Dieting and eating disorders

So I plowed though the information on dieting for a girl and ran across the stats on eating disorders and conception rates....but I am a little stressed about how I can do it.

We just had a chemical pregnancy end (well, I am waiting for the blood to start, but tests are neg again...it's happened plenty of times before). And I have been eating terribly these past few weeks. (And fully expected that if we had conceived a sticky bean, it would be blue...I was fine with it).

So I am thinking that for our girl sway, I need to at least incorporate some of the eating habits, because I can't see our sway being strong without it (I won't do douches or lime tampons). But I used to be severely anorexic. Like hospitalized on the brink of death several times anorexic. I have been in recovery for 5 years and have maintained a healthy weight, even overweight for significant portions.

With DS1, I had just put on 70lbs from steroids for my liver issues and also had the most boy friendly diet in the world. With DS2 I was just eating horribly too much and was putting on some weight right before he was conceived.

So I clearly need to be aiming for losing weight. But I can't do the diet very long. Like if I start now, I have to end it in a month. So can I do it for that short of a time and still have success? I will be more mindful of my calories because I am still nursing a toddler. I know I can lose plenty of weight if I want to. But more than a month of it will lead to obsession and possibly bad things. So would it be bad to do a month on, a month off style to get pregnant. We wouldn't try in the off months.

But that would mean only being on the diet for two weeks before trying. Is that not even worth it? If I pair it with some other sway things, do you think it might serve its purpose without raising my obsessions...and therefore swaying boy regardless?

Thanks to anyone who has thoughts on this!

Hi,

I think generally Atomic advises if you have any kind of eating disorder not to attempt the LE diet, there is no way you should put your health at risk especially when you've done so well recovering.

However, to answer your question I did the LE diet for 3-4 weeks (from af to our BFP) and lost 8lbs, it is early days yet so I don't know whether the sway worked but I didn't have a lot of weight to use and I was worried about how sustainable the diet would be long term. We bd twice on the day I got a +opk, we'd been trying for just over 6 months prior to this using the cut off method and not doing diet and I was getting stressed out at not getting pregnant.

Best of luck! x

Your sway sounds somewhat similar to what we are planning.

The thing is that even though I was severely anorexic, I have weight I can lose. I am of average weight, toward the high end of the weight scale for my height right now. BUT, it is the lowest I have been in about 4 years. I obviously can't get to the lowest adult weight, because I was so ill back in the day. But this weight, or the weight I will be when we concieve, will be the lowest conception weight.

I am kinda thinking I will do the diet for the month we are TTC and see where we stand. Today is my first day of AF and I think I can do the diet for a little while and re-evaluate. I was re-reading the dieting information and it looks like the longer-term effects of the diet (lower testosterone and lower estrogen) are things I probably already have in my favor because I am still nursing a toddler. So the lower PH, less CM, and lower blood sugar that happen immediately might be enough to tip the scales in our favor.

We are thinking of DTD just once on O-1 (the day of my positive OPK). And I am planning on using baby aspirin, antihistamines, and rephresh or replens (not sure which yet...I have a couple days to figure it out). Dh is wearing tighty whiteys, taking licorice root, vitamin C, and cranberry. And that is about all we plan to include. I guess we are lazy swayers :D

Hi I have done the diet for 2-3 weeks now and am on +opk day and hubby hasnt done anything for our sway no supps or anything ( because he hadnt yet agreed to ttc !!) but he did this morning right after i got my +opk and so im thinking we might just go for it regardless ( obviously get him to release a few times first ) and hope that having the coil out recently will sway pink enough as like u i had an eating disorder and was 4 stone 11 at 23 years old wearing age 8-9 year old clothes !! Im now 33 and healthy having got over it after the birth of my second son but my bmi is perfecta nd my weight is ok so i only wanted to loose 1lb if that and thats what ive done - im worried that another 4-5 weeks would spark obsession and although i wouldnt necessarily want to loose weight im worried id find dropping the diet hard if that makes sense.
Anyway sorry i cant help and have no useful info but i think if its going to spark bad memories you would be better off not doing it or just doing it for the 2 weeks like me and hoping everything else and the 2 week weight loss will be enough.
Good luck whatever you decide

I definitely wouldn't recommend the LE diet since you have had a past eating disorder. It might trigger it and you could end up battling with it again. Have you thought about just going vegetarian?

Hi I do agree with navywife but as you said your at your lowest ttc weight so I wouldn't worry madly about the diet obviously don't start gain weigh but concentrate on the other aspects of your sway instead! Good luck xx

Yes, I would prefer if anyone with a history of eating disorders did not do diet. You can, of course, make your own decisions on that but it may be best for you to just go vegetarian and leave it at that.