2WW Most Important Rules

[black&gold]

What are the MOST important parts of the diet to stick with during the 2WW? I literally feel like I'm dying (okay, major exaggeration) but I'm finding it really hard to eat bland stuff all the time and am trying to have a super solid sway so I'm being so strict. I know my personality, and I KNOW I'll ease up in the 2WW so what do I NEED to stick too? And what are the reasons for sticking to these guidelines - just implantation?

[Dreamofpink]

Can I just ask why you're eating bland food all the time? That's bound to make the diet very hard to stick to, especially in the 2WW. I know it takes a while to get into the swing of the diet and after 17 weeks, I finally feel like I'm happy with it.

It's important to stick to the diet in the 2WW as the low blood glucose levels are prefered by female embryos and helps them to implant well. Also, if you don't get pg then you're not see-sawing with 2 weeks on the diet 2 weeks off which isn't effective for a good sway at all. For me, easing up in the 2WW isn't too much of an issue as I like what I eat everyday. There's so many 'diet food' ranges out there, especially the Weightwatchers stuff, that fit in well with the LE diet. Are you in the US or UK?

I had a really nice microwave meal (I know, those words shouldn't really be put together in the same sentence, but I was pleasantly surprised!) tonight - am 1DPO - which was a WW meal. It was spaghetti with roasted aubergines, peppers & courgettes and an arribiata sauce and fitted perfectly into my limits for the day. If you need any help tweaking your diet so that it's much more palatable, don't be afraid to ask! That's the key to a long-term, successful (I hope!) diet which doesn't raise your T levels by being so hard to stick to through it's lack of taste.

[black&gold]

I just have a hard time thinking of anything that works well. So far we're just having rice with sauteed veggies. I love my lunches - pita with cream cheese, lettuce and cucumber but the dinners are hard. I also just have SUCH a sweet tooth and not being able to eat much of it for dessert is hard, especially around Christmas with all the stuff in the stores! I do have sweets but want to try and cut back on it because I ate lots with my boys too so I don't want it to be a factor if it raises T level (saw that in another thread)

I'm in Canada, so we do have weight watcher stuff.. I never thought to look at microwave dinners. I'll have to look into it more! I'll hopefully be done in 2 weeks, but that's only if I get a BFP which isn't a gaurentee!

[Dreamofpink]

Have you considered sweet potatoes at all? I like mine topped with sweet chilli Philli or cranberry sauce and cranberry Wensleydale cheese. I love butternut squash risotto with cranberry sauce and cran cheese too, yes a slight pattern there I know It helps with the sweet tooth! Also Atomic tipped me off with the choc Philli which is just fab! I have that everyday, plus I have flavoured hummus too. My dessert is usually just a fat-free yoghurt, my favourite is Shape Rhubarb Crumble - yum!
Be careful thinking that you'll be finished in a couple of weeks as that way leads to despondency if you aren't and makes the diet even harder to stick to. I was like that too in the start and although I'd LOVE for you to get your BFP very soon, I've found it easier to view the diet as a long-term thing then it's a bonus when you get off it sooner than you thought. Hopefully it can become a lifestyle for you rather than a prison sentence and once you see it as a positive thing it becomes a lot easier. Obviously I'm not saying that I wish for you to be on it long-term - absolutely no way!! - but it just makes it easier to deal with psychologically IYKWIM!

[black&gold]

Wow, that all sounds fabulous! I didn't know we were allowed potatoes.. I definitely could see myself eating a sweet potato for sure! and I LOVE cranberry sauce.. been meaning to make myself some! And I will be trying this butternut squash risotto! Oh and chocolate philli.. need to see if we have it but that could be a major bonus!!

I know what you mean about a BFP. With my first two I got pregnant right away the first try so I'm *hoping* this time will be the same, but not banking on it! I do want to get pregnant as soon as I can though as we have a family age timeline that we're pretty strict about (silly I know, but really matters to me if they are all boys). So if I don't get a BFP this month I'll be focusing more on just getting pregnant while sticking to the diet as much as possible!

So we're actually allowed sweet potatoes!?!?! Yum!

[hopingforsaskia]

You are allowed ANYTHING if it's within your totals for the day. The things to steer clear of are gelatin, meat and soy overload. That's it!! I will tell you what I used to eat:

Lunch; cucumber slices with hommus, low fat probiotic yoghurt, red licorice (no gelatin, hardly any sodium or protein, no fat and 100cals per 30g!) and mini milky way chocolates. Occasionally I'd have a rice dessert or something low in fat like skinny cow ice cream.

Dinner; 1 low sodium wrap with low sodium tomato paste - like a pizza base, zucchini (almost a whole one sliced), mushrooms (piled HIGH) and about 50g mozzarella cheese baked in the oven and sprinkled with low sodium salt. Then I'd have more licorice or chocolate to bulk out anything I was lacking, or even a can of lemonade. I was SO happy eating that every day. I used to literally look forward to it every day! I miss my pizza every night now! I ate 1200-1400 cals a day and barely ever went over on anything.

It can be a really great diet -- I lost 12kgs (26lbs?) and apart from the social aspect, loved my diet!!

[black&gold]

mmmmmmm, that pizza sounds so yummy! I think I'll have to try that for sure. I'm so hesitant to eat anything other than bland bland! I always stay in my limits, and LOVE my lunch.. but dinners are getting a little tough. These ideas are great! Like you said, the only hard times are social situations - trying to avoid dinner at the in-laws as much as possible as they are farrrrrr from LE friendly

[atomic sagebrush]

Skipping breakfast and avoiding snacking are important for the first 7 days or so - we're just trying to up the odds that our little XX will grow big and strong and nestle into the uterine lining.

I'd personally stay away from meat, eggs, healthy fats, fruit juice, etc because you may not get BFP and then you've undone some good you did from the diet.

I think the best cheat is SALT. I don't even think salt sways to begin with and so if you're craving it, have some during the 2WW. That having been said, don't go overboard either because your body is not used to it.

[atomic sagebrush]

I just have a hard time thinking of anything that works well. So far we're just having rice with sauteed veggies. I love my lunches - pita with cream cheese, lettuce and cucumber but the dinners are hard. I also just have SUCH a sweet tooth and not being able to eat much of it for dessert is hard, especially around Christmas with all the stuff in the stores! I do have sweets but want to try and cut back on it because I ate lots with my boys too so I don't want it to be a factor if it raises T level (saw that in another thread)

I'm in Canada, so we do have weight watcher stuff.. I never thought to look at microwave dinners. I'll have to look into it more! I'll hopefully be done in 2 weeks, but that's only if I get a BFP which isn't a gaurentee!

You can have sweets though! They're allowed on LE Diet. Blandness and deprivation is a recipe for cheating.

I agree with what Dreamof says, if you think of the diet as "omg i gotta get thru this torture" and you're white-knuckling it at every second, you're going to be miserable and I've seen too many people restrict too far and then either cheat all the time or get so sick of it that they start dropping sway tactics that they really want to keep, just to get off the diet sooner. Easing up on diet is a way to make sure you stick to it. On paper it's easy to think "I want to do everything possible to get a girl" but when you have to actually DO it, it's really hard.

LE Diet can be yummy and fun. I agree about the sweet potatoes, I topped mine with some Swiss or just a sprinkling of salt and they're really kind of a treat.

[atomic sagebrush]

Some of us liked LE Diet so much that we went back to it to lose baby weight afterwards. I have a terrible time sticking to diets but for some reason I can do an LE Diet, I think because I don't feel so deprived - I know I can have a Milky Way bar or a soda as long as I'm in the cal limits for the day.