm afraid��and did J&D pretty soon after and really well.

so this month I am not holding much hope, but it's kinda ok, we're not in a hurry as my boy is still quite young (12months) and sleeping poorly ��

When you say it has been lower on O.day do you mean chances of a girl or conception in general?
Thanks again x

[atomic sagebrush]

It's your call - for best chance of pink, stick with the attempt you've had, for best chance of conception have another attempt.

Are you doing shallow for swaying?

I mean less chance of conception. Timing does not sway - 50-50 boys and girls are conceived every cycle day.

[Mrs.C.]

Hi,
in the end we didn't go with another attempt this month, just had to accept it will now have to wait until next cycle...

yes, we tried shallow for swaying but abstain and shallow don't work well with my OH as things went wrong obviously 🙈
he did manage to go in sort of half way through (sorry for all the TMI!!!🙈) but it meant no big O. for me (if only that would sway!)
Do you think we still have a chance?
when is the best time for the one attempt?
I test with clearblue digital and get a smiley peak fertility on CD12 and CD13 which is usually ovulation day and negative outside these days.

[atomic sagebrush]

Shallow release has never been shown to sway and is based on that notion of X being hardy and long lived, and that has been completely debunked. Plus, it cuts odds of conception massively (I often have people who go on and on as I try every trick to help them conceive and then I find out they were doing shallow all that time. Once I have them drop it, they get pregnant right away.)

You do still have a chance though, there's always a chance!

I have people have their attempt at the first positive/solid peak because that's a good time to conceive with one attempt.

[Mrs.C.]

Can I just ask what can I still do in the 2ww?
I assume diet, exercise&folic acid are fine.
What about other supplements?
I believe Ca&Mg should be fine, but CoEnz Q10 probably not?
Are Ca&Mg ok to take in the 2ww?
And does my OH need to take a break from OLE at some point?
Thank you!

[atomic sagebrush]

Everything all month till BFP and then gradually wean off anything you intend to stop (and yes you wean off coq10 at BFP)

Hubby doesn't need a break from OLE> Hve him take it daily till BFP and then gradually wean off.

[Mrs.C.]

Can I just please ask, when it comes to teas, you mentioned everything up to 3 times a week to make sure it doesn't sway...
I caved and had about 3 mugs of green tea in a day. Only one day. I know the green tea swayed blue, but went off the diet anyway for a almost a week now. I think I actually put some of the weight back, as lost 3kg.

I am planning in skipping next month's cycle, to give me more time on the diet... As up until now I was constantly on and off it. Think it will be 5-6 weeks which I know is not a lot but hoping some of it I've done so far has helped too. This baby will be a lot in the making too, but I now have my son to focus on and things are definitely easier to cope with than when I was trying for him.
Do you think the diet helps even if you don't follow it constantly? I found it hard to keep to the limits and still lost weight. Every couple of weeks I dropped it (either around AF or holiday etc). Does it still work in this case?

Thank you!

[atomic sagebrush]

Why did you go off the diet? Just because? Sometimes people go off and on diet in the 2ww and I don't want you guys to do that. I would much rather see you relax on diet and keep going with most of it, even if it's not so strict, than give up totally. So just let me know how I can help with that.

a small amount of green tea, even all in one day like that, is no biggie.

You need to do diet constantly, yes, but it may not need to be so STRICT as you're possibly making it. can you tell me more about what you were eating?? I think you may have been being too restrictive and setting yourself up for failure. The LE Diet is meant to be easy, and if you find you can't stick to it easily, then there's something amiss and we need to figure out what that is. :)

[Mrs.C.]

Thanks for your reply!

I don't think I was that strict, I just have bad habits ��
I struggled all my life either with being close to anorexia in my teens or compulsive eating in my twenties. Since I was a child I've formed this habit of all or nothing so I tend to go long periods without food if busy with work for example or tend to have all of the day's calories in one go, at one meal. So if I have more meals in a day, as you would, I always eat big meals as that's what I am used to.
I so far kinda took advantage of my fast metabolism and I always ate a lot so sticking to 2000cal a day seems hard.
I really don't know what to eat to feel full AND stick within the limits so I tend to repeat a lot.
I eat a lot of bread, I could live on bread alone, I was never really into pasta and rice but started eating them now and most days is soups and veggie pasta, bread and cheese (as can't give these up), fruits...I am also lucky as I love veggies and fruits.
I don't really eat much meat as it is, so when I really feel down with the diet I tend to sin with either pastries or sweets or nuts/nut butters (peanut butter, almond, cashew etc) which are highly calorific and full of fats (and proteins for the nuts).
I tried eating from family's meals, but only smaller portions but is such hard work keeping track of calories, proteins and fats within the recipes, weighing stuff all the time..and you achieve the limits with just a tiny portion, seems it's not worth it! better stick to the same boring things I know the nutritional facts for.
And I don't purposely go off the diet in the 2ww (I only had 1 of those so far and it was not really a 2ww as our attempt was a fail), but I am hungrier around my period and find comfort in food.

So should I skip next month's cycle and give myself a little more time on the diet? I am just worried that I'll always fail, no matter how much time I try to delay it and start afresh.

[atomic sagebrush]

It sounds to me like you're eating the right types of foods. Were you tracking protein and fat too or just calories?

Quite a few people do go up even as high as 2200-2500, 65 g protein and fat so if you're having trouble eating less, you can try that. Still better than eating MORE if that makes sense.

You only need to track for a week or two. After that you should have the hang of it and can stop tracking.

I would likely not skip the month based on what you've told me.

[Mrs.C.]

Thank you, I now think we will skip this cycle as I have a scan scheduled for a suspected hernia and wouldn't want to fall pregnant as I have no idea whether you can sustain a pregancy and give birth with no risks if you have a hernia...

I was tracking cal,proteins and fats and kept to the limits (or close to them) as an average in a week...so if I would eat 4000cal and 3times the allowance of protein in one day (��) I would eat far less (or nothing) the day or days after or before that, so in a week I would average almost what it should.
But I had some days when I slipped and just let go as couldn't recover.

I had to give up legumes and beans, nuts and seeds, dairy I do eat but nowhere near how much I would want, all the meat, eggs etc...Fruits are restricted too, trying to stick more to vegetables...I don't think this diet is easy. �� But that's just me, I am a foodie ��

Thank you for all the advice, I will come back and update once I have my BFP! hoping no more questions now haha

[atomic sagebrush]

oh no I'm sorry to hear that


That is not how the LE Diet is done. There are not averages over a week. You need to stick in the limits every day. Having 4000 cals one day and no cals the next day is not going to work for your sway (because every time you have a lot of nutrients your body just holds on to everything) or for keeping you ovulating (because eating nothing, even if it's only a few times a week, feels like starvation and your body thinks it is not a good time to conceive.)

You can have legumes and beans, nuts and seeds, dairy, eggs, fruits, even as long as you stick in the limits. The limits are all that counts. Some people refuse to do the limits, and for THEM only, they may want to choose various foods. But anyone in the limits has freedom in the limits to eat all those things.

[Mrs.C.]

oh well, then it seems I haven't done any diet at all after all, as that's the best I could 🤷*♀️

I know everything is allowed, within the limits, but you are allowed so little of those foods if you want to stay within the limits that really is not worth it, as I feel I have an empty stomach all the time. I would rather fill myself on loads of veggies than eating just 30g of chicken.
Oh well...maybe this is not for me after all.

[atomic sagebrush]

As long as you've changed your diet in a more pink friendly way, it can still help, but I am just trying to get you your best chance at a girl and also make sure you stay healthy.

But you can have BOTH loads of veggies and the chicken. Low carb veggies are free and unlimited, so have as much as you want, no need to count them. Eat TONS of veggies, they're great! And then you can have the chicken TOO. You don't have to pick one or the other.

[Mrs.C.]

Sorry, yes, I know you have everyone's best interests at heart!

So even if I failed diet-wise, I wanted to ask about exercising...I took up running about 2-3 times a week for 1h and 10min, so around 13km. However, I did this for my mental health but I thought running was supposed to make you loose muscle. I have a 6pack now �� I don't like it.
I also gave up dancing/zumba as that sculpted my ab too and ended up with it anyway!
I am also sooooo hungry after running and it is usually then that I tend to go over board with food. I am thinking giving it up as so many people have success as coach potato!
(By the way, it was someone's successful sway on here with doing a lot of exercise and eating more because of it and then average it out over the next days that made me think it was all right)

Also, I still plan the one attempt (as long as my scan says I can ttc) but so many ladies seem to have success with 2-3 days cut off!! (albeit just the one) it can't be all coincidence. My concern is I will end up not pregnant at all as was doing that for a few months without knowing before having my son and never got pregnant...

So sorry for all the questions, is just that as we don't have that bfp it gives me a feeling I am still doing something.

[atomic sagebrush]

No need to apologize at all! I just want you to have your best sway while staying healthy.

You didn't fail dietwise. Whenever you make changes in a pink friendly way you still are helping your chances. Exercise is a GREAT pink sway. You have NOT added muscle. You simply lost the fat that was covering your muscle. Women do not lose fat without losing muscle. your muscle is actually smaller, it is just that you can better see iut now.

PLEASE PLEASE do not go couch potato. Couch potato has by far worse results than exercise.

If you are exercising, in many cases you have to eat more to compensate for that. But I don't want you figuring out how many calories you burned. I want you to simply let your weight loss be your guide. If you are losing too much weight, eat more. If you are under BMI 21, eat more. DO NOT calculate the amount of calories you supposedly burned from exercise and then eat that many more calories. That isn't at all reliable and makes you think about your food intake too much. So yes, if someone was exercising a lot, they likely had to eat more, but that wasn't the problem I have with eating more to compensate for exercise, it's more about doing the constant thinking about your food intake all the time.

Yes, it can all be coincidence. First of all, most people have no idea when they actually ovulate and are guessing about when they had sex in relation to their ovulation. Studies have shown that even experts cannot tell the day they ovulated even with charting, any better than one out of 3 times. Additionally, the vast majority of babies, boy or girl, are conceived O-2, O-1, or O Day. A small number more on O-3, and then a tiny amount O-4. But scientists using modern technology to accurately pinpoint ovulation (which the studies that supposedly support cutoffs for pink do NOT do) have proven that 50-50 boys and girls are conceived every day of the fertile window. So if most babies are conceived on a 3 day time period, well, of course you are going to find lots of girls conceived O-2. But you will also find lots of girls conceived O-1 and O Day. I got 3 of 4 boys conceived with cutoffs (the other was a sneak attack) and then my daughter very late at night between O-1 and O Day - technically on O Day (and my ovulation was confirmed by ultrasound). Since people can't know without either a blood test or ultrasound when they actually ovulated, the Internet is full of people who think they had a girl with cutoff timing or a boy on ovulation, but the truth is they don't know that and neither do you.

Cutoffs do really reduce your chance of conception. O-3 is a very challenging day to conceive with because sperm doesn't live that long many times, and if you're swaying it is even harder to conceive with O-3. O-2 is a better chance, but O-1 will be best for most people. O Day is often too late.

[sarahrose]

Thank you for this summary of cut off dates and conceiving! I read somewhere on here that you said it's the frequency that's more important is that right? Less/once for girls is more successful?

[Mrs.C.]

ahhh thank you!
yes, if I'm honest, all I have been doing all this time was thinking about calorie intake and limits 🙈

I know after a couple of weeks you're supposed to just know, but I never do, I always have to still weigh stuff!!
I never figured out calories burned through exercise, but when I run the apps are doing it for me. I never relied on eating more because of it but I felt I need more anyway haha. Like the app would show 800cal and I felt like eating far more than that.
My BMI is 18.3, don't know how that is as I eat so much!

I think it all makes sense with the cut off days, is just that since looking into swaying seems like everyone's success is more and more with this, but you are right I guess. Plus, I will already do just one attempt and the diet as best as I can (think I'll stop counting now though as is so consuming) and then it's already been a few months, I don't want to go trying for months on end on top of it all (assuming the abdominal scan on Monday shows everything ok and lets us ttc)

Thank you so so much for not getting bored coming back again and again to reply to my questions!

[atomic sagebrush]

Thank you for this summary of cut off dates and conceiving! I read somewhere on here that you said it's the frequency that's more important is that right? Less/once for girls is more successful?

What we call frequency is different than number of attempts, so just in the interest of clarity I'll say that frequency - which is the frequency that your husband ejaculates prior to attempt - has not seemed to add anything to our success rates.

Number of attempts HAS seemed to sway. One attempt has been successful for pink. 2 attepts was less successful than one but better than 3. 3 attempts was terrible, getting only about 43% girls even with great pink sways. 4 attempts seemed better than 3, but not as good as two - but that is likely because people who had 4+ attempts were counting attempts that were prior to the fertile window.

So I would strongly suggest starting with one attempt and seeing if you can get pregnant that way. At most we'd ever want to have 2 attempts in the fertile window. (e4d plus one more attempt does count as just 2 attempts, and there's a big complicated explanation for this if you want to hear it) But start with one, then try e4d, then e4d plus one more at pos OPK.

[atomic sagebrush]

Since you're already quite thin you have a lot more leeway on diet mistakes than other people. But please don't lose any more weight. So if you start exercising more again you are going to have to eat some more, but let your weight be your guideline rather than an equation about how many calories you burned.

If you want to start off with timing that's your choice always, I just wanted to explain how yes, it can actually be coincidence, and then when scientists study it and eliminate the coincidence, it doesn't really work. But to start with you can absolutely use timing, jsut be sure you drop it before adding attempts.

[Mrs.C.]

thank you, no, what I meant was I will do the one attempt at positive OPK as don't want to be trying for ages. It might take a few months to catch anyway so don't think I want more time wasted with cut offs as that has been proven to not work for us anyway in terms of conceiving. 👍

[Mrs.C.]

good to see this thread is useful for someone else too! 👏

[Mrs.C.]

Ok so today had my appt for my suspected hernia...I got there and they realised they don't actually do that kind of scans there so had to be referred to the hospital...needless to say, after not sleeping well and stressing so much about it and waiting for it for a month and a half I broke down in tears, I was so upset.
So I decided I am not waiting on a diagnosis or action plan or okay, we will just start trying this month and hope for the best.


However, I now seem to have another problem. My cycles have been on the shorter side since having my boy, 25days, with a 12 days LP. I now seem to have started spotting 11DPO so getting even shorter. Could I take any Vitex or B6 supplements or would that interfere with the diet? how long will they take to work?

Thank you

Edited to add: I have now been offered an emergency appt with the hospital now, for Thursday, seeing that I was very distressed with it all and that it would have taken another 4weeks at least to be referred again.
And also scratch the spotting, seems like now is more like the light start of my period, making my LP just 10 days...it was 13 days last month, so hoping that the stress and everything just caused a one off...
Does stress sway blue? I am very stressed usually, with every little thing and this month in particular as had lots going on. Would lavender help? or peppermint tea?

[atomic sagebrush]

10-12 day LP is long enough to get pregnant with. A 25 day cycle with 12 day LP is entirely normal and no cause for concern whatsoever. A day of spotting is typically at the end of the LP anyway, count CD 1 from the first day of red flow.

PLEASE do not take Vitex or B6. Not only did both of them get poor results for swaying, but they also caused FAR more harm than good. In the vast majority of cases people ended up with not only a short LP (in many cases shorter than it had been to start with) but also with a delayed ovulation for their trouble. And even when that didn't happen, vitex in particular seemed to prevent conception for quite a few people, which makes sense given that it was once used as birth control in the Middle Ages.

Stress does not sway blue. Stress sways PINK and has been shown in studies to sway pink. Being a control freak sways blue (and people feel stressed, but it is NOT that uncontrollable life stress if it is self-inflicted), so all this

Peppermint tea, much like vitex, can delay or even stop ovulation and shorten LP. No peppermint tea.

Lavender - if you find the smell of lavender soothing that's fine, but please don't get control freakish about it - remember being a control freak is what sways blue! So rather than go out and buy everything lavender and set up this complicated schedule of when to use it, just get like 1-2 lavender products and use them whenever. Don't turn "stress relief" into a control freak project that would sway way more blue for you than stress ever could!!

[Mrs.C.]

Thank you so much for replying once again!
I think I must be beating the record on the site with so many questions! ��

I have read a thread about exercise and seems like I have been doing it all wrong. I am a moderate exerciser, I run once or twice a week 13km, about 1h and 10min. For my sanity really. And then I walk taking my son into nursery 20min in, 20min out, 2 times a day, 3 times a week. And then I walk here and there, as I don't drive. But not to exert myself. Have I done it all wrong now? I don't have the time to run 1h every day and it kills my knees. I don't really like anything else. I sometimes dance.
Seems like the more I read, the more quesions I have!
I should stop reading about the subject now and just go with what I have.

Anyway, I wasn't thinking buying all lavender! I have some essential oil sitting around and I burn that from time to time, thinking it might help with sleep and relaxing, don't really think it sways... I am enough of a control freak even without the lavender though! but that's just who I am, can't help it.

I am hoping this month was a fluke, but if my LP stays at 10days, I would really want to increase that as I think me dieting has cutting it down by 2 days. But maybe is just a one off.

Thank you once again x

[atomic sagebrush]

As long as you've lost at least a little weight on a lower protein diet don't worry about the exercise. I prefer 60 minutes but it is part of your life to do that walking. Just keep doing what you're doing. But I do want to let you know, you don't need to run. Walking is absoultely fine. Hardly anyone is running for an hour because we get too easily injured.

:agree: ok if you already have the lavender it's fine. You would be surprised sometimes when people tell me they're going to add lavender, then they come back and say "ok I just bought a lavender farm in Vermont LOL" (I'm obviously exaggerating, just that's why I warn you LOL.

I would consider adding in 1 serving of full fat dairy daily, 4-6 eggs a week, a serving of salmon if you like it, red meat if you don't, every week. That is our fix for short LP. Vitex and B6, I PROMISE, are not worth the much greater risk that they mess things up. I don't want you to end up with a delayed O and still a short LP.

[Mrs.C.]

ooohhh thank you!!!
If I'm honest, I was running for my own benefit, it helps me mentally and emotionally, not for the diet ��
I did lose almost 2-3kg since starting the LE diet (or swaying, as didn't do the LE very good). Hoping to keep steady now.
Can I keep running in the pattern that I do or is better to not to and just keep the walking?

That makes sense, fixing the diet before adding supplements etc as I am sure I brought it on myself by eating crap. Trouble is none of those things (eggs, red meat, salmon) seem to fit in my version of the LE diet. I do eat full fat dairy though and will try up the eggs at least.

I know I said no questions anymore, but hopefully the last ones��
What is the deal with cinnamon?? I do like it and eat tonnes but had no idea it was not recommended or that people use it to sway! one of my favourite meals is milk rice with apples and cinnamon �� Hopefully I can carry on enjoying it? have not experienced any side effects ��*♀️
Also, if the one attempt does not work, what is the next step and after how many months? I don't want to try for a year or so and not become pregnant then come to the conclusion we needed more frequency...that said with our son was every other day over fertile window and every day O.-1,O.day, O.+1 and still took us 4months...but just don't know when could be that the one is not enough.

[atomic sagebrush]

If you can view your exercise as being for some other reason that's even better! Doing these activities while you think every second "I AM DOING THIS TO EARN A GIRL" is that type of control freakishness that may sway blue anyway.

You can absolutely keep running if you want to. Just wanted you to know you don't have to.

By this point, 10 years on, I have helped a LOT of people get girls and my recommendation for short LP has been to add those things in. I do it all the time, and our results are at their highest now than they ever were (with the most people doing them!) So regardless of how you envisioned the LE Diet, to fix the issue, you need a certain set of nutrients, and none of them are vitex, LOL. If you'd like to just try the dairy and eggs first before adding in the salmon, that's fine, but one serving of salmon, truly, cannot make a boy (it's about 15-20 g protein, 6 g fat or so - that is NOTHING!) but it might give ya just enough of that good fishy fat and a little zinc and iodine that can help you get pregnant!

Cinnamon is something I recommend only for people who have more than 50 lbs to spare or moderate to severe PCOS. It is not a supplement I use for many people because people will have their blood sugar go TOO low on LE Diet. But anyone swaying pink can have it in dietary amounts. You're fine to continue having that.

I do not ever have anyone go a year trying without dropping things to boost odds of conception. I would have you go a couple months and then go to e4d, then e4d plus one, then SMEP long before we got to the one year mark. The time at which we add attempts is to some extent at your discretion - some people want to wait a long time before adding attempts, and others want to get pregnant faster. Completely up to you.

[Mrs.C.]

Just a quick update from me...
we have our BFP!
Praying and hoping is a sticky one but now is just a waiting game I guess...
I really believe in a mother's instinct when it comes to gender and I thought of this baby as being a girl, but now I am not convinced and think I just convinced myself as I was doing the swaying and was constantly in my head. Plus, it was conceived similar period as my son (a month apart) so perhaps another boy! oh well... we are fine either way, the important thing is that it's healthy and will probably try harder on the sway for our 3rd☺
Will come back to update when we'll know after our NIPT.
Many thanks again for all your support!!

[atomic sagebrush]

Huge congrats!! Whenever gender desire comes into play intuition (even if it is reliable for some people sometimes) is just not reliable any more.

My sister and brother are a month apart! That just doesn't matter.

Good luck and pink dust headed your way!

[Mrs.C.]

Update from me...NIPT says boy!
so the "swaying " failed for me.
I was sad to begin with (I could not believe how sad actually!) and I feel embarrassed but I just couldn't help it. I am hoping once I get used to the idea, I will feel happier. And secretly hoping/praying NIPT was wrong, although I know that is extremely unlikely.
I think the only thing I have regrets for was not doing 2-3 days cut off, as much as Shettles is a myth, it seems to have high rate of success.
Thank you for all the help xx

[atomic sagebrush]

I'm sorry it didn't go your way - how can we help?

[Mrs.C.]

Aw thanks, didn't receive a notification for a reply received, so only just seen your message x

It's okay, I was in 2 minds to begin with, wishing a girl for myself selfishly and a boy for my son, but it's just we only wanted 2 or max 3 and now I don't know if I would have a 3rd one as I am definitely not able to accept another son.

I think what didn't work for me was the control freakishness. I think if I were to sway again, I would do my research, select the things I was comfortable in doing and then stay away from the subject and sites and baby center. I also think I should have given the cut off a chance, since we were not in a hurry for a BFP we could have waited and seen if I get pregnant like that. Think I was on the diet for a while and got impatient!

Anyway... I might come back on here and purchase a pack, but for now...I am just too afraid to think I'll try again, just in case is another boy!

Many thanks for the help nevertheless x

[atomic sagebrush]

Yep that is a great strategy if you tend to be controlling. I truly think boys should come in pairs like shoes! I hope you have a wonderful experience raising two boys.