Not Losing but Sticking to the Rules HARD

(Chris Christine) #7

I wonder as well. I completely forgot to mention I’m 60 with hypothyroidism. I’m not on high meds for the hypo… it hasn’t changed in years and I’ve always been able to lose the 10-15 I needed to lose in the past.
I am getting discouraged. Maybe it’s age….?
I was eating probably a hefty 2500 calories a day before I started back up.
It’s truly a mystery but a discouraging one at that.
I’m 5’10…. I’d like to get down to like 180-185.

(Chris Christine) #8

RMR? I really appreciate your answer. Good stuff right there. Im 60 year old as well with hypothyroidism. I’ve had hypo for many many years and my dose of meds never changed. Like I was just saying to another person here… I’ve never had a problem with weigh loss as far as my thyroid goes… maybe I do now? I really like your thing on the feeling good part first and the other stuff still needing to be worked out. I feel really good. Not so sluggish. That’s why I’ll keep this as a lifestyle.
Im in a constant state of ketosis. I check my blood often.
Im rarely hungry on the 1400 calories and if I am I have no problem with a no carb snack. It’s not often that I’m hungry.
Age?

(Alec) #9

Christine
Here’s my advice:

  1. Always eat when you are hungry
  2. Don’t eat if you are not hungry
  3. If that means 3 days with no eating, so be it, wait for the hunger
  4. Stop eating when you stop being hungry
  5. Focus on one thing you said: you want this to be a lifestyle. You decided only to weigh yourself once per month for a reason… weight is not the only thing going on here
  6. The weight loss could take some time, give it 12 months before you judge it
  7. If you are on meds, these could be driving insulin up. Have you had a fasting insulin test done?
  8. If you are truly in a hurry to lose weight, try some 36-42 hour fasts, or even alternate day fasting. But my advice is to stay patient, and wait it out (pun intended!).

Cheers
Alec

(Michael - When reality fails to meet expectations, the problem is not reality.) #10

Bingo! This is Relevant.

My dad was afflicted with hyperthyroidism in his mid-late 20s and early 30s. Into the late 1940s he was a healthy young man. Within 5 years he was an emaciated husk. No matter what or how much he ate, he continued to lose weight. He was a highly trained and experienced Air Force pilot, so the Air Force tried to protect its investment by nuking his thyroid. Apparently, that was the ‘standard treatment’ of the day. It worked, too! From then until almost the end of his life, he gained weight steadily no matter what or how little of it he ate. I don’t know if he was prescribed meds, but if so they didn’t do much for him. His obesity resulted in diabetes and coronary heart disease. His first heart attack was at the age of 63 and he subsequently had to have quadruple bypass surgery plus a pace maker.

The good news for my dad was the last couple of years before he died he reduced carbs significantly - not keto, just much lower carbs - and for the first time in his life since the 1950s he actually lost weight!

I suspect that I inherited my dad’s over active thyroid - before it went hyper - and it helped me survive a lifetime of SAD without serious metabolic issues. And I’m very grateful for that. I suspect there may be a lot more folks like me out there. But I suspect there are likely a lot more folks out there with an under active thyroid (or hypo) like you who have a hell of a time keeping energy input lower than output no matter how much they ‘eat less and move more’ trying to.

:point_right: My suggestion at this point is to eat more meat. Eat meat every day whether you’re hungry or not. If you can’t ‘stuff it down’ eat less fat to make room for it. Change your macros to include more meat. Meat protein helps to stimulate both the thyroid and pituitary glands to boost your metabolism. Body builders know this and do it successfully. So can you!

I disagree with the advice not to eat if you’re not hungry. Don’t even consider the idea of multi day fasts. One of the worst things you can do to yourself when you’re hypo is restrict calories on a very low carb (keto) diet. Your T3 is already low and restricting calories will only drive it lower. See here and check out some of Amber’s references. This one, for example.

If after 6 months you’re not feeling more energetic or losing weight/fat again, then consider carnivore as an alternative to plain keto. There is a carnivore section on the forum and many folks who eat that way. But first, just eat more meat every day. That may suffice. Hope this helps.

PS: @amber If you’ve modified what you wrote in the linked article above, please advise. Thank you.

(Chris Christine) #11

Thank you so much. So much different advise. I am going to just hang in there. I do feel a whole lot better overall. I am going to take bits from all of this. I just need to figure out my formula for what works for me food wise. I don’t think I could just do meat only.

#12

Hi I am adding to your confusion… LOL… I am close to you in age and also have hypothyroidism that I am not medicating for. In opinion you are losing fine. The good news is that you are feeling fine and I think that there will be times when the scale does not move as much as you hope but it should move. There is a thread with women over 50 on here maybe peek in there and see what some people are doing. There was some really good advice in there that I used… I will go and see if I can find it and relay it to you

Editing to add the info
So the info I was thinking about was in the maintenance forum. But there is very good discussion in the 50s thread as well.
The maintenance thread just made me breath deeper and keep trusting my own direction

(Marianne) #13

I haven’t browsed everyone’s responses, but I bet to a person, the comments you are receiving are telling you that you aren’t eating enough. I’ll second that. It’s great that you aren’t weighing yourself all of the time!!! So liberating! Along with that, don’t count calories! Give it up - you don’t need to!

My best suggestion is to eat 2-3 meals a day and meet or exceed your fat and protein macros a day, while keeping the total carbs as low under 20 as you can. We all have to do what we are comfortable with, but why are you eating those spinach things? Can you just eliminate them in lieu of some other clean keto food that you enjoy? For me that would be bacon, or 3-4 oz. of cream cheese, a piece or two of keto pizza, cold chicken dipped in a little mayo (although mayo isn’t the best thing because of the oils used; I still don’t sweat the small amount I consume on occasion), etc. How about some sauted spinach with some cream cheese mixed in? Sounds good to me!

Do you notice your clothes fitting differently? The fact that you feel GREAT is very telling. Good things must be happening, otherwise, you wouldn’t feel that way. I would venture to guess that your body is in a deep healing state and that your weight is redistributing. The scale will move again. In the scheme of things, if you want this as a lifestyle more than a diet, then make some adjustments and let it happen. You have to be able to live with this comfortably. Keeping the carbs low is key.

It’s winter in Western NY as well. Apart from gardening in the summer and light housework, I don’t do jack and am pretty much completely sedentary. I detest most exercise and always have. Still, I’ve lost 75 lbs on keto and have kept it off for three years (started at 230). Exercise is not required, although kudos if you enjoy it. It just shouldn’t be employed as another way to purge calories, however, which is what most of us did when conventional dieting.

Good luck to you! Bring your questions and experiences here. You will get a lot of feedback and support.

(Marianne) #14

Me, too (63). Many of us here are over 60. You are in the cool kids club. :grin:

(Chris Christine) #15

Hi I tried looking for that 50+… I’m not great at moving around in this forum. I will look.
Thanks so much for your feedback!

(Allie) #16

There are some areas you can’t access as a new member so that could be why, but as you post more and become a regular member, permissions open up and you get more access.

(Chris Christine) #17

Hahahaha I feel exactly as you do about exercise. It’s just not me! Yuck! I was always a good weight… age is screwing me over big time. I cannot give up on my spinach things. It’s truly the only bad thing I eat. I brown it in butter and make a lovely egg salad or chicken salad sandwich. It’s my one staple that I get nervous about not having. You mentioned mayonnaise. I eat a lot of Mayo. Maybe I’ll switch to Mayo with olive oil. I’m not much of a cook and my menu is very basic. Chicken quarters, lots of pork, breakfast sausage, I’m not a huge chicken fan. Bacon…, probably too many nitrates but I don’t eat it all the time. Because keto keeps me satiated I don’t need to get fancy. I eat because I’m hungry. Not that my food is bland I just don’t do a lot of keto recipes. Lots of cream sauces, or just seasoned. What’s on my menu is boring…. I’ll do a Parmesan crusted deal thing… I stay away from sugar as much as possible. I keep it about 95% clean. I’m not creating any sweet snacks. My fats come from animal fat, butter and Mayo. Probably not good but I’m also on a very strict budget. Food prices are killing me.
Like I said. I do feel great. I’m gonna keep at it because I like it. I might be a little impatient. :woman_shrugging:t3:

(Marianne) #18

Girlll, you had me on so many points except when it came to this one. Unlike you, except for a few years here and there, I’ve been overweight and a slave to food for most of my pre-teen and adult life - until keto. Either way, fat is not fun, nor is it good for us. I totally get that you want to drop the pounds you’ve gained.

Also, I’d say if you love spinach that much, then by all means eat it. I’d just keep your total carbs under 20/day. All of us here have to find what WOE we can live with. The beauty of keto is that it is so adaptable to many different ways of eating.

Best to you!

(Chris Christine) #19

Ohhh my spinach wraps are only 3 carbs. Carb Balance. They are lovely! The highest average carbs I eat a day is less than 15…. Rarely do I ever hit 20. Like I said I’m doing this 100%. I juuuust gotta be patient. It’s a whole other game at 60. Well the game started changing around. 57. Lol

#20

I do not trust the carb count on things like this. It is a mixture of fancy math and weird definitions of what constitutes fiber. Maybe stick to the basics for a bit and see if that helps. You can go back to the wraps later on

(Bacon is a many-splendoured thing) #21

Just a note about nitrates: apparently these are deadly only in meat, for some reason, because the people who want us to stop eating meat have no problem with eating much larger quantities of nitrates in their favourite plants. I wonder how the nitrates know to make trouble only when they find themselves in meat? :grin:

And my more general comment on the thread: we usually talk as though there is only one form of weight gain or loss when the scale number changes (or doesn’t, as the case may be), forgetting that body weight is actually what Jason Fung calls a “two-compartment problem.” In other words, weight comprises both lean mass and fat mass, and which compartment is going to be affected by changes in our diet is primarily the result of the body’s hormonal response to what we eat, far more than the quantity we eat.

(Marianne) #22

Once again, Paul, you killed it!!!

:hugs:

(Chris Christine) #23

Hormonal response…. This confuses me. Like how can we hone into our hormonal responses. I’ve never heard the term until like the last 2 years. I wish I knew how we could determine this.
So nitrates are not horrible?!?! Bacon it is!

(Michael - When reality fails to meet expectations, the problem is not reality.) #24
(Michael - When reality fails to meet expectations, the problem is not reality.) #25

You’re hypo and on meds for it. I find this statement hard to believe. :point_up_2: There are nearly a dozen different hormones involved directly in metabolic function and regulation and others indirectly. It’s all about energy management - what comes in, what happens to it and what goes out or not. If any of the hormones involved managing energy throughput isn’t doing it’s specific job efficiently (or at all), the whole system suffers. We’re not a lab calorimeter, so energy is not a simple in/out measurement.

(Robert) #26

Hi Christine. I d like to share this with you. I m a 12 plus year carnivore. I was among the early members of ZIOH message board. My diet has been very clean for many many years. My health returned and inflamation went to pretty much zero but all was not perfect. My body was still 35-40 pounds heavier than I should have been. This weight was making my BP run on the higher end. I go back to work researching ( gave up on a Dr ever offering anything useful long ago ) so I come accross Dr Jason Fung. Any type of fasting was shunned at ZIOH. Dr Fung explains it well. My body has metabolic damage if this I am certain. A fasting plan turns out was the missing link for me. I require a little longer period of time between feedings. I think this is because of my damage. This time allows for my insulin levels to drop long enough to use stored fat. It works like magic. At 62 I am at my perfect weight. Most days I have a 4-6 hour feeding window. Fatty meat eggs bacon chicken liver butter ( some dairy plain yogurt cream cheese ) shrimp crabs scallops beef liver. List could go on and on. Every couple months I do a 3-5 day fast to get autophagy benefits. BTW I feel sooooo good when I do this. I hope this helps. I will add I firmly believe you MUST break your addiction to sugar and any sweeteners in order to get your life and health where you d like for it to be.
PS you can eat all the fatty meat you can stomach in the feeding window time frame. No counting nothing. Just eat fatty meat till your body is saying I cannot eat anymore. Do not eat again for the next 20 hours or so. This is so easy you will drop weight and gain health so fast your head will spin. Get rid of the sugar.