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[Erin514]

Do you have any symptoms of celiac like chronic low iron or digestive upset? Have you ever been tested?

[atomic sagebrush]

Thanks for your patience, since this was long I needed to set aside till I was able to give my full attention.

I think Public Enemy #1 is your weight. I know it's hard to believe that 3-5 lbs can make much of a difference but the thinner you get, the more 1 lb counts. That is the first thing I would change. I think that gaining 3 lbs may make a world of difference.

I think it is important for you in a variety of ways to leave off tracking. It is not helping you. Just go vegetarian. A lot of us boy moms have very high calorie needs. Please don't stress because you're eating more protein and fat. Not only is it still less than you were eating when you got your son, but additionally you need it (if you didn't, your LP would not be short!!), and additionally additionally, I think you need to eliminate as many sources of potential obsess-worthy details from your life as is feasible. Remember, animal studies indicate that even with all other things equal, higher intake of vegetable fats and protein still sways strongly pink.

Seeing a doctor would not hurt a thing and it may end up that you get Clomid from that. (but you ~may~ want to gain a smidge of weight before that because otherwise they'll tell you to go home and gain weight first.) I can't rem. if you're still breastfeeding or not, but if you are, and you go into see the doc, don't mention that. They always seize on that to explain all issues, unfortunately.

I personally think you having a deadline will only add to your stress levels.

men are awesome!! Sometimes I feel like all we hear about are the negative elements of masculinity. There is definitely a lot of help to be gained from focusing both on the positive qualities of men (even if stereotypical) and to be honest the negative qualities of women (even if stereotypical)

[atomic sagebrush]

Thank you for your suggestion Bunny. So then, can I be sure my short LP is caused by low progesterone? Is this something I need to see a doctor for? Can I make diet changes instead of taking medication (without swaying blue?) Do the packets themselves sway blue?

No, you cannot, and in fact I find it much more plausible that it is caused by low estrogen due to your low body weight and time on diet. About 7 days after ovulation, the corpus luteum (which makes progesterone) naturally breaks down and your body releases another surge of estrogen to maintain lining a few more days to a week to enable pregnancy to occur, which then sends a signal back to the corpus luteum to start making MORE progesterone at that point. A lot of the time we think it's progesterone when it's estrogen (but it's irrelevant as the cure is the same)

Progesterone supps have been shown in studies to be basically placebos - they don't help anyone get or stay pregnant. They may extend luteal phase, but the rates of women coming out of it with a baby are unchanged. Doctors are moving away from using them - although many still will, it's because they like to look like they're doing something and not because they've been shown to work.

I think you should probably see a doc anyway. If your prog is low, the cure for it is Clomid anyway (that actually works, unlike the prog supps).

[atomic sagebrush]

Thank you for missing me, Pink Pony. Yes I guess I'd needed some time away from the site. I also stopped looking at Facebook for a bit. I've taken a mini-break of sorts even though I was still swaying overall. I started eating a little bit more salt anyway, which has been lovely.

I didn't really try to conceive for September, it seemed pointless to put oneself through a two week wait when I know I've got this LP problem.

How is Atomic's fertility diet working out for you? I read through it, but I feel like I'm probably already doing most of it. I'm not sure what could help me. Maybe more eggs, like one per day? Maybe less wheat? Maybe working out 5 days instead of 6 or 7? Maybe I just need to just do what it takes to gain a couple of pounds this month?

Weight will fly off you if you do the fertility diet. IT is NOT for people who are having spotty ovulating and short LP because of low weight, it's for those who have PCO-tendencies and/or insulin resistance that is affecting egg quality negatively.

It is fine if you'd like to go to whole grains and stuff like that (and cut out wheat if you'd like) but i think it's best for you to absolutely relax on diet NOW and enable your body to gain at least back up to 18.5 BMI.

[atomic sagebrush]

It's hard to be certain what is causing your short LP, but the progesterone cream can help lengthen it. It's available in health food type stores and does not sway blue.

The type of prog cream sold in health food stores is made for menopausal women to give them the very low levels of prog. that naturally occurs in premenopausal women. Some ladies have used it when TTC, but it is all but certain that they got successfully pregnant and their CL made 10x as much progesterone as in that cream and that's why they thought the cream worked. It is not meant to sustain a pregnancy and if you do use it, you need to get the kind that comes from a doctor's prescription and a pharmacy which is much, much stronger and also better absorbed

[atomic sagebrush]

It's been an interesting last couple of days. The eight day LP really hit me hard this month, like I'm going no where with this whole thing if I can't get pregnant. I'm not moving in the right direction. Something has to change.

I felt trapped in a double bind. On one hand my low weight seems like the obvious culprit causing the short LPs. On the other hand, I can barely stay anywhere close to the LE protein and fat limits as it is, so it's hard to convince myself that what I need is to add more. But the bottom line is, I don't see any other way to gain back weight unless I do just that.

Maybe the venn diagram of what my body needs to eat for fertility just doesn't have enough leeway to overlap with what a woman could eat to improve her chances of conceiving a daughter. Or maybe there's something wrong with my digestive system that makes me unable to process a percentage of the protein and fat I'm taking in. I know it probably sounds crazy that I'm not getting enough at over 60 grams of fat and protein already, but the proof is in the pudding.

To be honest, I bit the bullet already and had a few cheat meals over the last couple of days. I mean I've stayed vegetarian, but not low protein or low fat or anything like that. I'd eating in a really limited way for so long that I was pretty afraid to stop. I was afraid I'd feel a ton of regret about it, but I don't really. Not yet anyway. I feel... a lot better. Like way healthier. I don't know though. Maybe I am going to regret it soon.

But there IS no Venn Diagram. You're imagining that these things are set in stone but they aren't!! Every single one of us is different, that is why I cannot make a one size fits all diet. The dietary limits a woman who is 5 ft tall vs one who is 6 feet tall HAVE to be totally different and it is just simply the case that you need more food than others do. The same amount of food that might make a gal with a lower metabolism possibly conceive a boy would not be the same amount of food that you need to conceive a girl!!!

If it had been up to me I would NOT have made a diet, I would NOT have made the limits, it is because they are totally arbitrary. I MADE THEM UP based on info from the WHO and RE's on the lowest average nutrient intake in a healthy pre-pregnancy diet. That does not mean that people cannot eat more and still get girls. That does not mean that there are not many out there who may NEED more food than that. All I ever wanted was for people to eat less than they WERE. People insisted that I make a diet and I did that knowing full well that then a bunch of people would take that to mean that it is set in stone like the mineral diets are - but that idea is not true and it makes no sense at all!!!! If it worked to do things like that we'd never get a sway opposite, and all those women living in countries where that is literally all they GET for food intake would not have about 50-50 b and g, but they'd have only g.

Please don't take the limits as anything other than guidelines. The important thing is that you were doing differently than you were.

[atomic sagebrush]

Do not take any more than the RDA of zinc. It is toxic and that guideline is there for a reason.

[atomic sagebrush]

Let's also add in 30-60 mg iron 3x a week.

[atomic sagebrush]

Yes I"m sorry I had a bunch of longer ones last week that I had set aside and it took me a few to get back to you all.