Should Women FAST? page 14

[PaleoCowgirl]

PlaoeCowgirl, take the old wive's advice with a grain of salt. When we try to conceive we will do anything. I was told if I gain 10 lbs it might help (of course if you are overweight they tell you to lose weight). Well, I gained 10 lbs, and it did nothing. Except sticking to my thighs for 3 years.

Yeah, agreed. I have PCOS and was a "thin cyster" -- was told to add more carbs to my diet and gain 15-20 lbs. Did that...all it resulted in was cystic acne, binges, food carvings and guess what? No period, no baby. Looking at going low to no carbs again to see if that helps, but not restricting calories at all.

[Betorq]

I have heard of that kind of slow weight training from Mike Eades' blog. I think it was called Slow Burn. I should do that for my upper body. One day in my regular fitness class we had a substitute teacher come in and she did everything really slowly. I think everybody in the class hated it. I thought it felt really effective. I was never so sore in all my life, too. I hate being sore, though.

Once the body gets used to it, tuned into the super slowness, the burn & soreness are lessened or eliminated. Rest days come into prominence. I have cut back my work-out days to 4 days a week, 5 max.

[Leida]

Yeah, agreed. I have PCOS and was a "thin cyster" -- was told to add more carbs to my diet and gain 15-20 lbs. Did that...all it resulted in was cystic acne, binges, food carvings and guess what? No period, no baby. Looking at going low to no carbs again to see if that helps, but not restricting calories at all.

I can empathize. Lost period after missed miscarriage (after I gained weight too, so, nope it was not OMG, you are starving yourself!). Took them 6 months to put me on prometrium and that brought the period back on. Then it was the ovulation inducing drug for a few months... scheduled for AI, then I went for a job interview to replace a lady going to mat leave, and our daughter just happened. Go figure what went wrong and what went right.... It's a hard journey, and I hope you every sliver of luck out there!

[PaleoCowgirl]

I can empathize. Lost period after missed miscarriage (after I gained weight too, so, nope it was not OMG, you are starving yourself!). Took them 6 months to put me on prometrium and that brought the period back on. Then it was the ovulation inducing drug for a few months... scheduled for AI, then I went for a job interview to replace a lady going to mat leave, and our daughter just happened. Go figure what went wrong and what went right.... It's a hard journey, and I hope you every sliver of luck out there!

So, if you had to guess what worked for you, or if you could go back and do things over again, what would you do differently? Or, what's your best advice for someone in my shoes?

[Leida]

Keep trying, and only things that make you happy & pamper yourself every chance you get & don't let a GP t'handle it. It maybe a Canadian specific advice, since in the States you can probably get anything you want, any time you want, medical help wise, but in Canada, wrestle your GP to the ground, and slap him about till you get a referral to a proper gyn.

[Muppet]

Get the book Taking Charge of Your Fertility and learn bout your body! I am embarrassed by how little I knew about my ody. I am skinny and diagnosed pcos. But remember this diagnosis is just a set of symptoms - there is no lab test or it. Basically it is the catch all "disease" for women who can't get pregnant. Doctors tell us this is what we have nd we feel better because now we have a disease and it is not fault. Through eating primal and learning about my body I conceived my son - turns out I ovulated on day 60 of my cycle for him! no one believed me and i made my midwife change the due date to the one i estimated and that was the day he was born (and born at home ).
Once you learn about cervical fluid, cervix, temperatures and see it in action it is such a beautiful thing! There are also herbs to help get your body back into cycle. I would try diet and herbs first.

[PaleoCowgirl]

Get the book Taking Charge of Your Fertility and learn bout your body! I am embarrassed by how little I knew about my ody. I am skinny and diagnosed pcos. But remember this diagnosis is just a set of symptoms - there is no lab test or it. Basically it is the catch all "disease" for women who can't get pregnant. Doctors tell us this is what we have nd we feel better because now we have a disease and it is not fault. Through eating primal and learning about my body I conceived my son - turns out I ovulated on day 60 of my cycle for him! no one believed me and i made my midwife change the due date to the one i estimated and that was the day he was born (and born at home ).
Once you learn about cervical fluid, cervix, temperatures and see it in action it is such a beautiful thing! There are also herbs to help get your body back into cycle. I would try diet and herbs first.

Thanks! I love the book TCOOF; it has helped me alot, although with no cycle at all, it sure makes tracking difficult. There's no pattern! I'm taking a couple of herbs for fertility -- vitex, red raspberry leaves, red clover...we will see how it goes.

[Health Divas]

Leida, PaleoCowGirl - You two seem very strong women and readers will most definitely learn from you. Thanks for sharing.

I must caution all ladies that fasting needs to be practiced with vigilance. We recently wrote this article about fasting and fertility. Health Divas: Leptin, fasting and female fertility.

This doesn't touch on PCOS but we will definitely research on this this subject.

Best wishes

[Lynna]

I generally go to bed between 8:30 and 9pm. I get up between 5:30 and 6am. Other than that, my life is pretty stress-free. I avoid stress as much as possible, never having been a person who could handle it. A doctor told me in my 20s to avoid stress so that's how I've tried to live life. Left a dot-bomb for a calmer life at a university. It's great.

Slowing down all my exercise has been truly a miracle. Before I did everything at a higher level thinking that it's best to work harder so you get more out of it. I also fell for all that stuff about weight lifting and sprinting being better than endurance exercise. That was all wrong for me. I was in pain 4-5 days a week and it wasn't as much fun for me.

I had no idea I could run for 3 hours. It's a blast. I set out not even planning where to go. I call it going on one of my walkabout-runabout adventures. Yesterday I ran to the beach and then decided I'd run through Hope Ranch, a wealthy community with lots of horse trails. I ran on a horse trail through vines and oak trees in the shade. It was a blazing hot day otherwise. It felt so good. I totally didn't even think of myself as exercising. More like exploring. I'd driven this scenic drive and ridden my bike on it lots of times, but I've never done the horse trail before.

I'm looking forward to when I can set out with my little running vest and collapsible cup and run into the mountains on days when the creeks are flowing. This was what I had hoped I could do after I completed the Pacific Crest Trail. I thought I might have a gift for endurance but I was completely unable to run after hiking the trail and I ended up fat, in pain and hungry all the time. Well, eating low carb was one key to unlocking that gift. The other key has been low heart-rate exercising. I think the third key will be moderate or modified fasting. Hopefully next fall I will be able to enter a local ultramarathon and just show up with my cup and go for it.

oh, I'm so jealous. I live in a small community in an unincorporated area right off of US Rte. 40 and no sidewalks anywhere. There is a park about a mile down the road, but the thought of walking along Rte. 40 to get there is frightening to me, so I drive there. People around here drive like assholes. I have done 3 hour walk/runs at the park, but it's a lot of repeating the paths and I love it, but I wish I could just walk out the door and do this.

[windypasswheeler]

Just to comment on the slow run: slow biking is working for me. I was biking 50-70 miles a week pre LC and pre weight loss. This while eating healthy whole grains and a slow fat diet. My performance never improved and I was slowly gaining weight. Now I bike about 30 miles a week, enjoy it a whole lot more, and feel great. Oh, and I do all my biking in a fasted state.