Fit for Future Families - June 2011

Hey everyone!

Katy - I just started my 5th cycle of Clomid in 1 year. 1 month was right after my surgery last year, then Feb - April, and now June - August. Thankfully my doc lowered my dose to 50mg though. She didn't like the side effects I was getting. But here's the funny part about side-effects: if I hadn't been SO aware of my cycle through charting and OPKs I wouldn't have noticed the ones that concerned her. She was concerned about my cervical fluid being reduced and my lining thinning - glad I pay attention.I'm lucky enough not to have other complications (cycsts, etc) but I can't say I'm a fan of Clomid at all, but she's so sure it'll work (I'm not).

So since we just hit the 1 year mark for TTC (ugh) it finally hit me - there's no OBVIOUS reason for me not to be pregnant... it has to be my weight. It just has to be. And for all the 'trying' I say I've been doing, the scale is the truth so.... :grumble:
I think this is what lead me to Weight Watchers.....who knows if it will work? But it should at least help me to choose better foods. (Still looking for your thoughts on this).

TTFN

Happy Friday!!!! :drinker:

It's quiet at work this morning, so I figured I'd procrastinate a little more and spend a few minutes catching up here. I've never really been a board/chat person online, so it is surprising to me how quickly I feel close to all of you and look forward to reading all your updates. I guess that's the point of a support group, even if we don't know each other in person. Oh & WARNING: this will be a long post, there is so much to discuss!

Wow, so many new people! Yay! Welcome, welcome. I'm so glad you found us.

Pam, I completely understand about company and putting your house in order. We're having a big party at our place on the 4th of July for US Independence day and have invited >30 people! Granted, it is mostly friends, not family, but I'm dreading having to do all the prep work for it.

Carina, **HUGS** for everything. Here's the thing about doctors. It is a science, but it is also an art. They have a series of protocols they go through in diagnosing or analyzing every patient. It's trial and error until they find what works for you. You know that show 'House'? It is really a lot like that (only not so crazy & extreme or even entertaining), and sometimes they're wrong. The hardest part for me was learning to keep educated and stand up for myself without seeming like I was a crazy lady who believed everything I read on the internet. The next step in my doctor's playbook for me was exploratory surgery to look for endometriosis. There are so many other options that are less invasive, although maybe not so direct (like losing weight & getting healthy), I just had to tell her no for now. That was hard, because I pretty much did whatever she suggested. I may still have to do that, but it'll be when I'm comfortable with the decision. I wish you lots of luck & courage!

Alisa, sorry about your job. I don't think working at Starbucks would be a resume killer. You just have to be able to explain it effectively in a cover letter or an interview. I took a job outside of my career field recently because I wanted to learn the customer/sales side of the business (I've always worked in the back end, operations side). You could always say you really wanted to gain better customer service experience. Maybe you'd even get promoted pretty quickly to a shift lead or manager. That would definitely not be a resume killer.

Kim, DH will come around. It took mine awhile before he started to get curious about the process. Now he's the one bugging me about why we haven't gone to the info session at the IVF clinic yet!

Rhichi, weight is such a unknown factor. Some people have no issues and others it can be entirely attributable to that. The one constant thing though is that it is never a bad thing to focus on getting healthier. (At least that's what I keep telling myself!)

Karen, you go girl! It is all about feeling like you're in control of something.

Jalara, so DH & I are both working on losing weight. I'm on here and he's doing another online program that is based in Weight Watcher logic (i.e. points, etc.). This is just us, but I have definitely lost more consistently than him. He lost a lot at first, but is at a severe plateau now, and he hasn't gotten off track. I prefer this way, because I can see variations in sat fat, chol, carbs, etc. I think sat fat & chol are my big drivers of weight gain. But, a lot of friends I have do really, really well at WW. I think if the flexibility with the points helps you stay on track better, then go for it!

Katy, you probably are already, but if not, I would use the over the counter digital tests for o'ing for a few months before going back on Clomid. If your cycle is becoming more consistent, then you may not need the drugs.

Fiona, I am majorly impressed that you are working out twice a day! Keep up the good work!

AFM, I've gotten some exercise in every day this week and I feel great! Plus, that means I've been able to add an extra small snack into the mix everyday which seems to be a huge help to keeping my blood sugar consistent. I want to be down about 7 more pounds (<180) by my birthday (June 26). That's a little more aggressive than my regular planned weekly loss, but I think it would be a huge psychological boost, so I'm pushing myself.

Hope everyone has a super weekend! Check back in with y'all for weigh-in on Monday.

- Stephanie

Katy,

I was about 100 lbs. overweight each time I got pregnant. Like others, I charted to get a sense of my cycle and used OPKs. In my second pregnancy, I purchased a ClearBlue Fertility/ovulation monitor (used) which was easier to use than the OPKs as you just pee on a stick first thing in the a.m., put it in the machine and it tells you if "it's time" that day to grab your husband . This helped me get pregnant the second month of trying after losing our daughter because I was able to really target when to TTC. As I shared, my biggest issue is with early labor and "keeping the bun in my oven", but I never tried to get pregant without charting or using the tests, so I'm not sure how long it would have taken me with just going with the flow (I was pregnant in month 2 or 3 of trying the first time, too).

I loved my ovulation monitor!

Hi everyone! I'm new here!

Been married almost 4 years, was TTC for almost 2 and was diagnosed with PCOS 3 weeks ago. Next up for me is an HSG, but I thought I'd wait a few weeks to see if AF would start, if not, then it's Provera so I can schedule the HSG. Then i believe as long as everything checks out right, the plan will be metformin & Clomid, but we'll have to see.

2 weeks ago I decided to change my diet. I ate pretty healthy (no soda, not much processed foods, etc.), but now I'm gluten-free, super low dairy (really only greek yogurt) and low sugar (just fruit really). I've lost 4 pounds in 2 weeks just from the change! I'm currently trying different workout videos to see what I like and will not give up on, LOL. So hopefully I find something fun so I can keep it up!

Happy Friday ladies!! Well this week has not been a good week for eating. Ive literally eaten out every night this week and have not even looked or cared about calorie consumption. That all changes on Monday. I have the whole weekend to clean and reorganize the insidenof my house and that includes preping and packing lunches and dinners for next week! I also start back with my trainer next week. My boss decided not to let me go to an earlier shift so I am going to continue to get up at 530 and instead of going to work I'll go to the gym.

Stephanie- thanks for the tip! That sounds like a great spin! I reallynlike the idea and if we can financially swing it I shall be doing that as soon as harvest season is over!

Welcome to the newer ladies since the last time I posted!

Cgoodson- ur fertility story sounds exactly like mine- diagnosed with PCOS about a month ago- I'm on cd60 and just finished 10days on provera waiting to AF to show to up so o can schedule my HSG

Wow lots of new ladies- WELCOME!

So just when I thought I would be able to get back in the grove of posting I got sick...blah! Headaches have kept me not wanting to look at the computer screen and past week so I'm happy I'm feeling better. I wasn;t able to catch up with all the posts, but I wanted to post to say hi and now I'm officially back )

Hey ladies. My sister has been TTC for 6 months and just found out that she has PCOS. She is thin and runs marathons but also found out she had a thyriod issue. She will start on clomid next month. I just wanted to say that talking with her and trying to support her made me think of some of you. Just wanted to send you my love and my baby dust!

Hi all:

Just wanted to say hello and join this thread... or perhaps just lurk for a little while! This place seems like such a great community and resource- I am eager to read through past threads.

My husband and I are hoping to give TTC a brief chance this fall, and if we don't have luck we'll be holding off for another year. :ohwell: I'm still early enough in my teaching career to want to plan for a summertime labor and delivery. Mother nature may have other plans, however.

My IUD is coming out in two weeks and we'll be using the Fertility Awareness Method to avoid pregnancy until it''s go-time this September. Charting will commence once my Mirena is gone!

As far as fitness and weight loss are concerned, I'm on a mission to just be a healthier version of myself. I hope to avoid numbers on a scale and use my clothes and level of fitness to measure my progress. We'll see how it goes.

Anyway... Hello!

Pam, I'm sorry to hear that you have been feeling sad, but the silver lining may be that this process is still near and dear to your heart, and you aren't being hardened by the trials of it. I, like the others, often regard you as an inspiration - so I'm sending hugs to you (seriously, I would drive to you to give you one if I were in Ontario).

Karen - sounds like you and DH enjoyed yourselves Yay

AFM: Tomorrow is the annual Pap - ugh. I forget what the hours rule for sex beforehand, but if she can't do it then too bad - I need to be BDing this week! I've started feeling doubtful about getting pregnant lately; it seems like it just won't happen. And then, as hard as it has been to conceive, maintaining the pregnancy may prove difficult for me.... so... yeah. Bleh.

So I joined Weight Watchers and so far the day-to-day food part of it is pretty great. I feel like I'm eating so much more! But the new system really encourages me to eat fruits and vegetables (which are now 0 points) so I've already (in 3 days) had more of those than I normally do in a week. As a result I feel like I'm eating a lot more than I was and I feel more than satisfied. With that feeling, however, comes the doubt that I will lose when I weigh in on Friday at my meeting (I'm doing the online part and the meetings - in hopes of being held accountable). So who knows? I know there are some others on MFP that follow WW, so no worries, I'm not going anywhere! I need you ladies far too much!

DH and I recently transferred our debt from to a interest rate that is 12% lower than what we had (yay) so life just got much more comfortable, and less stressful with me attending school full-time in September. Yay!

Hope everyone has a good day on Monday!