Nitty Gritty details of a Girl Sway

[Sweetplum]

All,
after pouring through this site. I think I have a good grasp on a TTC girl sway. This is how I would summarize:

• Exercise (60min cardio / 6-7 d/w) prior to TTC OR COUCH POTATO
• skip breakfast
• lower testosterone
• lose weight
• LE diet
• fiber with meals
• daily caffiene
• daily alcohol
• BD once every 4 days from end of AF through ovulation
• 1200-1800 calories
• low protien/nutrients
• vegetarian

But I still have some follow up questions....
Any thoughts on these?

• how long is best for LE diet? I think I can do this for a while but I'm afraid of it upsetting my ovulation if I'm doing this for months. I'm not going to be tracking calories as this causes too much stress...I was anorexic in my past so I have a pretty good grasp on how many calories I'm eating...it's kinda ambient for me and logging things will up my stress big time.
• Can I switch from couch potato to 60min cardio a day? Say I did couch potato for a few months here and then switched to the intense exercise 6-8 weeks before TTC - is that good/bad idea?
• How important is exercise vs the stress of trying to fit in? For me - trying to fit in 60min/6-7d per week is going to cause a bunch of stress (and thus raise my testoserone)? Is it worth it?
• Skipping breakfast during week (lunch and dinner only) and then switching to brunch and dinner on weekend? Is this OK?
• alcohol affect quality of eggs? How much is too much to drink prior to TTC? Not that I drink a ton but I'll have 3-4 beers/wine glasses once a week (Saturday nights usually when we have friends over - is this OK?)
• coq10 - when to start?
• vasectomy reversal - quality of sperm? when to start TTC? (we will be dealing with this hurdle too). What does VR mean for TTC? For girl sway?
• DH - BD every 4 days - what to do in between? release? nothing? My hubby is 36. I'm 40.
• Dose of olive leaf extract for DH?
• diet tonic water ok? with the quinine?
• light beer? how light do we mean here? Light in color or light in calories. (I like really dark beers).
• Vitex? when in cycle? Ok for 40+? when to stop? how much?
• What to take for fiber? When? dose?
• sweets - can I have ice cream? cake? donuts? at all or are these things 100% off limits?
• Other 100% no no foods other than read meat?

Really long list. I know.
I'm thinking I'll do a personalized sway if DH agrees on VR and OB gives thumbs up .... but figure it doesn't hurt the group to ask some of these questions....
Thanks all,
Sweetplum

[ksmom]

I can't answer all your questions but in regards to exercise, if you can't do it or it's too stressful then don't. Leave it out completely and do couch potato. You could end up doing the exercise for many months like me (and many other pink swayers) so you have to have the time to do it and at least enjoy it a little to keep it up until you get a BFP. 12+ weeks on diet gets best results. It shouldn't disrupt ovulation unless you're not getting enough fat or calories. Stick with the guidelines Atomic set: 1500-1800 cals, 30-60g fat (depending upon caloric intake), and 40-50g protein. She has it set that way for a reason!

[Sweetplum]

I can't answer all your questions but in regards to exercise, if you can't do it or it's too stressful then don't. Leave it out completely and do couch potato. You could end up doing the exercise for many months like me (and many other pink swayers) so you have to have the time to do it and at least enjoy it a little to keep it up until you get a BFP. 12+ weeks on diet gets best results. It shouldn't disrupt ovulation unless you're not getting enough fat or calories. Stick with the guidelines Atomic set: 1500-1800 cals, 30-60g fat (depending upon caloric intake), and 40-50g protein. She has it set that way for a reason!

I hear you on the exercise. My plan is to do couch potato until about 8 weeks out from TTC and then hit it hard until a BFP (or we give up since I really don't have THAT much time). I'm wondering if that will work? I just don't want to start too early on the exercise kick as I know it takes a lot of time and effort....but from what I've seen here, it seems worth it.

Sounds good on the diet. I honestly don't find myself getting super hungry on the LE so I don't think it will be an issue to do it long term, I'm not starving myself but since I'm used to eating 'healthy' with loads of olive oil, dense whole foods, healthy proteins, fruits, veggies, and so on it's kinda an adjustment. I worry a bit about my egg quality since I'm already 40 and well they are old - so eating lower quality foods worries me a bit but not in the sense that I'll lose too much weight but that I'm not giving my eggs enough nutrition. (Note _ this is maybe why I have boys...)

I'm sorry for your losses last year. Let's just say I've been pregnant more times than the number of children I have too. I wish you the best in your journey.
Sweetplum.

[Fiya]

I didn't have time to do the exercise part, because I work as an independant translator and I often work in the evenings also. So I decided to do couch potato with a good LE diet and one attempt at positive OPK in my fertile window and look at my signature

[atomic sagebrush]

1)12 weeks or more best results. With history of eating disorders I like you gals to focus on exercise, going vegetarian, and eating more vegetable source fats rather than track stuff, makes ya buggy

2)Exercise has gotten vastly superior results and I recommend for anyone who can do it. 6-8 weeks is enough prior to sway

3)Don't worry about "stress" "raising testosterone" the exercise has earned its keep to such an extent that I recommend it. Trust me sitting around with lots of energy to think about your sway is exactly the wrong thing to do. Exericse may even work as well as it does, in part because it relieves anxiousness.

4)Yep that's fine, nothing magic about breakfast, just trying to go longer with no food coming in.

5)Not by much and 4 beers once a week won't hurt anythin.

6)12 weeks before sway

7)Nothing.

8)500-1000 mg dry leaf, if using liquid follow directions on bottle

9)yes

10)That turned out not to matter very much so please drink what YOU like.

11)No vitex for your age group, or wiht the VR causing tons of trouble and not working well anyway.

11)You know, I can't explain this but I have a weird gut instinct for you to NOT TAKE fiber. I want you to leave it out. I can't really put my finger on why, it's a combo of the ED, the VR, and your age. Just don't want you to use it.

12)Sweets are of course ok on standard LE, not great for egg quality, but I personally ate stuff like that and got preggo at 41 so can't be that bad for some of us at the least. I suspect that you will NEED them for keeping weight on and also because if we start crossing foods off and calling things forbidden that's a big trigger for ED issues. All ok

13) In the Dream Members ther is a thread called "best-worst food guide" and it lists all the foods from A-D. But there are no F-orbidden foods for pink. Even red meat now and then is a possibility!!! CHeating now and then, even red meat, makes it way easier to stick to the diet in the long term.

[atomic sagebrush]

I can't answer all your questions but in regards to exercise, if you can't do it or it's too stressful then don't. Leave it out completely and do couch potato. You could end up doing the exercise for many months like me (and many other pink swayers) so you have to have the time to do it and at least enjoy it a little to keep it up until you get a BFP. 12+ weeks on diet gets best results. It shouldn't disrupt ovulation unless you're not getting enough fat or calories. Stick with the guidelines Atomic set: 1500-1800 cals, 30-60g fat (depending upon caloric intake), and 40-50g protein. She has it set that way for a reason!

I actually think that for SOME people, an approach where they don't cling so tight to diet limits and ALSO exercise, can be a good solution. So like for Sweetplum, this makes some sense because we don't want to trigger disordered thinking about food, so just going vegetarian, not cutting back that far on diet, with also exercising is still gonna be a nice pink sway without the attention to detail that causes some people to think about food too much.

[Sweetplum]

1)12 weeks or more best results. With history of eating disorders I like you gals to focus on exercise, going vegetarian, and eating more vegetable source fats rather than track stuff, makes ya buggy

2)Exercise has gotten vastly superior results and I recommend for anyone who can do it. 6-8 weeks is enough prior to sway

3)Don't worry about "stress" "raising testosterone" the exercise has earned its keep to such an extent that I recommend it. Trust me sitting around with lots of energy to think about your sway is exactly the wrong thing to do. Exericse may even work as well as it does, in part because it relieves anxiousness.

4)Yep that's fine, nothing magic about breakfast, just trying to go longer with no food coming in.

5)Not by much and 4 beers once a week won't hurt anythin.

6)12 weeks before sway

7)Nothing.

8)500-1000 mg dry leaf, if using liquid follow directions on bottle

9)yes

10)That turned out not to matter very much so please drink what YOU like.

11)No vitex for your age group, or wiht the VR causing tons of trouble and not working well anyway.

11)You know, I can't explain this but I have a weird gut instinct for you to NOT TAKE fiber. I want you to leave it out. I can't really put my finger on why, it's a combo of the ED, the VR, and your age. Just don't want you to use it.

12)Sweets are of course ok on standard LE, not great for egg quality, but I personally ate stuff like that and got preggo at 41 so can't be that bad for some of us at the least. I suspect that you will NEED them for keeping weight on and also because if we start crossing foods off and calling things forbidden that's a big trigger for ED issues. All ok

13) In the Dream Members ther is a thread called "best-worst food guide" and it lists all the foods from A-D. But there are no F-orbidden foods for pink. Even red meat now and then is a possibility!!! CHeating now and then, even red meat, makes it way easier to stick to the diet in the long term.

Holy cow. THANK YOU. I feel like I should paypal you some money for this
I think the exercise being key is interesting. It's probably worth it. Does 'power walking' for 60 minutes count?

[Sweetplum]

I actually think that for SOME people, an approach where they don't cling so tight to diet limits and ALSO exercise, can be a good solution. So like for Sweetplum, this makes some sense because we don't want to trigger disordered thinking about food, so just going vegetarian, not cutting back that far on diet, with also exercising is still gonna be a nice pink sway without the attention to detail that causes some people to think about food too much.

Thank you for this note. You have an uncanny ability to tap into people....

[Sweetplum]

I didn't have time to do the exercise part, because I work as an independant translator and I often work in the evenings also. So I decided to do couch potato with a good LE diet and one attempt at positive OPK in my fertile window and look at my signature

This is really exciting! I hope you post updates and congratulations!!!

[maidentomother]

Very much agree with atomic especially her last post. I think the exercise will really help tire you out/calm you down.

60 min power walking is fantastic for pink. Probably it's what most exercisers do.

I have 'disordered eating' but have never actually been anorexic, 'just' borderline with an unhealthy mental attitude towards eating. I also have full blown OCD. Long distance running (for me that's usually over an hour, minimum 1.25-5 hours 6 days a week; walking doesn't work as well for me personally but I am really a runner by nature) has a powerful therapeutic effect on both my OCD and my DE. The running empties my head, burns my anxiety and it makes me feel healthy/strong and want to nourish my body.