The question I’m asked more than any other (excluding what my favorite 80’s movie is), is “Okay, my temps are up and I feel great again. Now what?” This topic is often the greatest source of confusion as well. Most of the negative reviews on my book Eat for Heat are by those that think I’m recommending to drink Coke instead of water and eat cheeseburgers instead of fresh fruit for the rest of your entire life. Not so much. It’s?a temporary way to return to normal metabolic function for those who have very low metabolic rates or a history of eating disorders and dieting. It’s not?a general prescription for the masses, nor is it?permanent advice.Most shouldn’t need to rely on uber calorie-dense food and a mountain of salt’to maintain proper body heat generation and?circulation for life. But it’s helpful for many, and?absolutely essential for some–eating “junk” food for a while, that is.For others that aren’t in such bad shape, a primarily whole foods-based diet is?preferable, which is somethingI state repeatedly in’several of my books.
Most health food zealots won’t even be able to read that part though. The words won’t even register as their eyes scan the page. They’ll read something positive said about pizza or soft drinks and be too irate to continue concentrating on the rest of the books!
So let’s get down to it. What happens after the re-feed?
First of all, refeeding is defined, in the 180D sense, as eating to appetite of palatable, calorie-dense foods until body temperature has normalized at 98.6 degrees F or thereabouts, and body fat levels have completely stabilized eating as much food as is desired. No more, no less. And this state should also be reached with low to moderate exercise levels as well.
So what next then?
The first thing to remember is that change is the only constant. Your body is not a rock. It is a living, breathing, adaptive organism that is always responding to the forms of stimulation it is greeted with. Give it less food than it needs to function, and it makes changes. Give it more food than it needs to function, and it will make opposite adaptations.Ultimately, the end destination is to simply reach a point of equilibrium. The?internal appetite regulation system demands X number of calories on any given day, you eat?exactly how much food that is required to satisfy your appetite each day (which varies from day to day somewhat), and body weight stays constant in a small range of just a few pounds. And metabolic rate remains normal to high compared to what might be considered a baseline.
That means at least a “normal” body temperature and a need to consume at least 1.5 times your basal metabolic rate (as you might calculate?HERE, although I recommend using your estimated body weight without any excess fat you may have)’to keep from losing weight and being hungry. That’s if you are completely sedentary. If you spend a lot of time on your feet, walk daily, or?perform any kind of training you’ll need to consume a lot more calories than that to maintain a constant bodyweight. Many of?my?”daughter’s” meals are well beyond her BMR calculation of 1046 calories. On hiking trips she’ll often shed fat eating more than 3.0 times her BMR per day.
As I have pointed out in many past posts and materials, it’s?also possible to?eventually experience substantial weight loss eating precisely the number of calories you desire, with or without strenuous exercise.Many will experience this in just a few months after reaching the equilibrium point described above.For others, it can’take a couple years. Others still may never experience any automatic,’spontaneous weight loss. It depends on many factors. I still don’t believe, for most, that not losing it spontaneously is an excuse to force it off. That usually doesn’t go well, although there have been occasional reports of some “getting away with” intentional weight loss following refeeding.
So anyway, the answer to “what next” is therefore pretty simple. Eat, drink,?and live (in terms of sleep and physical activity) naturally–naturally meaning in synch with your instincts–for the most part. Get some daily exercise. Do a little resistance exercise from time to time to keep your strength up. Eat a wide variety of foods built primarily around unprocessed, fresh stuff–weighted heavily towards carbohydrates.Or, to?improve upon’the famous Michal Pollan quote, “Eat food.Not too much. Or too little. Mostly carbs.”
Sorry, one line dietary advice is stupid.
You’ll also want to pay attention to your biofeedback and make adjustments as necessary. For example, eating heavy food with a?lot of salt eventually made my pulse feel uncomfortably heavy?with restless legs that interfered with my sleep. So I’ve been eating a lot more fruit, taking in more fluids, and eating just a fraction of the salt I was consuming in the last (and hopefully final) re-feed I did back in 2012. When I overdo that my appetite and toes let me know, and I have a heavier meal. Simple as that.
It’s all been very easy and intuitive as well. I got extremely sick of heavy foods and started craving cold, watery smoothies and salads. I have no cravings for salty foods anymore other than the occasional pizza, which will work its way into pretty much any non-extreme diet from time to time. It’s not like these were forced?changes. I would have?had to force myself to keep drinking’soft drinks (which started tasting like carbonated cans of Mrs. Butterworths syrup?eventually) and eating pizza.
It came naturally, and I hope none of your find yourself in a spot where you are?choking down heavy food even though you have no desire to eat it just because it worked to make you feel better in the first few months. That?may not be true now, and your body should give you signs that it’s?ready to change course.
In summary,?imposing dietary restrictions upon yourself can lead to a drop in metabolic rate. Refeeding is the solution to getting back to normal (for most). Once you’re back to normal, all you have to do is keep from imposing?dietary restrictions upon yourself that are too harsh–including imposing forced dietary surplus onto yourself as well, which can probably be just as dangerous as eating too little food if you continue doing it against your?instincts and biofeedback.
Sound fair enough? Any questions? I’m happy to answer them in the comments section below…
About the Author
Matt Stone is an independent health researcher, author of more than 15 books, and founder of 180DegreeHealth. He is best known for his research on metabolic rate and its central role in many health conditions as well as his criticisms of extreme dieting. Learn more by signing up for his free Raising Metabolism eCourse HERE,?which also includes?THIS FREE BOOK, and subscribing to the 180DegreeHealth podcast HERE.
“Commando”, right? Nostalgia for Condor Man is great and all that, but we need to respect the true king.
It fluctuates. For a long time it was Legend. Condorman is always up there, but we watched it literally 30 times in the car this year, and I’m starting to experience Woody fatigue.
Although, I did think of you today. No really I did. The daughter wanted a bologna sandwich with two slices of meat. I said, in my best Turkish behemoth voice, “The double? Nobody orders the double sir!”
She says, straight faced… “Alright, make it a triple!”
You’re raising her right I see. Excellent. Carry on, sir.
The first time I was hospitalised for anorexia,I spent 8 months there going through some pretty hardcore re-feeding.Always baffled me how by the six-month mark,I had increased my weight from 25kg (take that,imperial system!) to 37kg,was on at least 12000kj a day but couldn’t gain any more weight.It just stopped.Wasn’t until the dietitian had me drink extra meal-replacement shakes at 6am and 10pm that the weight finally went up again.After reading your books and articles on how re-feeding affects the metabolism,now getting an understanding on how I could eat so much but have such difficulty increasing my weight.Metabolism is king!
I wonder if fasting or eating a half calorie day once or twice a week would get the metabolism to hold onto those calories. Because when the metabolism is high, the body will excrete extra calories and increase energy expenditure in an attempt to prevent weight gain. So, in theory, I wonder if fasting would trick it into absorbing those calories better if the body thinks it’s starving.
Would love for you to write more about candida, SIBO, and parasites.
Raise metabolism and speed up bowel transit time and you’ll improve candida, SIBO, and parasites more than any other supposed remedy out there. Sugar, the supposed enemy, often plays a vital role in achieving this. Starch as well.
I seem to loose more weight the more I eat and have always been told my metabolism is high..however I have been plagued with candida and SIBO but nothing seems to work to get rid of it (thousands of dollars worth of probiotics ,Nystatin,Caprylic acid neem oil You name it,I tried them all..).Lo and behold when I started to overeat, trying to reefed the darn yeast seems to have been tamed..BUT Im still severly underweight (47 kilos to my 175 cm) So think that some meal replacements shakes will be in order..Matt have read your book diet recovery 2 over and over but never lasted more than a week..now this time I will try to keep going..
Chris, check out The Digestion Sessions(.com), which is going on right now. Ramping up metabolism won’t get the job done if there are serious problems with intestinal permeability, SIBO, candida, H. Pylori, etc. TDS has talks about all of those conditions, and much more.
F Balderdash, I recommend you check this out in regards to what you wrote: http://www.youreatopia.com/blog/2014/2/9/tummy-troubles.html
Be well
I beleive this. My son gets eczema real bad when his temp drops. If he eats a lot of sugary foods and breads, it goes away. I also get a rash on the back of my arms that goes away woth eating lots of sugar and starch. I usually try to keep homemade bread in the house because it tastes so much better and I tend to crave it more than store bought bread. Not sure why.
Is it normal for your body to feel like it has been working out a lot when refeeding? I have been napping and feeling like I am rexovering from a workout all the time. Is this part of it?
I’m not overweight, I eat what I want, & I basically don’t restrict anything, but I tend to crave sweet things all the time. I would love to hear what you think about JJ Virgin’s new book “The Sugar Impact Diet.” It’s a two-week, low-sugar diet that retrains the taste buds, restores sugar sensitivity, heals the digestive tract, revs up the metabolism, & promotes rapid weight loss.
Well I don’t think anything about JJ Virgin’s book.
There’s nothing wrong with craving sweet things all the time. I notice the more sugar I eat, the better I feel and function. I’ve always enjoyed sweet foods. Only when I fought these cravings did I run into serious problems.
It’s certainly possible to “retrain the taste buds.” If I go for a long time without any sugar, assuming I’m consuming adequate calories, my desire for sweet foods declines substantially–along with my health! Not severely of course, but it definitely has a negative impact that is immediately ameliorated by fruit, juice, and “junkier” sweets.
For whatever it’s worth, I totally agree with Matt. I too feel best eating what is probably considered A TON of sugar. It took me a long damn time to accept the fact that I do indeed perform best when I eat a solid amount of sugar, and finally stop trying to figure out a way around it. I also have the same result with the “retrain the taste buds” experiment. Sure, it totally works, but I feel less than great. Even making sure I’m consuming adequate calories, etc., I simple don’t feel as well if I’m not eating enough sugar.
People will say this “feeling better with sugar” is just a temporary high thing, which is just flat out wrong as well. My teeth feel better, I sleep longer and deeper. Dark circles under my eyes go away. Energy is stable, not erratic. It all points to genuine energy production rather that some kind of temporary high.
I want to thank you Matt & Leighton for your comments. I always thought something was wrong with me because no matter how much sugar I eat, I always crave more. I always feel best when I eat it, & only don’t feel good when I fight eating it, just like you guys said. I’ve struggled with this issue for years because all the health gurus say sugar is bad. I’m going to get out of my own way from now on & just continue to enjoy eating as much as I want. Thanks so much.
Hey Matt,
What’s your view on pure refined sugar / sucrose / table sugar for boosting the metabolism?
I think boosting metabolism with a non-nutritive food could be dangerous long-term. But in the short-term it’s probably fine. Maybe even ideal because it’s concentrated and devoid of things a sick person could react negatively to.
The same here for bread. I eat like a ton of bread every day and that is the best way i perform my best!
Very interesting observation Matt. I like it! I’m gonna have to observe this on myself as well as I like sweets and I have been convinced that sugar is evil by the sugar-is-the-enemy mafia. I feel freer already!
I’m confused…. I’ve been reading you diabetes book which basically seems to indicate that sugar – fructose and sucrose causes diabetes… So how do you crave sugar and eat a lot of it and feel better and healthier without causing insulin resistance. I can’t marry the two up. I have a little insulin resistance… But I don’t crave sugar at all… Should I be trying to rectify the insulin resistance and then eat as low sugar as I can for as long as possible in order to maintain my blood sugar health or can I then, once healed, eat sugar as much as I want? I can seem to reconsile the two… They seem conflicting… Thanks x
You mean the diabetes book I wrote 12 years ago that I unpublished 7 years ago? Probably not wise to read and follow that.
In general, forget about insulin resistance. Focus on improving your glucose clearance. It’s a more positive thing to focus on, and you can train and improve and measure it. You’ll want to eat both starch and sugar at every meal and aim for lower postmeal peaks in blood glucose and faster return to baseline blood glucose levels after meals. You should be able to train yourself to eat a perfectly normal, balanced meal without your glucose ever going above 100 mg/dl, and returning to 85 and under at 2 hours, where it should remain rock solid until your next meal.
You “train” by consistently eating 3 balanced meals per day, getting 9+ hours of sleep daily, and keeping stress levels moderate as you get your resting body temperature up to 98 degrees F or higher. For long-term blood sugar regulation, keep metabolism high, and pursue progressive fitness (some kind of exercise where you are always slowly but steadily increasing your output over time).
OK… Thanks so much for responding. I googled the diabetes book and found it on scribed… Didn’t realise you’d unpublished. OK… Fabulous. Thanks for the clear direction. Can I ask one other question… I’ve been in recovery for coming up three yesrs now and I’m still gaining weight – all be it very, very slowly… Is that normal? Am I doing something wrong?
Thanks again… So hard doing this on your own with no help!
Recovery isn’t meant to last 3 years. 3 years of very little exercise and pounding food beyond appetite is something likely to leave you completely unable to do any kind of exercise or handle any kind of stress. I don’t know that much about your personal health situation, but I’d guess you need to start a very serious progressive exercise regimen right away. You should start small and not work beyond your threshold (the opposite of a “boot camp” style approach to fitness, which is the worst possible approach). But aim for progress every single week repeated for hundreds of weeks. That’s the path to being in great shape without screwing up your metabolism again.
OK, I’m just going to go In with the questions as I’m really struggling here and I’m starting to feel really confused by all the conflicting information everywhere. I’ve been in recovery for nearly three years now. I’ve been through the eat everytjing phase my appetites pretty stable but I’m plagued by hypos. As I said above, my weights still going up slowly. The hypos I get when I eat high carb meals and also when I leave it too long between meals. I just got a blood sugar monitor and my readings were 8 after my meal, up from 6 strait after esting… I felt shakey strait after eating but then had fill on ‘hypo’ at about 4 hours after eating – all the symptoms… But when I checked my blood sugar was just over 9. Don’t know what my fasting is yet. Last A1c was 5.4 but I suspect my blood sugars gone up since then. I don’t know why it’s getting worse the farther I get into recovery… Rather than better. My temps are about 36.7 in the second phase of my cycle… They’re lower in the first half…. But I’m confused as I’ve done the refeeding already! I’ve had tests done and my cholesterol is raised… HDL is low… I have fatty liver too. Basically, I feel like my bodies completely fucked. I want tk to fix my health so badly… I gained 6 stone in recovery after years and years of yo yo doeting and heavy partying. I’m desperately trying to find out what I need ti do to get better… Amd I desperately want to know what to do tk get better. I’m slipping back into restriction again, desperately trying ti find the solution woth various ‘non diet’ ‘diets’ … Im making sure I’m not hungry… But it doesn’t seem tk be getting better! Basically, I’m really struggling… I’m stressed and worried. Hoping someone can help me. X
That “hypo” feeling you’re having is your adrenal hormones being released. They are called “gluco” corticoids because they raise blood sugar. I explained this in my short book about Hypoglycemia.
Your bad postmeal reactions can be from a variety of things, such as sleeping poorly the night before (which will be every night if you have sleep apnea) or fasting too long before breakfast, among dozens of other things.
Fatty liver greatly complicates everything and makes it extremely difficult to regulate your body correctly.
But I would turn your focus on fitness now. There is just no way to be healthy when you’ve sat around for years, and I think you’re experiencing some of the consequences of that, mainly in the form of having zero tolerance for stress including going more than a few hours without food.
I haven’t been pounding food beyond appetite! Not at all! I don’t know why this is happening. I don’t crave sugar at all… I eat a balanced diet… Becuase that’s what I’ve been craving. I don’t do a lot of exersize… But some places say rest and other say not to… I don’t know what to do!
Oh okay, I recommend pounding food beyond appetite. I was under the impression you were doing what I advocate doing for about a month or so for several years.
Your body temp is fine, and if you have fatty liver and have gained a ton of weight, you’ve likely undergone beyond adequate refeeding.
You should continue eating a balanced diet. Unbalanced diets are not sustainable. I’d be interested to hear what your staples are though. If you are eating a lot of vegetable oils, nuts and seeds, crucifers, or carotenes that could be one thing keeping you stuck.
I wouldn’t say I’ve been sitting around for years… I don’t do any rigerous exersize like running or lifting… But I’m a single mum with a desk job… I do house work and gerdeing and try and walk where ever I can. I’ll try and do more though as I so badly want to fix this.
Thanks so much for taking the time to respond and help. Me though… I’m pretty desperate, as you can tell!
I don’t think I eat a great deal vegetable oils really… I’ve been eating real butter for years… And I eat lots of fish. I don’t eat a lot of processed food… My staple meals tend to be meat, veg and jacket potato… Or maybe brown toast, eggs and veg for breakfast. I drink mostly water… Like I said, I eat only when hungry and stop when full. If I eat like that my hypos are OK… When I eat a lot of carbs in one sitting, my blood sugar goes berserk. I sleep a lot… Been going tk bed at 8.30 for years… And getting up 5.30 – 6. I don’t think I have sleep apnea. My weight went up for about a year mad a half… And then stabalisted for about six months or so… And then all of a sudden its gone up a bit again and that’s when the hypos got worse. It was when I was diagnosed with fatty liver that it got worse. Maybe it’s the stress. When I say it’s still going up its maybe gone up by like 5/10lbs in the last year and a half… Pribaboy mostly in the last 6 months. That’s when I started messing around with my doet and stressing more…
I’ll focus on fitness, for sure… I’m just so lost!
The beyong adequate refeeding wasn’t on purpose… I ate what I wanted when I wanted the whole way… As suggested in your eatopia/ eating disorder institute. I didn’t force feed myself… I just let go of control after pretty severe restriction. I guess I’ve just done a lot of damage. I don’t know what else to do now other than just keep going, trusting my body and hoping it sorts itself out. All this ‘trying to solve it’ is just making me ortharexic again… And I can’t bear going back there. Thanks for all your help
Yes I think you’ll be served well by focusing on fitness over food. That’s a much better thing to turn your focus towards rather than the endless paranoid world of food restriction. Food restriction should always be a last resort.
As for eating beyond fullness, that’s something that differs here vs. YourEatopia and all that. I like to see people force their metabolism above normal. It also eliminates cravings extremely well. It makes all food neutral at best very quickly. I find it better to make people with binge tendencies after years of restriction to go to the other end and make themselves sick of food for a while. It also proves very quickly that the body does indeed have an off switch, and that cravings and binge eating are not “who you are” at all, just a natural response to prolonged deprivation that can easily be eliminated. It restores trust again quickly whereas people who feel like they are pigging out for months and continually gaining weight start to doubt that an end will ever come.
I’ve been prescribed to avoid sugars (except xylitol), and certain acidic fruits for several months, to solve a suspected candida (but not clearly diagnosed). I crashed after 30 days of restriction. I have waaayyy more energy without restricting myself on any fruits, carbs and vegetables…because I realized that even the poorest countries in the world eat more than 2000-2500 kcal per person per day (main basis = carbs-fruits-vegetables)!
The only thing I have to be careful now is fat. No overweight issues here, just really big difficulties to digest more than 10-12% of fat per day. I’m kind of vegan because of this digestion issue.
I crave less sweet refined sugar stuffs when I eat at least 2300 kcal per day of fruits (eaten on their own as a meal = 750 to 1000 kcal), carbs, vegetables. No candida symptoms anymore.
Felicity,
Look up Dr. Garrett Smith. He has been working on some pretty good stuff within the last few years. He has a YouTube channel, I think it is called Nutrition Detective. He has been helping a lot of people who have been through all sorts of diets. Most of which are high in Vitamin A, which is not really a vitamin. At least, not for humans and some other animals.
I, personally, have had an increase in energy, feel like doing more, and have lost about 50lbs in the last year.
This is not a quick fix, though. This will take years to complete. It took years to get to where you are, it will take years to undo it. Just not as long, if done correctly.
He also has a website, nutritionrestored.com where he has his programs for sale. He also does hair and blood testing to make sure those are right where they should be.
I hope you start doing better soon
Well you don’t really have to look Dr. Smith up. He’s the official 180D medical professional. To contact him just click the Consults button on the top of the page!
I think this topic is the most confusing for people like me who are obese due to dieting. I know I got here due to yo-yo dieting constantly pushing my set point higher, and destroying my metabolism, so refeeding is still necessary because our bodies and metabolism are acting as if we’re still starving even though we’re overweight. It’s not as clear when to transition from refeeding to a more long-term way of eating because it takes a lot for our bodies to hit that point where we will maintain weight naturally. Then you’re stuck at a high weight and some still don’t have good temps so… Do you keep with the refeeding? do you stop? You know dieting won’t help…. So it’s this confusing limbo.
Hey Peridot. Didn’t I see you over at youreatopia awhile back? Are you still on there? It’s strange this is the first article Matt has posted that sounds a bit opposing to what YE has to say. Personally I’ll be sticking to the heavy foods for a lot longer. Hope you’re doing a bit better.
Gwyneth does have a post on this, actually:
http://www.youreatopia.com/blog/2013/9/20/force-feeding-and-fear-of-moving-watch-you-dont-fall-into-th.html
When I first started consuming 3,000 plus calories per day, I had to force feed because my appetite was non-existent. Once it returned, all I wanted was ice cream, cookies, gummy bears, and chocolate milk. But now that I’m further along, I get hungry for meats (which I DID NOT WANT at first), cheeses, breads, pasta, potatoes, legumes, fruits and vegetables–basically can I enjoy a wider variety of foods, without restriction.
As I understand it, this shift happens naturally once the digestion has improved. It’s not a matter of consciously deciding to cut back on soft drinks or whatever. The appetite for them is simply replaced with an appetite for more of some different calorie source.
I read that blog post Gwyneth put up and I do agree with what works best for one person may not work for another. Personally the crave in sugary junk food only lasted about 1-2 months for me. After that I began to force (and sometimes enjoy) things like cheese steak sandwiches, burritos, pizza, burgers etc. I still eat quite a bit of fast food (at least once a day).
I’m 6 months in and gained from about 152 to 242 (I’m 6’4″) although the gain from 220-242 has been very slow. Definitely making adjustments here and there but basically listening to ME and pushing it a bit still. I need to get back on my feet, literally!
I agree, it’s very individual. The timeline is individual, too. I still sometimes slip back into restriction (skipping meals, typically) for a week or two, and then have to force feed AGAIN. xD No steady climb to recovery for me. So I get what you’re saying.
We’re at about the same place in our recovery, then. This is waaaay better than the first few months, but it’s a bit frustrating because I really want to get out and do things, get back on my feet as you say, but when I try, I tend to start restricting again because it improves my energy levels and anxiety. -.- So I have to be more diligent and patient and EAT WHEN I HAVE HUNGER CUES. Heh.
But hey, we’ll get there soon. :) (Isn’t the average like 1.5 years? 1/3 of the way there, eh? :P) Seriously amazing work, Daniel! :D I’ve gone up several sizes since restriction, but geez Louise, even though I regularly think I’m fat, today I feel SOLID. Oh yeah, if it weren’t premature and risky, I’d go try lifting weights or something. :)
Oh yeah, those first few months, heck first 4 months were a living nightmare! There was so much pain, sickness, breathing issues etc. You couldn’t pay me enough to go through that again. But yeah, these months are a lot easier in many ways, still not easy, but definitely easier.
Congrats on your hard work too! Glad to hear you’re feeling good today. :) Gwyneth wrote that it’s an average of 18-24 months, but I’m guessing it’s gonna take a bit longer for me (24-48?). I really caused a lot of damage with the stupid paleo/gaps diet and overexercising. So… back to the breakfast burrito for me. Hope you keep feeling better, Puddleduck.
Yep…..I’m 2 years in. Took a good 7-8 months for my weight to stabilise. I’m about 45-50lbs overweight at approx 225lbs (5’4″). I exercise 3-4 times a week and my appetite naturally settles at 1900-2200 cals a day. Unfortunately the extra weight has brought with it high blood pressure and I’m now on statins. Have non-alcohol fatty liver too. Sounds unpleasant and of course doc wants me to eat low fat and lose weight. I just don’t believe that my diet has caused this. 25-30% of my diet comes from fat which I don’t believe is excessive? I yo yo for 35 years always low fat and low sugar and frequent semi starvation and 2 months into stopping I suddenly develop these health issues? I just hope that one day I wake up and my body starts releasing this fat coz I don’t want to diet again but I’m concerned about my health to be honest
That is definitely concerning. And that isn’t unheard of during refeeding. But those are still transient effects from overfeeding in a depleted, low-metabolic state. Now that you have stabilized and your appetite is completely normalized, I suspect you’ll see those problems slowly and steadily reversing themselves without effort. Still, it would be smart to keep an eye on things to monitor that predicted improvement, and take care of your health otherwise with a good sleep schedule, daily physical activity of various kinds, and still eating a variety of fresh, quality food.
Yes, I was on YE for quite a while but have been on Uzilu a lot more for the past while (there are more people at my stage of recovery there to relate to). I still believe in the YE premise and it has helped me recover when nothing else worked; however, as I’m in month 20 of my recovery I’m at a point where I have a lot of questions on fine tuning things long term and still have a hard time with my current obesity. I plug along though… Looking for insights others may have and trying to figure out this relatively uncharted territory.
It is confusing limbo indeed. I wish there was some magical way to give clearcut answers, but I suspect such as thing would be impossible to do. Part of me wants to encourage people to really go for it knowing that those with the greatest success seem to be the ones that really committed to it fully and stuck with it the longest, never losing faith. Best to just keep on tinkering and experimenting–and NOT in the dieting sense. Just small adjustments.
Yeah, I feel like improving your health should be viewed as a skill-set that is improved over time. I think the trap that people fall into is letting someone else think for them, and blindly following recommendations. That’s when problems arise, because they are smashing a square peg into a round hole. The mindset you will get miles out of is curiosity. Always try to figure out the reasons behind things, and stop looking for an immediate resolution to your problems. They were created on a long time-scale, and they will be resolved on one.
This is a good post for me at this point. I’ve been following 180 Degrees for four to five years. I won’t go into the fine detail here but after a lifetime of yo-yo dieting and overexercising and being in my mid-fifties and overweight (I’m 59 now) I took to re-feeding….I went nuts and put on more weight….I slowly got my temps up…..kept going, then lost faith and momentum for a while….came back to it again….had one last major weight loss phase where I dropped 57lbs then slowly started putting most of that back on again. I tweaked everything with the advent of ‘Eat for Heat’….now, I’m carrying lots of excess fat again, but my temps are permanently up in the ideal range. My hands and feet are permanently roasting, I feel better, sleep better, hair nails etc., all better. I’ve continued to wish that I would be one of those who spontaneously started to lose weight, to no avail so far. But what has started to happen is the loss of any need to binge-eat. I’m more in touch with my appetite than ever in my life, only eat when I’m hungry, eat whatever I feel like, and stop when I’m full. I’ve begun to choose more healthy options again and feel the desire to be active (I had complications with knee arthritis and a total knee replacement early this year which together took me out of being naturally active for the best part of the last two years…but I’m getting there.) I do still hold out hope that weight will start to come off. It’s certainly true for me that I really had to keep the faith and hold my nerve, big time.
So, here I am! 30 years of all the stuff you’ve heard before, totally messing up my thyroid, etc. the details are tedious, I won’t bore you….so here’s my comment/question.
I haven’t taken my temp at all. I eat when my hands and feet feel cold and drink if I’m thirsty when they feel warm. Mega carbs. No smoothies less water and changed to a chai style tea once a day, instead of 50 gazillion ordinary cups of tea (yes, I live in Britain.) Only a week so far. I feel better (just sooooo nice to have a shopping trip or be at work and not have to pee 5000000 times!). My belly and backside are definitely growing :-/ this scares me big time.
Should I be a bit more specific with the food and temp thingy? After the rigidity of paleo, calls etc, this just seems a bit wishywashy and I feel insecure :-/
Sounds like what you’re doing is having the desired effect. You should slowly notice rate of fat gain slowing until it finally stops. Hopefully you don’t gain too much weight in the process and do in fact shed the weight long-term after you have brought and kept your metabolic rate into the ideal range.
So how will I know when my metabolism is up and running? I feel great. Skin good, pee good (5 nights in a row without getting up to pee), energy good, feet warm, no cravings. PALPITATIONS GONE!! (Thought I was in early menopause, but turns out I just needed to Paleopause.) I never want to see another pretzel as long as I live. The only thing is bloating. I imagine the reintroduction of wheat is the culprit there.
I haven’t actually put on weight. Is that a criteria, or can you get your metabolism back without putting on the weight you initially lost? I need to lose some, but I don’t really care at the moment.
What now? Is this a way of life? Salt in my tiny glass of diluted juice? Salted popcorn until my lips pucker? Pepperoni pizza and coke??? If so, I’m totally in, but I’m guessing a balance needs to come along sometime soon.
My adrenals love you :)
That’s awesome. Love the “paleopause.” I’ll have to use that someday.
I think you can eat quite a bit of food like that in the future and segue into a more relaxed eating pattern in general. But I don’t think it will be a big problem to eat more fruits and roots and less Coca Cola and pizza once you’re feeling great. But you may find, as many have, that you actually feel better on pizza than you do eating “clean.” Let your body be your guide. There are still plenty of nutrients to sustain human life in pizza :)
As for the bloating, that is often one of the last things to go, and usually decreases as your metabolism finally comes up to the ideal zone–fixed by increased transit time and the elimination of some lingering bacteria in the small intestine.
I started refeeding in January 2013. By the end of that year I had gained 30 pounds. My weight has stabilized since then (yippee). However, my temps are almost always below 98.0, with an average of 97.8. It is rare to have a temp above 98. There are times when I feel warm physically but my temp is still below 98.0. My pulse is good – usually in the 80’s. Can you have good metabolism with a low body temperature? Any ideas for improving it? Thanks.
When you say your weight has “stabilized,” do you mean you’ve stopped gaining, or have you lost the 30 extra pounds?
Michael – By stabilized I mean that I am no longer gaining. I am very slowly losing. I have lost 5 pounds this year. My exercise program is T-Tapp, which is a rehabilitative type of exercise that also helps with balancing hormones.
RSD, You may just need some iodine and thyroid support. It works for me. I make my own Lugol’s solution and get natural thyroid overseas thru Ray Peat forum. Now I am able to keep temps in the 98 to 98.5 range. After refeeding I gained 10 lbs. I took a physical for life insurance and didn’t qualify for best coverage cause my triglycerides went to over 300. Once I normalized my eating and balanced my thyroid I lost 20 lbs and cut my triglycerides in half in less than 6 months and now qualify for the best policy. Yeah. Now I have gained back 10 lbs but feel good.
Thanks for your comment Rich. I take a thyroid supporting liquid minerals product which has some iodine. I also spray some directly on my thyroid gland. Maybe I will increase the dosage or get some iodine. I need to be warm this winter!
This is not closely related to the topic of this blog, but Dr. Cobb over at Z-Health has started an interesting series on metabolism. He talks about taking your temperature to see what foods make you warm. I wonder where is he heading with that.
Link http://zhealtheducation.com/episode-73-part-2-become-your-own-food-scientist/
Matt, for people who have chronic/severe health problems, like Cancer, Alzheimers, etc. do you think that’s also caused by insufficient metabolism? Would a refeed be appropriate in those conditions too? Or do you think its better to avoid toxins, take certain meds/hormones for those things?
I think any disease that is much more prevalent in the elderly could respond to metabolic work, either via eating for heat or taking thyroid meds.
That intro photo made me pitch a tent.
How do you think I select photos? I have to have some kind of litmus test.
You’re my hero, M.F.
unevolved men once again objectifying women. i would hope if one saw your pitched tent they would knock it down with the same pleasure you get making women mere sexual objects.
your comradery here is sick, not cute.
Haha. Yes, boners are now sexist! Tell me more about how unevolved we are, giggling and making jokes about one of the more comical aspects of natural human physiology. Make a joke about the theory of relativity or something to make us realize how stupid we are!
Having a boner is not what I was pointing out as objectifying women. It is choosing a photo like that because of the very sexual overtone in conveys to others. Here the woman is nothing more than a sexual object. Having a boner in response might be natural but then to write about it and congratulate you on the photos you pick is the sick part of it. Maybe you should ask yourself about how you really think about women? Do you primarily think of them as in what kind of sexual gratification you can you get from them? It seems so to me.
A woman, who after getting tired of all the cat-calls she was receiving just walking by around the city,documented the harassment she received. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b1XGPvbWn0A, Sure some women have little else going on except how they look or what sexual response they can arouse in men, but most want to be thought first in other ways. Or at least they want to be respected enough that, if they did elicit a boner, the man would think better than to flaunt that.
Decent men don’t go around trying to strengthen the idea that women were put here primarily to foster men’s sexual needs. Decent men are respectful. If this was some kind of porn forum or “men’s health” blog then ok – celebrate your puny idea of what women are. But I thought this was a place for men and women – meaning both would be respected and not where one is treated as an object.
And next time you get that boner maybe you should think about this – most times when women pose for pictures trying to look sexy or whenever a woman is trying to elicit a sexual response from men in general, it is because she feels that the only response she can get is a sexual one. That is the only way she feels she has any worth.
The new national pastime: Being offended.
What, just because I get a boner from women that makes me a neanderthal? Do you think I’m all penis and no brains? I can’t help it if girls make me pitch a tent. It’s evolution.
What if I were a lesbian that got turned-on by chicks? That would be a different story. You’d wrap me in a rainbow flag and tell everyone how it was my right to munch carpet.
Sell crazy someplace else, we’re all stocked up here.
Wow Lance Rockwood, you didn’t read my posts very well did you? you need to work on that. Get all the hard-ons you want, but the fact that Matt put that picture up because it made others think about a girl putting a big dick in their mouth and then you publicly congratulating him is what is nauseating. Do you get it yet?
What is so crazy about women wanting to be treated with respect? You claim to have brain tissue and not just dick tissue but that is yet to be revealed.
If you can publicly talk about your hard penis here by viewing a picture of a girl you do not know then I can certainly express my disgust.
YOU take your disgusting remarks elsewhere and learn some manners.
Golly, Petrol, Not for a moment did I latch on to Matt’s reason for picking that picture. I just thought it was funny seeing a young girl eating a huge amount of food. I am a woman, older but still remember the cat calls and comments I used to get, which I never took seriously and knew in some way were a compliment. They could be slightly annoying sometimes, but I did not feel I was anyone’s object or demeaned. Demeaned because some guy thought I was sexy? And it kinda works both ways, I had a boy friend many years ago who was drop dead gorgeous and women would flock around him at parties and touch him and try to shove me out of the way even though he made it very clear I was his girlfriend, and had his arm tightly around my waist, I can still remember them stroking his arm and ignoring me. That I did find kind of offensive. Louie CK is a genius as far as I am concerned, so was the late Lenny Bruce and I love Chris Rock and Russell Brand and the late Richard Pryor, ( it is interesting that the comedian with such a clean cut image, Bill Cosby, and who would chastise Richard Pryor and Chris Rock was the one who turned out to be truly abusing women.) Anyway the comedians I mentioned were and are really explicit sexually, and it helps me understand men better and usually makes me laugh, but I never feel degraded or that women are degraded. It is such a relief to have some one speak truthfully. And all these comedians seem to me to have great integrity and no tolerance for bullshit and with great talent and skill try to make sense of male and female sexuality. You probably will not even read this since this is an old post, but you remind me of the goody two shoes little girls in my Sunday school class when I was a child, with their pursey lips ( no doubt copied from their holier that thou mothers) As Lenny Bruce said ” Men will do it with anything, Mud, a Chicken, and your wife says to you ‘Get your chicken to make your breakfast”
why do some people say they get bloated when they start eating more? i never stopped eating, just would wait until after i excersied to eat and became vegeterian. will eating more throughout the day cause me to get a swollen abdomen? i dont think it will and i dont understand why some people say that. it has never happened to me. does possible belly bloat maybe happen to people who were bulemic because they were throwing up because they arent use to digesting food? i have always ate, just got a little obsessed with being thinner then i should, but was always eating. just eating less calories but never felt sick or dizzy or fatigued etc. so when is tart eating my normal calorie intake, i shouldnt experience any wierd abdomen swelling, right?
Not everyone experiencing abdominal bloat. Those that do are likely experiencing it now when they didn’t in the past because the prior dietary adventure resulted in a longer stomach emptying time.
After six months on the GAPS diet as a treatment for SIBO but still feeling sick I started eating whatever I wanted and feeling so much better. In the following 6 months I’ve regained the weight I lost on GAPS (which is about 30 lbs overweight) and feel like my metabolism is working well again. My digestion is better, my temps are up and I’m not freezing all the time. I crave sugar all the time and often find myself eating it even when I’m not physically hungry. My latest screening for our health insurance showed my fasting blood glucose levels are now elevated for the first time in my life. Everything I’ve read other places says that excess carbs and sugar are responsible for the elevated glucose. I’m not sure where to go from here. Any advice would be appreciated.
They will probably come down on their own. It’s probably just a little elevation from having just rapidly re-gained weight. If anything, glucose control and clearance is made superior by going a little lighter on the fat, not the carbs.
Are calorie recommendations [typically 1500-1800 for women and 2000-2500 for men daily] systematically underestimated? What can account for such systematic error if so?
There’s actually a pretty interesting history behind that. After WWII, the FDA got very into labels and guidelines (I think because they were originally useful for soldiers trying to stay energy-balances) and began formulating guidelines for citizens. To get some sense of the appropriate numbers, the researched USDA food consumption surveys which reported that, “women typically reported consuming 1,600 to 2,200 calories a day, men 2,000 to 3,000, and children 1,800 to 2,500.” (Bear in mind that normal folks underestimate their intake, on average, by almost a third, and these were self-reported surveys.)
But the ranges were too broad and also took up too much space on a label. They first settled on 2350 cals as a single number (even though it’s already too low given both reported and tested intake averages), but then thought that the number was “too high” and might “encourage overconsumption.” So it was rounded down to 2000!
So basically, those “guidelines” were never even supposed to be close to accurate, and they just got worse as time wore on.
cited: http://www.foodpolitics.com/2011/08/where-did-the-2000-calorie-diet-idea-come-from/
Thanks, Matt. After I read your book, The Twelve Paleo Myths, I came off the paleo diet (I was actually on the stricter Autoimmune Paleo Approach) to up my thyroid levels. I’ve been off it close to a month now. I feel so much better and my joint pains and fatigue have gone. I crave carbs – especially wholewheat bread which I haven’t eat for years – I’m absolutely crazy about the stuff and it’s helped my digestive system so much. I was suffering terrible constipation on the paleo diet. I’m still in the refeeding phase. I thought I’d come out of it as this weekend, my appetite seemed to have decreased. But today, I’ve been starving again and want to eat carbs, carbs, carbs. I’ve stopped taking my temperature though as it wasn’t increasing much and I got discouraged. Just the fact that I feel so much better tells me that I’m doing the right thing.
Ok… So I’ve been refeeding for a few months now. My Temps still vary but for the most part are in the 97 to 98 range (after being in the 96 range). But I still feel cold quite a bit of the time. I’m very active (my job is very physically demanding) and I’m 50 years old, female and in good shape. I’ve gained about 10 pounds since the refeeding started. I just don’t wanna feel cold all the time. What gives?
Hannah, As I just posted to RSD you probably have a sluggish thyroid and need support. If your pulse in below 80 you probably need thyroid hormone.
Any advice for someone with Celiac disease? I have been eating low carb, not on purpose but in order to avoid gluten and processed gluten free foods. Since my diagnosis, I have gained quite a bit of weight and can’t seem to do much about it. I have lost weight when restricting calories but am always miserable and gain it back when I tire of the routine. I also am allergic to most raw fruits and vegetables so I constantly have to obsess about food.
Hi Kathy,
I have celiac disease too. Its a shame you can’t eat fruits and vegetables, do you have a proper allergic reaction or is it stomach discomfort? Anyway, I tend to focus on brown rice, quinoa, potatoes, millet and teff for my starchy grains. Potatoes and rice are wonderful and I find them really easy to digest if you keep the meal simple. Even a meal such a just brown rice and mung beans is really satisfying and easy on the digestive system, and it might be an option if you can’t eat vegetables. But if you can add steamed veggies in too then its delicious.
Just some ideas anyway.
Hi Kathy, if you are experiencing discomfort from eating raw fruits (and also raw?) vegetables, as opposed to a true allergic reaction, try cooking them really well. Cooking will break down some of the fiber and make digestion a bit easier. Cooking also helps with many fruits which rarely seem to be ripe when sold these days. Cruciferous veggies are notorious for causing problems, so you may want to avoid those completely until you start to feel better.
Hi!
Thanks for this post.
I still wonder though, if you can tell how much you think one should think about “eating healthy”. Because, I guess, “just eating” and go back to tons of linoleic acid and anti nutrients is not a good idea.
Since some of us will have big trouble “just eating” and getting it like “normal and good” by itself, I would like to know more about:
– How often to just go for pizza is ok?
– Is there a good thing to make some sprouts and see too that there are vegetables with almost every meal?
– Is it good to think some paleo (NOT lowcarb stuff, just whole food without so much grains and so on), skip refined things at home, but eat it if it is offered when out or visiting someone?
– I guess one should think about limiting some stuff that is not good to consume from the normal diet. Like linoleic acid and whole grain not prepared to avoid anti nutrients. If eaten on regular basis.
I know some people that do NOT compensate, do not diet or limit. They are thin, have energy. But all of them develop heart problems, diabetes, asthma or other western world health problems. There must be a problem with processed food, linoleic acid, whole grains (many loves it, at least in my country) for every meal, sugar in the mouth every awaken hour and so on.
I guess this eating habits are not optimal, even though they eat what they want, do not diet/compensate and do not get fat.
I myself are trying to go for whole food, limit linoleic acid, think “some paleoish” (NOT lowcarb!) and WAPFish (NOT the linoleic stuff or loads of whole grains) and follow Kressers 80/20 rule (appoximately) about when to follow my choice of diet or just eat. For now I am between refeeding and after refeeding. The obsession must be gone, for some weeks, I started to HATE preparing food. A true sign for me that obsession is over (eating disorders, starvation).
it seems to me that you’re still very afraid of getting sick or even dying because of the bad parts in your food.
In my experience, you could still relax a bit more, and think that you’re gonna die anyway, and that no matter what you do, you will get sick.
good luck.
Eeh, no. I am serious with the questions. Do you really think it is a good thing to live on whole grains and linoleic acid? It is what I easily do. If western diet does no harm, why is so many sick from it? And then I mean those who do NOT diet or twist food intake in loads of ways, but gets sick in western diseases anyway.
Emma, I think our belief systems play a huge role in our wellness. The healthiest food in the world will make someone sick if they believe it is harm them. All these food rules and ideas about what is nutritious or not are based on someone’s belief system. Go easy on yourself and just listen to your body, it “knows” what it needs.
Of course thats true, but doesn’t explain why people that eat what they want and crave for, never diets, still get all the usual western modern diseases.
In the 90’s I had some years when I ate what I craved. I did never cook at all, just ate cookies and candy, sometimes one loaf of bread made into 20 cheese sandwiches (for lunch). I could just go on eating like that, and had to force myself to stop. I got sick from it. Deficiencies and so on.
And if I would eat what I wanted for now, it would be just the same. Candy, chocolate and cookies.
I can see 2 problems with “just eating what you want”:
1. You get enormous amounts of linoleic acid if you eat normal (which nowadays include not cook for real, just heat and buy half finished or 100 % ready meals. You will also get enormous amounts of anti nutrients, for example by eating crunchy whole grains cereals with sugar (bran may taste yucky by its own, but not with sugar, then it is really great) and eating some handfuls of nuts every day.
2. People like me does not FEEL the need for cooked meals, and do not get tired very easily, if at all (I easily have the same breakfast, lunch and dinner for a year or more, until something happens that makes it change). Amongst the comments here, there are a person that also describes similar about herself.
This is not about being afraid of food, but about us that really eat crap if we do not think. I do not eat in a rigid way at all, but the staple food I eat, I try to get as good as possible. Not spaghetti 7 days a week, or fries every lunch.
I wished I did not have to explain as much, just get to know how others do. I do not think M Stone is eating all kind of fries, bran flakes with nuts, chicken wings (fried with skin in sunflower oil), candy as only food for months and so on and thinks he will stay 100 % healthy. I know it is said we will get tired of that, but I kept it up for many years, until I forced myself from it.
Some of the food I eat now, I would not feel if it is good or not. I can make burgers that are really good for you, or bad ones. Same for pop corn, fries, majonnaise. If I would stop thinking and stop cooking, my meals would turn from low in linoleic acid, into very high in linoleic acid.
Is it true then that others here eat VERY much linoleic acid and anti nutrients after refeeding?
Thank you for this post. I read Eat for Heat but it didn’t make sense for me. I have high cholesterol, and I’m more confused than ever about how I should be eating (I’m trying to stay off the drugs). “Heart-healthy” eating says stay away from cholesterol-high foods/meats and recommends the oils I know should be avoided. I did the Perfect Health Diet for 6 months and saw some improvements in HDL and tri. So I’m kind of refeeding by adding back in grains with the rice/potatoes/sweet potatoes. I guess I don’t want to eat to just keep the cholesterol numbers down, but for heart health and to stay off statins. I also read Jimmy’s book (eat high fat, avoid carbs). What do you recommend as a good resourse for eating for heart health if you have high cholesterol?
Hi Matt, i like what you said about sibo, parasites, and candida but where does leaky gut fit into RARFing?
This post describes where I’m at. RRARF’ing since the summer of 2010, including drinking ~3 gallons of milk per week, I finally decided that wearing “husky” size pants was getting old. Eating carb heavy/salty meals kept me constantly feeling sluggish and reduced my spinning back-kicks to a mere groin kick. It got embarrassing. I’ve cut the milk out to maybe a half gallon per week, made sure I eat about 20 grams of protein with every meal, and keep carbs lower than about 25% unless I’ve exercised. I’ve lost 9 lbs without ever being hungry, increased my vertical jump back to 72 inches, and my temps haven’t budged. Boomshockalocka.
That’s so funny, as my “daughter” just started using the word “Boomshockalocka.” Love this kid.
Any extra info and thoughts for those breastfeeding? I think using a lot of this info helped my second pregnancy be better than my first (a lot less nausea, better energy, less muscle loss) however, at 5 months postpartum and nursing I am tired of caring an extra 30-35 pounds of fat.
http://180degreehealth.com/postpartum-hormonal-changes/
For what it’s worth, Anna, I started EFH whilst breastfeeding exactly because of muscle loss, dry skin and hair and general fatigue feeling (though hard to discern with a limpet on me most of the time. Breastfeeding is simply not a time to cut calories by any means despite the barrage of celebrity twats losing “baby weight” in 4 seconds everywhere you turn. As a result of trying to lose weight (by so-called healthy eating) while breastfeeding I feel as though the deprivation triggered my body to cling on to fat more than it might usually have done.
For me, around 18 months in I have had some fantastic results. I was quite hench at my peak a year ago- 16 stone, this started dropping off once I weaned my son at 16 months. Now I am still what seems a whopping 14 stone (5’7) which is what I started EFH at. Before that pregnancy I was about 11.5/ 12 stone; even so, now I am only 1-2 clothes sizes bigger depending on the cut, and while I am fairly big (for me) all over, I wouldn’t say I was particularly flabby.
Presently I am still losing weight but I am not obsessed by it, every so often I weigh myself and usually get a pleasant surprise, I certainly don’t seem to be going up. I don’t check temperatures or count calories, everything has become intuitive. I also think I am less of a bore to my partner who eats like a horse and is built like a racing snake.
The thing is, I eat exactly what I want (if I can get hold of it), it just so happens that my appetite has come round to much more wholesome foods, the only permanent change is I now refuse to eat brown rice: whereas before I thought it was the best for you, now I am not so sure. ALso I don’t have endless water for no apparent reason. But I have practically no cravings for rich or sweet foods- ever. This is due to taking them in abundance I’m sure.
I would say, therefore that the EFH route has been a long one for me and is still ongoing and I put it down to not eating enough during the first six months of breastfeeding, so it could be the same for you.
Matt- Hi when trying to calculate my BMR, what do you mean by…” I recommend using your estimated body weight without any excess fat you may have”… Do you mean what I weigh currently or what I want to weigh? Also, do you still work privately with people if yes can you email me how much you charge and what it entails? Thank you. :-)
I’m not working with clients anymore. I would consider taking on a client that has a full-blown eating disorder. Otherwise you’d be in better hands working with Dr. Smith.
I hate to say “what you want to weigh” because most people dramatically underestimate their ideal weight, especially women. With refeeding and some weight training, most people will be lean at a much higher weight than they expect. If you have a lot of extra body fat, you should adjust it by an estimated amount of the weight of that bodyfat. If that makes sense.
Hi Matt,
I just came across your blogg, Matt I have a full blown eating disorder, I have tried every thing, i am so sick & fed-up of this life destroying disease, i wouuld really love your help.
sharon
00353868707131
Ireland
I am happy to share that my re-feeding weight is finally starting to come off after two and a half years. It is melting away on its own. Never thought it would happen. I haven’t been taking my temps but know that I am warmer than I used to be. Thank you Matt!!!
That’s good to hear Pam – I’m still holding out hope. (See my comment further up the thread.)
Damn I wish it didn’t take so long Pam! But better late than never.
Really Pam? That’s wonderful! Gives me hope. Now 2 years in and nothing moving downwards yet
I’ve gravitated toward more and more to “healthy” and lighter food post re-feeding. I look back on my re-feeding days and wonder how I could have wanted to eat all that dense, greasy food in such large quantity with nary a vegetable in sight. You couldn’t hardly interest me in a vegetable and I wasn’t extremely interested in meat either, though I ate some and a lot of eggs and dairy. I could hardly imagine eating a salad. Lately I desire more raw foods, like salad and coleslaw and fruit and my appetite is way down. Some days I only really eat two meals. I used to hit the ice cream section first, now I glance at it out of curiosity or don’t even go there. If I open a soda, I rarely finish it. I don’t hesitate to eat some sugary dessert type foods, but I find my interest has dwindled to very low. I don’t do as well on large amounts of sugar and prefer starch as a staple. I’m just going with my instincts for the most part with a little dietary wisdom mixed in there.
I think a big problem for a lot of people is that they are surrounded by and large by a shitty food environment. I know when I travel, my diet does not improve. I used to just not eat enough or eat something thoroughly unsatisfying when traveling or just being in town for the day. Now I just find something and eat it as long as it’s not total crap and I’m way less stressed about it all. But I think a lot of people would do much better making an effort to surround themselves with quality food in their homes at least. I think you can reset your expectations that way too and be perfectly happy not eating, and not really wanting to eat, any true junk food. Mind you, I’m talking about ice cream and pizza, though quality is an issue there as well obviously, but rather really processed foods with huge ingredient lists and non food ingredients, etc…
Some people, me included, are just going to have to look beyond re-feeding. It may be just one way toward a similar end anyway. There are droves of people out there taking hormones that could probably get similar results by re-feeding. But they seem to be working under the assumption that their bodies are broken. I think the most valuable thing I may have taken from M.F. Stone is that the body has an intelligence and it’s best to give it the resources to encourage it to shift out of it’s current state and into a more functional state. It may not always be intelligent enough (or is it wise enough maybe) to do things in it’s best interest, but there are programs that run a certain direction under certain circumstances. But, deficiencies other than calories, and other vicious cycles other than calorie restriction and diet neuroses may be at work too. For instance, the Buteyko people claim some of the same health benefits seen with rising metabolic rate that you’ve seen Matt. Artour Rakhimov has books on fixing various problems using breathing reform, just like you do with raising metabolic rate, and I’m inclined think it’s not all self delusion or temporary. One of the ways you know that breathing exercises are working is warm hands and feet. When it works, iodine seems to give the same results as well… warmer bodies, hair stops falling out, better sleep, better mood, more energy, weight loss, healing of fibrocystic breast disease and PCOS and other girl trouble stuff, clearing up of skin issues, resolution of headaches, are all very common. Some genius who is not myopically fixated on their particular view and specialty could ferret out and take a look at all of these different things, superimpose them on each other and observe the common pathways that lead to the same improvements. You seem to have looked at more ways of eating and doing other health stuff in a constructive way than anyone else I’ve run into, and got your ego out of the way enough to incorporate lessons from all sorts of approaches no matter how otherwise flawed they are, but you still more or less stop with metabolism improvement via food and lifestyle. And it may be that one thing won’t work for someone until some deficiency is corrected, or that results may be even better, or furthered with some added intervention. Iodine and Buteyko style body oxygenation are of particular interest to me right now by a combination of logic and intuition I guess… mostly from reported results, proof is in the pudding and all that. I think both of those groups of people are onto something, but they are myopic like everyone else. Very careful calorie restriction followed by behaviors to encourage a hormone profile or body attitude that favors leanness in a healthy way is somewhat intriguing, but I’ll bet that even at it’s most refined it’s not going to work for a lot of people. I feel quite sure that I’m not nearly healthy enough right now to undertake such a thing. And, it also seems ideal that weight loss should be more effortless than that.
Bottom line is that nothing is going to work for everyone, or it may work to an extent, but not fix all of your problems. Having the tools that 180D promotes for monitoring our health via biofeedback is really a huge step in the right direction, and no doubt re-feeding is too. Starting with re-feeding still seems like the best bet to me if the body is in a depleted state and wants to eat once mental interference is cast off. But if progress stalls out, we need to keep looking for the things that might be added to further progress. I’ve found the feeding part to be mostly self regulating now and it feels right to be eating by instinct.
Absolutely. I think it’s the end destination that many can agree on… like, “This is proper function.” The big question is how does any one individual get there from a state of dysfunction? What do they need to get there? What are all the pieces? How do they differ from one individual to another? And that’s where refeeding becomes relegated to its rightful place of being just one tool available to take strides towards that proper function. It just happens to be a particularly useful tool for the health obsessed, as the health obsessed are the most likely people in society to have brought about health problems from dietary restriction and flat out starvation–accidental and intentional.
cool, steven E, I feel a lot of what you have said. I remember chatting with you on the forum while we were both looking for ways to slip salt into juice! I find the thought thoroughly rank now, likewise all the rest of the gak. How are you getting on now? You don’t say much about your progress. I reported on mine in a comment above so won’t repeat. good luck :D
I have read your book twice. I am 67 and not very active. I have a long history of dieting usually low carb and then binging. I have not dieted for about 2 years and have gained 20 pounds. My morining temp is 95.6 after eating around 97.6 I do eat salt sugar and carbs. I have not satiety when I eat I think about eating all the time even when I am not restricting my intake. I have low energy most of the time and everything I do is a push because I have to not that I feel like doing anything. How do I get some energy and my tempt up consistently. I think I am missing something here. Thanks
I would keep rocking the carbs and salt and whatever you notice helping your body temp come up. You could also slowly start to add some very basic, minimalist strength training to go with it. Talking 10 minutes once per week of just a few basic exercises. That’s probably the best general starting point. Be patient and stick with it for a long time before you make any major assessments or give up.
It just hit me Matt: it’s been swirling around in my head but i just couldn’t put my finger on it before this article. I think re-feeding and eat for heat are better suited for people with restrictive eating disorders, like anorexia (nervosa and athletica), bulimia, orthorexia, and dieting, than for binge eating disorder.
My problem has always been binge eating, from my early teens onwards.
The dieting and restriction are always temporary (4 to 12 months), and then the binge starts again. I’ve done New Atkins, Paleo, South Beach, and whatever else you can think of. My most “successful” one was basically brute force dieting, fueled by diet coke, buckets of coffee, energy drinks and 2 packs of cigarettes a day. (I’ve since quit cigarettes, coffee and energy drinks). It was 1,500 calories a day, mixed macros. I lost 100 pounds, hit a plateau, then started overexercising to compensate, running an hour every day and doing Tabata hill sprints. One day after a run, i came home, opened the fridge to eat a “snack”, and pretty much stayed there eating for an hour. The bingeing was back. Most of my diets end this way. After a recent diet (Tim Ferris’ 4 hour body bullshit), i found your work and did a re-feed. Been at it for almost 4 years with no weight loss at all. I feel amazing, but still obese.
So for people who restrict, re-feeding is absolutely the best thing they need. But for people like me, re-feeding is like a cab that picks me up from the prison of dieting, and drops me off right back at my old neighborhood of binge eating. See for you, your body eventually got to an equilibrium. You don’t need excessive calories anymore, nor excessive salt. You don’t crave the calorie dense foods (whole foods and junk versions), and you’re eating more vegetables and fruits. You rarely drink soda anymore because it tastes like rusty acid water. My body is doing no such thing!
I’ve been drinking 2 liters of Coke a day since i was 12. To this day, every sip tastes like it’s the nectar of the gods. It gives me a buzz. It’s true addiction. Still eat junk versions of calorie dense foods every day. I don’t remember the last time i ate fruit. Vegetables sometimes come with my burger. Even garbage like candy bars and potato chips i eat every day. I am not craving or eating any healthy foods. I tried to listen to my body, but i don’t seem to get any hunger signals at all. I go from “not hungry” to “lightheaded with a headache” with no signals from by body. As for signals for satiety: binge eaters live life ignoring it. The meal stops when actual physical discomfort makes you stop (when you feel like vomiting pretty much).
In conclusion: i think i have to force (i know, bad word) myself to eat healthy, whole foods versions of my meals, and outright quit some things like my 2 liter a day Coke addiction. Sorry for the long post, but i wanted to give a binge eater’s take on the whole thing.
Your experiences are extremely rare. I’ve heard virtually no one report over the years that their appetite didn’t come to a screeching halt after refeeding–no matter how bad their binge eating problem was in the past.
But yes, eating a high volume whole foods diet and recalibrating your system in such a way is perfectly fine. That’s what I advocated for years exclusively until I ran into so many people that were limiting their success by religiously sticking to their whole foods. If you eat enough as you make the transition, it should be quite effortless.
Thanks for the feedback. I’m guessing my case is weird because it’s not true appetite but compulsion that’s causing the binges. It’s not really the body asking for it, but the addicted brain. Anyways, i will take your advice and start transitioning to whole foods.
Skeptic – I just wrote you a long comment and it’s disappeared! I’ll summarise:
Binge eating and anorexia are two sides of the same coin and driven by the same psychology. Through my 30 years of experience with compulsive eating, re-feeding is the only way to heal it completely. You can’t heal an eating disorder by restricting food. Dieting and healthy eating will only re-inforce the compulsive behaviours.
I thoroughly recommend the book “Overcoming Overeating” by Jane Hirschmann and Carol Munter, a very well-respected book in the eating disorders community. It’s a step-by-step guide to healing compulsive eating by intuitive eating, and takes you through the behaviours and psychology involved.
The behaviours won’t go away overnight so you need to have patience with yourself. It took me 5 years to completely heal a 30 year eating disorder, but it was well worth doing and has changed my life.
Interesting stuff Matt. I stopped dieting 2 years ago after finding Matt, and this was after 20+ years of excessive diet and exercise. I’ve prob gained 30lbs. It was 15 at first and then I’ve cycled from refeeding to skipping meals/binge eating to normal eating depending on my circumstances. I feel so much better but I too have not lost any weight and continue to slowly gain. After reading the above comments I have similar problems. After refeeding, i do get tired of food but I fall into old habits of skipping meals and then anxiety issues make me binge eat. So I’m undereating and overrating…. Weird.
I am pregnant. I started refeeding before getting pregnant. My temp was in the 97 range. I got up to 98.2 a couple times. Then I got lots of morning sickness. Which has let up. But I don’t have room for lots of food right now. It makes me really sick to eat much. I’m trying to eat high calorie denser foods. But mostly eat what sounds best in the moment. I am now getting temps in the low 96 area. Never higher than 96.4. I am sleeping as much as I can. I only do walks to get exercise.
I can’t let this get worse but I’m at a lose at what to do. Yesterday I helped carry 50 lbs about 30 feet and I was dizzy, ears ringing and felt like I was going to get sick. I had to take a nap. I’m only 31. I’m due in feb. I don’t know how much worse this can get. :/
Any tips?
Play around with things. In my experience, most women prefer carbs and salt over really rich, fatty foods when pregnant–and fare better on such food when problems like yours arise.
Thank you! Carbs are much more welcome they sit better. Therefore are wanted more. I’ll see what changing up a few things does. The salt cravings are bigger than ever. I used to hate salt except on fries.
Em I think if you can’t hold much food you should look instead to the sort of nutrients you want to take in, the right omegas and things like eggs and nuts are all useful for growing foetuses. If it were me I would think less about calories carbs and quantities right now. Also, due to you saying you were dizzy, get checked out for pre-eclampsia it can be very serious if ignored so best to rule it out. Hope you feel better soon.
Thank you Matt..that was so helpful to read all that. It’s only been 2 months and I already feel that If I see another steak or piece of meat, I am going to throw up. This is the change right? I am now craving cold juices in the morning..juicing carrots and such..is this too soon only being two months? I have gained 14 pounds which doesn’t feel great as I am a very petite 5’3 and used to be 118 pounds but running a farm in the mountains and loosing my best friend this last year was the perfect storm of stress and my body temp used to be around 95-96 daily with constipation. I am 98.3 during the day in between meals so this needs to come up to 98.6 is that correct? so since my temp is a little low, do I still have to eat the heavy meats and veggies and carbs? The 14 pounds seems like a lot of water weight bc it fluctuates and I will be working with Garret this winter with my minerals..my stomach is hugely bloated like I am 6 months pregnant even though I have 3 good stool movements a day..I am a little confused by the swelling in my stomach and hands and legs..any thoughts?
So early into this, and still showing some signs of low metabolism (water retention), I’d err on the side of eating too heavy rather than too light. But it can backfire if you push it too hard. Still, for being just a couple months in you sound like you’re doing quite well. Just keep on “sweating it out” for a while and see how your digestion and water regulation changes over time.
Hi Heidi, I don’t know, I would be really cautious about over-riding your body’s cues and cravings. If you’re suddenly hating meat and craving juice, probably means you need it. You may find after eating that way for a week, you’re craving the meat again. Key is listening to your body.
help, I have no appetite, constant nausea, and food makes me feel worse most of the time. I am over 6’1 and only 125lbs. I have no eating disorder in the sense of body image but I get terrible panic attacks with anything to do with eating because of long history of pain. I just dont want to eat becuase it makes me feel bad and when I eat the only things I crave are plain chicken breasts or saltines cooked veggies? Obviously there probably is going to be some force feeding and hopefully appetite and digestion will return. Any advice on what meals or foods helped people get started. I know its not the food and there is no magic meal but I think I need and structured meal plan to just keep my head out of it and follow because otherwise I will continue to not eat until later in the day when I have a little hunger and listening to my body as it is doesnt work. I really appreciate it everyone I just want to break this habit that has been established of fear of food because of pain. Any direction appreciated
I am no expert here but it sounds like you need to make eating a habit or a routine. Even if you’re only eating chicken or the other thing, or both, try to do it 4 times a day at regular times and just get used to it. If you stick to your safe foods it might help you, then you can think about varying it once you have made a routine. Best of luck
I do feel better than ever in my core. However, the extra fat is difficult to handle. I’m hoping to sculpt a more Sophia loren/ Gina Lolabrigida body that fits into my existing dance wardrobe. Amazingly, just a cup of cafe con leche w sugar did make the 98 make today!!!!
Dear Skeptic,
It’s the acidity in the Coke that is doing the damage. You have to maintain an alkaline pH. Also try chewing and eating slower so you don’t overeat, but just till you are satisfied. Got to get to the point where you can hear your body’s signals. Trust me you don’t need Coke. Nothing wrong with water. Get you calories from real food.
I have been following you and Ray Peat for about a year now. Prior to that time I was doing a low sugar diet. (almost none) I started adding a bit of sugar in my coffee and a few other items and after a while I actually started loosing weight but after a miscarriage last December I put on so much weight that I had to go up an entire size or two in clothes. (i am afraid to weigh myself) My temps have not seemed to rise at all but they have been more stable. Meaning they do not go down after exercising. My basil temp is usually mid 97s. I just can’t get them any higher exempt sometimes they will hit 98 after I ovulate. I feel like I keep gaining weight and I just don’t know how to make it stop unless i eat about 700 calories. I’m sick of restricting food and I wonder if I have to since I have food allergies. (Milk, garlic, onions, tomatoes, kidney beans, grapefruit, corn etc) Do I need to stop eating all of those to loose weight or will my body be able to handle them as i raise my metabolism. (which i can’t seem to do) So tired of being fat.
Hello Marci, of all the diets and stuff i have tried,
Matt’s way combined with the potateos hack( check Marc’s daily apple
forum) is the only one that works.
I have lost 12 kg that stay off as long as eat well and
do one meal a week only potatoes.
Try, it is nothing short of miraculous.
Thanks I’ll check it out.
Also, quite important.. I am 40 years old,
No young metabolism here.
Matt, for someone who has psychiatric issues and has been drugged up by psychiatry, with tons of severe, long-ranging side-effects and damages, do you think a recovery is possible with ‘refeeding’? How would they go about this refeeding thing?
Matt, people who have extreme strange reactions to foods, such as myself, what can they do? For example I get almost psychotic like symptoms from a glass of milk, and orange juice changes my time perception and gives me allergy symptoms of swollen red eyes and painful throat. Doctors cant find an explanation. What should I DO? Can re-feeding solve food sensitivities and intolerances that are as strong as mine?
I’ve heard many reports of food sensitivities going away of varying degrees of intensity. So I won’t say it’s impossible. Nothing is impossible. But I wouldn’t count on it, that’s for sure.
have you looked into digestive enzymes, such as those made by houston? (other brands available too)
I also did some kind of a re-feeding after I gave birth, 20 months ago, because breastfeeding just made me very hungry and it wasn’t possible for me to think about dieting. But after the first 4-5 months when the babyweight seemed to go off, I started slowly to put back some, that obviously drives me mad! I never tried to diet again because I’m just tired (being a stay-at-home mumm of a high-contact still breastfeeding baby-girl), but lately I noticed that I just don’t want to eat so much calory-dence foods anymore and that I’m craving water!!! Of course I’m trying to give my body that, even if I don’t think I have already a good metabolism because my temps are still low in the morning (36,4 C), my skin is dry, my bowls don’t move without Mg citrate, but the symptom that bothers me most is the chills that I get in the afternoon, after lunch, no matter what I eat, even if I lay in bed to rest with my daughter, under a blanket :((( It goes like this: I eat, feel hot for 30 mins, I go to bed to rest and instantly my feet, hands and nose get icy (and I’m under the blanket), but around 5 pm I start to feel hot again without eating anything.
So I’m confused. I thought it is hypothyroidism, but the blood work showed everything ok. Any advice? Thanks
My sluggish metabolism gives me the usual icy hands, feet and nose and an intolerance to cold weather. But I also get a weird paradoxical heat intolerance; I will commonly wake up in bed waaaaay too hot and have to get out to cool off. I think temperature regulation of the body is actually impaired, poor circulation/circulatory response makes it difficult to dissipate heat effectively.
Always wondered why I would feel so awfully hot while others would complain of feeling cold, yet to my touch, their skin feels unbearably HOT all over.
Heat receptors on the body sense CHANGE in temperature which is why getting in the bath really hot but then you get used to it.
A high metabolism person will give core heat off to the environment very effectively, thus feeling cold sensation, while the low metabolism person will have a sudden rise in core temp, and their impaired ability to let go of it through the circulation makes them feel way too hot. Even though their metabolism is “cold”.
A “cold” metabolism will mess you up and make you feel too cold or too hot in various situations.
In this case the bed/blanket you lose heat to at first, and you feel cold. But the blanket soon traps it and your body doesn’t respond well enough, so after an hour or so you feel too hot.
Hope that makes sense but I finally figured it out after it had annoyed me for ages
It’s especially true when sharing a bed, because the high metabo person is very effectively transferring their heat (feeling cool themselves) to the low metabo person whose body is already having a hard time adjusting to the heat trapping effect of the bed and feeling too hot.
Amen to that Rob.
Same observations here. I no longer trust my thermometer. When I see my wife putting on a sweater or complaining that it’s cold I trust her and dress accordingly.
This eat for heat stuff helps tremendously in easily recognizing the moment when things are turning south and to fight back. It’s much less effective outdoors though, you can’t out-carb-and-salt low metabolism easily there.
I must say that two years in I see some improvements, but very slowly. Huge part of it is actually being better prepared. But as you mentioned waking up way to hot – yea, this no longer happens. I mean I do wake up most nights, but just to turn on the other side. I immediately fall asleep again. But no restroom visits anymore or feeling unbearably hot. Just borderline-hot.
Anyhow this is cool stuff Rob and I wish people with similar experience shared their discoveries so we can learn from each other. For example I have hard time limiting fluids cause I find them extremely rewarding. So I’m kind of fighting it and trying not to fight it, if you know what I mean
Thank you, Rob! It makes perfect sense what you said and everything you mentioned happens to me: during the night I have to take off my blanket because I wake up feeling too hot.
So, unfortunately is still a sluggish metabolism, even if I tend to crave watery food lately? Did you find a solution to this situation? Besides food, is there anything else I can do to improve my circulation? Thank you again :)))
My only thought is that it must take a long time. Like it takes a long time for the body to see negative changes in response to calorie-defecit and then positive changes from calorie-surplus. The hormones we’re talking about are long acting so it takes a while for them to do their thing. And pregnancy no doubt can mess with the system. Just give the body the fuel it needs and hope it sorts it out for the best
First of all, you rock, Matt!! Out of all the diets, including metabolism diets, yours makes the most sense.
I started referring in February of this year after a very stressful period in my life (Husband was in the hospital. Most likely to the vegan diet we were on for three years!), I had cut out every food in my diet because I thought my adrenal glands were shot, was having anxiety attacks (called 911 because one was so bad, but fortunately the paramedics that arrived were hot!) went to a cardiologist for heart palpitations, to a gastroenterologist for heartburn and digestive problems, a pharmacist to check my hormone levels, a general practitioner all with no answers but just “stress”.
Anyway, I found Matt’s work while scouring the internet about the GAPS diet. So glad I didn’t do the GAPS diet. Immediately, I started eating as many calories as I could, hit McDonald’s, went through three cartons of ice cream a week, ate tons of Bugels, two large breakfasts everyday, pizza you name it!
Now it’s the month of November, and I feel calm, happy, stable, sleeping like a champ and a size 6 at 136 pounds! Which I believe is the size I’m supposed to be! My weight dropped to 117 at my worst and my husband said my hip bones were showing. It was bad.
My appetite has decreased substantially too. I eat mostly homemade food but am not afraid to eat food at parties or go out to eat anymore. (We used to bring out our food.)
Matt your books are a lifesaver. It’s just good common sense without any silly rules and truly lets you let go and just enjoy food. And I enjoy your humor!
On the subject of food sensitivities… I’m kind of flummoxed. I have a history since childhood of a mild dairy sensitivity, my brother is allergic to dairy. but most of my life as long as i didn’t actually drink milk and didn’t go crazy with everything else, I was fine. And in fact during the years I was pregnant and/or breastfeeding I ate ice cream every single day with not a single digestive complaint.
I did a refeed last year after my my metabolism came crashing down after an unfortunate combination of extreme life stress, poor sleep and over exercising. I gained about 25 pounds in all, 15 very rapidly and the last 10 slowly. and like you say above, appetite changed, cravings for all the super dense food disappeared (I can hardly look at fried chicken anymore) and I was feeling a lot better. Without trying at all I lost 10 of those pounds slowly over the course of about 9 months. but in the last few months I have developed sensitivities to both dairy and coffee. i get dizzy, nauseous, headache and if i have enough of either i vomit. afterwards it almost feels like a hangover. I removed both from my diet because I can’t be having that, and the coffee doesn’t really bother me, I mean I love it but I can live without it. But I am dying for some cheese and yogurt. Seriously sit around dreaming about it it. But even when I have a small amount it makes me sick. My environmental allergies have also worsened (pollen, mold, etc). I otherwise feel a thousand times better than I did before but this sudden dairy issue really sucks. I haven’t taken my temp in ages so I don’t know. It’s had to gauge by how my hands feel because I work in healthcare and wash my hands a million times a day so they always feel slightly cold. I am still more sensitive to cold than my husband and kids, but not wrapped in a hoodie in blankets and wool socks while everyone else is wearing short sleeves like before. any ideas?
Matt, My temperature was slowly going up (from 97.1 to 97.4) over the past couple of weeks but suddenly took a dive again down to 96.9. I’m on a high dose of thyroid for hashimotos and after reading today’s email I was wondering if I could be suppressing my metabolism with the high dose of thyroid. What are your thoughts? I’m in the second half of my cycle for reference.
I really don’t know. Both Hashimotos and the thyroid meds are complicating factors that could result in unpredictability. Taking note of your temperatures and doing your own detective work is probably better than anything I could offer you in a simple comment.
Matt (or anyone else)-
I’ve really noticed benefits to intuitive eating and try to tune in to what my body is asking for. I’ve been limiting PUFAs (not obsessively) for about three years now. The other day I put some peanut butter on an apple and it was like a wolf that hadn’t eaten in a month tearing into a lamb bone. Now I can’t put down the peanut butter M&M’s. In my case, anything I restrict for a decent length of time becomes very appetizing. Is a craving for PUFA something we should honor? Or are there certain things that should always be on the no-no list?
It’s a good question. Like any nutritional idea, it’s always fragile. There may very well be something in the peanut butter your body really needs, perhaps even the PUFA itself!
Hi Matt, have you seen anyone recover from Alzheimer disease, like Ray Peat has?
I haven’t, but I’ve never worked with anyone with it either. I imagine an uber low-PUFA regimen is what Ray advocates? Makes sense when considering what he’s written about it.
You mean that RP himself had Alzheimer? Never heard of that.
Ray Peat has spent literally his whole life dialing in his diet and supplement regimen to suit his needs, so his advice isn’t super useful for the average person who doesn’t know how to use it. That being said, I’ve heard him mention that he uses B vitamins to treat memory problems, in tandem with thyroid supplementation. Go here [http://www.functionalps.com/blog/2011/09/12/master-list-ray-peat-phd-interviews/] and listen to as much Peat as you can tolerate. The memory thing is buried in there somewhere.
He’s apparently using B2 for memory, see http://raypeat.com/articles/articles/rosacea-inflammation-aging.shtml
I know that there a boatload of RP interviews on that site but I can’t find time to listen just anything. That’s why I still haven’t subscribed to 180radio
I did phone work with you at the beginning of the year. I’m still re-feeding and seem to have plateaued on my weight gain at around 150lbs (5foot 8inches tall). I stopped taking my temp in summer because it made me sad (usually no higher than 97.6). I’ve been feeling better with the cooler weather here in FL and also feeling more warmth in my feet so thought I’d check but temp was only 97.1. I have been sleeping better lately and have some improvement in fatigue but still wonder if I need something else? Do you know anything about “Stabilized Oxygen with Colloidal Silver and Aloe Vera”? I have a lot of the problems that this seems to deal with (immune/sinus problems, fatigue). I might give it a try…
Thanks for the inspiration! I think most of us had the same issue with eating (especially during holidays or whenever our emotions sets in) and the guilt that we feel right after it, is really unbearable. Thanks for this wonderful insights.
This has been a very interesting thread. I have to say that I’ve been thinking about the differences in the process, etc for everyone and then thinking about the people in my own family. My dad (still living and 86 years old) comes from a very thin, hard working family, cattle ranchers for at least 4 generations. He eats and always has eaten TONS of sugar and carbs. Still very healthy albeit very thin. My mother, on the other hand, came from a family of overweight, much more sedentary folk. She loved carbs. Bread, especially. And she was always warm! Exercise was a dirty word to my mom. However, other than the fact that she smoked almost all of her life and developed emphysema, she was quite healthy. Her heart was so strong that she lived much longer than the doctors predicted. So my point here is just that all folks are different and we have to listen to our bodies…. Not listen to the tv commercials or what other folks are doing. Read Matt Stone, read Ray Peat,read JJ Virgin, read Arizona Whitten…. Read everybody. And then listen to YOUR body. I’m struggling at age 50 to just feel good and continue to work hard. I take after my dad, thankfully! Wishing everyone good health!
Sorry ARI WHITTEN… auto correct…
Matt,
Do you have an e-mail address I could reach you on?
No you idiot, he meant that Ray Peat has SEEN people recover from Alzheimer’s disease… and was asking if Matt Stone had SEEN anyone recover from Alzheimer, in the same way as Ray Peat has SEEN anyone recover from it… GET IT NOW?
Jolene:
Seems like this was aimed at me (not sure). Anyway, thanks Jolene. Yes, I get it now.
Re the boner argument: I don’t understand how you can pitch a tent over that, it looks like a big snake tongue out of the girl on the right.
Matt do you have an email address I can reach you on?
I will pay 10,000 US dollars for a 1 hour consultation with you.
You can get a much better deal from Doc Smith on consults.
Hey, Matt
I was just wondering what type of education you have and how you were able to do this research. I am a aspiring dietician and want to do my own research on metabolism, but I am not sure what direction to go in to accomplish this. I thought about holistic nutrition schools, but I am really not sure which ones are legit programs. I was going to finish my undergrad in the spring, but I was just wondering if you had some advice in what direction to go in.
Thanks,
Isaac
I went to school formally for writing, but it’s not like I needed that to do what I do now at all. I worked my way up to the top of the culinary industry without going to culinary school either. Even within my first year I was getting jobs ahead of culinary school grads because I was better than they were. It’s all about quality research, quality critical thinking, quality practice, and quality training. There are a few exceptions, but most things are perfectly well-suited to self-guided exploration. If you’re good at what you do, and you know your stuff, the piece of paper you might get from some kind of institution or program is irrelevant. If you’re interested enough that you can’t NOT research health, I’m sure you’ll do fine without pursuing some kind of program. I get where you are though. Early on a tried on multiple occasions to pursue some kind of program, but I quickly became annoyed, as it was clear that they were a joke.
Hi Isaac, Just my two cents here, but I know something about this because I used to be an aspiring dietician, too (I had to drop out of my program because of an eating disorder, but I know a lot about the career paths, etc.). I would highly, highly recommend that you go down the RD path- ideally RD plus MS or PhD if you plan to do research. Not that you can’t get the knowledge another way, but you will get a solid foundation education-wise and will have a LOT more credibility when doing research, vs. if you had done a holistic nutrition program or whatnot. People will be much more likely to believe what you say. (Kind of like having an MD vs. having taken some medical classes for a certificate).
Hey Amy,
Are there any schools that you would recommend because I feel like I am going to be paying so much money just to get some credentials. I realize that they may be very important in getting potential clients to believe you, but is it worth paying money for some information that goes against everything I have researched so far? Do you have any experience with this?
Sorry for the delayed response, Isaac! Where do you live? There are a lot of good schools, and if there is a state school in your area that offers a good program, that is your best bet. That’s what I did, and it was reasonable. The biggest investment is the requirement to do an unpaid full-time internship (usually in a hospital) as part of the program. For me that was the toughest aspect, financially. But if you have flexibility to move, you could do it in an area with a very low cost of living.
I think it’s definitely a personal call, but I can tell you you will have MUCH more credibility with an RD, and it will be easier to get a mainstream job if you ever decide to. You will probably learn some pretty interesting stuff, too :) I didn’t agree with everything taught, but you see the science behind it all and it prompts a lot of interesting thought.
Do you think that people who have destroyed their health by abusing supplements like thyroid, progesterone and pregnenolone can regain their health and balance the hormones with refeeding?
I think it’s all individual in terms of what degree a person can recuperate from the variety of wrong turns they might have taken in their past. Some can get back to normal. Others can achieve better health than they’ve ever experience. While others will never return to where they once were before they made big mistakes that hurt their health.
Matt Stone: What is your opinion on coffee? Apparently, Peat thinks it prevents everything from Dementia to Cancer, and has drunk up to 50 cups of coffee per day. Whenever I try to drink just 1 cup of coffee, I get euphoria followed by depression and red cheeks, swollen sides of back, etc. Do I just have a really crappy metabolism? Can I fix my caffeine intolerance with refeeding? Are you able to drink coffee now (I know you mentioned in a comment a long time ago that you stay away from it)? Does coffee affect you badly too? Could individual responses to coffee be due to something as anti-peat-philosophy as “genetics”?
I’m not a fan of coffee. While research may show that it may be perfectly healthy, even provide health benefits in certain contexts, one thing that gives me pause is that I never cared for coffee until I did great harm to my metabolism. The only time I like it and crave it is when I’m doing something terribly wrong (like the time I starved myself, or the time I tried Donna Gates Body Ecology Diet). It also doesn’t make me feel particularly great–my reaction isn’t nearly as bad as yours, but if I want to be healthy and happy I feel a lot more stable without ingesting something so stimulating. I wouldn’t discourage anyone from drinking it that feels fine doing so, but I certainly wouldn’t go so far as Peat in deifying it as a health elixir.
Just adding my 2 cents here. Coffee has a horrible effect on my body. I get extreme jitteryness and a crazy, wired feeling accompanied by cold sweats, followed by depression and feelings of imminent doom. There is no doubt that it is not good for my body, never has been. But I have noticed that I tolerate it better when I am in a healthier state. After coming off a round of steroids at one point, I had some adrenal issues for about a month (it can take time for your own adrenals to kick back in properly) and noticed I could not tolerate any caffeine whatsoever. Even decaf tea (which still has a small amount of caffeine) would give me these same reactions. So, I think it’s the caffeine more than anything. But anyway, this is to say, I think tolerance has a lot to do with the adrenal glands – the more depleted they are, the lower the tolerance for coffee.
Matt,
What are your thought on Martin Birkin and intermittent fasting?
I’ve always been interested in what would happen to that guy when he falls off the fasting/training wagon.
I like Martin. I think he’s a cool dude. Always found him very likeable. Intermittent fasting if that’s what you want to call it (he does, although I would hardly call not eating for 16 hours much of a fast, or call it intermittent when he does it every day–more like reduced meal frequency), seems like a perfectly reasonable way to eat. I like it just by virtue of the fact that it is consistent, and those bodies of ours do tend to thrive on consistency. But I can tell you with certainty that if I were doing extremely heavy full ROM lifts and eating a high protein diet, I’d get severely injured in a week. That’s not a combination that a huge inflammation producer with a long history of injuries like myself can even dream of withstanding. As far as my dabbles with IF, it doesn’t seem much different than any other approach to weight loss. You fast for longer periods, inducing a stress, feel great from the increase in stress hormones, lose weight effortlessly with a blunted appetite, and eventually reach a point where it doesn’t work like that anymore. Negative symptoms creep in, elation and boundless energy morph into fatigue, and breaking your fast even once will result in runaway hunger and rapid weight gain, particularly abdominal fat gain. In short, it works for many, which makes it seductive. The problem is that it doesn’t work forever–for most people that is.
Ya me too rob. I have a pretty similar background to the guy and began fasting and training fasted about 6 months ago but got sick of it. Started refeeding yesterday and slept through the night without having to urinate 3 times and freezing my bollox off, it’s worth any weight gain!!
Thanks for the reply Matt,
What approach would you suggest for a person coming from IF in terms of refeeding? Also, are you taking on anymore clients? I’d be very keen to work with you if that’s a possibility?
Thanks
I don’t know if anything would differ. It’s typical to gravitate towards very calorie-dense food while doing IF. You might consider eating a little cleaner (less calorie dense) when you first make the transition to eating more frequently. Won’t completely spare you of weight regain if you’re destined for it, but it could help a little. Not taking on any more clients, but working with Garrett is something you should think about. I enlist a lot of trust in him, and he’s got a lot more tools and experience at his disposal than I do.
I’d much rather work with you Matt to be honest. Let me know via e-mail when you are taking on new clients.
Thanks,
Andrew
This article seemed like perfect timing. Is there a typical length of time when people know if their weight is going to taper naturally? I’ve had a restrictive eating disorder without binging for about 15 years (half my life). I was 116 in May and began re-feeding ala Youreatopia. Now I’m probably 180. I feel great, think great, all that, but I’m starting to miss my old bodybuilding lifestyle more than ever. I had told myself a year off of exercise and any form of restriction because that seems what some people say is the time required for metabolic recovery. But if I’ve already gotten this deep in, I don’t want to jump the gun and miss out on metabolic benefits of staying this way. I don’t generally count, but I’m still gaining slowly on about 2500kc/day which is a bummer. I was thinking I could do yoga which wouldn’t count as “exercise” during this year. I’m really interested in any feedback. BTW, most ‘whole foods’ that I used to eat, I literally feel like I have to choke down. I just want milk and tomato soup and candy. I still avoid other caloric beverages but I will eat dessert and have a drink now and then. I brought a rice and bean thing for lunch and couldn’t get through half, went for the chocolate caramels in my cupboard instead.
That’s awesome Elizabeth, and congrats. I really have no problem with exercise, especially for those who didn’t rely too heavily upon exercise to stay underweight in the past. I think the formula for optimal health, for most people, is to play hard, eat hard, and sleep hard–in that general order. So I would get started with physical activity, just don’t do any straining for quite a while. You can save the hard stuff for at least a year after starting, if you’re still jonesin’ for it.
hi, im doing really well on the refeeding thing. im craving more natural type foods now. i think its been about 6 weeks. temperature is right up. i will probably read the book again soon but cos i read “goals suck” as well i havent got time haha. :P
also i wanted to say, i would recommend this diet in a second to anyone with mental health problems. i recommend it in a casual way to people anyway as in “yeh this diet im on is great” but you know what its like, they like the sound of it but they arent ready to sto doing a 600 calorie diet yet and im not gonna push it. but i had very very bad stress and anxiety and was having like 3 bad panic attacks a day. diet recovery is the best thing ive ever done for it bar none. still nuts but doing music and stuff now. :P
Nice timing Heidi. Just hit the publish button on Food for Mood: Dietary and Lifestyle Interventions for Anxiety, Depression, and Other Mood Disorders. By Matt Stone.
It will be free on Friday. I’ll send out an email broadcast about it then.
cool, thanks :)
what music are you into btw ?
actually i was thinking of a specific person with the 600 calorie diet. she told me the other day she finds it easier just not to eat anything. then she said she had made a decision- no more diets. :)i estimate that she will try 3 more times to diet. but yeh ive lost a bit of weight, not my primary concern. as i was saying i think my adrenals are doing alright now. i actually feel a sort of bulging sensation in my neck sometimes. not completely unpleasant but.. i get aggressive now sometimes and have told alot of people to f off. haha. :D but yeh, music.
also, went to the docs the other day about something, quickly ran out of his office when he asked about my thyroid :P saw my diabetic nurse on the way out… “ooo, youve lost weight !” she goes.. “keep going !!” and i quickly ran off before i had to tell her what i am eating… incase she panics and tries to get me on a 1000 calorie weetabix diet :P
right so i am reading it now. “mood for food”.
phenomenal. better than the entire works of aldous huxley.
havent eating all day and im drinking quite heavily to manage my insanity. having to do many radio shows containing music and angry rants before i even get started on my day.
so yeh couldnt have come at a better time really <3
Hi Matt! finding your work as given me hope! I was very low carb for about a year and about 4 months in started experiencing for the first time in my life severe reactive hypoglycemia (which i now think is adrenergic syndrome) no matter what i ate. I thought it was the fruit so i cut that out too and only 2 months ago came to my senses and realized LC is what got me into this hell. I added in about 100 grams per day but have seen no improvement. Only 4 days ago i darted re-feeding according to your protocol in eat for heat. no changes yet. Wondering how long you expect my severe symptoms to last? If i know there is an end in sight i can keep going…sometimes it feels like this will last forever! i’ve been working with an ND and she got my high cortisol levels stabilized which is a start. thanks for your time!!
My last pregnancy I had a big baby at 11 pounds (just like his great uncles all tall) two weeks overdue which I was told by some a sign of gd also because he tested low blood sugar right after birth (not to sure on that as his foot was not warmed up and he had been away from me crying prior. I passed the gd test with fasting at 74 one hour 123 two hour 93 with a1c of 5.0 with dinner the night before of just chicken breast, kidney beans, spinach, and tomatoes. I had my a1c tested after this preg and it was 5.3. My ob who was not at the birth said they just wanted to put me in a box with the symptoms and that I just had a big baby not gd.Another pregnancy I had the same 5.0 a1c but a fast of 64, one hour at 99 and 2hr at 92. The pregnancy before these one fasting 85 under 130 at the 1hour. This pregnancy I was more hungry and ate more carbs like at the end more than one cup of cherrios for breakfast with grapes. I has swelling in the feet and legs not sure if this was just due to the pressure of his weight on me or not. My blood pressure was always great. Sometimes I would have sweets homemade like come cookies or pie. The last week I craved the sweets a little bit more. For the most part of the pregnancy I had whole grains some white flour, fruit, veggies,meat,some chips, egg sandwich for lunch or leftovers, dairy and sometimes walnuts and avocado oil. I felt fine during this pregnancy no having the room start to go black during a small portion of the pregnancy like the one with the 64 fast. I was not as strict about the sweets like that pregnancy, but I felt fine this pregnancy. Maybe I should have exercised more not sure. I have felt better since I changed my diet a years ago to include more water, whole grains, and eating breakfast everyday also meaning missing no meals.
I guess my question is was my body fooling me with wanting the carbs and sometimes sugar? Is not wanting sweets a sign of things being okay? Was I having problems with insulin according to my tests? Due to all of this I have been under too much stress my temps are low lost too much weight. On top of all got mastitis and can hardly breastfeed so that means formula. So I need to eat more then but I just don’t know if I can trust my body anymore to tell me what to do?
Also, I know random question but which formula would be better one with lactose or glucose syrup (in all organic formulas) as the sweetner? (yes I know formula is not great but I was not able to fully to get the milk back doing everything known to man)
Sooooo, after a lifetime of dietary torture and severe restriction, I did the refeed. Voila! Hormones back in shape, body temps back up to a nice 98.6 (or 99.2 some days!), sleeping well, libido back with a vengeance, all good stuff. Also, dropped 30 pounds spontaneously, in 4 months, eating like a horse everyday. No shit! But now, my system is crashing again. I lost my appetite, stopped eating so much every day because I just couldn’t force it down. Now, I’ve gone from eating about 3500 calories per day, to maybe 1000. 1000 calories is not enough, as I have a current lean mass of 175 lbs. My body temp has crashed down to 96.0 again, weight loss has stopped, sleep patterns are fucked, energy is crashing, but I still don’t have an appetite, and can’t imagine packing in 3500 calories again every day. What should I do? Refeed some more? Bite the bullet and make myself eat some food?
Sounds like you need to bite the bullet. Or at least a burger.
Hello Lauren,
If I were a female ( LOL !) in your situation here is what I would do is this:
Lift heavy weights in basic compound movements- back and legs shoulders. Go for 6 reps. Add xtra oils like oilve oil or add penut butter to your food anything for more ingested chemical energy.Sneak it in. The sneak approach is the best thing can think iof. Never force or stuff. Consdier a snack at 8 pm or later.
6 rep shoulder press
6 rep back exercises
maybe 8 rep squats- failry heavy or leg press
Consider these energy dense drinks sold at bodybuilding stores.
Get plenty of sleep, Don’t lift more than once or twice a week.
Hope this helps,
Raz
So….. question Matt. I have been doing the refeed program for almost 4 months now. I did the low carb Paleo, Gaps Im allergic to everything diet. Things are going great. I eat 3000+ calories a day. I can eat all the foods I swore were killing me! My hormones are more even now, Im not a complete crazy moody bitch anymore. :)Anxiety is pretty non existent. I still have some fatigue, but life is great now.
I was never into heavy exercise, maybe 20 mins of cardio 5 days a week. If that.
I really want to exercise again. My back is killing me, like get off your lazy ass killing me. I was over-weight(obese) to begin with and have added about 20 more lbs so now I get a lot of back spasms and what not. I get really conflicting info from your site and youreatopia regarding exercising while in recovery. What would you suggest?
Thanks so much for this freaking awesome blog, I really missed it when it was gone.
Ultimately I think exercise is vital and extremely healthy, and in the modern world it probably remains as the single best obesity preventer. If your metabolism is good and all systems firing, I would begin exercising right away. It doesn’t need to be the least bit grueling. Just physical activity that is sustainable, fun, and can be performed daily without getting run down. In 2015 I really hope to distance myself from the computer a lot more and begin living a highly physical outdoor life again.
I hate that i keep coming back to this darn blog but as much as I hate to admit it there’s something to what he is saying… after my latest Paleo kick in which I did lose some weight but my hair was thinning, my right knee was killing me, my hot flashes returned, my restless leg was increasing, and my energy was absolutely zilch…yesterday I ate a large chocolate chunk cookie, a brownie,a handful of M&Ms, an oatmeal cream pie and a few rollos and for some odd GD reason I felt absolutely stellar after that and slept like a baby last night ( with no hotflashes) I have no clue why… Im not saying eat all the crapola that i ate yesterday on a daily basis but maybe carbs arent so evil after all… My thyroid must need them for the t4 yo t3 conversion is all i can guess? I sooooo wanted the ketogenic and paleo diets to be the final answer for me and they were for a short while but I guess my body is telling me that I better figure out a way to incorporate some carbs…
….I guess what my point and final conclusion after 43 years is, is that you just need to listen to your body. Even if it doesn’t make sense to you or jive with the latest dietary fads and dogma and I guess maybe that’s what Matt is trying to say too.
Hiya I’m wondering if anyone (Matt?) has experience with kids – my 12yo pubescent son has always tended to overweight but is currently depressed and very self conscious of his belly fat and moobs despite us being really careful with body image stuff (I grew up with an anorexic sister so was having none of that here!) even his best mates jib and tease him about it (and these are all unschoolers).
His 2 siblings are on the healthy skinny side. At a guess he would be 5’6 and about 80 -90 kg at present (we don’t own scales)
He loves the outdoors but hates competitive sport so hasn’t regular commitments to exercise, and has never been great at running or agility etc.
Ive just been diagnosed with hypothyroid after remaining cold and symptomatic and + 20 kg wt from rrafing since March (a little complex because of a concurrent infection I had in a root canal) but need more tests.
Poor kid has always been a bit off colour with food allergies, flat feet, headaches, always picking up colds, etc such that we did gaps for 6 months when he was 10 (yes I now know better) but he has pretty much re fed since I’ve read food ninjas.
However I recently read this (which outlines some Broda Barnes discussion re children): http://www.tuberose.com/HypothyroidSymptoms.html and am now quite alarmed about him as well.
What to do?
Dr smith? Get him tested too?
Relax and let him keep eating at will and hope it disappears in a growth spurt? He is tending to start talking about eating less so he loses weight (amazing how this idea pervades our lives). He just wants to mess around and have have fun like any kid but is getting sad…
My body is one thing but hard to see a kid become inactive because of fear and taunting (he tends to want to hide away on computer games sadly more than ever)
Any suggestions much appreciated!
That’s pretty tough to say. Not a severe weight problem, but he definitely sounds chunky. Doing some very basic weight training isn’t very time consuming and is a pretty good place to start with any body recomposition attempt. I’d start with something simple like that. His body temperature normal and health otherwise seem good?
Hi Matt, Just discovered you via Cheeseslave’s blog. I am only one week into refeeding and the thing that feels like it is saving my(and hubby’s) life right now is the the emphasis on sleep. We have both been sleep deprived for fifteen years, running on adrenaline. Which messed with my hormones, both of our weight, and metabolism. Also, I have been on every major diet you could think of in the past 15 years. Nothing worked. I am so grateful to your work. I am insecure about eating whatever sounds good in large quantities, but I feel much more calm and less stressed in general. I didn’t realize how much stress food obsession caused. Just in one week, my morning temp has gone from 97.2 to 97.7.
My question to you is you mentioned not overhydrating during this time, but I find that I feel better overall when I have a good amount of water. Will drinking a good amount of water derail the refeeding if I am doing all the other aspects diligently(eating to appetite whatever I feel like, power-sleeping, de-stressing, living like I’m at a spa, etc. etc.)?
Thanks!! I sure hope that your system helps me!
Denise,
just be sure your urine is light yellow and not clear, and not peeing more than every 4 hours. May need to add more salt also to keep your body hypertonic rather than hypotonic. Ok to drink if thirsty just rely to the physical tests.
Long story short..your experience and information has helped me leaps and bounds. Thank you for having the guts to go against the masses.
Nice. We have a daughter that is anaphylactic to dairy. 5 children and she is the only one with allergies. At any rate..we have found it to be too dangerous to even have it in the house. Oh..and we live in Ohio. Could you make any suggestions for iodine? I really like the idea of Mortons. Thanks again.
Just a little seaweed on occasion should supply your basic needs for iodine.
Matt..in Eat for Heat you mention using Morton canning salt. I am wondering, how do you get sufficient iodine? Thanks!!
I live right next to the ocean, and I consume dairy products which are usually pretty high in iodine.
Thank you:)
I have been rrarfing for 30 days and I can only keeps my temps in the 98’s right after I eat. All other times..low to mid 97’s. Is that common from your experience?
Yes, very common.
Hi Matt,
I have a past of restrictive eating disorders and binge eating (you can say EDNOS) , and I just started following your RRARF thing after reading Diet Recovery 1 and 2, and Eat for Heat. I can’t stop eating sugar!!!! I’ve had so. much. candy. it’s kind of disgusting…..should I just keep eating when and what I want? Or should I keep within a certain calorie range?? I’m so scared I’m going to become obese doing this because I already feel huge and looking in the mirror I just want to cry because of how fat I feel….Is this response normal, eating everything in sight, when one decides to not diet? I feel like I’m just giving myself an excuse to binge eat here. I feel so anxious and depressed about this, it’s all I can think about right now…aaand the ironic thing is while typing this I’m putting candy in my mouth!!!
I’m really scared about gaining so much weight; I’m now bingeing but I’m not going to go back and “starve it off” so it seems inevitable that I would blimp up… should I cut out sugar? It seems to be the only thing I want to eat.
Cheers, Amy
I am 45 and have been eating disordered for 25 years. I was anorexic in my early 20’s with obsessive exercise. Then years of every diet out there. 12 years ago I started atkins off and on for a decade. The last 2 years have been paleo. Iam5’3″and 150. I have 5 children and I have had 7 miscarraiges, the most recent being last month. My hair is falling out and I am very tired. I tried taking kelp as I was sure I have a sluggish thyroid and I blew up like a fish within 3 days and was dragging exhausted.I have now been rrarfing 38 days. Felt great at first, now I am tired again. I have gained 3″ on my waist and a lovely double chin. BUT,I get that this is to be expected. My temps are in the 97’s although after eating they jump in the 98’s for about an hour. After chores (we live on a small farm) they jump down in the 96’s. I would be so grateful for any input. Should I eat past fulness or TO fulness with these temps. Oh, and on occasion I do get cold toes and nose but it doesn’t always coincide with low temp? THANK YOU!
Have you experimented with food ratios at all? Knowing how physical you must be on the farm, I’m curious as to how you would respond to eating upwards of 70% of your calories from carbohydrates–particularly carbohydrates with a relatively low water content: dried fruit, low-fat pancakes covered in syrup, baked potatoes, etc.
I have not but I am certainly willing to try! I often don’t feel hungry either, so I am eating at scheduled times. I am so close to just going to a doc and asking for thyroid meds..BUT I DO NOT WANT TO DO THAT!Thanks again for the response.
Nothing wrong with going to the doc for thyroid meds, but I’ve always thought it prudent to put some good work in trying to make sure there is no dietary or lifestyle cause of the suppressed metabolism first. When you’ve exhausted all your options, thyroid meds are a much better alternative to letting a low metabolism persist unsupported.
Sorry, I would like to add that my temps drop merely from taking the trash to the curb, so it doesn’t need to be strenous. Also, I have cut way back on drinking water. Way back, and it has helped tremendously.
“…also possible to?eventually experience substantial weight loss eating precisely the number of calories you desire, with or without strenuous exercise.Many will experience this in just a few months after reaching the equilibrium point described above.For others, it can’take a couple years.”
THANK YOU I have been looking for this information everywhere. I have been sprawling around unsure what the hell to eat anymore because there’s so many conflicting opinions, and I am still bloating up with water whenever I eat carbs. I am in just beginning year 2 of anorexia recovery and felt I ought to be getting back to the size I used to be 100% stable at before restricting by now… seems I may have a longer wait! I think bodies know, we have to just trust ourselves. Thanks for your great blog :)
Hello, recently I received news from a blood test that I was having problems with my liver and among other things, symptoms that pointed to an eating disorder and not eating enough. With help from my mother, I have recently seen the damage I had done to my body by sever calorie counting and not eating enough for my body (18 year old, running every week day morning) I would eat not nearly enough for my weight (125 at the lowest, also I’m 5 foot 10, male). We have gone at this on our own (I have an appointment with a nutritionist, but I new I needed to start gaining weight before that to try and repair my body. My mother says at this point I should just eat what I want because my body needs it. I know I shouldn’t eat anything, but I find myself craving nothing but typical teenager foods (sweets, chips, ect.) My first few days I managed to polish off three things of peanut butter that were each 1/3 full, and large amonts of cookies, and other sweets that were ?off limits? in my eating disorder mind. My question is, is this normal in the first couple of weeks, should I be worried that I crave all the foods that I didn’t allow myself for so long, and further more, is it bad I act on it, as in eating these cravings. I feel like Ieat so much of the bad foods, I am actually hurting my body, but read on some places its normal to binge on certain bad foods the first couple of weeks, and that it will go away when my body adjusts. I just love sweets and have missed them for so long, and really enjoy them, and for once don’t feel guilty after eating them. I commonly find my self eating cookie after cookie, or a spoon ful or two of ice cream multiple times, or just a just a large amount of yummy stuff I missed throughout the day. I feel as if I’m bingeing but need to remember I’m feeding my body. I have already gained some weight, but am worried because its mostly all in my gut area (probably due to the high sugar intake), and hope that it will distributed equally eventually. So in the end, is it bad to indulge (and I mean INDULDGE) in the foods that I have restricted for so long, or should I cut out the sugar and try to induldge in other foods that I missed (I also crave pizza and burgers like crazy). Thanks.
Those calorie-dense foods are actually going to be the most therapeutic foods to ingest in your current condition. Your appetite will regulate and cravings will simmer down once you’ve recovered. You may feel out of control now, but just bear with it and complete this process now while you’re young, never looking back.
Hey, I was discharged from hospital after three months a few months ago (for anorexia which I was diagnosed with just over a year ago now). I never ate more than 2400kcal to gain weight there, and have been put on an 1800kcal diet for maintenance. I’m a 15 year old girl, fairly short (157cm). My bmi is around 19.5 currently, but my weight is 1kg higher than the hospital’s goal weight for me. I often feel hungry at the end of the day, and have recently agreed with my mother to have a bit more flexibility with my diet (eg. eating an extra 100kcal one day if I feel like it, 150kcal less the next day etc) and am starting to go to the gym once a week. I often feel cold after eating, don’t sleep particularly well and am almost always pretty tired. I walk to school a lot too, 3 miles a day at least. I often crave rather unhealthy foods (a lot of sweet things) and just never seem to feel particularly full. I am unable to tell anyone when I am hungry though, as I feel like they would judge me and my eating disorder just will not let me. I still think about food a lot, and find it hard to concentrate on other things. I also have anxiety and possibly depression. Sorry this has been such a long comment, I was just hoping for some advice on any of this! Is any of it normal? Thanks!
Hi Matt,
What’s your suggestion for those of us who have lost our instincts? After a few years of disordered eating patterns, I have a really hard time getting hungry or being able to tell if I’m hungry. I think listening to bio feedback would be really difficult for me because I just don’t have a lot if normal hunger cues. Thanks!
In cases like that, I’d suggest developing a very regular eating schedule where you eat set meals at a set time per day.
Ok…I will try to make this short. I posted some history above..but I started refeeding at the end if dec.2014. I have temps up, sleeoing through the night, overall feeling “better”. I have gained 35 lbs. I did that in 4 months. So, I am currently 5’3″ and 185. I really, really cannot deal with the fat stomach. Boobs and butt, couldnt care less. I have started walking about 40 mins a day, 5 days a week, and have added in 2-3 days of little exercises like planks, push ups, and lunges. I have been walking for 2 months, not a pound lost. My question is, I am trying to decide if I should go back on metformin. See, I have PCOS..and I’m just not sure if all the good stuff refeeding has done will ever, ever be able to improve PCOS. I am 46. Almost everything online says to cut carbs for PCOS. No refined white flour..no sugar. But, I refuse to restrict and that is how I came to the place of considering metformin again. Any input would be GREAT…thank you!!
I have the same problem as Iris,complete lack of appetite,no hunger cues.Any idea how long it might take for it to kick in after scheduled eating? And I guess it might depend on how much you are eating? I am having a very hard time getting above 1500 calories a day…partly because I am a little overweight and have only been restricting for 10 months….so mentally I just don’t feel I should be over eating…..the digestive issues and lack of appetite don’t help!!!
Hi there, so I emailed you once quite a while ago, after my initial changes after reading your book on veganism, and since then I have incorporated animal foods back into my diet, and I’m currently battling with acne, and while it’s not severe it’s constant and frustrating around my chin/mouth plus pms symptoms regularly (I haven’t restricted what I eat, light exercise, sleep amd regular sleep, and low stress) My hands and feet don’t get as cold as they used to and I feel pretty good for the most part. Except I find my body does best when I eat pretty quickly after waking and then a snack or two and a meal or two throughout the day after breakfast. The only problem is is that I find nothing sounds good/I’m not very hungry, or I try to eat something and get a few bites down and I get nauseous. So any tips to combat that? It’s not every meal but more than a couple throughout the week. Also water, I find that I either have clear pee or it’s super dark, not really sure what’s going on there. So any suggestions would be lovely for anything above. Thank you for your time and I look forward to hearing from you, given that you see this. :)
Enjoy the rest of your day.
Ally
I’m 17 years old, and about 3 years ago I lost about 22kgs from 58kgs. This did not go on for years, only a few months, not more than 4. I did NOT exercise for hours – just sometimes frantically at odd times in the day like after a meal, no matter where I was. My Mom refused to allow me to eat as little as I did, so I began eating more. I didn’t see a dietician to help direct my re-feeding. I wasn’t on any strict plan for a little over 2 years. So my eating habits were really bizarre and unhealthy. I had the tendency to overeat, especially at night, and especially baked things. This went on for about 2 years. Of course, I gained back lots of weight. And large amounts of fat in my arms and thighs. In the last 4 months I’ve made some significant changes: almost no overeating (only occassionally), more exercise.
Then about 3 months ago, I started to see a dietician. I was advised to cut out fats temporarily, and incorporate sufficient carbohydrates. Which I feel good about doing. My diet is under control for most of the time. I feel as though I really eat a lot because I am often really full and often uncomfortable after eating. I’m continuing to gain weight and lots of fat. I’m almost fully recovered to the weight I was before the eating disorder. I’m not sure if I can expect to ever lose the excess fat that sits on my thighs, arms and face? Or what I should be doing? Does anyone know if the weight will ever come off? I’m just really frustrated to see nothing change despite my change in habits. Thanks a lot,
Almaz
It usually does come off in 1-4 years, IF you keep eating sufficient calories consistently, get good sleep, engage in meaningful activities, and construct your diet primarily around nutritious, whole foods–preferably ones low in omega 6.
Similar like others, no apetite, yet I am underweight quiet a lot. It is terrible to force to eat without apetite, but this is the only way I can do at the moment, but it is problem aslo to reach enough calories.
Why can’t I eat anything without having a severe reaction such as headaches, diarohea, cramps and stabbing pains :( severely anorexic an need help :(
Jamie, you are basically asking your body to do something that it hasn’t been trained to do: eat, digest, and metabolize. Quite simply, your body isn’t working very well. Expect these reactions. I often tell recovering anorexics to just go ahead and write off their year of recovery, because it sucks. It’s miserable. It’s not a fun process. But if you’re tired of repeating the same neverending cycle that results in you feeling worse and being a drain on your friends and family again and again, there is no other way. You have to face it, keep eating despite the negative symptoms you experience, and keep pressing forward–reconditioning your body to eating an appropriate amount of calories on a mixed, sustainable diet.
Hi Matt –
I’m 8 months into my recovery (8 months – no slip ups), and I feel great. I have completely lost all bad urges, and I’m pretty proud about that. I eat very healthy – lots of healthy protein, carbs, and fat. That being said, I gained about 20 pounds during my recovery. Most of it in the first 4 months. Thank goodness the scale stopped climbing up. I eat pretty clean 90% of the time, and I’m hoping eventually, my weight will start going back down. I’m short, and i’m pretty overweight at the moment. I was doing moderate exercise the last couple of months, and just recently introduced weight training about a month ago. The extra weight is causing pretty bad back pain at this point. I want to lose weight healthy and naturally – I wont go down a bad path again – but I really thought that after 8 months, I would see some type of progress. I would be over joyed with losing 5 pounds a month, but it just seems that no matter what I do, my metabolism refuses to work again =( … Any advice?