Health and Wellness Check In

ball.and.chain · October 2013

How is this week going for you? Successes? Challenges?

QOTW: If you were trick or treating, what Halloween candy would you most want to receive in your bag?

keepsawaythenargles · October 2013

I thought I would join back in on this one. K and I have started eating healthy and we joined a gym. We started Friday and I have been to the gym 4/5 days and stuck to the healthy eating. I've lost 4 pounds in the 5 days we've been doing this. I have a LOT more to go, but I am hoping that it will help my sugar and thyroid.

I don't mind going to the gym, but I do LOVE food especially comfort food that's not good for you. K hates going to the gym, but is really disciplined when it comes to cutting out the junk. We've been motivating each other, but it's hard because we don't want to nag one another. I am pleased so far

QOTW: Give me all of the Reese's Peanut Butter Cups! Yum!

wishiwaspreggo · October 2013

C and I have committed to going to the gym tonight, and I'm going to try very hard not to let this progesterone rule my appetite. I feel much like I do when I have severe PMS. I'm exhausted and I just want to eat EVERYTHING. I know it's because of the rise in hormones. I really need to find a way to keep in control. Any tips?

QOTW: Anything chocolate. I would always get SUPER disappointed when I'd get Smarties or Jolly Ranchers. Gross!

keepsawaythenargles · October 2013

@wishiwaspreggo -- I try to keep healthier things around (like baby carrots, apple slices, cucumbers) so I can just go to town and eat and eat... I also take my not so good for you stuff and put it in a smaller container so it looks like I'm eating a lot more than I am. I've been measuring EVERYTHING which sucks, but seems to be helping.

@shameless370087 -- Not going to lie, a great playlist makes it not so awful. I also have been mixing it up. The gym we go to has a 30 minute circuit room so you get a full body work out in 30 minutes. Then they have these fantastic massage beds that you can use, so I treat myself to that every time I go to the gym as motivation to go. Also, this being the only way an RE will even see me has been a big factor. Good luck!!

wishiwaspreggo · October 2013

Thanks @Melissa61788! I need to get back to measuring.

To give you an idea of how crazy progesterone makes me: I am obsessing over a craving for pepperoni pan pizza, covered in nacho cheese sauce. It's 10:30 am.

Someone please slap me.

ball.and.chain · October 2013

Sooo...somehow I lost almost 5 lbs in the last week? Unintentionally, and even though I ate a pile of homemade cider doughnuts on Saturday. Not sure how that happened, and also not sure I would have planned a 5-lb weight loss the week of an embryo transfer, but I really don't think it matters. Pregnant women lose weight from morning sickness all the time and their babies are fine. This loss actually brought me below my goal of losing 10 lbs before transfer (give or take a few days), which is kind of awesome. I switched my WW status to "maintain" so now I get a lot more points. Hallelujah.

I got in a long walk in the woods over the weekend in Maine, and did the bike at the gym yesterday. I've kind of slipped on my PT exercises, and my hip has been acting up...I am skipping PT this week but I'm going to take the next week to try to figure out exactly which activities aggravate my hip and which ones do not, so my PT will be able to help me more next week.

My foot is doing well!

QOTW: I'm also a Reese's fan, but I won't turn down a Kit-Kat or a Twix. In the new(ish) candy category, I really like Reese's Fast Break, which is kind of like a Reese's-Twix mash-up, and Fast Break, which has pretzels in it.

keepsawaythenargles · October 2013

@ball.and.chain -- Good for you for the weight loss and switching over to maintain! I'd love to see that day! FX for the transfer!!! Hope you can figure out what's going on with your hip!

StacyLH24 · October 2013

@ball.and.chain - That's a great weight loss!

I lost 0.8 this week. I want to start exercising again and just haven't made it happen. That is on my agenda for this coming week. Since I weigh in at WW on Wednesdays, I count my week from one Wednesday to the next. My goal is to get the treadmill out of one of our extra bedrooms and into the living room by Sunday. I would have done this a while ago if I didn't need to take it apart to move it. When we set it up in the bedroom, I remember thinking that I hoped I never wanted to move it because it probably wouldn't fit out of the door in one piece...I was correct! A friend has offered to help us take it apart, move it and reassemble.

QOTW: I love twix bars! Kit Kats are a close second. I recently saw that there is a twix ice cream cake. I told C I want one for my 30th birthday.

ball.and.chain · October 2013

@iwishiwaspreggo - if I had any tips for beating the progesterone munchies, I'd be about 10lbs lighter than I am. I am doing pretty well this time (so far), but it's been hard in the past. I just want to eat ALL THE THINGS. It's like I can't be satisfied until I am stuffed.

@Melissa61788 - thanks! I'm still a lot heavier than I want to be (30 lbs) but I don't think I should be actively losing weight while hopefully pregnant. But I have hit goal (and Lifetime) on WW before and it is a great feeling! You can totally do it!

@StacyLH24 - nice work! Down is always good. I will have some Twix cake too!

wishiwaspreggo · October 2013

@ball.and.chain I hear ya. That's how I feel, too (about not being satisfied until stuffed). The big problem: I want to stuff myself with cheese and carbs. NOT good. Hoping it subsides but I'm already eyeing the chili in my lunch bag with longing...

healz413 · November 2013

I'm two weeks out from my baseball tournament and three weeks out from the start of our stimming for IVF. I have been trying to increase my exercise to prepare. I'm having some successes and some not successes on that front.

Eating has been better overall except for the fact that we have had a lot of halloween candy around and we've been eating it. Mmm...

I was just reading about the very impressive study that found that a high protein/low carb diet can significantly increase quality embryos. I don't know if I really have enough time left to take full advantage of the benefits. But I figure I might as well try, right?

What do you all think? Have you read the reports? Here's one: https://www.acog.org/About_ACOG/News_Room/News_Releases/2013/High_Protein_Low_Carb_Diets_Greatly_Improve_Fertility

Have any of you tried it? Do you think I should try to significantly reduce all carbs or just the simple and gluten-based carbs? (I'm thinking about it being squash and sweet potato season as well as my love of fruit ...)

QOTW: reese's peanut butter cups for me!

ball.and.chain · November 2013

healz413 said:
Have any of you tried it? Do you think I should try to significantly reduce all carbs or just the simple and gluten-based carbs? (I'm thinking about it being squash and sweet potato season as well as my love of fruit ...)

I haven't read the study, though I've seen a couple of people on the boards mention it, and I haven't done a low-carb diet in years (as in well before I was even THINKING of IVF). It can't hurt though, and may help. I'd keep eating squash, sweet potatoes and fruit if I were you...those things all have a lot of good-for-you stuff in them. But that's just me.

KH826 · November 2013

healz413 said:

I was just reading about the very impressive study that found that a high protein/low carb diet can significantly increase quality embryos. I don't know if I really have enough time left to take full advantage of the benefits. But I figure I might as well try, right?

What do you all think? Have you read the reports? Here's one: https://www.acog.org/About_ACOG/News_Room/News_Releases/2013/High_Protein_Low_Carb_Diets_Greatly_Improve_Fertility

Have any of you tried it?

So, I tried it, and I was totally miserable and only stuck with it a week before going back to eating what I wanted within moderation. I am no stranger to diets, but low carb is not one that I had tried before. I don't typically eat many refined carbs like bread and pasta anyway... most of my carbs come from fruit, yogurt, oatmeal and sometimes a granola bar. I tried to cut down to 60g of carbs a day (which is not really even that low if you look at different low carb diets), and it was HARD. I couldn't eat hardly anything that I would typically eat. I also found that I was having a hard time getting enough calories while restricting my carbs. A few days I was under 1,000 cals a day while restricting my carbs, and while that was fine for me in my extreme weight loss days, I didn't think that was a great idea when trying to make a baby.

So, long story short, after a week of torture, I decided to give up. For the 3 weeks leading up to my cycle, and throughout stim, and during my TWW I ate what I wanted within moderation. I had some splurge days, but about 5 days a week I kept to about 1200-1600 cals a day and just made sure I had lots of fruits and veggies.

I also did not have any known reason to believe that my egg quality needed help, and when I asked my IVF nurse about the low/carb high protein diet, she laughed at me and said "sure, if it makes you feel better"... at the time that response annoyed me, but now I think she thought I didn't need it but if it made me feel more in control I could try whatever floated my boat. Turns out my boat doesn't float well without carbs...

healz413 · November 2013

Thanks, @kh826 and @ball.and.chain. Looking back at the study it looks like they emphasize getting at least 25% of your daily calories from protein. So it is not as carb restrictive as what you were doing, JH826. Yesterday I tried to do it and tracked on myfitnesspal and was at 27% protein. It is definitely a very different way of eating than I'm used to but I did do a high protein, low carb training plan when I was a college athlete so it is not totally new to me. I'm planning to go to the store today to buy some high protein food items (chicken, eggs whites, Greek yogurt) to help me out.
I think as long as I steer mostly clear of grains and sugars, I should be ok to eat fruits and starchy vegetables.

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