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I just discovered 180D and Matt’s books last week. I’ve taken a quick read-through of Eat for Heat and Diet Recovery 2, and am now going back for a more thorough study.
I’m a morbidly obese, 58-year-old grandma, went on my first crazy diet at age 13, did a 10-day fast at 14, been on low carbs, low fat, low calories umpteen dozens of times in my life. A few years ago I started treating what I thought was a hypothyroid condition, first with Armour thyroid and now taking 50mcg daily of T3, because the T4 in the Armour wouldn’t convert. I saw some of Matt’s comments about this, and I must be the poster child for high Reverse T3 that he’s talking about. I’ve actually GAINED another 100 pounds since I’ve been taking T3. Go figure. Can’t up my dosage because it makes my heart race, and I’m already taking beta blockers to slow the old ticker down.
Have been feeding myself well since last week, and cutting ‘way back on fluid intake. I think my body is totally saturated from years upon years of excessive fluid intake. (For years I’ve been one of those people Matt talks about who was NEVER without a drink at hand.) My serum sodium levels stay pegged at the lowest point of the normal range, which I’ll interpret as borderline-hyponatremic, and the swelling in my feet and legs (which I’ve had for many years) has gone down noticeably since I began cutting back on liquids. My digestion has also improved, so again, go figure. This may be tmi, but I think I was taking in so much fluid, my kidneys couldn’t handle it all, and so some of it was being absorbed back into my lower digestive tract.
I did have a momentary lapse of reason last night, while having dinner with a friend. I was not really paying attention, and the next thing I knew, I was on my second glass of ice water, and UGHHHHH. At midnight I still felt like I was absolutely swimming in that water, and today, my tummy’s very uncomfortable.
Also have been climbing into bed at every opportunity, sometimes with my tablet and Netflix, and sometimes for sleep.
Anyway, does this sound like I’m doing some of the right things? Do you notice anything glaringly obvious that I’ve missed? Am I reading right in some of the other posts that the recovery could take a year or more?
Oh, incidentally, my temps have been anywhere from 97.2 to 97.7 most of the time. I don’t see that they’ve increased in just a week, but I did get a whopping 98.8 right after lunch today. An hour later, it was back down to 97.9. Upon rising, temps will be 97.5 to 97.7. I’ll continue to check them, and may make myself a log so that I can see how they track over time.
I’m actually very excited about this, because to me there’s nothing more discouraging than restricting my food to an insane point and STILL not seeing some of this weight come off. I am one miserable person when I cannot eat what I want, and over time, the food thing has become much more of an obsession than it should be. It just shouldn’t be something that a person thinks about ALL THE FRIGGIN TIME.
Comments are most welcome, and thanks,
Jane
Sounds like you’re on the right track. I can relate to that experience of absent-mindedly drinking a bunch of water and getting a headache-y and feeling washed out.
Temps may take a little time to come up. Check them regularly for a little while to establish a baseline, then only every so often to see how things are going. For folks with perfectionist tendencies, thermometer readings can become another outlet for obsessive behavior, and that’s usually not helpful.
Overall, though, keep following the basics. Be mindful of your fluid intake, monitor your urine frequency and color, adjust your carbs and salt intake based on your metabolic indicators (warm hands and feet, moist skin, etc.) and keep on trucking. Good luck!
It sounds like you’re on the right track for sure… stopping excess fluids was a huge one for me, like you I always had the ice water. I agree to pay attention to the warmth in your hands and feet, I will eat if mine are cool. Your temps will come up if you keep eating more dry foods along with less water. Hang in there! I can now sleep without medication for the first time in many years!
Thanks! You know, I didn’t think to mention it before, but the decrease in fluid intake improved my sleep almost immediately. It was very noticeable – for the first time in as long as I can remember, I was waking up in the morning feeling like I did when I was a kid – like it would take me a few minutes to get the cobwebs out of my head. I was so incredibly relaxed while sleeping!
I very rarely have trouble with cold hands and feet, but attribute that to being as heavy as I am. I am very well insulated. When I was able to lose some significant weight in the past, I was freezing all over, all the time.
Also I think it is significant to keep in mind that my temps are still low even though I’m taking this dose of thyroid medication every day. I’m not sure whether the medication is even helping, but it may be, just a little, because I seem to recall that when I started the thyroid treatment, it wasn’t unusual to have temps below 96.5 first thing in the morning.
I appreciate both your comments.
Jane
Hi Jane!
Glad you have found the site and are now paying more careful attention to the RIGHT biofeedback. Most people just watch the scale and get misled, meanwhile oblivious to their biofeedback, temperature, sleep quality, mood, energy levels, digestion, and all the stuff that really counts.
I don’t know what’s in store for you in terms of future improvements, weight loss, and all that kind of stuff. But I feel pretty confident that whatever you experience down this road will be better than the results you would have gotten doing something else and continuing to find novel ways to starve yourself.
Good luck. We’ll be around to answer your questions and cheer you on any time you need it.
I’m really glad to see another older woman post here. I’m even older than you (64) and feel a little out of place here with all the youngsters. Though it really is appreciated Matt and Co. Now I might not be too shy to post.
Jill
I’m a grandma, too. I’m still learning and trying to figure all this out. I hope you continue to see improvements and that you’ll post updates along the way. Hugs!
I was watching $25,000 Pyramid re-runs today, so I can relate to you old farts a little bit. Plus I live in Florida. All three of you would be young honeys down here. 58 and 64 are actually less than the median age in the town I live in.
From Wikipedia for Venice, Fl…
“In the city the population was spread out with 6.9% under the age of 18, 2.3% from 18 to 24, 10.2% from 25 to 44, 23.1% from 45 to 64, and 57.5% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 69 years.”
I’m older too -50 – and a newbie trying to sort through all this . While I would love to lose weight also I am resigned to the fact that might not happen and try to focus on just feeling better and stronger and not being so obsessed by weight that I forget to live life and be happy
Ha! Well, maybe we need to establish an old farts club, eh? Sounds like we older ladies need a comfy place to hang out…I’m happy to see your posts here this morning!
I think the first decision my new, improved frame of mind is going to make is to start some very, very light exercise, beginning today. I had a very stressful year last year with a whole host of serious family problems, and at the end of that time I could barely stay on my feet long enough to make it through the grocery store. That has improved somewhat now, but already I have noticed that with the extra rest I am having lately, I am becoming somewhat weaker again. I need to move toward being stronger, not weaker, but it will have to be very gentle, perhaps in the form of two five-minute walks per day and working up in time slowly to a max of two sessions of fifteen minutes each.
Again, thanks for the responses!
Jane
Matt
Your ability to be friendly and warm, seriously helpful and funny all at the same time is wonderful. No wonder you’ve got so many of us listening.I agree about the old farts club. It seems to me to be so easy for the younger set to reset their metabolism. But it’s hard for us as we are working with age also. I would be delighted to have a place to talk to others around my age (61) about our struggles. There was a time that I just thought I was too old for this to make a difference. I am learning better though. Yep, the stopping of the water drinking made a big difference for me also.
Hi there, I am 58 so I guess I fit in here too. I mentioned this somewhere else on here & no one responded so I thought darn, nobody cares. Hey, maybe living in Florida with all that sun would give me the jump start I need. In the meantime I know we can support each other here.
Matt, I wrote this on the 3000 cal/day post but I will repeat here. I am having trouble eating enough warming food right now because it is too hot. All I want is to drink all day and eat ice cream, which has the opposite effect on me, popsicles, salads. I feel like I will have to wait till summer is over to work on this. I know you have tried to help me before so I apologize if this is an old rerun & I’m just not getting it.
Hi all of you in the self-proclaimed “Old Farts Club”. I’d prefer to call us Boomers (is there a pun in there?). I’m one of Matt’s Site Authors, and this is my area of specialization, and my own experience, being 61 years old, and a chronic dieter for 4 decades (developed Hashimoto’s with hypo symptoms).
We have a lot of years of dieting behind us (another pun?); and despite doing the things that the “diet industry” assured us would result in weight loss, and health, we’ve learned it didn’t work.
My approach is following Matt’s food recommendations, but understanding that becoming overweight was probably the result of a few potential circumstances: 1. stress, 2. early life (or later in life) abuse, neglect, humiliation, 3. low self-esteem over body issues, 4. epigenetic factors, 5.your body not “feeling” safe.
Yes, re-feeding yourself is a great way to show your body that you are now not going to starve or drown it! But if you stressful lifestyle is a chronic condition, the food alone is not going to be enough to return you to good health and your happy weight. But the good news is: there are wonderful, and relatively fast methods to breakthrough the stress, and even the subconscious beliefs that have you in a holding pattern!
I offer free strategy sessions (after you fill out an evaluation) – and HOPE! You can do it; you have already started! I’ll look forward to hearing from you!
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