Guide to weight loss for pink, weight gain for blue

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Weight Loss for Pink, Weight Gain for Blue – How to Updated 12-18-17

One of the most common questions swayers ask is about weight loss/gain, so I thought I’d put all the info in one spot for future reference.

Guide to Losing Weight for PINK

Also please check out this thread, very helpful info about how long to follow a sway diet prior to trying to conceive. HELP!! How long should I stay on diet before TTC?

Why do we want to lose weight for pink?

Losing weight does a lot for us in our pink sways. First of all, we shrink muscle mass which lowers testosterone levels, because having and using muscle signals the body to make lots of testosterone, which some swaying theories claim sways blue (please note – there are some studies out there that show weight loss RAISES testosterone. This is in very obese people and NOT in the average person. Obese people, men especially, sometimes have very high estrogen levels due to their high body fat and their body “gives up” making testosterone and makes estrogen instead. For a woman of average weight, losing weight will loser testosterone.)

Being very heavy can cause T levels to drop, because excess body fat actually makes estrogen. Another benefit from weight loss, is that we also reduce body fat which lowers estrogen and also may sway blue (body fat actually makes its own estrogen) and in turn dries up CM. People have reported a lot less CM after having been on the Low Everything Diet, even only after a couple of weeks. We also lower blood sugar levels by quite a lot – just by losing 5-10% of our body mass (which if you’re thin, is not much weight at all) you drastically lower blood sugar levels. Less proven, but still a plausible benefit of weight loss for your sway, is the idea that burning fat/calories for fuel acidifies the body more effectively than any supplement.

Additionally, weight loss and being at a low weight, tend to inhibit fertility overall, as does eating a less nutrient dense diet (by definition, if you’re losing weight, you’re ingesting fewer nutrients than if you’re gaining weight or holding steady.) Diet and Ovulation | IVF Centers | IVF1 Losing weight also sends a message to your body that food resources are scarce, which according to the Trivers-Willard Hypothesis, sways pink…we do not know if it sways via the previously-mentioned mechanisms (lowering T and E levels, drying up CM, lower blood sugar, pH), or if there is an entirely different set of mechanisms that come into play. Either way, losing weight is great for your pink sway.

How much should I lose?

You should try to be at your lowest conception weight if you can, and if possible, at your lowest adult weight. If this is undoable, just losing any weight will help. I personally only lost 3 lbs before I conceived my daughter (but this was also my lowest conception weight.) If you have PCOS and/or insulin resistance, it’s imperative to lose weight because it will help get your blood sugar, and in turn, your testosterone and estrogen levels, down. Plus it will help you conceive, PCOSers!

Is it possible to lose too much?


Yes, it is possible to lose too much weight and stop ovulation all together. The Nurses’ Health Study II found that having a BMI below 20 made it 38% more likely that your ovulation would be suppressed. (please see the link below for more about the Nurses’ Health Study II)
Aim to go no lower than 18.5 BMI (this is the lowest normal BMI) – between 21 and 18.5 BMI should be your goal range. I like you guys to stop losing weight at BMI 21 and then hold steady, so if a couple pounds sneak off before you can get the right cal. intake to stop weight loss dialed in, it's not the end of the world. DO NOT drop below BMI 18.5, that is the absolute "do anything to prevent going below this" number.

BMI varies by height so this will be a different number of pounds for each person depending on how tall you are and you can find a calculator to help you figure out your BMI here: Calculate your BMI, correctly rated according to age and sex If you get to that BMI range, and can’t keep weight on, increase calories and emphasize simple carbs (unless you have PCOS or insulin resistance, in which case you should limit carbs overall by increasing protein and fat to 50-60 g each, and eat complex carbs rather than simple ones to keep weight on). This will not hurt your sway; mice who were fed a carb-based diet still had more daughters than mice fed a high-fat diet even though their BMI and caloric intake was identical. The Nurses’ Study II also found that women who ate more simple carbs had lowered fertility. Striking variation in the sex ratio of pups born to mice according to whether maternal diet is high in fat or carbohydrate. - PubMed - NCBI

Remember, the caloric goals of the LE Diet are 1500-1800 cals a day. People who are very petite or have a lot of weight to lose can drop down to 1200-1500 (but please note, only about 3-5% of people should go this low). People with PCOS/IR, or who have plateaued on 1500-1800 cals a day, also may wish to drop down to the 1200-1500 cal level, temporarily (people with PCOS/IR may find that as they lose weight, their insulin sensitivity improves so much that they are able to eat more calories than they could before and yet still lose weight.) If you are very tall, have lost every pound you can spare, and/or are doing the 60-6/7 exercise recommendations for swaying or even more exercise, you may need to increase calories to 1800-2000. Do not go below 1200 cals for the sake of your health, or above 2000 for the sake of your sway (unless you need to to keep weight on, that is).

How soon before I sway, should I lose weight?

That depends on a few different things. The conventional wisdom espoused on other sites is, you can start the diet 90 days before you start to sway because the egg has a lifespan of 90 days (grows from a tiny seed to a mature egg in that time) and the “egg priming” theory suggests there is some benefit to be gained by dieting for 90 days OR you can start diet 6 weeks out because the French Gender Diet/InGender Diet claim that your mineral levels take 6 weeks to change. I don’t personally believe in either egg priming or mineral levels swaying but just so you guys are aware of these options.

If you have a lot of weight to lose, you may want to start diet sooner. If you don’t have much to spare, you may want to hold off starting the diet until 2-3 weeks before your first month’s sway. pH and blood sugar drop very soon after beginning diet (for a thin person), and while testosterone and estrogen do take some time to diminish, the odds are that you won’t get pregnant the first month anyway. You don’t want to waste away to nothing or feel like you need to rush your sway and drop sway tactics that you want to use, in order to conceive more quickly and prevent excess weight loss. Above all else, I do not want ANYONE who is already thin, thinking that they need to do, or should do, a strict sway diet for 90 days or longer before swaying and then spending 6-9 months TTC with a very strict sway. That is a recipe for disaster. You can easily stop ovulating if you try and it can sometimes take many months or even years to get your body moving in the right direction again.
If you’re going to start off doing a very strict sway, unless you have a lot of weight to lose (over 30 lbs), you may not want to start the diet strictly until even as soon as 2-3 weeks before your sway. Remember, you will probably not get pregnant the first month swaying especially if you're using a lot of sway tactics; it may take you some time to figure everything out and you don’t want to feel undue pressure to drop sway tactics that you really WANT to include, just because you’ve lost too much weight.

If you already are eating a pretty girl-friendly diet (example, you’re vegetarian/vegan or you’ve been on the FGD/IGD for a few months and have just decided to switch to LE) you may wish to start LE Diet 2-3 weeks before your first month’s attempt. In fact, this is also a valid strategy for anyone who has very little weight to lose…you have the option of going vegetarian/vegan, or following FGD/IGD if you are a believer in minerals, without cutting calories, for a few months before you start to sway in earnest. That way, you potentially can reap some benefit, be it lower T and E levels and reduction in some nutrients found mostly in meat, from a veg/vegan diet, or mineral levels from FGD/IGD.
Or do you know you’re higher than normal in testosterone and/or estrogen than the average person? If you have a lot of muscle mass, have PCOS, or have ever had a higher-than-average testosterone or estrogen reading via blood tests, you may want to start diet sooner rather than later, because testosterone and estrogen do take some time to lower.

I’m already really thin. Should I gain weight to lose? AND Should I try to time my weight loss to coincide with my month of conception?

Many people have asked if they should try to time their weight loss to peak at conception, or gain enough weight so they will be guaranteed they are actively losing weight when they get pregnant.

Neither of these ideas is the best, for pretty much the same reasons. Firstly, remember, you may not even get pregnant the first month of swaying, so timing weight loss to peak just at the right moment, is extremely difficult. Secondly, T and E levels rise slowly and drop slowly, so all you accomplish with gaining weight to relose, is basically padding your T and E levels so diet is less effective. It’s silly to take a big step backwards when you’re trying to move forward. Thirdly, some people have had more difficulty than they thought they’d have in losing weight – you don’t want to give yourself 6 weeks to lose 20 lbs and then find it’s taking much longer than you thought. Fourthly, never underestimate the potential for an accidental pregnancy. Many people have taken time to gain weight to lose/relose only to end up with an oops baby right at the worst possible second, when they’re heavier than they’d like to be or even actively gaining (this actually happened to me and the result was DS 4). Best to ALWAYS be moving in the right direction, just in case a surprise occurs!! Finally, by trying to time weight loss, you add a huge amount of stress to the mix. Putting a deadline on yourself, planning and thinking about your sway constantly, is the type of mindset that is proven to raise testosterone levels.

It’s much better to lose weight whenever and however you can and then maintain (even if you only lose a single pound!) than to be trying to gain weight to lose and/or timing weight loss to coincide with some self-imposed deadline. There is nothing gained by trying to time weight loss (esp. if your plan is to gain weight first) and many risks along the way.

Should my husband lose weight before we sway?

No. For men, higher estrogen (more body fat) lowers testosterone and sperm count and so his being a little on the cuddly side, can help with a pink sway. Somewhat annoyingly, when men lose weight, they often lose mostly fat while preserving or even increasing their muscle mass. Testosterone levels increase accordingly.

Should I have him gain weight, then?

No. Thin guys tend to add muscle long before they add fat, and so for a thinner man to gain weight, oftentimes only will add muscle and increase his testosterone levels. For a pink sway, it’s best to have DH hold steady at whatever weight he’s presently at.

Is losing weight before pregnancy healthy?

The LE Diet is designed to be in line with the recommendations of reproductive endocrinologists as a safe caloric intake pre-pregnancy for women who want to lose weight before doing HT. The protein (40-50 g a day up to 50-60 g for PCOS, breastfeeding moms, and those who are very tall) and fat requirements (30-60 grams) are low-normal protein and fat intake (low nutrients does NOT mean no nutrients) and are recommended by WebMD and WHO as safe protein and fat intakes for female health. If you are in the minority of people who need to lower to 1200-1500 cals a day, PLEASE still continue eating the 40-50/50/60 g protein and 30-60 g fat. For people with PCOS or IR, you MUST bump up to 50-60 g of protein (this will help keep your blood sugar levels under control) but stick to the 1500-1800 calorie range.

If anything, the LE Diet is actually healthier than the diets that many of us consume pre-pregnancy. High protein intake, particularly meat, is not super-healthy as some would have you believe and of course high-fat is not super healthy either. Reducing calories slightly is also proven to be better for overall health. That having been said, lower protein, lower fat, and lower calorie diets do suppress fertility, but remember that’s what we want for pink.

Some people take the diet too far and do not follow these recommendations against my advice. If you or someone online claims to be following the LE Diet and does NOT stick to the minimum guidelines, that is NOT LE Diet. I strongly urge everyone to follow the LE Diet guidelines, for your health, your baby’s health, but also for the sake of your pink sway. If your body perceives a crisis situation where it thinks you’re literally starving, it may interpret that sudden lack of food as an indicator that you are in a circumstance where you may need to fight for survival.

Your body then may rob Peter to pay Paul – shut down/reduce estrogen and progesterone production (because your body “knows” that when you’re starving is not the greatest time for a pregnancy) and switch to producing higher levels of testosterone to assist you in the fight for food. Even if your T level are lower than they once were, it very well may still be higher in proportion to estrogen and progesterone, and that may sway blue - we do not know that it's numbers on a blood test that matter, it is likely the proportions of hormones to each other that sway. It can be difficult, if not impossible, to totally rob your body of the raw materials it uses to make testosterone without completely starving yourself, and if you were even able to do that, you’d have rendered yourself infertile by that point anyway because your body would have nothing to make estrogen and progesterone from (all three sex hormones are made of the same raw materials.)

Should I fast to lose a lot of weight quickly?

No, for the reasons I mention above and also because it’s not healthy for you or your baby, to have a super low protein intake, either. That having been said, some people HAVE gotten baby girls while on juice fasts or during periods where they were fasting for many hours out of the day for religious reasons. If you have a lot of weight to lose (in excess of 50 lbs), you may wish to consider a temporary juice fast (you actually get a fair amount of nutrients on many juice fasts) but be sure to include many different juices to maximize your nutrition (remember, low nutrient does not equal NO nutrient). Also, you will need to come off the fast for at least a month or two before you conceive. Rapid weight loss can also cause stored toxins to be released from your body fat, so you need to give your body time for them to be processed and eliminated in order to have a safe and healthy pregnancy. Let me just stress that I am NOT a fan of this approach, I am not advocating it, but a few people with large amounts of weight to lose have done it.

Fasting for 12-16 hours out of the day (so skipping breakfast and eating 2-3 meals in a period of 8-12 hours), a similar pattern to the daytime fasts performed by some religious groups, is not only ok, but is recommended and studies have shown it sways pink in both humans and mice alike. As long as you stick to the LE Diet guidelines overall and get an adequate amount of calories, you’ll be getting adequate nutrition during the hours you are eating, and this will only help your sway.

Severe fasting around ovulation, juice fasting for months on end particularly if you are already thin or even average, or in an unhealthy way, especially doing things like drinking only Crystal Light or peppermint tea, is NOT ALLOWED. Fasting at ovulation may delay O, rapid weight loss can cause a release in toxins (not what you want immediately before conception) and it’s never a good idea to fast unless you have some nutrients coming in (ie juice fast).

To be honest, I really don’t want anyone to fast, even a juice fast, but if you MUST, please keep it in the short term, only if your body mass can easily sustain you, and stick to juices so you are getting some calories and nutrition coming in.

If being very heavy also lowers testosterone and lowers fertility (which it does), can I gain weight instead, or stay overweight if I already am?

Gaining weight to sway pink is not wise because it really takes a LOT of excess weight to sway pink for most people. It could take years to add enough body mass to suppress your fertility. Plus, there are no guarantees – some people can carry a lot of extra weight and still stay fully fertile, and for many people, you only make yourself more blue friendly by adding muscle mass and body fat, plus increasing nutrients overall. Beyond that, gaining weight is not good for your health and especially not good coming into a pregnancy where you’ll be gaining even more. Losing weight is the best option because it’s easy to do, sways for everyone at least to some extent, can be done in the short term, and is good for your health.

Staying overweight if you already are, is a more complicated matter and I must admit I do not have a satisfactory answer to that. If you’re overweight and you’ve conceived boys easily at your higher weight, then it would seem that you’re one of the ones who can stay very fertile at a higher weight. However, it may also be that it has just taken some time for the weight to take its toll. The problem becomes, you have to lose SO much weight to get to a low weight, and it ~could~ be that just by losing some weight, you put yourself in a better position fertility-wise and end up even more likely to conceive a boy than you were to begin with. That having been said, I know of at least a couple people who were overweight and had conceived boys, then lost some weight (not ALL the weight) and then did get a girl, so it is possible. I wish we had more info to go off of. Until we do, follow your gut.

Studies and articles that support weight loss as a method of swaying.
Small weight loss effectively reduces sex hormones linked with breast cancer | Fox News
Maternal Eating Disorders Influence Sex Ratio at Birth
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17522073
http://www.nature.com/news/hungry-mo...ghters-1.10331
http://www.latimes.com/news/science/...,1060110.story
http://diabetes.webmd.com/safe-diet-tips-for-diabetes

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Guide to Gaining Weight for Blue!

(Also please check out this thread, very helpful info about how long to follow a sway diet before trying to conceive http://genderdreaming.com/forum/gend...efore-ttc.html)

Why do we want to gain weight for blue?


Gaining weight for blue helps you by increasing muscle mass and body fat. It can help raise your blood sugar as well. Plus, eating more food means you have more nutrients coming in, and that helps send a message to your body that a boy baby has a better shot at survival. Also, stored body fat binds toxins safely where they can no longer affect your fertility negatively. If you are conceiving girls because of previous exposures to toxins in your environment like pesticides or heavy metals, this is one easy way to sway effortlessly.

How much should I gain?


Weight gain for blue sounds great but it’s actually very tricky. Too much weight gain is bad for health and fertility, so it’s best to limit it as much as you possibly can. 3-5 pounds is plenty for most people; however, if you are someone who is chronically thin (BMI beneath 20) and/or a very intense exerciser, you may want to increase this to 5-7 pounds. I would advise limiting weight gain to 15 pounds maximum, for everyone UNLESS you are also exercising and certain you’re adding mostly muscle.

Is it possible to gain too much?


Yes, it is possible to gain too much weight. The Nurses’ Study II found that BMI of 20-24.99 was the best for fertility. Women with BMI of 25-29.99 were 32% more likely to have issues with ovulatory infertility and women with BMI of 30 or more were 35% more likely to have issues with ovulatory infertility than women whose BMI was in the normal range. BMI of 20-24.99 is ideal for blue. Here’s a handy calculator that will help you determine your BMI Calculate your BMI, correctly rated according to age and sex

Do I really HAVE to exercise??


Yes. Exercise (Vitamin X) is MANDATORY for blue. By doing regular moderate exercise (45 minutes a day, 4-5 days a week) you help build muscle mass that will raise your testosterone levels which probably sways blue. Contrary to what you may read on other websites, BOTH cardio and weight training are great for blue. Weight training builds muscle and increases your metabolism. According to the American Council on Exercise, a pound of muscle burns 7-10 calories an hour while a pound of fat burns only 2-3 calories. This doesn’t sound like a huge difference, but remember, this goes on even when you’re sleeping. Even better, during and after exercise (possibly for up to 36 hours after exercise Excess post-exercise oxygen consumption - Wikipedia) muscle burns up to twice as many calories as it does at rest, and if you eat a snack containing carbs after you exercise, which, on the HE Diet, you should be doing regularly anyway but especially after exercise, you won’t even store additional calories as fat. Instead it will go to restoring your body’s stores of glycogen (exercise depletes glycogen stores) which will fuel future workouts and muscle growth. Exercise enables you to consume more food without gaining weight, which is very important if you’re following the HE Diet approach.

Beyond that, exercise itself raises testosterone. This is especially the case if you are doing a form of combative exercise like kickboxing, where your body is actually going through the motions of fighting; your body may interpret those movements as fighting for survival and raise T levels even higher.

What if I’m already very heavy?

You have two options. One is to maintain where you are at (and if you’re just a bit overweight, less than 30 lbs or so, this is the best option for you.) and add in exercise to change the proportions of muscle to fat in your body. This can be challenging but it IS doable provided you eat enough.
If you’re over 50 lbs. overweight, it’s best for the sake of your sway and also for your health to postpone your sway for 6 months to a year (provided that you can do so and are not in a hurry to conceive due to advanced maternal age or family/job requirements, of course) to lose the weight on a balanced, healthy diet and become more physically fit and muscular. Then, you can start onto the HE Diet and your increased level of physical fitness.

In between 30-50 lbs, go with what your gut instinct tells you. Weight on a scale can be somewhat misleading. If you know you’re pretty muscular, even if you’re closer to 50 lbs. overweight, you may wish to go ahead and sway, esp. if you’ve already conceived a son at that weight. If you know you’re lacking muscle and have conceived several girls at your present weight, it’s best to get some weight off even if you’re only 37 pounds over your ideal.

How soon before I sway should I start to gain weight?


That depends on a few different things. The conventional wisdom espoused on other sites is, you can start the diet 90 days before you start to sway because the egg has a lifespan of 90 days (grows from a tiny seed to a mature egg in that time) and the “egg priming” theory suggests there is some benefit to be gained by dieting for 90 days OR you can start diet 6 weeks out because the French Gender Diet/InGender Diet claim that your mineral levels take 6 weeks to change. I don’t personally believe in either egg priming or mineral levels swaying but just so you guys are aware of these options.

If you have a lot of weight to lose, you’ll need to start losing it up to a year in advance. This will give you time to take the weight off and normalize before your sway. Warning – while you’re losing the weight, be VERY VERY careful to use protection every time you BD, even if you think you’re in a safe zone. The last thing you want to risk, is an accidental pregnancy when you’re losing weight.

If you are already very thin and eat poorly and have for years, you may also want to start a diet and exercise regimen sooner rather than later, because it may take time for your body to replenish itself and get in the best physical condition that it can. Testosterone and estrogen do take some time to increase so you need to allow time for that to happen.

I think you should start many aspects of diet and also exercise, as far in advance of your sway as possible. But when it comes to gaining weight, I would ~try~ to keep that for the final few months or even weeks prior to your sway. When I was TTC DS 3, we started TTC in May but I didn’t conceive. I ate a ton of fertility-friendly foods, continued doing a lot of physical exercise (I had a very physically demanding job), and ended up gaining 3 lbs that month. Then in June, I got pregnant. This is pretty close to ideal for blue.

If you find you’ve gained weight sooner rather than later, that’s ok. Just try to maintain where you’re at rather than gaining much more. Remember, it’s best not to gain more than 15 lbs. and also to stay within the 20-24.99 BMI range.

What if I’m gaining TOO much weight on HE Diet??

The guidelines for the HE diet are 2200-2500 cals a day (reduce to 2000-2200 if you are already overweight or gaining weight too quickly), 90 grams of protein a day (vegetarian sources of protein are fine), increasing healthy fats and complex carbs while still staying in your caloric guidelines for the day, and trying for 9 servings of fruits and vegetables a day. You also need to eat 3 balanced meals and 2-5 snacks (breakfast is the most important meal and a bedtime snack is the most important snack), eating both protein and carbs at every meal and snack. That does seem like a lot of food, esp. for pink mamas who may not typically eat that much (if you check out the “How We Got Our Boys” thread here, you can see this really IS the type of diet that boy moms eat on a daily basis http://genderdreaming.com/forum/tryi...-our-boys.html)

Firstly, on the HE Diet, you need to eat smarter, not harder. You don’t have to blow up like a balloon and many moms of boys are quite slim but still consume large quantities of food. You need to pick the RIGHT foods, in the right combinations, and eat wisely. Pick the most nutrient dense foods you can find so you get the maximum nutrients for the minimum calories. Avoid Franken-foods that are high in nitrites, transfats, preservatives, and artificial sweeteners….transfats in particular have been linked to increased obesity rates and the Nurses’ Study II found that the more transfats a woman consumes, the more likely she is to have ovulatory infertility. Combine foods to increase nutrients and also slow down rises and falls in blood sugar…eating protein and carbs at every meal and snack, can be as easy as a handful of nuts and a V-8, string cheese and grapes, or a hard boiled egg and a cup of fruit juice. You do NOT need to eat nuts, meat, dairy, fruit juice, and a baked potato at every sitting.

I repeat - You do NOT need to eat nuts, meat, dairy, fruit juice, and a baked potato at every sitting.

The foods suggested on some websites are TERRIBLE for TTC blue in addition to contributing to weight gain, and I actually think it’s miraculous that anyone conceives a boy eating that way. Diets consisting of Rice Krispies with non-dairy creamer, bacon, Campbell’s Soup, 8 glasses of fruit juice, rice milk, iceberg lettuce salads, and fries…people conceive boys in SPITE of those diets, not because of them.

The Nurses’ Study II found that women who ate primarily simple carbs (Rice Krispies, tomato soup, potato, rice milk, fruit juice) had lower fertility than those who ate complex carbs or simple carbs plus protein, and this finding is also supported by the blood glucose research. You need consistent, even blood sugar for a boy, not wild fluctuations in blood sugar caused by overconsumption of simple carbs that the traditional sway diets encourage. If you are going to follow the HE Diet, DO the HE Diet and not some halfway version of IGD/FGD where you stuff yourself with all the foods that either diet ever mentions. Trying to combine them WILL make you gain massive amounts of weight and is not going to help your sway any. Eating smarter means blue swayers may have to let go of some of the old ways of doing things.

You CAN eat sugar/sweets when you TTC blue, you don’t need to avoid them all together, but just make sure you eat them as a PART of a meal. Dark chocolate in particular is a very boy-friendly food, but dark chocolate BY ITSELF will cause your blood sugar to rise and then crash afterwards. Eat it as a part of a meal containing some protein.

Full fat dairy foods are proven to aid in weight loss and it may very well be that by limiting/avoiding calcium, blue swayers are actually causing themselves to gain more weight than they would otherwise. I have not been as vocal about calcium for blue swayers because I believed that your body would simply rob your bones to take the calcium it needed, but we’ve been having too many failed blue sways with people who had limited calcium even tho they ate otherwise HE Diets, for my liking. Blue swayers on the HE Diet, from now on, you MUST include 1 serving of full-fat dairy a day minimum and I strongly suggest getting calcium from other sources as well – supplements are not that well absorbed, so choose other foods like salmon, broccoli, and almonds instead of or in addition to calcium supplements. The Nurses’ Study II found that women who ate ½ c ice cream 2 times a week had 38% less risk of ovulatory infertility. DO NOT consume skim dairy, you rob yourself of fertility-friendly nutrients and skim dairy may be harmful to fertility.

Above all else do NOT exchange dairy for milk replacers. We have seen tons of opposites in the group of women drinking the most milk replacers, particularly almond and rice milk. I cannot recommend milk replacers any longer in anything beyond dietary amounts (2-3 servings a week) because I strongly believe the vegetable oils in them are swaying strongly, strongly pink. Give up dairy if you must, but please don't make up for it with milk replacers.

Excessive sodium is also a big no-no on HE Diet. Thus far I’ve been tolerant of the sodium but again, I think we’re having too many failed sways with people doing HE Diet while trying to stick to IGD/FGD mineral recommendations and I think I’m going to have to emphasize a sane sodium intake more than I have been. Sodium is NOT good for fertility, it’s NOT good for potassium and in fact causes potassium to leach from your body, it’s not good for your folic acid/folate levels, and it’s NOT good for preventing weight gain because it makes you retain water and also stimulates the appetite and makes you hungry. There are studies that show higher sodium intake in rats = more girls conceived. Maternal dietary sodium chloride levels affect the sex ratio in rat litters - ScienceDirect Logically speaking, sodium intake cannot even sway by the mechanisms the FGD authors claim, because X and Y sperm don’t have different electrical charges and therefore cannot be attracted by sodium ions in cervical mucus or semen, either. I got a baby girl eating TONS of sodium, after a failed sway with DS 4 where I was limiting sodium.

Portion control is very important when swaying blue. Serving sizes are actually much smaller than most people realize. If you find yourself gaining weight or feeling stuffed, stop and analyze how much you’re really eating. It is a great idea to count calories to make sure you’re not getting massive amounts of calories and also to help yourself get a handle on what the appropriate serving sizes even are. A serving of fruit juice should be 8 ounces, one measuring cup, not a Big Gulp. Also, where fat is concerned, remember, while fat is unlimited, calories are NOT unlimited on the HE Diet...since fat has calories, you do need to be aware of how many cals you are consuming, even with healthy fats. Low carb vegetables are unlimited and you do NOT need to count any calories in low carb vegetables at all. Asparagus, broccoli, cabbage, lettuce, cauliflower, spinach, fresh tomato, zucchini are examples of low carb vegetables that you can eat as much of as as you want. Avocado is low carb but DOES have fat, and so the calories in avocado do need to be counted.

Don’t forget the Vitamin X! Exercise 4-5 times a week, 45 minutes a day. It IS possible to add in more exercise if need be, but break it into two 45 minute blocks rather than all at once.

Finally, when swaying blue, most people should be getting pregnant MORE quickly than you have in the past. We are doing something wrong with the blue sway, when blue swayers are taking LONGER to get pregnant than pink swayers are. I strongly urge all blue swayers to let go of tactics that have been debunked like timing and baking soda finger, that serve no purpose other than preventing pregnancy. Your odds of getting pregnant from one attempt on O day are less than 8% and sperm do NOT thrive in baking soda (if they did, your body would make baking soda at ovulation rather than EWCM!!) Staying on the diet for awhile is fine if you’re very thin and need to restore your health, BUT if you’re already packing a few extra pounds, every month that passes is simply more opportunity for weight to creep on.

Since that covered a lot of ground, here’s the nutshell version: to prevent excessive weight gain while on the HE Diet

a) stick to the overall dietary guidelines of 2200-2500 cals a day and reduce to 2000-2200 if you gain too fast
b) include fat intake as part of your day’s calories…while fat is unlimited, calories are not and fat does have calories! But DO NOT eat transfats or large amounts of vegetable based fats, especially vegetable oils
c) eat smarter, not harder and pick nutrient-dense foods so you get more bang for your buck, and avoid highly processed Franken-foods with lots of artificial chemicals in them
d) combine foods to increase nutrients and eat protein and carbs at every meal to keep blood sugar stable
e) remember, you don’t have to eat EVERY boy-friendly food in existence at every meal
f) limit simple carbs and/or always eat them with protein
g) full fat dairy at least once a day and also other calcium-rich foods but limit/avoid milk replacers
h) limit sodium
i) watch portion sizes
j) exercise
k) get pregnant fast!

What about DH?

For men, higher estrogen (more body fat) lowers testosterone and sperm count and so his being a little on the cuddly side (or a lot) can sway pink. Somewhat annoyingly, when men lose weight, they often lose mostly fat while preserving or even increasing their muscle mass. Testosterone levels increase accordingly. Also, less body fat can mean lower temperature in the testicles which helps raise sperm count and quality. So if your husband is overweight, having him drop a few pounds can help your sway. He does need to lose the weight in a slow, healthy way while eating protein and healthy fats rather than crash dieting, however. No artificial sweeteners, transfats, or soy foods if possible. Lower sugar intake, and more fresh fruits and vegetables will help.

If DH is severely underweight, he should also try and gain a bit of weight, esp. while lifting weights. Thin guys tend to add muscle long before they add fat, and so for a thinner man to gain weight, oftentimes only will add muscle and increase his testosterone levels. Thin guys also need to increase intake of protein and healthy fats and fresh fruits and vegetables while eliminating artificial sweeteners, soy foods, and transfats.

If your husband is more in-between, it’s best for him to hold steady at his current weight, because having him gain weight might mean adding body fat/estrogen, and losing weight might mean he will shrink his muscle mass and lower testosterone. It’s different for every man of course, but it’s just not worth the potential risk. It’s still good advice for him to eat more protein, healthy fats, fruits and vegetables, and avoid artificial sweeteners, soy, and transfats.

Is this sort of diet healthy?

As long as you limit your weight gain to less than 15 lbs while exercising to ensure most of the weight gain is in the form of muscle rather than fat, the HE Diet is safe and healthy to follow indefinitely. It will boost your fertility and the high intake of fruits and vegetables, complex carbohydrates, lean protein, and healthy fat is in line with a well-balanced and healthy prepregnancy diet. It is a bit higher in saturated fat than the type of diet most cardiologists might recommend in the long term (altho eliminating transfats should more than make up for that!) and may be a little too high in calories for some people’s liking, particularly with the inclusion of full fat dairy, but overall this diet is excellent for fertility and will not harm health. The tiny (theoretical!!) increase in cardiovascular risk and possibly higher risk of breast cancer, from eating more saturated fat will be more than compensated for by improved bone health and possibly lower risks of other cancers as well (diets high in fruits and vegetables and also complex carbohydrates have been shown to reduce odds of some cancers.) The addition of exercise will help to remedy any small disadvantage for heart and breast health that the increase in saturated fat may carry with it.

Studies that show a more nutrient dense diet sways blue:

Maternal Eating Disorders Influence Sex Ratio at Birth
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17522073
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12672968
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21283594
http://rspb.royalsocietypublishing.o...1643/1661.full
http://rspb.royalsocietypublishing.o...0/Suppl_1/S108
http://www.nature.com/news/hungry-mo...ghters-1.10331

[Bally5]

Just curious about the length of time on the diet for a girl sway is it still recommended to diet for 12 weeks before ttc?

[atomic sagebrush]

Yep. Our results have shown that pretty clearly 12 weeks is best, but if you want to do a strict sway and you don't ahve much weight to lose, you may want to start more like 6-8 weeks since the stricter sways usually do not end up with conception till after the first month out.

[Bally5]

Thanks so much for your reply Atomic, I’ve been yo-yo dieting the last year putting off my sway due to illness but am feeling much better again so hoping to start diet and exercise after Christmas ����

[Thinkingofthree]

The girl essay says to have your goal BMI be between 18.5-20. But it says you’re 38% more likely to have ovulation suppressed if your BMI is below 20. So I just want to clarify that we’re really supposed to aim for a 20 BMI.
At 5’3” and 145lbs I obviously have some weight to lose but to get below 20 I would need to lose soooo much more than I thought was necessary.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[atomic sagebrush]

No, aim at 21 BMI that is where I want people to stop losing weight and start holding steady.

You can TTC whenever you want to provided you've had at least 12 weeks on diet. Time on diet has been by far more predictive of successful sways than amount of weight lost.

You are actually in the ideal situation for TTC a girl. You have enough weight to spare so you can do diet for 12 weeks without worrying about it. Perfect!

Do not worry if you don't get down to a certain weight. ANY changes you make in the direction of pink will only help, and time on diet matters way, way more than weight loss.

[atomic sagebrush]

No, aim at 21 BMI that is where I want people to stop losing weight and start holding steady.

You can TTC whenever you want to provided you've had at least 12 weeks on diet. Time on diet has been by far more predictive of successful sways than amount of weight lost.

You are actually in the ideal situation for TTC a girl. You have enough weight to spare so you can do diet for 12 weeks without worrying about it. Perfect!

Do not worry if you don't get down to a certain weight. ANY changes you make in the direction of pink will only help, and time on diet matters way, way more than weight loss.

[Thinkingofthree]

No, aim at 21 BMI that is where I want people to stop losing weight and start holding steady.

You can TTC whenever you want to provided you've had at least 12 weeks on diet. Time on diet has been by far more predictive of successful sways than amount of weight lost.

You are actually in the ideal situation for TTC a girl. You have enough weight to spare so you can do diet for 12 weeks without worrying about it. Perfect!

Do not worry if you don't get down to a certain weight. ANY changes you make in the direction of pink will only help, and time on diet matters way, way more than weight loss.

Thanks that makes me feel better!