Help on when to start trying

[niki38]

SO my plan was to start the LE diet (was planning on IG until I found GD over the weekend) 6 weeks before my attempt. I have read so much on how the egg develops-matures 3 months in advance. So I can't help but think about how healthy I was eating even this past month. I eat tons of saturated fats- no vegetable oils. I eat /take Cod liver oil, butter oil, coconut oil, organic grass fed butter, tons of chicken, cheese, whole fat yogurt daily, dark chocolate, 2 eggs everyday, oatmeal everyday.... I could go on, you get the point, its VERY boy friendly. So even though I am starting to eat the LE.. its only 7 weeks away from my attmept. WIll my egg be primed already for boy sperm since it was matured in good conditions? Does any of that make sense?? Sorry if it is a dumb question, but I feel like maybe i should wait till July so I get a full 90 days of LE for the developing eggs.

[Ribbons]

niki - I was WAPF/Primal before I started the LE diet, and it sounds like you are close to that. I'd be happy to give you any advice on how to make the transition. (It is very hard, I agree, especially eating as healthy as we do and reconciling that with a limited pre-conception diet... ESPECIALLY working in grains/higher carb) I would personally hold off for another cycle beyond the 7 weeks, but atomic (which I'm sure you know by now is the mastermind of the LE) might tell you it is ok. I cut back on my normal (that is, WAPF-style) fat/protein intake about 4-5 weeks ago. Before that, I was doing an IG-style (FGD) diet since Jan. My first attempt is the first week of May.

[niki38]

Thanks for the reply, Ribbons. Yes I try to follow WAPF (started eating this way 6 months ago). It is very hard to switch to unhealthy eating (all of the white bread, carbs and Diet cola). I can't believe you have been on the diet(s) so long, I can barely do one day. Today was my first day trying to eat less, I didn't eat till 2pm, that wasn't too hard. It all went down hill once I got home from work. I ate tons of cheese and spelt bread with butter, I was so hungry. Anyway, I have been putting off TTC my second for a long time, so I really wanted to start trying very end of May/first of June when I ovulate. But Don't want to risk not being on diet long enough. My DH is getting sick of waiting, it seems like I find some reason to wait every month. I want to have a very strong sway, and I will wait one more month if need be. I did just stop taking my whole food based mutli vitamin yesterday.

[rainbowflower]

I'd not let your previous diet worry you - it's "change in condition" that's thought to sway
plus you don't want your eggs to be really poor quality or you won't conceive

[rainbowflower]

I'd not let your previous diet worry you - it's "change in condition" that's thought to sway
plus you don't want your eggs to be really poor quality or you won't conceive

[Ribbons]

niki, I totally understand! Sorry for the long reply, but I was desperate for this advice when I first found GD so I hope it helps you :)

I think you can do it in 7 weeks if you start now. Atomic suggests 6 weeks for the LE. The reason I didn't do this is because we have such a healthy diet to begin with like you say - but keep in mind that we may even have a good edge going into this, we're starting out SO healthy that it's not going to be hard for our body to think we are in decline! :) So 7 weeks may very well be enough.

I am dieting a little longer because it was such a hard transition that I needed time to adjust. It was very, very hard for me at first. I started initially on the FGD diet because it was MUCH easier for me to transition into that - at least I could drink raw milk and eat pastured butter and meat, even if in small quantities. I balked at the LE diet at first because I just had such a hard time wrapping my brain around eating a "less healthy" preconception diet. However, I spent a good deal of time reading all of the studies and analyzing a lot of data trying to make sense of it all and basically came to the same conclusions atomic has! It is the limiting diet, declining body condition, and reduction in testosterone that is key. Not sure how the FGD has the success rates it does, but it IS pretty limiting and was actually harder to follow, so I think there is something about it that will cause "declining condition". I wouldn't recommend it though.

The hormones in the WAPF diet are FANTASTIC for fertility and boys of course (I conceived DS2 while on a primal diet, and after looking around at all of my friends, found that many of the people I know on traditional diets have a lot of boys!) Hormones take the longest to "reset", so I knew that was where I needed to focus and I knew I needed a little more time to do that. I started slowly and worked my way down. I dropped my cod liver oil, Vitamin D, cut way back on the pastured butter, dropped the meat entirely (this was INCREDIBLY difficult), and stopped drinking milk. I started paying attention to my saturated fat intake (which of course is HIGH), dropped the coconut oil, dropped the full-fat cheese etc. I did this over a period of a month, not all at once, and I believe that is the only way I could have been successful with it.

The diet is hard, yes, but it can be done without totally ignoring WAPF principles altogether. You are probably used to making everything from scratch and staying away from processed foods, so this will work in your favor. Stay away from lard and other animal fats (I know, SO HARD) and really limit the butter, esp. the pastured stuff as it is loaded with boy-friendly healthy fats. Organic expeller-pressed safflower oil is probably the best choice - it's mostly Omega6 and that is what you want, and in terms of vegetable oils, it's probably the most WAPF-friendly. Staying away from meat is VERY important but if you have to, shrimp and chicken are good choices (I cheated with these early on to keep me sane - it gets easier over time.) The hardest thing is the grains. UGH! My body did NOT like that. I had to strike a compromise and get most of my carbs from veggies rather than grains. I started slowly and mostly stay away from gluten. Rice noodles are a great option, as well as regular rice (I still soak mine, and that is ok). I use crispbread crackers and matzo occasionally as well. Spaghetti squash is awesome too. I stopped worrying about potassium and nutrients in veggies when, after tracking for awhile, I found it was actually pretty hard to go over on the potassium when you aren't eating milk and meat. Tomatoes are fine, potatoes are fine in smaller portions, herbs and spices are all fine. I just stay away from the super nutritious veggies like avocado, sweet potatoes, etc and try not to stress about them. I also stay away from testosterone-building foods like garlic and onions... but that's pretty much it!

Oh, and you DO NOT have to drink diet coke/aspartame. It's not going to make or break your sway! The point of artificial sweeteners is to lower your body's pH and the diet is going to do that quite a bit, so don't feel like you will ruin your sway if you don't use them.

I couldn't quite make the plunge into skim products so I eat organic low-fat yogurt and low-fat, low-sodium cheese for my proteins. I also occasionally eat high-fat cheese like mozzarella (for a caprese salad), or swiss cheese. Ricotta is also great because it is high in calcium, low in sodium, and is very versatile (I use a fat-free version because I can't find a decent lowfat ricotta)

I've lost 10 lbs and have another 4 weeks to go. In total, I will have been on some sort of limiting diet for over 4 months at my first attempt - 9 weeks for LE. This isn't my ideal diet, but that is kind of the point right? I am doing it in such a way that I feel it is still healthy. I am not eating sugar and limiting the grains in favor of veggies, I am still soaking my grains, I am eating organic and looking forward to the day when I get my BFP - you can be certain that I will be taking cod liver oil and eating a big plate of eggs fried in coconut oil on that day!

All you need to remember is: No meat/eggs - no breakfast, no snacking, 1500-1800 calories, fat 30% or less, protein 40-50g (I often go a little over this but not by much). Don't worry about the minerals, vitamins etc - believe it or not, you'll stay within range just following the LE diet guidelines. Don't stress! :)

You can use FitDay or myfitnesspal.com to track your daily limits - it's very helpful esp. when you are eating a lot of non-processed foods that don't have nutrition labels.

Good luck, and let me know if I can help you in any way with recipe ideas, etc!

[atomic sagebrush]

There are no dumb questions, only things that haven 't been explained well enough yet!!

7 weeks is enough time for LE to work. You are right to be concerned and I'm glad you found us before your sway :) but I have not yet seen any overwhelming evidence to support egg priming. People conceive boy-girl twins and multiples every day, and many people go HT and get both boy and girl fertilized eggs. If their eggs were primed a certain way, we'd never see this happening. Whatever is swaying gender and however it is doing it, I do not think that the egg is primed for one sperm over another.

PS - brilliant response Ribbons, thanks so much.