Yes, Candy, welcome to Team No Scale! I am happy to hear your updates.
I have no idea what’s is going on with respect to the scale, but I know it’s like 23 days in for me now and I had to buy smaller leggings and running shirts for skating because mine are getting baggy, so something’s happening, although I need to do more work on arm strength, I’ve been neglecting that. I am so much happier looking at these different markers and parameters of how my transition to fat-adaptation is going. I think this is a good move and I am happy to hear you’re going this route.
Re: food and activity-- Some days I’m eating like 1100 calories, some days it is more like 2200-- as you get more active (and especially since it doesn’t sound like you’re having crazy carb cravings) pay attention to when your body says it is hungry and then FEED it-- blow past whatever number you have calculated for yourself if that is what your body needs, because keeping yourself below a threshold you have developed as a psychological barrier might be part of what keeps your energy levels down. It is great to hear upping your fat intake is helping you move into IF mode naturally-- that is definitely the other part of “listening to what you’re body is telling you” and learning to TRUST that.
I have heard you mention a few times working on metabolic and hormonal healing, which is of course super important, but part of that sounds like you’re not quite trusting your body because you perceive it as needing to do a lot more healing. Of course, I have no idea what is going on with your lab results and such, but you have been on this path for many months now-- I’d like to advocate for you thinking about your relationship to your body a little differently-- shifting some focus on the healing that has already happened, the things that have improved, objectively or subjectively, rather than looking predominantly on what you think you’re doing “wrong.” I think developing more trust in your body and what it can do will help you experience more happiness in the process and help with some of the psychological/emotional healing that I think is part of so many people’s necessary journey. It will also help you listen more carefully to the hunger and satiety signals that you’ll experience more intensely with upping your fat intake (in my experience) I think women in particular are socialized to think too much about what they/their body is doing “wrong”, but I think you are and have been doing lots of things right, and I think that is really worth honoring, celebrating and not throwing out. If you need to think of it as a reset, I respect that. What if this were more like stepping into the next stage, though, so you don’t need to look at these past months as ‘bad’ or ‘less’-- just a different intensity, different parameters.
Re: electrolytes: Yesssss. My energy levels dipped for a couple of days and it was TOTALLY an electrolytes situation. Upping my electrolyte intake shot my energy levels back up and made it easier to sleep. I think becoming truly fat-adapted really does create more demand for electrolyte replenishing, so I think that’s a good move.
I support you, I’m here for you, I’m rooting for you!
xoJGL