800-900 cals per day is really low. Itâs not sustainable long term. The Minnesota Starvation Study only went to 1500! What happens when you donât give yourself sufficient fuel is first you get hungry. If you ignore that signal long enough it might go away or might not. Many folks on very reduced calorie CICO diets are hungry the whole time for months or years, some arenât. If you donât respond to hunger by eating, your metabolism next adapts to match energy requirements to energy input. This is what is meant when someone says your metabolism âslows downâ. This is what eventually sabotages all CICO diets. You can not eat a significant calorie deficit forever simply because you will eventually starve yourself to death if you try. Yes, if you keep it up long enough you will eventually lose fat, but also muscle, bone and organ mass/function. Systems simply shut down to conserve energy. Eventually something vital shuts down and itâs over.
Generally, once someone eats a serious calorie deficit for several months or a year or more, slowing their metabolism in the process, when they start to eat more food again, as you must or die, a lot of the intake ends up as stored fat. Why? Because the metabolism was slowed significantly, itâs virtually impossible to avoid an energy surplus. All The Biggest Loser contestants were followed for several years after losing their weight initially. Every one of them had slowed their metabolism by at least 500 calories per day, and that reduction persisted for several years after the program ended. Every one of them not only regained all the weight they lost, but more in addition.
You say you get sick in ketosis. From what youâve described about yourself in various posts, I donât find that surprising. My guess is that youâve managed to do a lot of significant damage to your metabolism and itâs not going to fix itself quickly and/or easily. A healthy metabolism responds to varying inputs/outputs of energy and glucose/insulin changes quickly and smoothly. You can get all the wonderful test results in the world, but if you can not change your weight easily and quickly by eating more or less (carbs and/or calories) youâre not metabolically healthy. A healthy metabolism is a responsive metabolism. Inability to manage fat is a symptom of dysfunction. And yes, I know a lot of folks wonât agree with that statement.
Just my opinion, but my guess is that you will have to go very low carb, maybe even zero, for awhile (maybe months?). If you get âhellâs versionâ of carb withdrawal symptoms for a few weeks or even a month or two, you will just have to tough it out. Adequate fluids and electrolytes will help. You got where you are after years of self-abuse and it is very unrealistic to expect to fix and repair the damage easily or quickly.
Stop comparing yourself and whatâs happening to you with other people who are seemingly doing the same things but having different outcomes. This is one of those situations where you are you and very unique. No one else has done exactly the things youâve done or has the same challenges to work on.
yea even in carnivore there is massive diffs. in eating and we get that. eat for you at all times but always know when âthings are wonkyâ just go back to the most basic of eatingâŠone canât go wrong doing that and seeing what new adds etc they can handle.
