Am I doing the LE diet correctly? And a few other Questions

[Hex]

Just trying to perfect my sway as much as possible...
Right now I'm eating only 2 meals a day, no snacking (skipping breakfast), keeping calories low (although I should boost them up a bit, I'm at about 1,100) most of my calories are coming from carbohydrates, I'm limiting fat and protein, trying to keep sodium low but some days I have good luck with that and some days I do not. My staples are white rice seasoned with mrs dash, crystal light, diet mtn dew, broccoli, hummus (for dipping broccoli), iceberg lettuce, cucumbers. The only meat I am eating is chicken which is maybe once a day or less, occasionally tuna but I am trying to limit tuna because of the mercury and idk how it is for swaying. I of course eat other things throughout the day but try to focus on higher carbs, lower fat and protein. Sometimes I have a bit of candy, a pop tart, or sugared soda for the calories but I keep everything I eat within 2 meal periods and no snacking in between. Any suggestions? Am I comprehending the LE diet correctly?
I'm hoping to stay on it from now (August) until about January when we may have our first attempt. I'm going to do that attempt my first cycle of BCPs.
Should I start any supplements that I plan such as Cinnamon or Baby Asprin now or wait until a bit before our first attempt? Can cinnamon and baby aspirin even be taken together? And the decongestant is to be taken before actual attempts, correct?
I'm going to start 1-2 hours of cardio (I'll be using an elliptical machine) at least 5 days a week at the beginning of September when my boys go back to school. How long should I keep on doing the cardio before our first attempt. Would Starting cardio in early September and having our first attempt at making our daughter in January make for good odds or should we wait? We are choosing January because my BCP prescription runs out in December so it will be first cycle off of BCPs and also it's quite cold here with low sunlight in January and I've heard conception in colder months favors girls.
I just can't wait to get pregnant with my daughter!
Good luck everyone with your sways and thanks for taking the time to read!

[ksmom]

Your diet sounds pretty good but technically the LE is vegetarian. However, there have been ladies who successfully swayed pink that ate small amounts of meat. I think AS recommends going vegetarian because it's just so easy to go over protein limits eating chicken or fish or whatever. I tend to get my protein from rice and sometimes beans. Definitely increase your calories!! 1100 calories is way too low especially if you're exercising. Usually 1500-1800 is recommended unless you have lots of weight to lose or are already petite and don't eat much to begin with. Is hummus your only source of fat? What do you have your fat/protein limits set at?

I don't know anything about cinnamon, I think that's for PCOS swayers? I don't think aspirin is being recommended anymore for swaying since it's a blood thinner.

For the exercise, one hour is plenty. 60-70 minutes, 6-7 days a week is what's recommended. If you have lots of weight to lose, starting exercise next month should be fine. I'm not sure how long we're supposed to exercise before an attempt. I know for me, it'll be at least 6 weeks but I don't know about the ladies who successfully swayed.

I highly recommend getting a personalized sway plan! It takes away a lot of the guesswork and it saves you from having to read a million posts and essays trying to figure out what to do which can be stressful. Good luck with your sway!!

[Hex]

I'm 5 feet and 168 pounds so I have a decent amount of weight to lose. My problem with a vegetarian diet is I don't want to be eating eggs, dairy, or any soy meat replacements for protein (I've heard soy can play with your hormones so not sure if it's good for a girl sway, if it is, I might add it in...) I did not know there was protein in rice.
Hummus is not my only fat source, I also eat normal crappy food in small amounts. For example, I had pizza rolls today which was 9 grams of fat, or I had mac and cheese the other day that was 13 grams of fat. I'm still trying to get into the swing of this diet so I'm probably completely tanking at it.

[Hex]

Also, for exercise, I already walk an average of about 5 miles a day and I walk to and from work which is about 1 mile both ways (so 2 miles outdoors per day) and I work in retail so I'm bending, folding clothes, stretching, and walking for my whole shift which is usually about 4 hours a day 5 days a week. When I'm at home I'm kind of a couch potato, I was going to work out at the local gym while the kids were in school but I could always add an extra day or two of cardio on the weekends as well. :-)

[ksmom]

If you still have a lot of weight to lose then I think it's fine to start the diet and exercise now. For fats, what we're aiming for are bad fats like canola, corn oil, veg oil, safflower oil, hydrogenated. There's an essay called "skinny on fats for pink and blue" that has all the info. Yes, there's lots of protein in rice! I eat white rice and rice pasta, which has about 4g protein per cup. Foods like bread, tortillas, crackers, potatoes, etc. all have protein in them just not in large amounts. It does add up though!

For soy, some people think it's pink friendly and others blue so I really don't know! I personally eat it in small amounts occasionally but always within limits. I think soy is best for DH.

[Hex]

Thanks for the info! I will look for that essay.

[atomic sagebrush]

1100 is not enough calories.

Fat and protein intake??

LE does not have to be vegetarian as long as you're sticking in limits for day. I find that going vegetarian can make this easier since meat is very low cal, high in protein you quickly go over on protein and have eaten barely any calories for the day.

Tuna no more than 2x a week when TTC

Why are you using cinnamon?

I am hardly ever using aspirin any more, did not get results and risks too high.

What decongestant?

If you try to do 2 hours of cardio on 1100 cals your O will go missing and not come back for a long time. You are going to need to eat way more than what you're eating if you want to exercise that much.

6-12 weeks of exercise before attempt is plenty.

[atomic sagebrush]

I'm 5 feet and 168 pounds so I have a decent amount of weight to lose. My problem with a vegetarian diet is I don't want to be eating eggs, dairy, or any soy meat replacements for protein (I've heard soy can play with your hormones so not sure if it's good for a girl sway, if it is, I might add it in...) I did not know there was protein in rice.
Hummus is not my only fat source, I also eat normal crappy food in small amounts. For example, I had pizza rolls today which was 9 grams of fat, or I had mac and cheese the other day that was 13 grams of fat. I'm still trying to get into the swing of this diet so I'm probably completely tanking at it.

Not tanking at it, don't worry, most start off doing exactly what you're doing and the nice thing about having weight to spare and starting this far in advance, is there is no hurry to get it figured out. we have time.

Why no eggs or dairy??

Small amounts of soy are probably fine for hormones, it's folks who eat huge amounts every day. We honestly don't know how it sways.

[Hex]

1100 is not enough calories.

Fat and protein intake??

LE does not have to be vegetarian as long as you're sticking in limits for day. I find that going vegetarian can make this easier since meat is very low cal, high in protein you quickly go over on protein and have eaten barely any calories for the day.

Tuna no more than 2x a week when TTC

Why are you using cinnamon?

I am hardly ever using aspirin any more, did not get results and risks too high.

What decongestant?

If you try to do 2 hours of cardio on 1100 cals your O will go missing and not come back for a long time. You are going to need to eat way more than what you're eating if you want to exercise that much.

6-12 weeks of exercise before attempt is plenty.

I know I have been trying up up my calories and I'm doing so gradually. I started out only getting like 800 a day the first couple of days. I'm trying to stick to 2 meals a day and normally I am more of a snacker/grazer and I just eat a lot of small meals throughout the day so I started off eating 2 much smaller meals and now I'm starting to get used to eating more calories in one sitting. It's hard to get a lot of calories out of carbs too but I'm getting better. I want to get more like 2 800 calorie meals a day rather than 2 500 calorie meals which I seem to be getting now.

My fat and protein intake are varying per day. I'm trying to make it a goal to get at least 50% of my calories from carbs and then 25% and 25% for fat and protein but I'm slowly upping carbs and cutting back on fat and protein. I'm usually just the opposite - high protein - so I'm still getting into the groove, I think.
Yesterday I had 76% carbs, 8% fat, 16% protein. I'm not sure if that's ideal or not??? Only 935 calories yesterday. That's something I'm definitely struggling with. Maybe I'll add more candies or something in just to get more calories in.. :-/

I'm kind of obsessed with tuna but I do eat chunk light which I've heard has less mercury but it's definitely something I want to cut back on.
I'm not using cinnamon yet, I have considered it because the way I understood it is we are aiming for low blood glucose which I thought cinnamon helped to lower. I have heard bad things about it too but I was going to maybe try taking it just for the first couple of weeks of my cycle and stop around ovulation. Not sure if that's a terrible idea or not, that's why I'm here asking hundreds of questions!
I'm actually surprised about the aspirin risk. I was just gonna do the 81 mg. I thought it was good for reducing the risk of heart attacks and stroke and I actually took it during my first pregnancy because I had 2 miscarriages before and I heard that taking a baby aspirin a day might help. I took it 2-3 times a week and then weaned off of it in the 3rd trimester.
I was gonna use zyrtec I think for a decongestent.. ANnndd I know even myfitnesspal app is yelling at me every day that I need to eat more calories. I know I know. I'm working on it lol. I've eaten 900 calories today so far in one meal so that's better than the entire day lol.

[Hex]

Not tanking at it, don't worry, most start off doing exactly what you're doing and the nice thing about having weight to spare and starting this far in advance, is there is no hurry to get it figured out. we have time.

Why no eggs or dairy??

Small amounts of soy are probably fine for hormones, it's folks who eat huge amounts every day. We honestly don't know how it sways.

Yeah that's why I wanted to try and start it now to get a handle on it before I actually start ttcing.
Eggs just have a lot of protein for not a lot of calories and I always smother them in cheese anyway and that goes hand in hand with dairy- I can't control myself around cheese! LOL I have a little cheese and then I want to cover everything in cheese. Same thing with ice cream. I will easily eat all of the ice cream in the tri-state area if given the chance. Cheese and ice cream and my lack of self control around them are a big reason why I am sitting at 25 lbs heavier than I was this time last year LOL. I've actually eaten an entire pizza and an entire package of klondike bars in one sitting. I am detoxing. However, I'm fine with eating some cottage cheese or yogurt occasionally. I really just don't enjoy yogurt so it takes me like an hour to finish one.
I might do a veggie burger or something a day or every few days, then, to replace that tuna that I really need to cut back on before I get mercury poisoning!