The Exercise Enigma - both genders

[Aelyana]

Hi Atomic,

Another boy mom planner here haha. We are ttc in July of next year and I am a complete couch potatoe with little muscle to speak of (except possibly in my arms from lifting my kids which I can't stop doing of course<3). So I am inclined to try exercise for my girl sway (tho honestly not sure how realistic it is given all of my other commitments I am considering to tough it out somehow).

But I was wondering if I try it when I should start to have the most effect?

I was planning on doing LE diet for 12 weeks prior to first attempt. Should I start exercising at the same time? And, also not irrelevant, I would likely need some weeks to work my way up to six-seven days of at least an hour if I want to continue being alive! Do I do that before the 12 weeks?

Thanks for the advice in advance! I am so not sure what I am doing atm tbh

[Scurlys]

We are going to TTC a girl once DS2 is born in April. Running is my general form of exercise I enjoy and after DS1 was born I began training for a half marathon while nursing and lost a lot of weight. I wouldn't say I did intense cardio 6 days a week however. Would walking for an hour 3 days a week (some days pushing double stroller) and running 3 days a week be enough intense cardio? Or should I be doing aerobic DVDs or something else instead?

Also if I am nursing while exercising and swaying what should I do regarding foods?

[atomic sagebrush]

Anyone who can do exercise, should do it. The results over the course of time (since I wrote this essay originally) have been overwhelmingly good.

WE honestly don't know how long you have to exercise for best results. Just don't have the data to say that. I think 6 weeks is enough because that is how long it generally takes to see changes in muscle mass from exercise. But if you're starting off and only have 2 weeks, I STILL think you should do exercise (this bit is new) that is because the results have been so strong that they are worth the "risk" - which has never been proven to be a risk, just something I imagined could be a risk. I would be very cautious with doing the full exercise for 12 long weeks unless you have a fair amount of weight to lose.

[atomic sagebrush]

We are going to TTC a girl once DS2 is born in April. Running is my general form of exercise I enjoy and after DS1 was born I began training for a half marathon while nursing and lost a lot of weight. I wouldn't say I did intense cardio 6 days a week however. Would walking for an hour 3 days a week (some days pushing double stroller) and running 3 days a week be enough intense cardio? Or should I be doing aerobic DVDs or something else instead?

Also if I am nursing while exercising and swaying what should I do regarding foods?

Hi and welcome!

Walking is a fine form of exercise. I want you guys to be really cautious about running right after you have a baby. The relaxin hormone is still in your system (this is what enables your ligaments to stretch to give birth) and it can make you way more likely to get injured. I would probably have you stick to walking unless you are super fit for at least the first 6 months. Beyond that just do what you enjoy and works for you.

I want you at absolute max calories - 1800-2000, 50-60 g protein, 50-60 g fat (and increase cals if weight flies off)

[Aelyana]

Thanks atomic! I will incorporate exercise. One more question: would an hour of brisk walking with a stroller count? I do that quite a bit and that would be doable. It doesn't necessarily make me break a swear tho.

[atomic sagebrush]

Yes that is actually my preference. no worries about breaking a sweat, that is not necessary

[Inhope]

I have some worries about exercise -
I want to do the perfect pink sway (of course ) I'm a typical control freak type, who wants to do everything perfect and get very stressed when things don't become like I want them to be.

I'm going to start the LE-diet about a month (12 weeks before the first attempt). My BMI is about 18 so I don't have any weight to loose. I have already done some changes in my diet. I have also increased my exercise to 1 h brisk walk about 6 days a week, and starting to realise that the exercise part going to be the hardest part in my sway.


I'm so focused on doing everything right, and I know that it's sways blue...
I think that I could manage the diet without to much stress and control-freak-iness but to make time and energy to walk 1 h 6 or 7 days a week I'm afraid is going to give me a lot of stress. If I manage to do it (and I will if I decide to) I probably going to be very stressed about it and my desire to do it right. And it will also make me very satisfied with myself that I really do everything I can (swaycess?). If I don't do the exercise I will be stressed about not doing the sway optimal, do you know how I mean?

So either way it's a problem, right?! What do you think it's the best/worst option? If it's ok to be stressed and a controll freak about the exercise (and swaycessing afterwards) and it still going to make my sway better then leaving it out I'm really going to give it a try! Is it anyone else who feel like this?

(I hope you understand my English, it's not my first language)

[atomic sagebrush]

Well, the worst thing you can do is start stressing about having stress. Do you see how that just makes matters worse?

The exercise has been great. There's no denying it. We can debate about who had failed sways because of this, that, the other thing, being a control freak, or whatever, but exercise has had darn good results. So as a general rule it's best to do the exercise if you can. You'll get used to it over time and it will become a lifestyle thing.

Your weight is by far and away more a reason to not exercise than stress. YOu will need to up cals accordingly and I'd probably start off with 4 days a week on the exercise and see how it goes. If weight flies off anyway, it's ok to drop it.

All that having been said I did not exercise and still got a girl. not I nor anyone can tell you what would give you the best odds, all I can do is look back at what has worked the most often for others, and that is exercising. But that doesn't mean you have to do it or even that you should.

Good luck and pink dust!!

[Marileigh]

So, I thoug I had the exercise figured out and now I'm confused?? I'm 5'4, 115lbs, almost no muscle and pretty out of shape. I've been aiming to ride bike 30 min a day, 4-5 days per week. Is this a good idea or should I just drop it altogether??

So sorry for all the questions today!

[Throwaway_panther]

I have some worries about exercise -
I want to do the perfect pink sway (of course ) I'm a typical control freak type, who wants to do everything perfect and get very stressed when things don't become like I want them to be.

I'm going to start the LE-diet about a month (12 weeks before the first attempt). My BMI is about 18 so I don't have any weight to loose. I have already done some changes in my diet. I have also increased my exercise to 1 h brisk walk about 6 days a week, and starting to realise that the exercise part going to be the hardest part in my sway.


I'm so focused on doing everything right, and I know that it's sways blue...
I think that I could manage the diet without to much stress and control-freak-iness but to make time and energy to walk 1 h 6 or 7 days a week I'm afraid is going to give me a lot of stress. If I manage to do it (and I will if I decide to) I probably going to be very stressed about it and my desire to do it right. And it will also make me very satisfied with myself that I really do everything I can (swaycess?). If I don't do the exercise I will be stressed about not doing the sway optimal, do you know how I mean?

So either way it's a problem, right?! What do you think it's the best/worst option? If it's ok to be stressed and a controll freak about the exercise (and swaycessing afterwards) and it still going to make my sway better then leaving it out I'm really going to give it a try! Is it anyone else who feel like this?

(I hope you understand my English, it's not my first language)

So take what I say with a grain of salt, but for fellow crazy Type A stress-mongers like myself: I got a girl. I had all that sort of stress right before conceiving my DD, but not with swaying (since I didn't know about it). I was OBSESSED with getting pregnant, obsessed with getting to the lowest weight I could before gaining weight with pregnancy (I have an ED). I had to control everything. My SIL had literally just told me she was pregnant again right around when I was ovulating, and I don't think I can accurately convey how competitive and determined I was to GET THAT EGG, haha.

So what I'm saying is: I have all the personality markers for having a boy. The stress, the perfectionism, the focus on doing everything right. There's some quiz based on Travers study* (I know I'm misremembering this) on here somewhere that predicts what the sex of your child would be on how your personality was around conception: I took it and I had a 95% chance of a boy based on just that, haha.

But I had a very LE lifestyle and exercised a ton. I think those factors trump personality and stress dramatically.

The real issue for you would be less stress and more not losing weight, imo. Like atomic said, the cardio seems like a big girl sway tactic, and I have to agree.