How should I sway?

[Jojogirl]

I did do TBM for a month but didn't get pg. I'm happy about that because right now I'm concentrating more on getting in shape so I won't be huge when I conceive. So....what would your perfect sway be and WHY? I know I will TBM for a few months (FOR SURE) and then I might move onto other things.

Tell me what you are doing and more importantly, would you TBM through O or not! I did NOT TBM through O last month. I honestly think I killed all the sperm My only dd was conceived with a 2.5 day cut off. Nothing else. Probably just luck. I want a good sway!

[atomic sagebrush]

I don't believe I missed this post!!!

My personal view on DTD through O is that timing is probably less important than other factors like sperm count and CM consistency.

Our entire reproductive tract is "designed" by evolution to keep sperm alive for several days waiting for that eggo to show up, so we can DTD once days before the egg ever shows and still get pregnant. With a design like that I think both boys and girls have to be conceived that way...it seems highly unlikely that given the form and function of the female reproductive tract, that every man who's ever been born on the planet was from one shot on O day and every female either days before or hours after O. More likely, most all of us were conceived by sperm that had been hanging out for a day or two beforehand and waiting because that's what our bodies seem structurally designed to do.

Remember, if it was THAT hard to get pregnant with either gender, the human race would have died out long ago.

That's a roundabout and overcomplicated way of saying, if you're in a hurry to get pg, then by all means either BD or TBM through O because it's highly likely you can conceive both boys and girls that way. If not, if you're able to take some time and play around with it, then a cutoff may help slightly by reducing the amount of sperm on hand to fertilize the egg.

My perfect pink sway would be something like - Low protein, low nutrient diet and weight loss, overexercise, baby aspirin (for those that can take it )antihistamine, either douche or spermicide (but TBM accomplishes the same thing), frequent release for DH to lower sperm count, and cut off.

[Jojogirl]

Now when you say low protein...do you just mean meat? What about soy protein? Medifast is not "meat" but it is soy protein. It's very LOW cal (like 700 calories) and very little sodium. That's the diet I'm doing. What do you think about this? Please advise! LOL! Thanks for all the wonderful info!

[atomic sagebrush]

TW, I think at 700 calories, even if you were gnawing on a side of beef it would still tend to sway pink because you'd be losing muscle mass.

As a general rule, I would say less protein all together is better, but we have to eat SOMETHING, you know??

About soy - standard swaying dogma has soy as swaying blue, but I"m not convinced that's true. Vegetarians have more daughters and there are certainly no shortage of girls being born in Asia (well, there are, but for other, much sadder reasons). Soy is known to lower testosterone and may reduce fertility overall and anything that reduces fertility, seems to sway pink.

The only concern I would have is whether the Medifast is highly vitamin fortified...that could be a drawback if your body decides times are good because of a sudden influx in nutrients. Again, though, with that low of a caloric intake, I still think it's a good option, esp. since you know you can stick to it.

[CocoChanel]

I have asked this question before and never have gotten an answer that made sense to me: Why does soy sway blue, if it lowers testosterone?

[Jojogirl]

Thanks! That makes sense. I can stick to medifast. I hope to be on it for a few months and then start ttc. I have no idea how/when I should do this. I want to drop 30 first and get then see how i feel. My body might go in shock from actually exercising...LOL! We'll see! I hate exercise...but if it helps, it helps. I always wondered about the soy/testosterone thing too. I was taking soy in abundance when ttc #4 (I wanted to increase my chance for twins) and I had a boy. It also made my EWCM very abundant. I didn't take anything to try and dry myself out, though....

[hopefulfornumber3]

I was going to start a new thread and then thought I'd just add onto this one. What do you eat for snacks when TTC pink? besides yogurt. I am trying to wrap my head around this diet thing. I know what *I can't eat*, low protein etc, but what can I eat. I know greek yogurt, milk, kefir, plain chicken (right?), crystal light... what do you eat for a snack?

[nuthinbutpink]

I was going to start a new thread and then thought I'd just add onto this one. What do you eat for snacks when TTC pink? besides yogurt. I am trying to wrap my head around this diet thing. I know what *I can't eat*, low protein etc, but what can I eat. I know greek yogurt, milk, kefir, plain chicken (right?), crystal light... what do you eat for a snack?

I just paid for a Science Direct Study that has a whole thing about the girl diet and timing studied together but I have to figure out how to load it in here first and when I do I will send you the link!

[nuthinbutpink]

Here are some of the details from the study:

Prior to treatment, each participant filled in a questionnaire about her eating habits and preferences and a blood sample was analysed for Na+, K+, Ca2+ and Mg2+ concentrations. All serum analyses were performed at the same laboratory. These parameters were taken into account in a detailed personal diet advice, stipulating both allowed and excluded foods, aimed at decreasing sodium and potassium concentrations while increasing magnesium and calcium concentrations in the blood. As there is no evidence that a paternal diet might influence the sex of offspring, the diet was prescribed only for the mother. Some fathers followed the diet in support of their partner. The diet complied with guidelines of the Dutch National Bureau for Nutrition. All food preparation had to be without salt and an ample amount of dairy products had to be consumed (at least 500 g/day). A normal feeding pattern could be followed, including bread, vegetables, fruit, meat, rice and pasta. The intake of potatoes was limited because of its high potassium content. The effect of the diet was enhanced with daily food supplements: 400–600 mg magnesium (Orthica; Almere, The Netherlands), 500–700 mg calcium (Solgar; Leonia, NJ, USA), and 5–7.5 μg vitamin D (Davitamon; Chefaro, Rotterdam, The Netherlands), depending on the initial blood values. Based on previous experiences, the objective of the diet was to obtain a Na+ value of at most 140 mmol/l and an increase in serum Ca2+ concentration of at least 0.1 mmol/l. The effect of the diet was checked after 5 weeks by a second serum analysis. The diet was maintained during a period starting at least 9 weeks before planned conception, until a pregnancy home test provided proof of pregnancy. In most cases, the diet was started at the beginning of the menstrual cycle, two and a half cycles before planned conception. One last blood sample was taken as soon as possible – no more than a couple of days – after confirmation of pregnancy by positive home test, to check whether the blood values were still at the correct concentrations.

The participant could then discontinue the diet. If the blood concentrations showed insufficient effect after 5 weeks, diet and food supplement levels were adapted accordingly and blood values were checked again after 4 weeks.

All participants were trained for self-examination and before becoming pregnant, they were asked to monitor from four to six menstrual cycles to be able to predict the moment of ovulation as accurately as possible. This was done by registering basal body temperature, consistency of cervical mucus, cervical position, os diameter and cervix texture. Home-use ovulation prediction tests based on urinary LH surge (Clearblue; Unipath, Bedford, UK) were used to accurately gauge these observations (Grenache and Gronowski, 2003). Ovulation was assumed to take place 1 day after the start of the LH surge. Couples were advised to have regular intercourse, but to refrain from having intercourse in the period from 2 days before to several days after ovulation.

The study protocol required that the diet was followed uninterruptedly for at least 9 weeks preceding pregnancy, that blood samples were analysed before starting the diet and shortly after pregnancy, that the timing interval was determined using fertility charts and ovulation tests and that proof of the baby’s sex was obtained. The group of participants satisfying these basic requirements will be referred to as protocol group. Other subjects were excluded from those analyses for which data were incomplete.


The combined results of the 106 subjects who had data about timing of intercourse in Figure 4 show that, irrespective of diet, a timing of 3 or 4 days before ovulation yields a success rate of 58% girls (P = 0.025). A timing of intercourse that is 2 days or closer to ovulation has a marked adverse effect (17% girls, P = 0.0025), but also if the intercourse takes place 5 or 6 days before ovulation the percentage of girls is low (30%, not significant). This suggests a timing window of 3–4 days before ovulation that is favourable to the conception of girl babies. This U-shaped dependence between sex ratio and timing interval is supported by earlier data from Gray et al. (1998), and by James (2008).

daysbeforeO.jpg

[nuthinbutpink]

I was going to start a new thread and then thought I'd just add onto this one. What do you eat for snacks when TTC pink? besides yogurt. I am trying to wrap my head around this diet thing. I know what *I can't eat*, low protein etc, but what can I eat. I know greek yogurt, milk, kefir, plain chicken (right?), crystal light... what do you eat for a snack?

It seems like most that I read about ate yogurt, strawberries, rasberries and I did read about instant chocolate puddings- like the Jello brand. Chocolate instant pudding is one of a few convenience foods rich in both nutrients. It contains approximately 153mg calcium and 24mg magnesium in each 4-oz. serving.

I KNOW chocolate is a no-no for girl diet because it inhibits calcium uptake BUT, I don't think there is really enough "chocolate" in the pudding to do anything harmful.

Low sodium rice cakes with a low sodium cheese or a flavored one...they basically have nothing in theme but a small amount of magnesium- just watch the sodium.

Foods with low levels of potassium
Grains: Foods prepared with white flour (eg, pasta, bread), white rice

Beverages: Non-dairy creamer, fruit punch, drink mixes (eg, Kool-Aid), tea (<2 cups or 16 ounces per day), coffee (<1 cup or 8 ounces per day)

Sweets: Angel or yellow cake, pies without chocolate or high-potassium fruit, cookies without nuts or chocolate

Fruits: Apples (1), apple juice, applesauce, apricots (canned), blackberries, blueberries, cherries, cranberries, fruit cocktail (drained), grapes, grape juice, grapefruit (½), mandarin oranges, peaches (½ fresh or ½ cup canned), pears (1 small fresh or ½ cup canned), pineapple and juice, plums (1 whole), raspberries, strawberries, tangerine (1 whole),

Vegetables: Alfalfa sprouts, asparagus (6 spears), green or wax beans, cabbage (cooked), carrots (cooked), cauliflower, celery (1 stalk), corn (½ fresh ear or ½ cup), cucumber, eggplant, kale, lettuce, mushrooms (fresh), okra, onions, parsley, green peas, green peppers, radish, rhubarb, water chestnuts (canned, drained), watercress, spinach (raw, 1 cup), squash (yellow), zucchini

Proteins: Chicken, turkey (3 ounces), eggs, sunflower or pumpkin seeds (1 ounce), raw walnuts, almonds, cashews, or peanuts (all 1 ounce UNSALTED), flax seeds (2 tablespoons ground), unsalted peanut butter (1 tablespoon)

Dairy products: Cheddar or swiss cheese (1 ounce), cottage cheese (½ cup)

Unless noted, one serving is ½ cup (4 ounces). These foods have a low level of potassium (less than 250 mg potassium per serving on average). You can eat these low potassium foods, but be sure to watch your portion size since potassium can quickly add up if you eat a large portion.