Thanks for your response, Sue! & Amy!
Wow, Sue, you’ve been through a LOT, I am glad to hear you’re on the road to recovery now. Even though I’m just an internet stranger, I actually feel genuine relief that you aren’t doing that stuff anymore.
I think you’re right … the more I thought about it, it seems obvious that metabolism has to come first. Even IF fat-generate estrogen were bad, I guess it doesn’t work to try to get rid of it, if one doesn’t have a strong metabolism to work with.
After this thread, I was motivated to re-read some of Amber O’Kaleo’s stuff (j/k, I know that’s not her name!). She’s very clear that anyone recovering from “starvation symptoms” needs to recover from that and stabilize before trying to lose weight. The title of this article seemed not to apply to me at all (i.e., I’m not worried about “last 5 pounds” hahahaha) but the content did: It’s about building strength while NOT trying to lose weight. http://gokaleo.com/2012/09/19/body-composition-that-last-five-pounds-and-how-to-deal-with-problem-areas/
Thanks again for the responses! My temps are sometimes there, sometimes a bit low for no obvious reason, but I think I’m close; my energy is better, but not yet 100%. Even still, I feel 10x stronger than I have in at least the last few years.