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I am a 45 year old female athlete – I eat a modified Paleo diet with some dairy & enough carbs to maintain my exercise. I have boundless energy, no health issues and eat alot – around 2500 calories per day (prob 55% fat) but I have what would be considered to be a very low body temperature. In the mornings it is between 96.6 – 97.3 (first half of my cycle) and is generally 97.5 – 97.8 (second half of my cycle). I feel great and besides my temperature have no other symptoms that would even suggest something is wrong. I don’t overtrain, I sleep well, and no stress. My weight has been stable forever as has my body temp (it was this low before I went paleo-ish).
So is body temperature really THAT important? According to Matt Stone I have an extremely slow metabolism… Is this really something to be concerned about?
Is there anyone else out there like me?
Many people screw up their health through too much experimentation, trying to achieve an ideal that doesn’t exist. If you feel great doing what you’re doing, are happy with your weight, and enjoy your food, I’d hesitate to change anything. In my opinion, the number on the thermometer is much less important than how you feel.
I would generally agree. 2500 calories/day is low for a female athlete, though, and if 55% of that is fat, it doesn’t leave much for carbs (assuming you are eating a decent amount of protein), so you may be getting less fuel than your body needs. I’d be hesitant to make changes if all signs seem good, but maybe pay attention and be sure you’re listening to your body (such as: does it really enjoy the 55% fat? Or is it crying out for carbs?) Matt himself has said temp is not everything, but the caveat here is that low-carb diets feel really great at first as they boost stress hormones – you feel awesome until things start heading downhill. The body actually feels pretty good as it starts to break down (like with fasting), and the repercussions don’t always appear until a bit later.
Amy makes a good point. Most athletes are going to run into problems on a low-carb diet, even if those problems don’t show up immediately. And it sounds like you’re pretty low on carbs. If you explore the paleo blogs for a while, you’ll run into lots of people who switched to higher carbs after an initial low-carb honeymoon period. They just start to poop out after a while. But admittedly, some people seem to thrive on lower carbs, and it doesn’t make sense to fix something that isn’t broken. You just have to keep tuned in with your body to be sure you’re not denying your body what it needs.
janiec: one thing i come to think of is: how long did you eat like this? The less extreme (but still to low carb or some other fault) the longer it takes to get really sick.
I myself have a strong body from scratch. I did not even lose my cycle from anorexia with BMI at 12. At 39 I got another anorexic relapse, bu tnow eating lowcarb high fat. I succeeded to stick to BMI 12 for several years, and lost cycle this time. I did not go really tired, until I went on GAPS and then Paleo. Now I am totally worn out. Me, that felt so great on lowcarb, GAPS and paleo at first. First I got better from these kind of diets, then worse. I did know lowcarb was not for me (ketogenic lowcarb) but lowcarb “light” was fine, and GAPS felt super – at first.
If you feel good, great. If you have eaten like this just for some year, watch out for signs of it beeing wrong. Like constipation, diorrhea, tiredness, bloating or others if “cheating”.
Maybe temperature doesn’t mean everything. Also, low temp can be due to low progesterone I’ve heard. But do not take my word, google and research.
It sure is hard to navigate in this paleo, lowcarb and hypothyreos hype…
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