What did you eat during a successful IVF stimming week?

[Lavendar01]

Just thought it'd be good to help get through the weekend 😊

So what foods and drinks did you consume during your stimming week, that helped achieve positive results (whether it was good quality eggs or BFP)

I'll share what I've been adding to my high protein meals to help boost good fats:

• 2litres of water since day1 of stimming
• 500ml coconut water since day6 of stimming No caffiene
• flax seeds & pumpkin seeds & walnuts
• 1/2 avocado
• hummus

Back in 2021 when we decided to try for more kids. We went into a cycle just doing our normal things, I hadn't really changed too much of the caffeine intake, was just eating normal, wasnt taking vitamins or supplements, probably ate a little too high of sugar and carbs. We did our stims, had our egg collection and we ended up with 3 embryos, 1 ended up as a mc at 9 weeks. Second embryo didnt work, third embryo didnt survive thaw so we had to recalculate and start over. We took 3 months and started on some supplements for fertility. My clinic gave us opinions on diet and we started sort of like a Mediterranean diet, I dropped caffeine to 1 a day. Limited sugar. Eventually did another round and from that round I got 4 embryos. 1 is our 4yr old son, 1 was out angel baby we lost at 16 weeks, 1 is our 2yr old daughter and we transferred the last one which ended up as a chemical. We have since gone back to try for just one more but havnt been so lucky. So far have done 3 rounds with no luck and have had one mc at 7 weeks. This cycle we are throwing everything at it so my clinic put me on a supplement thats meant to increase my testosterone and level out my hormones and im thinking of going back on the Mediterranean diet and im trying to lose a bit of weight. I dont know if any of it was coincidental or if it worked for us but it cant help to try.

Im so sorry for your losses on the way, it must have been a very hard time for you.

And also happy you got your munchkins in the end 💕

Our dr also recommended meditteranean diet and there seems to be some solid research on its benefits esp regulating insulin.

Also if you dont me asking, how long did you stimm on both rounds and was it same med / dose?

For about 14 days for both stims and yes same medication protocol. The thought was that i didnt lack in embryos just the quality. So we worked on trying to get the good eggs and my husband worked on his sperm quality and whatever it was that worked gave us 2 live babies from one egg collection.

I reccomend Zita West's book The IVF Diet. I followed this and was successful first time ICSI. We're going for a sibling soon and I'm mostky following this book and trying Gluten Free on advice from my acupuncturist. Good luck OP!

Lots of protein, lots and lots of water. Greek yoghurt. Lots of berries. Brazil and Almond nuts. No alcohol. No caffeine. No fizzy drinks

That is so interesting and thats why I asked if it was like for like round, brcause we can see the dietary choices seemed to have made a huge difference :)

Thank you for the recommendation :) does the book contain only recipes or insight into what nutritional value this meal is providing?

Thanks for sharing :) do you remember how much protein you were consuming per day, and was that all through food or protein shakes also?

@Lavendar01 it was through food as I don’t like protein shakes. Around 50-80 grams mostly chicken and steaks. I do think it was a combination of things though and not just the protein. Also did some Acupunture which helped stress levels which I think can be a major factor x

Thats a solid protein intake, I'm trying to hit 100g per day. Re acupuncture, I've heard positive things, what was the duration of your acupuncture? Im on day10, is it something worth looking into now or park aside for next round, if it gets to that?

Yes agree it would be a combination of things, I'm already thinking changes I would implement ahead of future rounds.

Ta :)

I think if you’re stressed it’s good to start now (ivf is pretty stressful). If not, you should ideally be doing it before starting cycle and you’d probably would want to do 10 to 12 sessions