Is it okay to start an HE diet while pregnant?

So I'm newish here (though I'm so much a fan; ingender had a very different vibe compared to here, and you guys already are making me feel better about my GD over having a girl).

Quick overview: My SO and I got pregnant on our first try (which was our second cycle after BC, as my gyno had told me to wait one full cycle). It's a girl (and... 90% of old wive's tales pointed boy, but my SO and I had a feeling it'd be a girl from the start... particularly with how stressed I was about having a girl, and I'm currently trying to work through that). I've seen timing stuff has mixed reception here, but we had sex 4-5 times during my "possible ovulation week," and most likely ovulated later than I thought based on still adjusting to a post-BC cycle. Ovulation was only suspected by EWCM for several days and "general" timing of when ovulation is supposed to happen (Using Ovia Fertility App).
Was unfamiliar with swaying UNTIL I stumbled across it during my "old wive tale" hunt. I was 100% unintentionally swaying for a girl -- had been dealing with a relapse of anorexia and was eating minimal calories a day. Hadn't eaten breakfast anytime outside of vacation since I was probably 11. While I've lifted heavy weights regularly for 3+ years, I was also SUPER cardio at the time -- was biking 13-26 miles a week to and from work, playing wallyball or volleyball anywhere from 2-4 hours a week, hiking, etc. all on top of lifting. Borderline abusive on my body. Haven't eaten red meat since I was 14, and generally ate very minimal meat. Though I took a daily prenatal, was probably definitely not getting enough nutrition because of borderline self abuse to my body.


So here I am 20+ weeks pregnant with a very healthy girl so far (which is surprising, I feel, considering my diet before... though I was very fit!). I'm trying to grapple with my gender disappointment by hopefully planning for the next one... and 100% wanting a boy. I know it's not for sure, so I'm doing tons of research.

Could I start a "HE" diet now and just continue post-partum? I've found myself drawn to more meat anyway, but I'm hoping to prime my body in general IN CASE we get pregnant before I anticipate. Ideally hoping to try for another when this baby is 6 months to a year, while breastfeeding. I also know atomic considers these factors girl sways, but I'd like to read any more information showing one way or the other... and I'll admit, I've anally counted out the differences in every opposite pair sibling I know to wonder (ex: Lily and Alfie Allen are only 15 months apart, haha! But then, my husband and his two brothers are 16 months and 14 months apart, while my two young girl cousins are 13 months apart). Maybe hoping that my surprise fertility at the get go (especially considering I have no thyroid and have to manage all of that, and my husband will be 36 the next time we try; I'll be 27 going on 28) means I might sway more blue if I'm actually... well, not abusing my body?

And, in a surprisingly flip side, perhaps this will keep me from relapsing into my anorexic behaviors since the HE diet is all about more calories and more nutrition?

Looking for any input! Thank you!

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I pretty much ate an HE diet while pregnant with both my boys. With DS2 I was put on a high protein diet around 30ish weeks because I was developing pre-E signs like I had with DS1. I was always very hungry with both pregnancies so naturally I ate a high calorie diet. I seriously would eat an entire eight slice pizza when I was pregnant with DS1. I ate a very healthy high cal/protein/fat diet with DS2....lots of dark greens, nuts, chicken, beans, dairy, fruit, olive oil, hemp protein. I think as long as you're getting your calories, fat, and protein from healthy sources then it's fine to eat while pregnant.

HE diet can only benefit your baby IMO. I recently read a study on epigenetics how calorie restriction during pg turns on the obesity/diabetes/cardiovascular disease gene in your baby. If you have the HE diet mentality just slightly (nutritious, healthy, nutrient dense regular meals - not so much junk food) it could prevent an anorexic relapse for you and give your mental energy something better to focus on. I'd avoid the boy supplements as you have to be careful when pg and they are unsure of effects during pregnancy. If it were me, I'd just take my prenatal vitamins diligently. Babies mine your body of all its natural resources, so if you are planning a sway boy soon after, build it and support as much as possible during this pregnancy.

Hi and welcome! Your user name made me smile.

The old wives' takes don't work at all unfortunately, most of us on here had a heartbreaker experience with them. :/

Coming off BCP has gotten girls for us 75-80% of the time so right away you will have that going for you.

Timing doesn't work, it doesn't sway at all, but it is ok if you believe in it, we have a way to incorporate it into blue sways.

The good news about having a history of eating disorders is for reasons we don't totally understand, having had an eating disorder but being in recovery from that is associated with more boys. We don't know if it's a correlation (women who are more prone to eating disorders are also more prone to boys) or a cause (having restricted cals then eating more may send a signal to the body that a boy has a better chance because resources are more plentiful) or both but there is a strong trend that way.

Eating HE style in a pregnancy won't hurt a thing and will only help your baby (as long as you don't go berserk with it, and avoid that sodium stuff leftover from the old-school sway diets, it doesn't work anyway and isn't healthy) and it's perfectly safe indefinitely, including postpartum.

RE breastfeeding and close spacing, the trick of it is, you have to view it in the scope that firstly we are just trying to maximize our chances overall and secondly, that it's fertility and maternal condition (in part as a result of diet and good health, in part just good luck and genetics) that sways and not child spacing or breastfeeding in and of itself. You can absolutely get a boy or a girl with a close spacing and breastfeeding if your fertility has come back and you're in good condition - do I think it's going to give you the maximum odds of getting a boy, personally I don't. I got a boy and a girl while breastfeeding, 3 boys without breastfeeding. There are no magic bullets, they just don't exist.

What fertility and maternal condition mean, is that you can't really just look around at people in the world and draw a conclusion for that. Because it is likely that just in order to be able to conceive at all while breastfeeding, particularly with a close spacing, a person is probably in very high condition and a fertile myrtle to start with. IT is also a somewhat unusual subset of women who even try to do so, and the majority of women either do not continue breastfeeding that long, are not exclusively breastfeeding, or never even start to begin with. The type of gal who tries to conceive with a close spacing and is able to, is somewhat in the minority and we have reason to believe they may be heavily set for blue to start with. So if a person started off 80% likely to conceive a boy due to good condition, and due to breastfeeding ended up 60% likely, that is still a majority of boys (I'm just pulling these numbers out of thin air to illustrate).

I do think you have a great chance of a boy, I'm just trying to illustrate the theoretical elements that underlie the reason why I don't think that breastfeeding and close spacing are optimal. IT doesn't mean you can't, just that they're not optimal. I NEVER EVER want anyone to wean for a sway, and I urge you to keep nursing as long as you want, but you may not necessarily want to go for the "Irish twin" approach. But if you do, that's ok too, the diet and lifestyle changes will only help.

Thank you so much for the responses everyone! And I don't necessarily believe in timing atomic (especially after reading the New Zealand study that had the opposite results from Shettles!), just thought I'd offer my background... especially since the boy chart on here has a lot of one or two BDs, and we had more than that for sure, haha.

I'll be asking many more questions, I'm sure, but you all have been very helpful.

Atomic, would you say that a "first try" pregnancy means I might be in high condition despite my habits at the time, or just a fluke? I'd add that I'm already certainly gaining more than I anticipated with this pregnancy :rolleyes:

Yes!

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Originally Posted by atomic sagebrush

Yes!

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Woohoo!