Stress, intermittent fasting and weight gain

#1

I discovered today that I should not be intermittent fasting or delaying eating til later in the day. It has led to weight gain.
Apparently, if you are stressed and have high cortisol levels, then you intermittent fast, the body cant tell if you are in a famine or stressed from whatever else it is.
So my dietician explained today my weight gain is due to cortisol and not eating frequently enough that my body knows there is no famine here.
I was not eating til the afternoon cause of the dawn effect pushing my BGL up til the afternoon. So I would wait til it came down til I ate.
Worked a treat for my insulin and HbA1cā€¦but stacked on 10kg!

I thought this information may help someone else.
Will revisit and report on my progress/no progress after awhile of 3 meals a day disregarding glucose levels which should be fine with keto meals anyway.

I am very fortunate to have a very bright keto dietician who really does know what I donā€™t. I think she has saved my bacon! Again!
This stuff is so complex.

Edit to addā€¦I have a cyst on an adrenal gland and an endocrinologist monitors it. It hasnā€™t done anything at all for the years since it was discovered and I have a bash of blood tests every 6 months to monitor. I always have high cortisol and I have been massively stressed for years, by a family situation that will shortly be resolved.

(Bunny) #2

On a much deeper level, constant high elevated cortisol is catabolizing body parts or dietary protein through gluconeogenesis and thus engaging insulin and that is why you gain weight, including water weight.

Gluconeogenesis is demand-driven-by-cortisol, people donā€™t get that or donā€™t want to get it, yet they go on with this fallacy that it does not.

Best time to eat is in the morning before you fast.

Why?

Cortisol is what keeps you alert and gets you out of bed at 25 units.

By the afternoon it will be around 15 units.

By Bed time it will be at 4 units.

If your keeping it at 25 units all day long (starvation mode) your body is just going to keep making glucose and engaging insulin all day long and the fatter your going to get or you will just plateau and stall out. (I wish I could show people what their insulin really looked like when they fast too much or eat too much fat or protein and why they are fat and cannot lose weight)

You burn the most body fat when you are sleeping with the least amount of cortisol. Tiny amounts of cortisol are what actually burn body fat (adrenaline components; perilipinā€1 (PLINā€ 1) & catecholamines; oxidation of lipid droplets from fat cells)

If you ate when you were hungry (donā€™t try to starve or even attempt to starve yourself) and followed these little Bariatric rings (like the ones below or similar custom gauge) you would not go into starvation mode and burn body fat. With time the less hungry you get, the more you cut back on portion size. That is how to truly fast intermittently without harassing cortisol or feeling like your starving to death.

Only eat if you are truly hungry?

I personally like to use glucose meter and if glucose is looking a little low that is a good time to eat without gaining body fat. If your just starting out, eat as many times as you want if you are truly hungry or not feeling so well, just be mindful of portion size.

Example:

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If you over-eat protein or fat and your not diabetic it will not work either. 3 to 4 oz of protein is all any one needs (a deck of playing cards). The entire circumference of your personal thumb is all you need in dietary fat also:

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References:

[1] Cortisol and Fat: How the Stress Hormone Can Cause Weight Gain (It can play with your metabolism) - Womenā€™sHealth Magazine - BY FRANCESCA MENATO AND CLAUDIA CANAVAN

#3

Agreed, Iā€™m the same way. People ignore that fasting itself is a huge stress to the body. Couple years ago I fell victim to Jason Fung and got into fasting pretty deep. All I came out the other end with was a trashed RMR, lost a ton of muscle mass and fat that wouldnā€™t burn off. Screw fasting. I just changed the makeup of what Iā€™m eating. Working out much better now. Sucks when you have to find out the hard way!

(Michael - When reality fails to meet expectations, the problem is not reality.) #4

I donā€™t fast much and when I do (a couple days each week) I simply combine an earlier supper and later breakfast with my overnight sleep. I do this primarily when my work schedule has me eating my main meal at my workplace in the mid-late afternoon and I get home too late to eat again. So I just wait until the next morning. When I was a child that was actually the way most people ate. Generally about 12-14 hours between supper and breakfast.


02%20AM


(Deb) #5

I used to fast, and ended up tanking my thyroid (to TSH of 8.25- outrageously high!). And it WAS stressful. Now I eat when Iā€™m hungry, and stabilized to 140ish (size 8 so no real complaints!)

(Edith) #6

My intermittent fasting has been totally hunger driven. If Iā€™m hungry, I eat. If Iā€™m not hungry, I donā€™t eat. I always go for at least 12 hours between dinner and breakfast. Some days itā€™s fifteen, some days itā€™s eighteen. One meal a day doesnā€™t work for me, because I canā€™t eat enough in one meal, and then I feel depleted when I exercise the following day.

But, one thing I have to look out for, is that my hunger signals are different on keto. I donā€™t get hangry, I donā€™t get a headache or shaky. I just get to a point where I canā€™t stop thinking about food or my energy is just low. Then I know itā€™s definitely time to eat.

Iā€™m curious, were you forcing yourself into a particular time pattern?

#7

Not clear whom you are addressing this question to @VirginiaEdie