Question for those that stopped ovulating on Whole30

[Ophelia]

I know that some women stop ovulating or have irregular periods when they begin a Whole30 as their hormone levels fluctuate before they eventually become more regulated from the diet.

 

Some background: I have been charting my BBT since November of 2012 since I've been trying to get pregnant.  My charts have not been super easy to determine the ovulation, but it has appeared that I have a slow rise (no spike) before plateauing for a brief period and then dropping.  My luteal phase is problematically short, and my OBGYN thinks I may not even ovulate every month.  I was taking fertility drugs until this happened (post #91):

 

http://forum.whole9life.com/topic/1132-pcos-support-thread/page-5

 

Anyways since beginning my Whole30 my last 2 charts have been completely flatlined (slight variations in temperature, but overall) so it's pretty obvious I did not ovulate these last 2 months, I did however get my period on day 27 each time which is shorter than my average cycle of 31 days.  I feel really good on the Whole30 and believe that it in the end it will help regulate my hormones, and perhaps I will ovulate more regularly and be able to get pregnant easier.

 

However, I still wanted to ask how long it took other women to have a regular ovulation cycle (had theirs stopped initially while doing the Whole30.)  Also did anyone have success post Whole30 getting pregnant that they might attribute to the positive changes from the diet?

 

Despite my reason for doing the Whole30 and hope that it will help me, there is a little part of me that is afraid that this was the wrong choice and because I didn't ovulate these last 2 months that I will continue to flatline and never ovulate again.

[redjasmin]

I haven't got any experience of not ovulating on my whole 30, but I have experienced the frustration of TTC and I know how your mind darts from thing to another, looking for things that might help and things that may harm? All I can say is I don't see how a whole 30 could possibly be the wrong thing to do? You are eating fresh nutritious food that will nourish your body and provide you will all the vitamins and minerals you need to be healthy, you are cutting processed foods and artificial additives, and sweeteners and sugar, and instead replacing that with fresh vegetables and grass fed meat and fish - how could any of that have a negative impact on hormones or ovulation? You are not restricting calories or exercising excessively and you are getting better quality sleep. I think you just need to trust the process?

I didn't thing BBT was terribly accurate anyway? I was advised to use ovulation predictors, and according to them I didn't ovulate the month I conceived my daughter! I don't think you can always tell if you are ovulating (unless one turns into a baby)

Stick with it as I'm sure it can only do you good, and good luck TTC

[Karen]

I'll write more later, but your experience and charting sounds a lot like mine. For me, going very low carb was a huge part of the problem. Paleo for Women has some info that might be worth checking out. How's your carb intake? For me, 1/2 sweet potato wasn't nearly enough.

In addition, the one thing that finally changed my charts was getting my thyroid properly treated. It can seriously mess with fertility. I know when I need to up my dose when ovulation is delayed. Have you been tested for your thyroid, including free t3 and free t4? Even a slight deficient can mess with fertility. Low carbs can impact thyroid function as well...

Once I got a handle on those two things, I was back to (my) normal cycles. Yes, eating clean is great for fertility, but you may need to tweak a bit per your body's needs. And, yes, charting is very accurate! It provides so much information about what's going on in there. Good for you for charting, and using the info you gather to modify as needed! That's the only way I was able to truly understand AND correct my hormonal imbalances. Anybody that tells you BBT isn't accurate doesn't know enough about it!

[Renee Lee]

Ophelia, I think part of your problem here can trace back to your activity level. Working out as frequently as you are is not sustainable nor is it conducive to health. You may still be PRing, sleeping enough, etc, but your body can't do everything and something's gotta give somewhere. High volume activity loads like 2adays, etc, plus low carb can wreak havoc on your thyroid or other hormones.

 

There are too many variables to point to a clear cause without actual lab values (and I'm not qualified to do it anyway), but thyroid suppression plays into the sex hormones and ovulation.  Take a breather! Drop your workload load. Eat more. Take up knitting! See if things improve.

[Ophelia]

Karen-I had my thyroid tested, so no issue there.  Obviously my PCOS and endometriosis play a part, and I also think my stress levels have not been helping.  I've been improving the stress over time, I'm on anti-depressants which have helped a lot, however I also can't believe the changes the Whole30 has made.  I feel a lot less emotional and more even keeled, and very empowered that I no longer well up with tears every time I feel frustration.  Stress management has always been an issue for me because I have a type-A, perfectionist/OCD personality.  A few years ago I developed psoriasis on my scalp out of nowhere and had a lot of resulting hair loss.  That was a major wake up call on the havoc my stress was creating in my body.

 

As far as eating carbs, I usually eat 2 sweet potatoes on workout days (or more if I feel it's needed), and one on rest days.

 

Renee-While I find that exercise helps manage my stress, depression and anxiety, I know that you are right.  Over exercising is probably actually contributing to stress instead of alleviating it at this level.  I know I suffer from a bit of exercise bulimia, not so much as a means of trying to outrun my diet and more as  a fear of missing out on workouts and getting weaker.  Even though I feel like I have improved on that (with that pyramid as a guide that I advised another member with) it's obviously still there because I bristle up at anyone's suggestion I modify my training schedule.  Although it's counterintuitive I realize that scaling back could actually improve my performance.  I'm going to try 4 WODS a week for a while and see how that effects things.

 

Thanks everyone for your responses, and I'm still interested in hearing about others experiences with their ovulation cycles/BBT and Whole30 if anyone else stumbles across this thread.

[Renee Lee]

Good! Proud of you! I know it's hard!

 

Let us know how it works out!