January TTC - What is your TTC routine?

[bulletproofcoffee]

Trying to be more positive this cycle! This will be my 3rd month of TTC. Decided to be more pro active and positive but also not obsessing as it was causing me stress.

Sharing current routines and want to hear yours - also trying to find buddies and support on this journey!

Vitamins everyday: CoQ10, D3, Iron, Folate
Vitamins every other day: Zinc before bed, Vegan support (Iodine, B12), Omega 3 wild fish oil

Foods: Seed cycling, Eating Brazil nuts for Selenium a few every couple of days, 2L water, Matcha (in place of coffee 1 per day), whole foods - high good fats, decent carbs and lots of fruit (Berries and Kiwi for Vit C) and veg and adequate protein. Beetroot juice, ACV + Ginger shots everyday.

Previously Vegan, been eating Fish (Salmon usually) at least 1x a week for almost a year now, adding High quality Organic Eggs as of January for Choline.

Exercise: Cut down to 4 gym sessions a week and not overdoing it. No high intensity. Added Daily meditation and Magnesium baths once a week to promote good sleep,

Other: Just purchased Preseed to start using (currently have AF), along with ovulation strips. Also purchased some Mens vitamins for fertility for my partner,

Hi @bulletproofcoffee

Thanks for setting this out- really helpful guide.

Why no high intensity work outs? I thought it was fine if it's the same excercise routine as you had before TTC. For context I normally do 1 spin class, 1 very intense bootcamp and 1 5 mile run a week. Is that too much?

Won't be more than 3 hours of excercise in total.

@Poppypear unless you have any medical issues, your workout routine is absolutely fine. Intense exercise can cause issues with delaying ovulation and cortisol levels (which can mess with progestorone) but to cause that you're talking super high intensity exercise for over an hour a day, every day, and even then it might not cause issues. Being healthy and low stress is far more important ☺️ first time I got pregnant I was doing 45min HIIT classes 6-7 times a month 😂

I've had a long old journey TTC (haven't yet got any living kids unfortunately) and what I've learnt is life is there to be lived whilst you're trying! Don't stop enjoying things because you don't know how long you'll be stopping for, and don't overload your routine with too much focus on TTC. I try to eat well, move lots (plenty of walking), take folic acid and vitamin b12 and D (because we don't have nearly enough sunshine in this country haha), and get a solid night's sleep.

@moosey89 thank you so much for your kind advice! I'm so sorry to hear you've had such a challenging time on your journey TTC. Wishing you the best of luck for your 2024 journey. ❤️

I do feel like I'm putting my life on hold at the moment - not booking trips /committing to things etc. I'm gonna start booking things so I have something to focus on and to look forward too. 😊

I find intensive excercise such a useful way to manage my stress and make me feel good so that's great to hear!

@Poppypear Hey! So yes, there is no reason to stop at all, I just am quite slim already, my BMI is on the very low end so I don't want to loose weight. I don't want to cause my body too much stress, so I have just taken heavy weights down really. :) Good luck on everything.

Hi Bullet Proof Coffee!

I am on my third cycle after a TFMR, hoping it happens again for us soon. I know it's easy to say but 3 months is still early days so don't worry about doing toooo much extra stuff just yet. What age are you?

I thought I'd put down a few things that I'm doing.

Vitamins everyday: Ubiquinol 600mg & Omega 3, 6, 9 (2 months of taking this so far). Her9 pre/during/post natal multivitamin inc things like Omega 3, folate, choline, vit D, iron, zinc, selenium etc. Prescribed 5mg folic acid as my BMI is over 30 and I'm 39.

Foods: Long term vegetarian, Mediterranean style diet, lots of wholegrains, full fat Greek yogurt, nuts, chia, eggs, tofu, lentils and chickpeas.

Exercise: Dog walks, kettlebells once a week.

Other: Preseed. We used this for a few months before falling pregnant before and husband is convinced it helped.

Testing: Ovulation strips from day 10ish onwards until a peak is found. Now on second month of taking my BBT too.

The main thing, and it sounds obvious, but enough sex. I really recommend looking up the sperm meets egg plan - there is a free book you can read on Kindle.

@MrsScotland hey!

I've just done SME (well finishing tomorrow) hope it's worked as can't do it for the next 2 cycles as DH away with work in the run up to OD. We just tried DTD around OD before and it's not worked. Have you had much success?

What's preseed?

@bulletproofcoffee I only do light weights anyway - I'm not very strong-so hopefully that will be okay!

Hi Poppypear. We tried for 18 months, missing a few cycles due to work trips etc. I think we had 12 cycles where we were actually together at the right time before we fell pregnant. We'd had some investigations but nothing was wrong.

I do think SMEP really helps make sure you're not missing it, I don't tend to start till day 10 and haven't managed that 'one more for luck' at the end of the cycle but chatting to a friend, she said she thinks that made a difference for them as the OPK peak only shows a you are going to ovulate in the next 24-48 hours and then the egg hangs around for say 12 hours so I think I'm going to add in that extra one more time!

Preseed is a fertility friend lubricant - helps the swimmers! Can buy it on Amazon, well worth a shot for the sake of £13 or so!

@MrsScotland ohh my extra day is tomorrow and was thinking about maybe skipping it but definitely won't now so thanks for the tip!

Thanks @MrsScotland ! I did look into it a little, this month we DTD Friday - Wednesday and an extra one Friday! God knows how I managed that :) Apparently I ovulated on the Monday (peaked Sunday), fingers crossed - 7DPO

The main thing is to be having enough sex I would think! You could also try only dtd every other day as I’ve read that every day can reduce sperm quality/production. Not to mention you might burn yourself or your partner out! But 3 months isn’t very long at all, it took me over 6 months.

Been having ads for matcha/ lions mane/ shilagit drinks blends popping up in my social media feeds. Energy and mood boosting they say. Has anyone tried any of them that they could recommend to try/ avoid? Tia x

Hi everyone

How are you getting on? I thought I'd update that we conceived in Feb, on our fourth cycle after TFMR. I am now 9 weeks, a bit anxious but having a NIPT test and scan next week.

Interestingly, the month we conceived, BBT showed that I failed to ovulate (despite getting a LH surge and ovulations cramps). Two days later (CD 16) I got EWCM and the ovu pains again, and my temp increased the following day, confirming ovulation. We had only DTD on CD 12,13,14 and didn't manage again. I was convinced we were out but it just showed how important it is to have the sperm up there and waiting for the egg!

Hey @MrsScotland Congrats! I am also pregnant, 5 weeks+ and have a 7 week viability on 20th of April 😥 It's all a worry right?

Interesting about your conception! I also think doing it leading up to ovulation is important. Last month (when I conceived) I used Clear Blue Ovulation Advance for the first time - we only had sex day the two days before the static smiley (day before ovulation). So I agree with you there!

Good luck for your tests!

@Attheborder I love Lions Mane and Matcha. I took Lions Mane for a few years around my Cancer time. I got high grade from USA which was v. £££ but worth it imo.

In terms of fertility, I have no idea. This last month when I conceived, we dtd every other day or thereabouts. But I strongly suggest the Clear Blue Advanced Ovualtion sticks :)

Ahh that's brilliant news that you are pregnant too and what a coincidence about the timing!

@MrsScotland How did the test and scan go?

Hi there

Scan was good and NIPT came back low risk so that was a big relief after losing a baby to T18.

thanks for asking! How are you doing?

All good @MrsScotland ! I am so nauseated, first pregnancy and was not prepared at all for this! 9 weeks today, lots of scans, because had a little pink discharge but all is OK

I conceived in Jan - now almost 18 weeks . This thread was obviously good luck for us!

Ahhh @Poppypear that’s amazing! Do you think there was anything you did differently this time or just luck of the draw?

Thank you! It was only our second month trying properly (with ovulation tests etc.)but the first time trying sperm meets egg! It definitely works!