Pink Sway - Questions about LE Diet and Exercise

[atomic sagebrush]

But we do not know if you ovulate at that point or if your temp just takes a few days to go up. We just can't know that. We also cannot predict if this is a true positive or a false one.

If you want to stick to e4d then stick with it. Do not move the days around. It is NOT a compromise to move the days. For all you know, you are moving the day to a day that is going to make it LESS likely to conceive with. The e4d must be set in stone because when people start jockeying it all around trying to make it come out on a certain day, they are often outwitting themselves, ending up having attempts at a day they're less likely to conceive on. Trust me, I've seen gobs of people start changing the days around and not only is it super "control freaky" it's also not helpful to conception, since people end up missing days that they should have had an attempt in favor of a day that gains them nothing. Plus, it may be more blue friendly anyway, so in that case, why not just go to e4d plus one more attempt at positive OPK and ensure you're going to boost chances of conception???

If you're ready to boost chances of conception then please add another attempt either CD 14 or CD 15, but keep going with the e4d schedule as you have it. Yes, this might be more blue friendly, but at least you're for sure going to increase your chances of conceiving.

[Lanini]

Hello Atomic, thanks again for your last reply. Unfortunately I got another negative this cycle. I did not get pregnant. I'm sad. It was our third month of TTC and I'm not getting pregnant. I had a lot of hope this cycle because we did e4D. We didn't use lubes or anything like that. I got pregnant with my son in the first month trying. With him we only had one attempt in this cycle. I do not understand why I am not getting pregnant now.

AF arrived today. So now I'm starting the new cycle. My motivation is no longer that high. The many exercises are difficult for me. I'm getting sloppy with my diet, have had several cheat days in the past two weeks (but my weight stays the same, I'm not gaining weight). I'm going to pull myself together again, but I don't know how many cycles I can go through with the sway program.

Fortunately, I was able to get Femara again. So that I can now start the third cycle using Femara. I'll take it from CD 3 to 7 again. I will do everything like the last cycles, such as alcohol, diet, skip breakfast, exercises, fiber, Femara. I now also drink a cup of coffee a day. How often should my hubby ride a bicycle? Is it enough if he drives every now and then during the fertile week? Or before the attempt? My husband is now too cold to drive more often.

I think we will try this cycle e4D + one attempt at positive OPK. I need to increase the chances of getting pregnant. And that offers the highest chance, right? Do you have any other tips about what we can use or change?

I am showing a diagram of our last cycle.

[atomic sagebrush]

Lanini, it takes fully fertile couples doing nothing to sway an average of 3-6 months to get pregnant. If you got pregnant the first month out in the past, that was good luck, not a guarantee that it would always be that way (even without swaying) and WITH swaying, you need to allow for a bit longer to conceive. Though we still have average 3 months to conception even with our pink sways, so it's not by much!

It is normal for people to relax a bit on diet and exercise over time. That STILL gives us good results since these are the people who have success! If you aren't even gaining weight, you are overthinking it anyway as you aren't really even cheating much if at all. You were probably being too strict before, and this is simply changing to a more manageable form of diet in the long term.

However much he's able to bike is fine. It's probably good that he's dialing it back on that, biking can really lower chances of conception so just in case it was harming your chances, less biking may help boost them.

e4d with one more attempt at positive OPK. I would suggest more attempts than you had, though, in case of late ovulation. At least one more after that would be advisable and many people do the e4d all month long.

Let's go ahead and drop fiber to be sure you can make enough hormones while on the letrozole.

You're not doing shallow release or J and D any more, are you?

Also, when you're laying flat, try to spend part of the time on your tummy. We have seemed to have good results with that.

[Lanini]

I actually know that it can take time to get pregnant. Still, it's hard to get a negative every month. The daily exercises are often difficult for me and therefore every month more swaying is a bit stressful for me. So I hope to get pregnant quickly.

From the amount of calories I stick to the diet. But I tend to cheat on the amount of fat (the percentage of fat is higher, but protein and carbs are less). And I sometimes cheat by eating breakfast or having a snack in between. Should I not use fiber even if a meal is very fat?

OK, then my husband can ride a bike if he wants. It's winter in Germany and then cycling isn't that much fun anymore .

OK, we will do the e4D over the entire cycle and we will do an extra attempt at pos. OPK.

Wie did no jump and dump and no shallow release and no FR. We only did that in the first cycle. My husband does regular releases every two to three days.

After the attempt, I lay down on the tummy. Before I was pregnant with my son, my gyn told me that I had a uterus tilted backwards ("Retroflexio uteri") and that I should lie on my tummy. I've already done that in the last few cycles. Should I just lie on my tummy or also on my back?

[atomic sagebrush]

I get that it's hard, but you have to have reasonable expectations going in because otherwise you're going to have a tough time every month if you get BFN and getting overly focused on having success is that sort of "control freak" mindset we want to look out for. Try to be more chill about conceiving every month for the sake of your sway. The more emotionally charged you make this process, the more it can hurt your sway because then you start obsessing over everything, wondering if you should change this thing or that thing, the more swaying and TTC stays on your mind all the time.

How many grams of fat are we talking about here? As a general rule, it's probably best to cheat on carbs vs. fat, but many times people tell me they're "cheating" on fat when they're still in the limits of the day. If you give me specific numbers I may be able to put your mind at ease.

Occasionally having breakfast or a snack now and then is ok. That's all taken into account that sometimes people will need to do that. If your weight stayed the same, it fits into the "cheating now and then is not only allowed, but encouraged" rule.

If you have a huge blowout on diet, like 1000+ calories in a sitting then yes, you can still take a fiber with that sort of meal. But overall I want to be sure you are giving your body the raw materials it needs.

Spend part of the time on your tummy and part on your back.

[Lanini]

Hello Atomic!

We're pretty sick right now so I'm not answering until now. Can an illness at the beginning of the cycle affect the sway or the effects of letrozole?

My fat intake varies a lot. On normal days, I stay in the 30-50 grams range, but sometimes, especially on weekends, I have a large, fatty meal, so sometimes I eat 80-90 grams of fat on those days. On average during the week, despite these fatty meals, I am at 50-65 grams of fat a day, as I often have days when I eat less fat. So the daily amount of fat varies a lot. I don't have these fatty cheat meals every week, but I've had several times over the past 3 weeks. My average fat intake per week was still in the described range. Do you think that could ruin the Sway? I always used fiber before those very fatty meals, I think I should keep doing that, right?

Thank you for your answers. You are a great help to me!

[atomic sagebrush]

We believe that illness may sway somewhat pink. do be aware it can delay ovulation a bit depending on how ill you are and how it affects your body.

Normally I don't like people to use averages (because they often end up inadvertently starving themselves) In your case I think this is fine because you're never going below the minimum cutoff for fat and you're holding steady on weight.

I would still advise dropping fiber to be sure you can respond to the letrozole by making estrogen very quickly when it's needed.

[Lanini]

I got another BFN. I'm really sad. We did e4D + one Attempt at positive OPK. We had really good timing. I stayed on my stomach and back for a long time after BD. We didn't use lubes. No FR or something like that. My husband didn't ride a bike. It was now the fourth cycle where it didn't work and the third cycle with Femara. I'm starting to worry whether something is wrong with us in terms of health.

I only have one cycle left on Femara. I'm not sure if I can still get Femara afterwards. But I think after 4 months with Femara I should take a break anyway? Or can I safely take Femara longer?

This cycle my ovulation came very early. Positive OPK on CD 11, BBT was rising on CD 14. We had attempts on CD 7, 10, 11, 13, 16. Everything was perfect. But still BFN. Really worried I won't get pregnant at all. The daily exercises are very hard for me, I don't know how many cycles I can still do that strict sway. I want a girl so much, but I think maybe I should focus on getting pregnant. The age gap to my son is getting bigger and bigger (my son will soon be 4 years old). I'm torn between wanting a girl and the fear that I won't get pregnant and should try everything.

[atomic sagebrush]

Some months just aren't the month. Even fully fertile couples doing nothing to sway, and everything to optimize fertility, only have a 20% chance any given month. So when you "pull out all the stops" like you did here, you can't expect that then pregnancy is a given, because sometimes it's just not the right egg, not the right sperm, they don't find each other, or something goes wrong very early on and that small ball of cells stops dividing.

Sure, if you'd like a break on Femara I am fine with that. We still see the pink effects lingering in the off month so you can still try that month, and the next month resume the Femara. It's also possible to split the doses so instead of just one dose remaining, you could have two more months of medicine after the month off (and try all three months, plus the 4th month without the Femara)

You need to look at easing off of swaying differently than you are. There is a HUGE gulf of difference between exercising as much as you are and giving up everything just in order to get pregnant. I PROMISE you will come to regret doing that if you end up getting another boy, because of tons of people who have regretted it. So please, here and now, immediately, relax a little. Drop a day of exercise, eat some things you've been craving, give yourself permission to make small changes to make swaying easier rather than putting yourself through the wringer every month. it is ok to do that and is certainly far better for your sway than being completely control freakish sticking to too strict a sway, and then giving everything up all in one fell swoop.

[Lanini]

Thanks Atomic. I actually know that it can take a while to get pregnant. It is still a bit frustrating for me and I actually expected that I would be pregnant after 4 cycles at the latest.

I would like to take Femara in the next cycle. After that I took 4 cycles of Femara and would have to organize a new Femara first, where I'm not sure whether it will work. In Germany, as far as I know, it is customary to do a maximum of 3 or 4 cycles with Femara under medical supervision, so I suspected that it would make sense from a health point of view to take a break when my Femara is used up after 4 cycles. Isn't this break necessary? From your point of view, can I safely take Femara more cycles? If so, I would try to get more Femara.

Can you tell me a little more about splitting the doses? That means that it would also be possible to get by for two months with the remaining 5 tablets of Femara? That means I only take 3 tablets of Femara in the one cycle and only 2 tablets in the other cycle? What do you think makes more sense from your point of view: A "normal" cycle with Femara (CD 3-7) or two cycles with Femara with half the dose? From the point of view that I am not sure whether I can organize more Femara for future cycles?

Thanks for your encouragement to continue the sway. That helps me. Yesterday I was just very sad about the BFN that in my first reaction I thought "I'm throwing everything!". I will definitely have another strict sway for the next cycle. With daily exercise and a lot of alcohol. If it still doesn't work in the next cycle, I'll probably reduce the sway a bit. A little less exercise, a little less alcohol. I will probably not give it up completely, and at least I will continue to diet, because this is the part that is actually not difficult for me. Only now in the Christmas week will I pause diet and enjoy life and meals with my family without counting calories.

Can the exercises actually prevent implantation? For example, I jump on the trampoline. Every cycle after ovulation, I ask myself whether I can continue to do this or whether it prevents implantation? What about sport in general, where the pulse can get very high? Is this a problem? Or should I only do light exercises like going for a walk in the 2WW? I prefer to do different exercises, one day on the trampoline, one day walking, one day jogging, one day cycling (OK, not so much in winter now). But I mostly jump on the trampoline. I wonder if that's OK in the 2WW or should I just do the easy exercises there?

Walking is generally okay as exercise, isn't it? I think I'll be walking more and doing hard exercises like trampoline less often because it's easier for me and I don't struggle with daily exercises as much.