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So my temp has been in the 98’s now for 6 weeks or maybe a little longer and the weight gain seems to be slowing if not stopped. 5’7″ and 245 pounds is way too heavy, I think anyone could agree with me there. As my sleep keeps improving and my energy level is slowly coming back, I am very gradually and naturally moving more.
I did have mono after the birth of my second baby that went chronic, she us 6 years old now. I am also finding a slow but steady improvement in the fibromyalgia symptoms I’ve had for the past 18 years or so. Otherwise no chronic disease at all. My body seems to just be working better with more food, especially fats. I am 44. Would like to not haul suitcases with me everywhere.
Haha, guess I’m asking is the weight will come off when the rest of my body (and mind!) are in better working order! We are building a house right now so the activity will increase like mad soon!
Sounds like you’re doing pretty well. I would continue to fuel myself adequately and follow that natural desire to move more, and be especially keen on eating enough during the hectic house-building.
After it’s all done, if you’re still in good shape metabolically, you might consider some light, sensible, sustainable exercise to continue any weight loss trend. But again, light and sustainable, with an emphasis on getting stronger and fitter and more energetic over time, with weight loss as a consequence of that, rather than the goal. Good luck!
Thank you Rob, I am definitely going to keep tabs on my temp during the building and be sure to keep eating a lot and careful to not over-consume fluids. I was a huge water drinker before this and stopping that was uncomfortable but definitely helpful in the long run.
I’m hoping more folks who are like me but further along will chime in. Would love for this to happen without tracking or counting calories or anything like that, cuz that’s some crazy-making shit for me. Seems to work for some but I’d rather not do that since even thinking about it makes me feel really anxious.
It depends, are you coming from ED or some sort of accidental restrictive eating? Even the mono could have set it off, but if that’s the case…it takes awhile. I am 15 months into ED recovery and am not sure I am even weight stable yet. The gain has reached a crawl, but I do not know if it has stopped (60 lbs last I checked). Depending on how long you were in a restrictive phase, it could take awhile. I view it like this: the body regenerates itself pretty well in 4-7 years. It could take that long, perhaps less. The men from the minnesota starvation experiment only underate for something like 4-6 months, and one man reported 3 years to get back to set point (though the average was 18 months). Lungs regenerate themselves every 10-15 years…so just imagine (if you restricted) that you are like a smoker….gotta rebuild that health to get your metabolism and the rest of your body back to normal. I like what Rob said: when you feel like moving more, do it! Have patience, and best wishes
Hello MilaMonster, thanks for your reply. The restrictive eating was no accident – for the past 30+ years I have tried to lose weight on and off, starting at around age 13 when my pediatrician put me on a diet. I then added 5 inches to my height in a year, and my weight was perfect, but the damage (mentally and metabolically) had been done. I’ve had horrible body image since then, always thought I was fat, always kept going on diet after diet and eventually stopping because the weight wouldn’t come off and I was sick of feeling so horrible not eating normally. Of course I didn’t know about raising metabolism back then so I kept trying over and over, then I had two babies and now here I am. If you can call bad body image an ED, then yes, that’s what it was. There was a problem before the mono but I’m sure the mono did not help, it continued to flare up from time to time for at least a couple of years after the daily symptoms went away. I’ve had normal thyroid tests since I was about 20 years old, and now I know that all the hypothyroid symptoms I have experienced all my adult life were from dieting and slow metabolism. Now I finally have a reason why I have felt like shit for so long despite always having normal blood work. All I needed to do was eat. So simple!! I wonder if my doctor would believe me if I told her.
I really like your analogy of lungs rebuilding themselves, helps me to put things into a different perspective. I did read about the Minnesota experiment and I try to keep that in mind when I start to feel discouraged. I am glad to see so many markers of healthy metabolism, I just really do not want so much fat on my body, that part is discouraging most of all… like I mentioned I am truly very overweight, it’s not just me thinking I am when I’m not. Oh how I wish I could go back to that time when there was truly no problem with my weight and just accept myself the way I was. There are so many things I would enjoy so much more if I didn’t have to lug all of this around with me. I keep trying though! I certainly am engaging in life and not sitting around waiting to be thin in order to do things I enjoy.
Thanks, and best wishes on your healing journey as well.
Really interesting sentence, Finngarian: “If you can call bad body image an ED, then yes, that’s what it was.”
Is that original? Very provocative. Really something to ponder there.
Hello Mighty M,
Thanks, I think! ;) That was a Finngarian original.
I did have a lot of symptoms of body dysmorphic syndrome, and I’m not sure at all if that’s a true eating disorder or a branch of something else. I guess “it is what it is” (even though that phrase kinda bugs me), regardless of the label, it got me dieting when there was absolutely nothing wrong with my gorgeous 145 pound, 5 foot 7 curvy as hell body at the time, and made what was not at all a problem turn into a big one. :(
You sound just like me…..a lifetime of beating myself up and covering my very young and perfect ass with baggy clothes as I thought I was fat…..I have dieted or tried to diet all my life and all my life I have felt like a big greedy fat failure. I’m so cross…..what a waste of a my youth….I should have got it all out there and flaunted it…I was gorgeously curvaceous but hated it with a vengeance so hid it. Now at 220lbs and mid 40s I’m getting it out more than ever…LOL! I’m trusting in ETF to look after me but I know it’s gonna be a slow and long process
It’s so frustrating isn’t it? Perhaps we can bring something good out of this experience. I know I am going to do everything in my power to help my kids through that part of their lives so they don’t wind up with a shitty body image like I did. I did so much damage to myself. Oh how I wish I’d known better back then, or had someone like this to help me! :(
Totally, I have 2 teenage boys and I will never tell them to diet or that they are too fat. My friend has a 13 year old daughter and I see her doing the “you need to lose a bit of weight” thing with her and I could scream. That’s what brought me to where I am now….my cruelly critical mother (as much as I love her). She was the catalyst for all this with her “you should eat only lettuce” diet mantra :-(
This is my first post to the forum. I have been up and down the scale many times, from 300lbs to 140, which was too low for me, I think. I also had a super-critical mother, but she was echoing what she told herself and what she was told. She died from dementia that I believe was brought on by extreme ED. Our culture gives most women poor body image, so it’s not all the fault of our moms. Anyway, I decided 3 years ago at 300+ lbs to trust my body and listen to what it wants, thinking my hunger was its mechanism for healthy food choices. I lost about 65 lbs, but my diet starting morphing into something more restrictive. I did a Westin Price thing, and started to play with Paleo, but I love rice and beans too much! I belong to a local Westin Price page on Facebook and one of my friends there linked to Matt’s site and I have read several of his books. At first, I thought he was nuts, but the more I think and read, the more it makes sense. I’m in a very stressful period at work, right now, but am trying to feed myself more. I’ve gained a bit of weight back, but am hoping to stabilize. I had done a lot of what Matt said intuitively, but took it into an ED for a while. I’m going back to trusting my body and its hungers. I never weigh myself, and try not to be mean to myself about my size. Body image is really independent of weight. I try to look at it as an indiciation that I need to be kinder to myself.
Welcome @katmarsh0730 – Being mindful of fueling yourself well and avoiding beating yourself up is a great foundation. Hang out, read around, and feel free to contribute to the boards here. Good luck!
Hello Katmarsh! I toyed with the ideas of Weston Price as well but they just weren’t practical for me, I’m busy enough taking care of my two kids and that’s just not where I wanted to expend energy.
I hear you on the work stress, I had issues with that too for many years. Now my work is caring for my home and children, and that’s stressful at times too! I rest as much as I feel I can get away with but I’d sure love it to be more.
I could use some work on my body image issues as well… when I look at old photos and think “I was fine! Why didn’t I think so back then?”, I will look at me now and say “What the hell! I’m still fine! Bigger, but still fine!” Why not? I think feeling good about your body is instrumental in this process as well. And it’s easier to feel good when you’re getting enough food!
Have you guys tried the Gabriel Method of weight loss, where it teaches you to lose weight without dieting?
Honestly, that seems to be the only ‘weight-loss program’ that does so without dieting or any form of restrictive eating as diets simply do not work and do long-term damage. In it, Jon Gabriel talks about why your body wants to be thin or fat, and it does not have all to do with dieting. Just curious if any of you guys have tried out his ideas?
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