Where to start / what to do?

Hi all

I’m a 27 year old guy looking to up my health and improve my body composition. I would like to join the military in a year or 2 and need to get my weight down and my fitness up. I currently work in finance so can’t afford any brain fog during the day.

I posted a similar thing on the Ray Peat forum.

Bit of background

Played college soccer, never had any real health issues except minor GERD, ate whatever I wanted, maintained 190-200lbs (6’2) with 15-18% bodyfat (hydrostatic). So I had c.165lbs of lean mass.

After college, moved to the UK and started working full time in a very stressful job. Started gaining weight (up to 220) then started a 1300 / calorie a day diet…lost all of the weight (mid 2010). Kept it off for 6 months or so but slowly gained it back. Essentially been on a yo-yo diet ever since (ie 1-2 weeks of hardcore restrictive dieting followed by a binge then several months off).

Now

I’m 27, 225lbs, 28-30% bodyfat (155 – 160lbs lean mass), and was always convinced that paleo was the way to go and once I went paleo the weight would fall off… but never actually got around to going paleo for more than a week or 2 before I succumbed to temptation, binge, etc. However, I was a little disconcerted that my status quo seemed to be a slow and steady fat gain / muscle loss. I also NEVER ate breakfast and always had a huge lunch. Perpetual sweet tooth craving sugar, candy, sour stuff, etc.

I have also had a few minor anxiety / panic attacks over the last 3-4 years, which I assumed was just due to “entering the real world” but am now learning could definitely be to do with my metabolism. I sought CBT and can now deal with these issues.

A few months back I was taking my temperature as I had a cold and it was around 97 degrees, I believe. I started looking into this, learned it was an indicator of metabolism, etc. and thought this may play a part. I went to my GP and had a blood test in March of 2013:

Cholesterol: 4.31 mmol / L
HDL: 1.44 mmol / L
LDL: 2.39 mmol / L

FT4: 12.8 pmol / L
TSH: 1.51 uIU / ml

These are all within normal so the GP said I was fine and my low temp was just naturally low…but as long as I felt fine then it is nothing to be concerned about…so I left it at that.

I have since discovered Matt Stone, read his books, discovered Ray Peat, and generally become much more educated in the matter.

For the last week or so I have been following Matt Stone’s High Everything Diet in an attempt to get my temps back up to 98 consistently and get to the point where I am not naturally gaining weight. Then I can use exercise (which I love) and smarter food choices to get my weight back down. I am absolutely sick of restrictive diets and never want to feel restricted in my eating again.

In the last week, my diet has looked something like the following:

AM: 80g oats, organic whole milk, organic honey, black tea with whole milk
Snack: 4-6 small lemon / raisin pancakes with organic butter
Lunch: 2 McDs double cheese burgers, coke
Snack: 1tbsp coconut oil and 100g dark chocolate, coke
Dinner: Burger with sweet potato fries

I have also stopped exercise, have only been drinking when thirsty (rarely), and have tracked my temperatures. Here are the results:

When I first started, my AM temps were 96.3 – 96.4 with day time temps up to 98.2
Within 2 days I was up to 97.7 with day time temps as high as 98.4
Now I’m around 97.2 – 97.4 in the am (was 97.0 yesterday after an intense workout on Tuesday night)

As an example, this morning upon waking I was at 97.4. 30m after breakfast I am now at 98.2.

I have been waking up every night between 2 – 4am which I know is a sign of cortisol / adrenaline. I can soon get back to sleep, however, and my pulse isn’t racing. My morning pulse is quite low, typically 60bpm…and I’ve always been told this is a good thing and reflective of increased “fitness”! In fact, I’ve been trying to lower it with exercise.

I’ve also started exercise again: 2-3x intense circuit training sessions involving weights and cardio / weekly (crossfit style but not exactly) and 2-3 runs a week (starting with 10m and building up to 60m over a few months).

My questions:

1. What should I do? Especially given the fact that I don’t want to be too restrictive?

2. What temperatures are considered normal in the AM and during the day, especially given my low waking pulse and tendency for temp to rise after breakfast?

3. Does exercise really totally conflict with the goal of healthy metabolism? I find this hard to believe as it is supposed to be so beneficial! Can I really only pick one: improving my running or improving my metabolism?

4. Based on my numbers, am I healthy? Am I hypothyroid?

5. Should I keep doing this HED diet to get my temps up more (to what level?) and then let myself lose weight naturally (after having probably gained some more in the meantime)? Or should I make a more concerted effort to count calories? This is not appealing to me given my background.

Thank you all, and apologies for the long post!