How to maintain LE if you need to skip a month?

Still no BFP or AF for me. I'd love some advice and smiles from you ladies as I'm up and down at the mo :( Some days I feel relaxed, and happy that we'll catch an egg soon. Other days I just keep thinking how long it is since I stopped BF (three months), been on LE (over five months) and been TTC (over two months) and hoping for a BFP, or even AF, so much that it's distracting! I know you ladies all know what I mean. For now, I've decided to start charting my temp as well as monitoring CM/CP a bit, so that I can see whether there is actually anything going on, whether I am actually having cycles. I was taking Vitex/AC but as you can't take it when PG and I have no idea when I will O, I've stopped it.

In the meantime, I'm plodding on on the LE train, trying to maintain my weight and stay relaxed, DTD every four days. However we are determined not to conceive in November as DS2 and DS3 already have August birthdays, two days apart. So I need advice on how to maintain a girl-friendly environment if I skip a month. Do you think I should carry on with full LE as I am doing now: no breakfast, no snacks, 1600 cals, 25% fat, 40g protein, taking fibre with meals? The danger is that I will continue to lose weight and possibly continue to not ovulate, assuming that is what's going on at the moment. So in December we could start to try again but not conceive due to me being to thin maybe? Then we'd have that common problem of having to drop things from a sway due to constant BFNs. But the only thing I'm doing is the diet (plus DH is taking OLE and drinking peppermint tea) so what would I drop? Should I maybe stay veggie and watching blood sugars but relax the rules about fat/protein/cals for the month? Or would that basically mean the last five months of LE were pointless as I'd be increasing my nutrition? I know there is no RIGHT answer here, but I'd appreciate your experienced views. Atomic, what do you think? Thanks x

No, I want you to relax on diet, either up cals to 1800-2000 or stop counting all together. STay vegetarian, eat breakfast if you want. I would continue with the fiber.

YOu will NOT undo the prev. months by doing this. Remember, your body wants to conceive a particular gender because it thinks it will have the best shot of survival, and one month (unless you go absolutely hog wild) can't undo that.

OK. Thank you. Hopefully we might still conceive in October but if not, I will do that in November. Thanks Atomic xxx

Thanks for posting this weezie. I too will likely be taking a break in November and December and wasn't sure how to go on without going crazy. Personally I think I will continue to delay breakfast (until 9 or 10 AM), no snacking, vegetarian, and focus on eating processed foods and less saturated fats, more empty calories etc without tracking anything.

You are thin and have the opposite problem as I do, but in my case I gain weight very easily so I will continue to weigh myself every morning and if my weight starts climbing I may start tracking calories again even while on a diet break. For myself I worry I will take 2 months off the diet, gain 5 lbs, and then conceive a boy in January!

You know this very well, but it's incredibly hard to maintain a constant weight. It's much easier to actively try to lose or to let yourself go and gain weight! Hopefully we both get BFPs this month so this is just an academic discussion anyways :)

Hey ladies, I took 2 months off and for me it was easier to pretty much stick to LE but I just relaxed a little , would eat breakfast delayed for example at 9 or 10 on weekends. HEAPS more cheats , snacked but again only when I needed too. Stayed pretty much vege with chicken once a week ( I was a vege for 15 years so easy for me). I was on LE for 7 months and for me ttc was WAY more stressful so weezie taking a month off might do you alot of good. I too could not afford to drop weight I was at 18-19 BMI but I managed to maintain my weight over 2 month sway break and conceived that next month we tried.
Have you got any answers from your doctor as to why you are not ovulating?
BIG hugs its soooo frustrating!
Xxxxx
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You guys are great. Thank you. You don't know how much better I feel now. DH is away this week and he's so supportive that I think that's why I'm feeling wobbly this week. I will remain optimistic about this month and know that I can take Nov off with confidence. :)

weezie - major points for taking care of 3 little boys alone while DH is away. I'd be going bonkers. :) I'd be testing using cheap sticks nearly daily so I could have my gin and tonic! :)

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Originally Posted by bluebonnet22

weezie - major points for taking care of 3 little boys alone while DH is away. I'd be going bonkers. :) I'd be testing using cheap sticks nearly daily so I could have my gin and tonic! :)

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After my BFN this morning I had two G&Ts while cooking my dinner! And have cheekily had a couple of shortbread fingers as an add on today :)

Yey Weezie Im super happy for you now and Im excited you look forward to the future :) Good Luck to you & Good Luck Blue :)

Sorry my old user posted my comment but its me Yogi 😊 Yey Weezie Im super happy for you now and Im excited you look forward to the future :) Good Luck to you & Good Luck Blue :)

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Originally Posted by atomic sagebrush

No, I want you to relax on diet, either up cals to 1800-2000 or stop counting all together. STay vegetarian, eat breakfast if you want. I would continue with the fiber.

YOu will NOT undo the prev. months by doing this. Remember, your body wants to conceive a particular gender because it thinks it will have the best shot of survival, and one month (unless you go absolutely hog wild) can't undo that.

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Atomic. Thanks for the above post. I've still no signs of ovulation so I'm starting to worry that I've stopped my periods by losing too much weight. I now weigh 126lbs and I'm 5ft10 tall, so my BMI is about 18.1, the lowest it's ever been since I was a kid.

DH and I have had a lovely date today and have talked about our sway loads. So, we REALLY don't want another August baby so decided to def skip November. Plus as I'm not ovulating yet, we're wondering whether skipping December would be a good idea too, so having a two month break, as then I could relax my Martha tendencies and enjoy Christmas, then start TTC again in Jan. So during the two month "break" I would:
- be vegetarian while still limiting highly nutritious foods like eggs, nuts and avocadoes, keep drinking diet drinks
- not use MFP to count everything but just my experience from six months of LE to aim for 1800 cals (I'm currently eating 1600-1700 and on that I have maintained my weight on that for about two months)
- still take fibre with meals, vitex and folate, DH still take OLE and drink peppermint tea
- temp every morning to watch for signs of my cycles returning
- enjoy a cheat day on Christmas Day with turkey, roast potatoes and champagne!

I think this is achievable for me and I will be able to stick to it. Do you think this sounds like a strong pink sway? I really don't want to regret anything like I did last time.

Yes, that looks great. Sorry I know I should know this but are you doing the vitex right now?? We may want to try stopping it and seeing if cycles come back (but would not necessarily have you do that if you are going to take NOv. and Dec. off)

You can't be expected to know what everyone is taking! :) I took voted for a month or two, once DS3 was 10 mths and then stopped when we started DTD in case I got PG

Quick update from me. I couldn't stick to the less strict version of the diet at all. I just cheated and cheated, having never really done that while on LE proper. So I gave in and decided to have two months off. After one month of being my usual gluttonous self I'd put back all of the weight I'd lost over six months - about 16lbs. But I also had my first AF in over two years, nearly four months after stopping BF. So I'm feeling pleased that I've restarted my cycles and only a little disappointed that the six months of LE were wasted. Plan now is to wait until after Christmas when I should have another cycle, then start LE again gradually. Hopefully we can start to TTC in March then. Hope everyone is well x

weezie - I was just wondering how you were doing, thanks for checking in with us . I'm horrible at moderation, too. I've gained 8-9 lbs in my first 2 months of pregnancy, so I understand how it is! I think the body puts on weight quickly after being on a "starvation" type diet for so long (at least that's my excuse, lol). I'm so glad your cycles returned! It sounds like 16 lbs is too much weight loss (since you weren't ovulating before), so I bet if you try to stick to a smaller weight loss from Jan-March you can still ovulate and still be very pink friendly. A fresh start is very smart! Enjoy your holidays and I look forward to seeing your BFP in March :)

:agree: also terrible with moderation!!

Those months on LE were not wasted. Your body notices stuff like that!!!! The effects last longer even if you relax a while on diet.

Thanks BlueBonnet and Atomic. Much appreciated :) I've just ordered some more OLE and Chitosan for January! Do you think I should use Agnus Castus again?

I wouldn't because I"m afraid your O will stop again!