SO confused! Trying to sway pink!

[sarahrose]

Hi there! I’m new here and trying to get my head around everything. I have 2DS and will be swaying pink. I love my boys so much but this time really want a DD! I found the Baby Dust Method about 6 months ago and decided to follow that after reading the book and seeing the evidence but I have since seen so many Moms posting “failed sway” and I tried to research everything I could do to increase my chances! I started IF about a 4-6 weeks ago, as well as taking LR, cranberry and Cal/Mag tablets. DH was taking LR too. I was hoping to ttc in Sept (2 DS’s born in Sept and want a diff bday for 3rd child) but now I’ve found this site and I feel like I can’t now because I haven’t been following the LE diet (only for the last week) and will have to for about 3 months for a better chances. I also read a post on here about autoimmune conditions and can sway boy? I have psoriasis (which is common). I read you recommended another Mom go gluten free and that gluten free has had good results for swaying pink? Do you still think that because I feel like following the LE diet and going GF will make it hard to eat anything! Then I’m so confused about whether I should have full cream or low fat dairy? And low carb veggies? So no sweet pot etc. I feel like I can’t eat anything that will make me full! I already feel like I can’t eat anything because everything seems to sway blue! I have a lower BMI of 19 and am BF 3 times a day. DS is 11 months so doesn’t need so much was going to wean back but saw BF could sway pink? Can I recap from what I’ve read on your site, PH diets have little/no evidence? Cal/Mag diets have little evidence? As do cal mag supps? Although I read it increases chances to 80% for girl sway? Also not sure what supps to take. Have been taking fibre with each meal (for the last week), folate and stopped LR and CR (also because it delayed O for about 2 days – even though I stopped a few days prior to expected O). Read your post about LR and scared me. Should I be taking Myo Insinol? Or Vit B6? Could I possibly take a couple leading up to O? DH taking OLE only. Was also going to do alcohol but read that its bad for psoriasis so maybe should steer clear? Don’t drink coffee but wondering whether I need to take it up just for the sway although same issue, bad for psoriasis. Sorry, just so confused and want to do everything I possibly can to do this right! I want my baby girl so bad! Please help!

[atomic sagebrush]

yep that's what lots of people have been telling me. Babydust is just not a good method, based on completely outdated info.

Breastfeeding does sway pink but we need to be sure you don't cut back too far on diet because it's easier to stop ovulation.

With the psoriasis I want you on a whole grain, gluten free (within reason) diet. Eat 1800-2000 cals, 50-60 g protein and fat (not counting the pro and fat in fruit and veg, and nothing in low carb vegetables, they're free and unlimited), full fat dairy only. You can have sugar with this (some forms of this diet eliminate sugar but you need it to keep weight stable)

:agree: yep cal-mag diets and pH diets don't work. Only reducing nutrients overall seems to work. The supposed "80%" involved changes in overall diet, not just the minerals. The people who sell these diets pretend it was minerals, but they had people eat different amounts of everything, not only minerals. The pink diet is much more liek LE Diet, and the blue diet is much more HE. It's fine if you want to take cal-mag in addition to doing LE Diet, just don't have tons of dairy (very nutrient dense) and don't take vitamin D with the Cal-mag.

I don't want you taking fiber given your low BMI and that you're breastfeeding.

NO LR and cranberry. Not safe when nursing for sure and not safe period. I cannot believe people recommend it, so very dangerous.

Do not take myoinositol. You are not in the group that needs it and it will likely mess up your cycle with your low weight.

B6 sways blue and has really messed up people's cycles.

It's up to you on the alcohol and coffee. I would try it and see if it aggravates the psoriasis. But if you prefer not to, you can still sway without it.

[sarahrose]

Thank you so much for all of this! I really appreciate it! I've now gone GF and started implementing all your recommendations. This may seem like a funny thing to say but, how do I make sure I am making sure my diet is not too nutritious dense if I'm consuming protein, all veggies, fruit and dairy (not too much of course as you suggested). I just need to make sure all nutrients are within the limits/rdi for the day, is this right? So I'm not getting to much nutrition from foods? If vegetables aren't limited, will I be getting too much nutrition? I read what you had written in another forum about the LE being a healthy diet, but in a way I am wondering how to reduce my maternal condition enough. I think I am noticing other people's diets are quite restricted and mainly nutrient low e.g. lunch is a piece of toast with jam. Thanks again Atomic Sagebrush!

[atomic sagebrush]

Don't worry about anything other than protein, fat, and calories. Then drop multivitamins/prenatals, and avoid highly fortified foods like power bars and breakfast cereals. (some fortification in bread and pasta is unavoidable and fine)

The people eating toast and jam are doing it wrong. We are eating massive amounts of vegetables on LE Diet and our results are better than ever. The nutrients in fruit and veg have not proven to sway, it's the highly fortified stuff.

I promise, this is my diet, I invented it, and I'm the one giving you the straight truth here (sometimes people think I'm describing some other person's diet and thus I might not be getting the info right). Low carb veg are free and unlimited, have as much as you want, don't even bother counting them. High carb veg and fruit are limited only by calories, you don't count the protein in them. this is what has gotten us the best results!

[sarahrose]

Thank you so much! Yes, I know it's your diet which is why I thought I better ask you if I had understood it right even after seeing some of the things others are eating. People seem to be doing all sorts of diet combinations and misinterpretations! Yes, I definitely dropped the prenatals as soon as I saw on here that you had advised just folate. Dropped all fortified foods etc. Because we have to avoid snacking and make sure there is a good period of time between meals, is the diet similar to a diabetic/pre-diabetic diet? If so, I've read that they suggest having some snacks in between because if your blood sugar goes too low between meals it spikes when you do eat. Has this ever been a problem for anyone or is it safest to just avoid any snacks? I've been pretty strict but I notice it's pretty easy to meet/exceed the protein and fat quota on my fitness pal, especially with full fat dairy. Also, is there another app to use becuase it won't let me increase my daily caloric intake. I've begun drinking coffee (now I don't know how I ever lived without it! THANK YOU). I drink it in the mornings (while still fasting) I measure out a coffee with milk and sugar to make sure all ingredients add up to at or just under 50 cal. That's ok right? I read something where you said you had coffee with sugar and splash of milk in the mornings too so think I'm on track? Also, do sweeteners count or drinks like Coke Zero between meals? Sometimes I use coke zero to get me through to the next meal. Or could I have another 50 cal coffee between my 2 meals to tie me over until I can eat again? Al, I'm wondering if I buy a plan. If I do, will it be tailored to my specific dietary requirements (BFing, GF etc?).

I can't get clomid here in Australia but I desperately want to do anything I can to increase my chances of having a girl so is there an alternative or do you know of any ways Australians have gotten clomid? At the moment I'm just taking the folate like you recommended. Are you sure there isn't anything else you would recommend I take?

DH has been on OLE for about 6 weeks. Should he take LR too? I also read a study showing that only a large amount of exercise changes the ratio of a man conceiving a girl so do you think even just light exercise will make a difference (DH is very sedentary)? I'm not sure what you think of this (or what I do) but if DH needs to use herbisides in the garden should I ask him to wait till O because I've also read that men who work with herbicides also have lower testosterone and have more girls (please don't think I'm silly for asking)?

Thanks so much! I know I have lots of questions but looking at everything out there, I feel like all the information you have gathered and this diet is the most logical way to increase my chances of having a little girl. I don't just want to do what I have read everyone else is doing because they're all mashing up different information, even things super outdated without any evidence.

Thanks again so much!

[atomic sagebrush]

Yep if I had it to do all over again I would not call it "low everything" because I think people hear the name and then decide what it means on their own.

It is not similar to a prediabetic diet (well, it may be, but that is not the fundamental point of the diet). We don't want you guys snacking between meals. We want your body to have to burn off some stores of fat as fuel rather than always having easily available carbs to keep your blood sugar high. It doesn't matter if your blood sugar rises when you eat, that is normal. It will go down again in time, but not if you're munching all day.

We have by far better results with people who don't graze all day and stick to the 2-3 meals rather than munching.

My Fitness Pal, since they count protein and fat in fruit and veg, is oftentimes overestimating the amount you're actually getting. So if you're going over a bit but are still including fruit and veg in your total, you're probably fine.

My favorite app is called "paper and pen" and while it takes a day or two to learn how to use it, it's the best way to go because you're only tracking the things that matter and can let go of worrying/wondering about all the other stuff the apps report on. Plus it's way more reliable since you don't count the protein and fat in fruit and veg and nothing in low carb veg (the ones that don't taste sweet and starchy)

While some sugar in my coffee was my preferred treat, I knew and accepted that I was likely negatively affecting my chances by doing so. I prefer you guys avoid sugar When I say "50 cals" that is just because a lot of people need a tangible number to reach for and so we can keep using the creamers in our coffee, and NOT because I then want everyone to have sugar to get up to 50 cals, if that makes sense. So I'd rather see you use artificial sweeteners or nothing in the coffee.

But yes, artificial sweetener is ok between meals, as is coffee.

The custom plans are everything BUT diet. We investigated doing custom diets but we quickly realized they would take so long that I'd have to charge a huge amount of money for them, and from experience trying to follow premade diets myself, I already knew they actually suck. You end up getting some foods and recipes you may not even like or know how to cook, foods you can't find, that kind of thing. So then in the coaching service that comes with the plan, I work with you to help you tweak your diet (which YOU are the expert in!) using foods that you already know, have access to, and you and your family will eat, to come up with a diet plan that will work for you. I know it seems like it would be easier if I just told you what to eat, but the truth is, it really really isn't, and for the sake of your sway (avoiding taking on huge projects and thinking about your sway constantly) it is best to simply tweak what you eat normally to be more pink friendly.

I promise I don't hold back any secret info that I then make you ask and ask me for LOL. I share everything with you guys up front, right from the get-go (whether or not you buy a plan). It's just that none of the supplements even work. We even had a statistician analyze our results and prove that the supplements weren't working. Not only that but they all have side effects, some of which are quite disruptive and may evne make it more likely that you'll have to stop swaying and do things to boost fertility (all of which sway blue) You can't take fiber for the reasons I already mentioned and I just don't use any of the other stuff any more.

LR got absolutely HORRIBLE results for us. While I do keep it around for those who still insist on it, we got far more boys than girls on it and that was with otherwise good pink sways (and blue swayers,if you're reading this, please don't give it to your husband as on paper it "should" sway pink and has other nasty side effects besides. I don't want you to take the chance)

Yes, I believe even light exercise makes a difference. The mechanism is the same - the testicles experience heat and pressure - even with a little exercise. Just because it wasn't obvious in that study doesn't mean that the effect isn't real. Remember, the men in that study are not doing other things to sway pink (and may have been doing things that would sway blue) so it's not going to be an obvious effect necessarily, but we will still see the results.

I don't understand why you'd ask your husband to wait to use the herbicide? Those things stay in the body a while, and of course sperm takes 72 days or so to form so any sperm in development when he uses them would be affected. I would not have him take any chances or use more than he normally would, of course!

:agree: That is GREAT! The thing to keep in mind is that all these people mashing up all those old theories that have been debunked end up having side effects some of which delay or even stop ovulation (so they have to go off diet just to get their cycle going again), make it harder to conceive - so you go on so long you get sick of swaying and are more likely to give it up completely, or have negative health effects for those using them, evne possibly causing miscarriage (like Licorice Root). There's just no point to taking things and doing things since they aren't helping and are only hurting!

[sarahrose]

Oh good to know re no snacking. That's what I've been doing. I couldn't find the app "paper and pen" is that the exact name because I used that but couldn't find it. Could you please post a link if that's ok? Ok, I didn't realise I also needed to keep sugar levels down at mealtimes also (going to be tough). The more I learn about the diet the more I realise why I got boys with the way I used to eat! Snacking, high protein, carbs, fat, sugar pretty much high everything diet! I understand what you mean by it being too difficult to provide prescriptive plans. I just want to make sure I'm doing the right thing and I keep finding that I haven't got it perfect. I'll keep trying. I cannot just tweak what I was eating but had to do a full 180 because my diet was the opposite of pink friendly!

SO fascinating about the LR for men and the results! Ok will encourage exercise for my husband.

Yes, I've thought the same about swaying since I've seen huge numbers of chemical pregnancies and miscarriage on the FB groups I follow. Also, I noticed CR delay my ovulation and reading about some of the things people do with douching and all the supps and highly acidic foods I really do wonder how they end up ever getting pregnant. BTW, I don't know how to not be thinking about my sway all the time. Will it really hurt my sway that much? I can't help but think about it always and whether I'm doing the right things to help it! It's also hard to be patient while I wait 12 weeks on the diet before we can try although I'm worried I may be too scared to when we do get there!

Thanks for all this! You're the best!

[atomic sagebrush]

That was a little joke, I meant, actually write it down with paper and a pen. :)

If you're doing the alternate diet (for PCOS, insulin resistance, with more than 30-50 lbs to spare, over 40, poor egg quality) you need to avoid sugary stuff all the time. But if you're on the standard diet, you can have sugar at meals only. The reason why I say "sugar was possibly jeopardizing my sway" was not because sugar in and of itself is bad, in fact most people can have sugar within the cal ranges. It was because I was having it in my morning coffee. If I had been having it with a meal it would have been fine.

:agree: I think the supplements were behind many of the losses. Our rates of losses has plummeted since we stopped focusing on supplements. I agree about wondering how people get pregnant, and I have come to think that many people are not being quite honest about what they were really doing when they conceived. We have had people on this site not getting pregnant doing only just the barest minimum things to sway, so it really makes me doubt what some other people are claiming. I think it's just in human nature to maybe exaggerate a little bit on that, or to mention things that they did at the start and forget to say that they dropped it the month they got pregnant, that kind of thing. It's not really their faults, it's that some of the other sites are very mean to people who don't do everything under the sun to sway and people worry they'll be blamed if their sway doesn't work out. So they keep those things to themselves.

You're not going to be able to keep yourself from thinking about your sway SOME. What we are trying to avoid is doing unnecessary things like making daily schedules, colorcoded charts, all these sway tactics that do nothing but take all this thought and micromanaging (like testing your pH every 30 minutes, checking your CM constantly, that kind of thing). Do the barest minimum of what you need to do to have a successful sway, and then just accept that it's going to be on your mind at times. That's normal. I don't want you to replace obsessing over your sway with obsessing over obsessing!!! Just cut out the extraneous stuff that doesn't work and takes a bunch of control freakishness and you'll be just fine. :)

[sarahrose]

Haha!!! And there I was searching through the app store for that app! Lol!
Ok re sugar, is it ok to have in my morning coffee with milk if combined the coffee is under 50 cal (as I have calculated it with the app)?
Interesting re supplements and losses. I can't tell you how glad I am that I found you before we started trying! I would have relied on the babydust method and Cranberry, LR and with my diet the way it was I would have likely taken ages to get pregnant, gotten another boy and have put my baby at risk with the supps! I definitely haven't been doing any PH stuff and my OPK tracking has been lazier than what is recommended (I track a few days before I usually ovulate until I get the peak, then stop). And CM confuses me so I haven't bothered really tracking that. So glad that that's all ok though! I am so relieved I have found this diet. I have never felt so full of energy! And coffee is awesome! I do struggle to fit a glass of white wine into my overall cal allowance while making sure I am having enough fat and protein to feel full but I'll get there. I feel like even if the sway doesn't work, I will have learned a lot about how many calories my body really needs, how much I actually eat and now I know how snacking affects blood sugar so I will be able to regulate that which is really important! Thanks!

[atomic sagebrush]

I'm really sorry, I won't make that mistake again! :)

I prefer that you don't have the sugar, but it is your call. I only tossed out the "50 cal" idea just because people had asked me and asked me so I set that as a limit, but I never intended for people to then have up to 50 cals and think it's with my blessing. We allow the cream/milk in coffee just because people can't do the coffee otherwise (even if it goes over 50 cal) and I prefer you guys not do sugar (even though I chose to have that as a cheat).

I'm glad you found us too!! I worry a lot about what people are doing on other sites but I can't control them all, unfortunately.

it's ok if you have to bend the rules to include the wine, as long as you don't gain weight.

[sarahrose]

Haha, don't be sorry! It's hilarious that I was like "hmm where's the pen and paper app" without thinking!:D:D
I think I've done enough trawling and researching then I keep finding information which makes me feel like I need to go back to the beginning and reset the 3 month timer! I delayed conception another 3 months after finding out about the LE diet. I had tracked my cycles with OPK's in preparation for using the babydust method then found Gender Dreaming and began the LE diet then realised it wasn't just the content of my diet but managing blood sugar so stopped snacking etc then have felt like I keep changing what I am and am not allowed to eat because I read something new. I also find it really hard to count calories accurately. I began IF in June/July. Then at the start of September I started the LE diet with proper blood sugar management (cut out snacking and gave long periods between my 2 meals), cut out Gluten and night shades (to manage inflammation for my autoimmune condition), introduced coffee (now at 2 cups per day) and having 1 alcoholic drink almost every day. I was planning to begin TTC at the end of Nov.

I mistakenly thought that exercise was for the weight loss part and because I had to maintain my weight I didn't think I needed to do the 60 mins cardio. I though as long as I was avoiding any strengthening exercise and exercising a bit more was fine but have just found your essay about choosing either couch potato or 60 mins of daily cardio for girl sway and am now worried. I have been doing about 10,000 steps a day from incidental exercise and walks with the kids. When I conceived my boys I was pretty sedentary and would only do about 2000-3000 steps a day (no cardio or muscle building). So I'm pretty active now in comparison. Have I hurt my sway significantly? Should I start again and reset another 3 months?

I definitely can't do the 60 mins cardio as I've been losing far too much weight. I would have to do couch potato but that's tricky with kids. I'm not sure how to do this diet correctly. I feel like I can never get the balance right! It's also hard because no GF items are really wholegrain and they are not very filling or long burning. I haven't been able to go vegetarian because I get too hungry. I've been eating mostly rice and rice/corn cakes for my carbs. I've also had to eat a bit of meat with my lunch. I have a normal serving of meat for dinner each night.
for LUNCH it's mostly 4 corn cakes with ricotta cheese and maybe some sliced deli chicken meat and cauliflower, bean, coconut cream soup and for DINNER it's some sliced chicken breast on basmati rice with cauliflower, broccoli, and a pear and rocket salad with parmesan and balsamic/olive oil combo. I'll eat yoghurt and berries for supper if I'm really hungry or a bowl of low fat ice-cream. I have struggled to avoid sugary snacks like chocolate many nights of the week straight after dinner or as my supper. I'm BF 3 times a day. I've gone from 114 pounds to 101. What should I do? I really don't want to wait because it could still take a few months to conceive, and I'm not getting any younger but I would never forgive myself for not doing it properly just for the sake a few months. It's not worth it if that means I don't get my girl (well give it the best shot)! Can you point me to your essays that you think I need to read first or anything else I need to do or plans if you think I should get one. Just not sure if I'm doing this right. Or does it sound pretty right? Thank you again! You really have been so helpful! It means so much!

[atomic sagebrush]

It's harder to do the diet when you have other concerns but the good news is we have seen a lot of pink swayers who went gluten free and ended up with girls after that.

The change you need to make RIGHT HERE AND NOW which will fix a lot is that you need to eat full fat foods. No more low fat stuff. You can also go to 3 meals a day. It doesn't need to be two meals, both 2 and 3 are fine on LE Diet. And eating vegetables is fine, but the fat and protein in fruit and veg we do not count at all (meaning you need to hit 40-50 g protein and 50-60 g fat (your fat intake needs to be quite a bit higher) WITHOUT counting the protein and fat in fruit and veg. And for low carb veg like cauliflower, broccoli, etc you don't' count anything, not even calories they're free and unlimited.

Chicken breast is ok, but the catch with it is that it's quite low fat and low cal for the amount of protein you're getting. so you quickly "spend" your protein and have eaten barely any fat and cals. I would like to see you possibly focus more on nuts, legumes, full fat dairy, eggs, and soy foods (3 times a week) all of which will have more fat and/or calories than the chicken breast will.

I think that here and now you should probably not do any more exercise than you're doing. While I might have had a different opinion had I got in back when your weight was 114, you've lost wayyy too much and we cannot possibly have you add in any exercise now.

I would go ahead and have you try from now. I'm worried any more postponing will end up with your ovulation stopping and we'd have a hard job ahead of us getting it going again.

[sarahrose]

Thanks Atomic! I've been eating full fat dairy just as you had recommended and have eaten legumes and nuts here and there. I avoided eggs and nut butters as I had read you had said they're very high in nutritional value. I will include a couple of eggs a week and up the legumes. I'm sorry I haven't seemed to do the LE diet right. I have found it so hard because I was trying to stick to the fat and protein limits but every time I would enter a meal/or food into my fitness pal for calorie counting, it would show a warning of my limits and that I was close. For example, my salad with parmesan cheese and a little olive oil would take up a third of my fat intake?!? It just made me really have to limit a lot of foods to fit into the protein and fat limits. Despite this, I haven't included the cals from low carb veg and have been eating potatoes and other higher carb veggies in moderation. GF diet I introduced when I started LE because of what I'd read on here about inflammatory and auto immune swaying blue. Do you think GF improves my chances of swaying pink or wholegrain would have been better?

I'll be ovulating in less than a week. If I try from NOW then I'll have done IF for about 4 months but I'll have only been doing the LE diet, coffee and alcohol for 6-8 weeks and I was hoping to do at least 10-12 weeks and do all I could to make sure my sway was as strong as possible. Do you think all things considered my sway is strong enough or do you thinks my maternal condition has reduced enough? If we should be attempting to conceive in a few days, is there anything else I should be doing? I see so many people add things in the AF-O period. I had quite a few sugary cheats during AF this month because I couldn't control myself. When I said I wasn't getting younger, its because I want to have this baby before 35 if I can but it's not dire. I just want to make sure that I've done the proper things to sway instead of just going for it before my body is at the ideal condition and then not conceive a girl. I would love to try this month but do you think I have a high chance of swaying girl considering what you know about my sway? Thank you so much for your help xo

Also, I've just tracked every calorie consumed today, eating typical LE diet foods and I'm just over the protein and fat limits (no meat consumed today). I'm not sure how to stabilise my weight but I have definitely stuck to the protein and fat limits you recommended. I haven't been having less. #I'mtrying

ANOTHER thing. Hubby has been taking OLE. I thought he was taking 2 of the tablets as we had discussed. Today I found out that he confused the dosage and has only been taking one capsule a day of 3500mg. This dosage is too low to reduce sperm motility/health isn't it?

[atomic sagebrush]

You can have eggs and nut butters WITHIN LIMITS. Both eggs and nut butters have a mystical reputation as "pink sway foods" so I regularly get people here eating 12 eggs a day and a jar of peanut butter a week who think they're swaying pink because they eat "magic foods". But foods don't sway, it's the overall nutrient content of your diet that sways. Unfortunately many people won't track their meals and only eat "magic foods" and it is them who should limit those foods. You can have them within limits.

If gluten free is not for medical reasons, it's just another thing to track, and I would choose the option that will work best for YOU to keep weight on.

You can go up to 50-60 g for both protein and fat. If you were aiming too low on fat intake upping that somewhat (which you desperately need to do to prevent any more weight loss) will help.

Twelve weeks has gotten best results but anything longer than 6 was acceptable. It's your call on that. I would personally wait and try to keep weight on.

3500 mg is a massive dose of OLE. Do you mean 350??

[atomic sagebrush]

And if need be we can even expand the fat and protein by 5 g and the cals to 2000+ to keep weight on. You can't keep losing weight, though.

[sarahrose]

Since giving up gluten and nightshades really quickly my auto immune inflam response must have settled because my psoriasis improved. I'm not sure what it is. I've changed so many things in my diet I have no idea what it is but I have had a little flare up this last week so who knows whether it's something I've eaten or just hormonal. Considering it's been so much better since I cut out the gluten (with some cheats here and there), I thought I better stick to that.

I feel like I'm faced with this conundrum right now. Before starting the LE diet, I used to have a very high calorie diet and eat very frequently and large meals and my weight was stable. I don't think my body will be able to maintain weight within the fat and protein limits (as I've been going a bit over anyway) and I'm concerned that I will either continue to lose weight if I don't increase it by a lot (I'm not sure though) and perhaps stop ovulation or on the other hand, I will have to really up limits to and then will end up swaying blue/eat in a boy friendly way (increase maternal condition) in coming months and risk swaying blue with future month tries. I don't have scales and it was only by weighing myself at someone else's house that I saw how much weight I'd lost. This is so frustrating. I only started LE on the 24th of Aug but I can't quite remember how well I did it or whether I knew all the information and I don't think I stopped the snacking between meals (because I didn't know I needed to) until the start of Sept, which is when I also introduced coffee and alcohol.
If we did try this month it's probably unlikely that we would conceive anyway but my sway would be:

IF - 4 months
LE Diet - approx 8-10 weeks
Coffee - 7 weeks
Alcohol - 8 weeks
BF - 3 x's per day
Exercise - moderate (for me. I was very sedentary with my boys) (also, I think I've lost muscle mass)
DH on OLE and IF most days

Re OLE, this is an excerpt of the ingredients "Each capsule contains Olea europaea (Olive) leaf extract 350mg, equivalent to 3.5g (3,500mg) fresh leaf, providing 66mg Oleuropein". I was reading the "equivalent" bit. So is this a good amount? Should he be having 1 or 2 capsules?

Anyway, I seriously have no idea what to do now?

[atomic sagebrush]

:agree: absolutely. Anyone doing any type of diet for health reasons (including mental health!) should carry on doing that and we focus on swaying in other ways. I consider psoriasis for medical reasons. Some people do it because they saw me tell someone that I'd seen a lot of people get girls on a gluten free diet (true) and then assume that means everyone should do it (not true).

Regarding maternal condition, ANY changes you make in the direction of pink is fine. If you were eating 3000 cals a day and you go to 2500 that still sways pink. If you were eating 100 g protein and you go to 70, that still sways pink. If you can't cut fat at all but start eating more vegetable fats, that still sways pink. I may not be able to tell you that it's as reliable as going the whole hog - but for YOU it very well may be.

To be honest I never wanted to do the limits anyway, I just wanted to have people cut back a little. But people took it wayyyy too far and ended up starving themselves, so I had to make the limits to keep people eating ENOUGH, really more than I did keeping anyone from eating too much (when swaying pink most people end up being too strict). so I am fine with you eating more than the upper limits. It's the LOWER limits that are set in stone.

It's fine all things considered for you to try this month. We need you to conceive before the weight drops too low. But do feel free to eat more!

:agree: ok that's actually 350 mg. For reasons I do not understand they give the doses in very weird ways on the OLE sometimes. I would just keep on with that dose if he's tolerating it ok.