Stressing about my pink sway PLEASE HELP

[atomic sagebrush]

A lot of people have the worry that they'll never be able to get pregnant again, and it's totally unfounded. We have weird cycles from time to time, happens to all of us, and exercising is definitely one of those triggers.

100% absolutely on board with your changes! Be sure you're getting enough fat as that's really quite a big trigger for disrupting cycles. If you prefer to stay plant based, coconut oil is a great way to go.

Keep me posted on what you find out at the doc!

[Kazzzz]

Hey how are you going? I'm also girl swaying. I have 3 boys and have been swaying for 2 months now but drastically changed my diet 4 months ago vegetarian low fat low protein fasting etc. Your excercise sounds great all I'm doing is walking/power walking 1hr a day still alot for me though lol I'm also trying not to boy mum stress over my sway.

[Emdy09]

Dr said it can be normal to miss a period and wasn’t concerned. Said to wait it out a few more weeks and if nothing she will send me for testing on hormones etc. not sure what is going on. Felt like I was going to come on my period all week and haven’t tested again and not pregnant. No sure what is going on, but guess I have to wait it out. Been researching and what are your thoughts on vitex to try and get my period back? Too boy friendly?

[Emdy09]

Hey, I’m good but struggling to stay motivated swaying now. I started dieting back in feb 2021 as I wanted to lose some weight before getting pregnant then found this site in April. So I’ve been swaying on and off for a long time and finally started TTC in April and now my periods have gone AWOL…not sure what is going on! I was mega stressed the first month we tried and now I don’t really think about it, probably as I’m more focused on getting my cycle back up and running now!

The things I do consistently are fasting in the morning (done this for years anyway) vegetarian, exercise.

Your sway sounds great. I am a boy friendly eater at heart and struggle to move away from this fully so do have blow outs and days I eat too much! When do you plan on TTC?

[atomic sagebrush]

Dr said it can be normal to miss a period and wasn’t concerned. Said to wait it out a few more weeks and if nothing she will send me for testing on hormones etc. not sure what is going on. Felt like I was going to come on my period all week and haven’t tested again and not pregnant. No sure what is going on, but guess I have to wait it out. Been researching and what are your thoughts on vitex to try and get my period back? Too boy friendly?

Vitex is a TERRIBLE idea. We saw drastic delays using Vitex. The only people who ever benefit from it are people with fairly severe PCOS that is not being mitigated by diet and exercise. When a cycle has been delayed due to exercise or too restrictive a diet, adding vitex is like throwing gasoline on a fire - your ovulation will go missing for months sometimes even longer. I have lots of people who show up here totally confused as to why they aren't ovulating only to find out they're on vitex, I have them drop it and their ovulation comes back again.

I do want to point out that even MORE likely than "missing a period" is that you will still ovulate, only later, and then your period will arrive 2 weeks after whenever O has occurred. So if you want to keep trying, do e4d, and if you don't, then be sure you're taking precautions.

[Kazzzz]

Thanks yeah I'm trying mostly with the stress part of it. I'm hoping to start next month but since I'm still breastfeeding so my period hasn't come back yet but my baby is 15months old an is feeding less so hopefully i don't have to wait to much longer. In terms of missing period like you are which seems random i had this happen to me also out of the blue my period was 2 wks late for no reason. I think your period will show up.

What are you eating most days? I've just started adding in a small amount of chicken once a day and it is so helpful to help me hit my targets

[Emdy09]

Right ok. Taking that on board, I have been reading a book called the period repair manual and it seems if I rewind 3 months I was running up to 40 miles a week whilst eating 1600 calories 6 days out of the week so seems my body has shut down. You warned me about this but assumed Thai would never happen to me. I’m unsure now whether to start 3 month all over again and make sure I go forward as I was at 2000 calories. I have to be honest and I haven’t been, stepped right back into 1500-800 a day again as I’ve gained a few kg after being on holidays. If I’d had my cycle as normal I’d be due on again this time next week so we will see.

Any tips going forward? I’m worried my egg quality will be very poor considering I’ve run my body down so much it’s stopped ovulation so feel 8-12 weeks over might be necessary.

[Emdy09]

My stress just really seemed to disperse after I got a BFN my first cycle trying. I had built it up SO much, kept pushing back to ‘perfect’ my sway when it hind sight it was 95% full on. I’ve been reading a book and it seems as atomic warned me, I’ve stopped ovulating as my body has gone into starvation mode.. I was running distances of up to 20 miles in one go and not refuelling properly on purpose. Some days I was having 30-40g of protein and included fruit and veg. I thought as my weight was ok and still at BMI of 22 I was ok. Seems not!

So prior to this I stuck to 2 meals a day sometimes have a smaller snack at some point and mostly eat things like this.
Lunch - almond butter and jam on sourdough, fruit. Porridge oats with almond milk, mixed seeds, cinnamon, peanut butter, blueberries, mixed beans with rice, quinoa with chickpeas, sweet potato.

Dinner - butternut squash and chickpea curry, lentil bolognese, mixed bean chilli, black bean fajitas, pizza with veg, pesto pasta with feta and spinach, beans and egg on sourdough bread, baked potato and cottage cheese, pasta with veg and tomato based chilli sauce, veggie burgers, veggie Thai curry, noodles with eggs.

Snacks - hummus and pitta bread, fruit smoothie, Greek yogurt and fruit.
What kind of things do you eat? I always find it helpful to see what others are doing too.

I drink oat milk in coffee but have recently swapped to black coffee 90% of the time. I have red wine occasionally, less often these days. I always skip breakfast and have for over 2 years as I prefer it. I’ve also been veggie on and off since 2018 and been fully veggie for 18 months bar the odd bit of fish. I’ve gone off it again after eating some weird king prawns. Hoping to get back up and running this week with diet and exercise.

[atomic sagebrush]

This doesn't affect your egg quality, please don't worry about that.

You do NOT need to start 3 months over again. Just regroup from here. Eat a bit more (1800-2000 cals is a good goal) and reduce exercise some and things will work themselves out. This is in no way permanent. Also, be sure you're hitting 50-60 g fat and dairy fat particularly is useful to getting things going again.

[atomic sagebrush]

Oh goodness, well, I'd never have recommended anyone eat 30 g protein even without swaying, and let's also be sure you are at 50-60 g protein (or even a bit more) and both protein and fat DO NOT count whatever's in fruits and veg.

I want you off cinnamon entirely. It is super effective at lowering blood sugar and you're already too far in that direction. I only use that for a small minority all of whom have a fair amount of weight to spare.

Very much the right kinds of foods, we just need more of them!

You don't need to be fully veg, if some fish and prawns help you get some more protein than you have been eating that's just fine with me!

Why did you swap to black coffee?? Any particular reason?