Get pregnant faster no matter your weight

I'm a certified Nutrition and Health Coach and expert in fertility, wholefoods nutrition and mindfulness practise.

I'm also a mother of two beautiful children, stepmom to one gorgeous young lady, and wife to my Australian husband.

I was born and raised in Germany (which explains my "little" accent). At the age of 15, I was put on hormonal birth control to regulate my periods. I've stayed on it for over 15 years without ever questioning it. In my early twenties, I've developed many strange symptoms. I had no idea where they were coming from and not one single doctor seemed to have a proper answer. I suffered from acne all over my body, unexplained heart palpitations and sinus issues, the worst bloating imaginable, constipation, too much abdominal fat, cold hand and feet even in summer, thin and brittle hair and nails, constant flues, and the list goes on.

Fast forward through endless GPs and gynos, too many blood labs to count, gastroenterologists, I still had no answers for my symptoms. All specialists seemed to work with symptom control rather than root cause discovery. Desperate to find a cure I turned the other way and saw naturopaths, well-meaning healers, life coaches and psychologists.

When I finally got diagnosed with coeliac disease I felt relieved to have found the answer to what put me through years of pain and agony. Unfortunately, I didn't know at the time that this was far from the truth. I had discovered just one part of the puzzle. My body needed 2 years to recover from years on the pill and other damages to finally allow me to become pregnant. In this time I cut out gluten and had a very hard look at the rest of my diet. But during pregnancy, I let it all go because I told myself "You will get fat anyway, so what's the point." Let me tell you, what a mistake. When my baby girl lied in my arms, the acne was bad, my stomach was bloated as always, and the heart palpitations had gotten so bad that it started to scare me. I suffered from hair loss and my period didn't return for another 16 months. When it finally returned I thought I'm dying of internal bleeding. My period was so heavy that I couldn't leave the house. I had to change my tampon hourly. I've ordered extra-thick tampons all the way from Germany to get through the first few days without being stuck to the house.

I gained an unbelievable 25 kg with each pregnancy. Both times I dropped not more than 4 kg when leaving the hospital which was approx. my baby's weight. You won't believe my disappointment. It's not fair how lucky some women are and just lose pregnancy weight without lifting a single finger. "Breastfeeding will make the weight come off," they said. "Just give it time," they said. Blablablabla. What a whole heap of BS. I've never had the best relationship to food but now I've found myself in a never-ending diet and binge eating cycle. It seemed that as harder I've tried to get rid of fat that I didn't invite in the first place as quicker it slipped back on my body. My stomach seemed to be fat's favourite place to stick around.

And as you wouldn't be punished enough you're getting tormented by infertility.

Dealing with infertility is hard and such an emotional roller coaster. Money aside, mental health is deteriorating rapidly. Ask any woman with fertility problems if they are going insane, I don't think they'll need to answer you. You'll see it in their tears. You are rapidly becoming the person people dread telling they’re pregnant. On top of that, your relationship suffers as sex on the clock is the biggest turn off in the history of seeking pleasure. I don't know when the pleasure part disappears but be sure it does.

I do know the pain and misery caused by devastating and unexplained symptoms. You're feeling alone, helpless, and angry at the whole world. On my own journey to health and motherhood, I became a certified nutrition & health coach and mindfulness coach to help women with fertility struggles. I'm also trained in NLP (Neuro-Linguistic Programming), hypnotherapy and meditation practise. I'm using a combination of all above to holistically heal my client's wombs to maximise their chances of getting pregnant naturally. Together we focus on your body's innate capability to heal without medical intervention. Therefore my husband and I came up with the business name alternatIVF as we see ourselves as an alternative to IVF.