Hey buckaroos –
Just wanted to let you guys know that I did a guest post on raising body temperture as a tool to increase the chances of getting pregnant. Nothing terribly new, but it is short and concise and has stimulated some decent conversation in the comments over at Naturally Knocked Up…
http://www.naturallyknockedup.com/raise-basal-body-temperature
concise and clear!
I just read this – fantastic! My temps are in the 96 when I wake up, and I AM ON thyroid medication. VERY intriguing to me. So much info including my own research I don’t know what to do!
Thyroid meds aren’t always that effective. And many who have followed the general program have had to lower their thyroid dosage and eventually come off of it – often by the end of just the first 30 days.
Well, thyroid is VERY necessary for some individuals. If you’ve never had thyroid issues it’s kind of easy to make that comment. Those who have had thyroid issues how it can be HELL to go through.
Do you think all general health issues can be reversed?
Matt, could you touch on the the deviations of temperature based on what area is tested? I have been really confused by this.
For example:
This morning my temperatures were:
Left Armpit: 95.6/95.2
Right Armpit: 95.9/96.0
Rectal: 98.8/98.7
What temperature is most accurate? I thought per RRARF it was the armpit, but as you can see I have a major variation there… is it possibly from being overweight? So one set of temps says I’m doing good, the other says I’m not. Also what would cause the temp differences between armpits?
I would like to look into this further. Broda Barnes used the armpit temperature, which is why, in the early going, I used that as a baseline as well. But rectal is without question the most reliable and cuts through all the potential misleading readings of armpits.
For starters, armpits get sweaty and when they do, the sweat cools the area down below body temperature.
Another problem is that the armpit temperature is a lot more sensitive to exterior temperature fluctuations. Like if you feel cold because your skin is exposed to cold air, the armpit temp will drop more than the actual core temperature of your body – which the rectal reading will give.
If you are near 99 degrees first thing upon waking up in the morning then your metabolism is doing quite well.
What are you specifically trying to improve besides feeling like you could lose some body fat?
I’m not actually super concerned about the weight. Using RRARF I’ve gone from over 300lbs to around 250lbs (currently). RRARF helped me tremendously, but I have a few lingering items to hopefully fix. I wouldn’t complain about another 50lb loss, but my primary goals are to get back to a consistent energy level, get rid of scalpel excema, finding my “full-sensor” consistently, eliminate my pre-diabetes, and to get rid of my on again off again candida. As an aside I would like to get rid on my foamy pee. Hopefully that wasn’t too much information…
I actually won the contest over at RBTI Notes so I have a RBTI kit on the way. Based on my symptoms I think I am acidic, with brix fluctuating too much, and high ureas (foamy pee mainly). I’ll know in the next few days once I receive my kit.
After becoming a Potato lover on RRARF, RBTI is gonna be tough, but I’m gonna be following all of Jacqueline’s (RBTI.Info) recommendation and see how it pans out. I’ll be logging my progress at RBTI Notes if anyone is interested.
Also, can’t wait to see Chief’s Blog, I’ve always really enjoyed his commentary.
Bryan wrote:
“Also, can’t wait to see Chief’s Blog, I’ve always really enjoyed his commentary.”
Me too. Many of Chief’s ‘principles’ resonated with me. I have most of his comments saved somewhere on my computer. Think I might dig ’em out later for a refresher course in Chiefy wisdom. But yeah excited he’s making a comeback and gonna share more of his wisdom with us :)
Corena,
I’m honored to have helped you in anyway with my wizz-dom :) even if I didn’t so awesomely as discover on behalf of the 180 peeps, the mystical pee checker device like matt.
thank you for the kudos bryan
working feverishly on gettin er done.
Hi Matt,
I’ve been following your site for a long time now but haven’t delved whole-heartedly into RRARF because I’m so scared about gaining more weight! I’m probably 10 pounds overweight, but that’s certainly not the main issue. My whole life I’ve hand cold hands/ feet, my body temp is always extremely low, low energy, etc… Right now I think I’m battling candida – I’ve been treated with homeopathy but know the candida is still there (2 serious weird outbreaks on my tongue after just tasting sugary food – sorry if that was TMI). I just read your post over at Naturally Knocked Up and feel, once again, that I may need to dive in to RRARF. But I’m concerned about eating fruit or too many grains… the anti-candida-type diets all say to avoid these, even if it’s just for a time. What do you think? I would like to purchase your Diet Recovery e-Book but am worried that if I delve in, I might make the candida worse in the mean time. Any thoughts??!! Thanks!
Don’t worry Angie! Grains and fruit don’t have anything to do with candida. Candida is caused by crappy health, not diet directly. And a change in your diet like RRARF can improve your health and help you topple your candida proneness – especially if you emphasize the carbohydrates!
If you are really, really concerned and feel like you need more specific guidance, you should consider booking a conversation with me. If you can’t I will continue to try to answer all your questions here. We can definitely work in greater specifics to warm up your hands and feet, keep you from having candida issues, etc.
If you do gain fat it probably won’t be too much, you might even lose fat as some people do. You never know. There are always ways we can limit the fat gain if you feel like you are gaining fat specifically, and also lose it later on once you are your full metabolic potential (where fat loss is much easier, and muscle gain is also much easier – meaning that you have a lot greater potential to look good from a cosmetic standpoint than you do in a low metabolic state).
Thank you so much for your response, Matt! I’m sure you will be hearing more from me!
Matt,
You are man on fire! Workin’ the comments here and there like nobody’s biz… and without missin’ a beat. And freakin’ stellar commentary!
Your little piece of tropical paradise you’re in is definitely workin’ for ya :)
Maybe it’s the Chief-style feasts.
Maybe it’s somethin’ in that ocean water.
Or maybe it’s the magic pj shorts!
Or… all of the above!
Whatever it is… I want some! :)
See what happens when I’m not in a car driving 15 hours a day? With stops only for food and testing people’s urine? I actually do stuff on the internet.
I think it’s because Matt’s a chick magnet and let’s just say there are good times to be had in FLA… And his new laptop! Mattie I wrote you on stupid Facebook did u get it? Btw I could catch on fire from high temps and never get preggers. Hee hee the hag xixo
The only thing I’m behind on is watching that damn Jon Gabriel gluten-free pizza video. My computer and my phone are having the hardest time playing the thing. But I think I already know how I’m gonna feel about it. It’s gonna feel like I’ve lost a best friend. Wait, no. It’s gonna feel like what I would imagine walking in on my mom to find her masturbating to the picture of Mark Sisson on the back cover of Primal Blueprint to feel like. NOOOOOOO!!!!!!!
This is probably post-worthy. Just when I thought there was somebody else out there in the nutrition world that didn’t have an eating disorder, along comes gluten-free, “guilt-free” pizza. Wait, why would there be guilt? And why can’t I eat wheat? Then, suddenly, Gabriel’s usage of whey protein powder, obsession with live foods (aka, foods you eat but don’t get any calories from, which is why a study on raw food eaters found that 60% were infertile), and cutting up a Big Mac into a salad start to sound an awful like some weird ass eating disorder.It’s just all so heartbreaking.
I was not aware he had gotten so orthorexic .. Loved this comment … Pictured a slow motion Matt saying noooooooooo…and collapsing on the floor in tears
Sorry to be a buzzkill, but I think it’s mean to make fun of Mr. Sisson when he clearly can’t even afford a shirt.
Well as you and I both know, it’s hard to keep delving into the health and nutrition world and not develop concepts that lead to abnormal eating patterns at some point.
Don’t worry though. Everything is fine in this video. Instead of bread and dough, which raise your insulin levels, activate your fat programs, and mess up your digestion, he uses an omelette protein base. See?… Nothing to worry about.
I am sad about Jon Gabriel, too! I really appreciated his work and turned a lot of my clients on to his book and his CD, but now…. he lost me. He has become an “ordinary diet fanatic guy” I am so dissapointed!
I feel your Jon Gabriel heartbreak Matt. When I discovered his stuff I thought I’d finally found someone who ACTUALLY ate happily and healthily without guilt or obsession. Then I saw an interview with him where the guy he was interviewed by said they’d just eaten lunch together in a crappy airport cafe and Gabriel had taken a single white bread sandwich and eaten the lettuce and cheese out of it and thrown the rest away. Gabriel then went on to describe how he’d used negative associative conditioning on himself to feel physically sick whenever he tastes bread. Great.
I agree. I’ve noticed the same thing. One reason I’m always talking up French Women Don’t Get Fat is, that woman (Mireille Guiliano) really does eat everything. Not junk food, but she eats cake, chocolate, french fries. And she used to be fat as a teenager, though not Jon Gabriel fat. She’s one of the few people who’s written a “diet” book that I think is pretty normal about food. I noticed Jon Gabriel is looking a bit worse for wear lately, too, IMO.
Yeah, Jon is looking a little corpsy in that last video. Not as rosy and vibrant as he did a couple of years ago.
Yes! That was the first thing that jumped out at me when I watched it. For all those “live foods” he eats, he really does look dead. That “Super Nutritious” neurosis he’s in is sucking the life right out of him. Tragic. I started noticing this about him a year or so ago when I watched something else of his. I still get his emails – most of which I trash unopened… anyway he just keeps getting worse. I remember the sandwich story too.
Yeah I remember that one too. I was still in denial then. I pretended not to hear that. But I can’t deny it anymore. Gabriel is, unfortunately, just another fish in the diet sea.
A few months ago, I remember JT saying here that he heard Gabriel on a radio interview, and that he seemed a bit orthorexic. I didn’t want to believe it either. Too bad Jonny G…
Wish I could have gotten my reaction on video! And everybody looking at me LMAO waiting in line at the store when I read that on my phone. You know how the more you try not to laugh the more you laugh? Now I keep laughing about THAT! That too was hilarious!
Yeah that was just the kind of “inspiration” I thought you’d get from that.
For comparison – and sanity’s sake – you should do your own “Do I still eat pizza?” video. Buffet-stylin’ it! Yep, I still eat pizza… and salad, rice, beans, veggies, red meat, fish, pastries, pudding, ice cream, and just about everything else at a buffet!
Kidding. But would be entertaining lol :)
I had stuffed french toast and a cinnamon roll for breakfast at a restaurant today. But I couldn’t finish it all!!! It was emasculating. Golly gee whiz my fat programs turned right on and I haven’t thought about food in going on 9 hours now and had the best workout I’ve had in 3 weeks. Damn that “fat program” activating gluten! Gimme some “can’t digest any of the calories” “live foods!!!”
Hey Matt,
Would you mind helping a poor student by shedding some light on how impairment of the immune system can allow opportunistic fungus thrive in the GI track? I ruined my health the last couple of years by taking various antibiotics, obscure supplementation and falling for entirely twisted diet gurus. I started the Atkins diet when I was 19 in order to cut to 5% body fat, which caused a flare up of acne, cold hands and feet and low libido. Now that I am 21 years old I can look back on a history of zero carb dieting, raw zero carb dieting, the Dr. Ray Peat approach to nutrition.
Now I feel like utter shit waking up every morning. Eating fat and starch hasn’t brought me very far – my suspect I can’t properly digest fat. I still suffer from severe headache the first half of the day, and irritability, cold sweats and depression in the evening hours. My shoulders, pectorals and face are full of clogged pores and blackheads filled with sebum. My tongue has a white coating and dark circles loom below my eyes.
The last couple of weeks I’ve switched from potatoes, butter, red meat and orange juice to chicken breast with white bread which made me feel a little better, as it seems to be less of a burden to my digestive system. Nevertheless I still feel weak and my boner quality is less than stellar.
I suspect that this is due to dearth of certain minerals, my first suspect being copper as I heavily supplemented vitamin C, zinc and vitamin D the last couple of years. Unfortunately I can’t afford a hair mineral analysis.
I read that you have a very similar history of dieting and supplementation, so would you mind sharing your insight on how to tackle these health problems?
Oh, and I CRAVE bread and chocolate with nuts. I don’t allow myself to eat the latter though.
Try overcompensating for the lost low-carb years by going absolutely nuts with fruit and juice for several weeks. Get half of your calories from fruits, and lay off the highly concentrated fats like butter. I would still recomend things like milkshakes, ice cream, pastries, cookies, and things that have fats… but just don’t overdo those. Emphasize the calorie-dense tropical fruits and juices. I would also eat lots of highly-palatable and digestible foods like macaroni and cheese, pasta and meat sauce, pizza – that kind of thing. Eat big all day and then taper it in the evening – which is natural because you should be stuffed if you are eating calorie-dense food like that during the day.
We will get your body back in line and metabolically normal. When that happens hopefully you won’t need any help with fungal takeover of the GI tract. And then you can return to a more normal, healthy, nutritious, and sustainable diet. Not one that’s just all about getting in calories and sugar as a jumpstart to reawaken your system.
Hi Matt,
thank you very much for the insight you provide in the midst of nutritional madness. When I wrote the first comment I considered myself at the culmination of shitty, I really felt so fucking bad. My usual symptoms worsened and I’ve been severely constipated and bloated for two weeks.
A few hours later I said fuck it and bought 2 packages of cookies and some juice. As gross as it sounds immediately after eating them my constipation relieved and I felt better than I have in weeks of desperately trying to avoid eating the foods I really lust for.
I’m looking forward to buying your Diet Recovery book the next couple of days, hopefully the only nutrition guide I will ever need.
My symptoms are not similar to yours but they were induced during a strongly orthorexic phase, have been persistent for a long time following, and have definitely made me understand just how shitty the human body can feel in a way the average person will never know.
I’ve noticed similar results where hitting upon the right foods can lead to significant improvement in the moment. I would suggest keeping a food log or at least paying attention to what foods/diet seem to help the best.
For myself, I have noticed the following help. Lots of fruits and vegetables. Easy digestability, although that’s not as big a deal for me, I stillcook, sautee or steam about half the vegetables I consume. Lower in protein, emphasizing non muscle meat proteins: egg, fish, cheese, tripe or tendon (when eating Vietnamese). Favoring starches of the oatmeal/rice/beans/corn/sweet potato variety over bread. Higher starch, lower fat. And also, eating beyond appetite. That seems important for some reason.
There’s a lot there that’s kind of in line with GAPS and also in line with some WAPF stuff. I definitely prefer cream/eggs/butter/coconut for my fats. You may get good results adopting a lot of the same principles. And definitely follow Matt’s advice and get some of the junk food in. Sometimes a cookie or something combined with a meal can help lift symptoms. Depends on what your body wants. The cookie might just have the right sugar/starch/fat ratio plus the calories your body needs.
This is why we love you Matt. Helping people like Marc here who have stumbled so far down the diet whole they no longer know how to get out or what to trust. Your no nonsense approach really cuts through the bullshit.
This is exactly what I thought Aaron. Looking for advice on health topics on the internet you find yourself swamped with nonsense spilling paleo gurus and soccer moms telling you to do coffee enemas and eat green vegetables in order to cleanse your gastrointernal tract. This blog seems to be the last stronghold of sanity.
As for the starch debate, my body literally seems to reject unprocessed carbohydrates. Brown rice and potatoes, having the most grotesque effect on my body, come out completely undigested. White rice, which has been the rudiment of my bodybuilding diet for a long time, makes me sick on sight. The same applies to fats – butter, whole milk and cream pass my GI in chunks and make me feel sick seconds after ingestion.
That being said I followed Matts guidelines today, which felt very natural for me because I’ve had a strong desire for fresh juices, pasta, pizza, sweet baked goods and chocolate ever since plunging into the restrictive dieting. I ate some bread, pasta, pizza, cookies and had a lot of juice along with some fruit, with my meals getting smaller towards evening. I am 6’1 tall and weigh 180lbs with just about 10% bodyfat (I’ve always been lean) and I think I ate about 3,500 calories today, which didn’t feel like overeating at all.
I can state that feel more vigorous than I have in months and my mood is much better. The white layer on my tongue seems not as thick as it usually is and some color seems to have returned to my face. A neutral observation is, that the vascularity on my forearms, biceps, legs and lower abdomen became very prominent today, I don’t know how to interpret that however.
I just hope that my health continues to improve. I don’t want to whine, but honestly I’ve really suffered for almost 2 years, and the last couple of months left me unable to complete even the most trivial tasks. I’ve never thought that following some twisted diet gurus’ advice could have calamitious impact on my weel being.
Once again, thank you for everything Matt.
It’s stories like this that push me to let go of all conceptions around health. It’s hard coming out of a deeply orthorexic state. There’s this small little “me” looking for guidance. I also have gone for almost 2 years trying to overcome the negative effects of my orthorexia. I did RBTI for the past three months in the search for something that would help. But during that time the voice in the back of my head started screaming at me that I never truly let go and let my body be in charge. So recently I’ve taken some wild swings against RBTI rules and also just eating more of whatever I feel like. It’s helped me to appreciate what may and may not be sueful with RBTI, at least for me. I can tell there’s still psychologoical interference with natural eating but it’s improving, and honestly I’m feeling better on average than I have in a while, something I truly appreciate.
I also can’t leave a comment like this without touching on addiction. Maybe in a low-metabolic state with a lot of psychological interference, the “highly palatable” foods pose a problem for some. But my experience has been that moving past that bs, the body knows what it wants and I don’t personally crave or even prefer those foods a lot of the time. But there are times the body does actually want them and it is good to eat pizza and ice cream and what not.
Hope this lands in the right place – there was no reply button under Aaron’s comment:
“the voice in the back of my head started screaming at me that I never truly let go and let my body be in charge. So recently I’ve…
…just eating more of whatever I feel like. It’s helped me to appreciate what may and may not be useful…”
Totally. Your body will do the sorting out. Just go with it. So many people fight against it… and things just progressively get worse. A 180 is just what they need to do.
“Maybe in a low-metabolic state with a lot of psychological interference, the ?highly palatable? foods pose a problem for some. But my experience has been that moving past that bs, the body knows what it wants and I don’t personally crave or even prefer those foods a lot of the time. But there are times the body does actually want them and it is good to eat pizza and ice cream and what not.”
Absolutely agree. More really great insights, Aaron.
Marc,
I can relate. I came to this blog for similar reasons. After about four years of restrictive diets (raw foods, low- and very-low carb, fasting, etc) my body decided to give out on me. My health went from great, to really bad in a few months. It was actually pretty remarkable how quicks things went to hell.
The good part is that you will learn to trust your own body, not your mind and not what some other authority tells you. I believe that is the most important thing. I never did truly gave my body the authority to decide what it wanted until I reached the point of ruined health. I was always eating based on some great ideas in my mind based on something I read. With the shitty state of health I had, I really had no choice but to trust myself, because nothing else was working. And don’t just take Matt as another authority. I think you are ready to listen to YOU.
On a practical note, I benefitted greatly from balancing my blood sugar levels by monitoring with a refractometer and adjusting my eating and drinking timing. I don’t need to use it anymore, but it really changed my life. If you are having routing energy crashes at certain times of the day you might want to check it out.
For a few months I couldn’t digest anything properly and had horrendous energy crashes. The psychological effects of bad gut health and blood sugar crashes can get really nasty. I’m so happy to have normal poops again and to have consistent energy and metal focus throughout the day.
May you heal your gut and your body.
Hey Marc,
I have similar story, us young guys looking to “better” our health but end up making it worse by listening to dogmatic logic. To fix it , i had to go all out, Lots of Pizza, Beer, and my personal favorite Spaghetti. It takes time, the amount of time you spent on the diet may also be a factor. Remember when Matt posted about the ancel keys starvation study…it took almost a year for their bodies to return to normal. So give it time. I still have the headache in the morning as well, but it is from taking too many probiotics and not giving my body enough carbohydrates. Honestly the best cure is to eat like a normal frickn person especially if your health was better before you started eating “healthy”. I personally never had a taste for sweets, I hate chocolate and have never had a snickers bar in my life. Not because I think it is unhealthy but because I would rather have a big bowl of pasta or a burrito from the greasy mexican shop with a million health code violations. We have all these ideas in our head about what healthy is but if you are miserable on your health food diet, I just said “f$ck it.” I may return to a better eating style one day but for now, diet recovery with lots of taco bell and shock top beer is whats on the menu. This is what we call a brain.
Haha. Nice. And I agree wholeheartedly with the notion of eating whatever the hell you want at the stage you are at – and preserving eating more healthy whole foods for a later time when the novelty of eating anything and everything wears off. Have fun!
It’s funny, I had been taking my basal temps for Natural Family Planning, (temps spike meant ovulation had occurred) and noticed I had low temps regularly. Cold hands, feet. Irritability to the point of B!tch… yeah.
Then on an “improve your vision” site one recommended thing they suggested for testing if your thyroid is low is …. taking basal temps in the morning…
And now, seeing your info at Donielle’s site Naturally Knocked Up and reading about increasing basal body temps… it is not hard for me to make this jump–I’m seeing pieces from everywhere come together.
Something else mentioned in one of these blog posts about drinking water with nothing in it thinning down *something* in the bloodstream made me wonder about my issues with drinking water first thing in the morning. It makes me wanna hurl.Can’t do it and never could as a kid. I *was* thirsty, and was going over to the gym and thought it would be a good idea. Erm, no so good after spending 5 minutes trying to get past waves of nausea. Ack. So, my point is, is this another link in the metabolic chain?
I just bought your book and MP3 collection, BTW. It intrigues me to be able to eat 4,000 calories and lose weight. Yeah, I wanna do that and freak my DH out. He’s always told me that it’s not about how much I exercise, it’s about how many calories I eat. Well, I *like* free range chicken skin and whole fat cow’s milk. Looking forward to hearing and reading more.
Ok, now I’ve poured over the information in Degree and I’m going to back off the fried chicken skin for awhile, because of the Omega 6 content is more than I want to deal with now. Looking forward to eating without guilt. :)
Hey, a little fried chicken skin is mandatory on occasion. Don’t get too carried away now!
Hi Kerry,
You like chicken skin and whole fat milk because they are good for you and your body wants the nutrition. Once you are more attuned to what your body wants, the things that don’t carry actual nutrition, like candy, become less appealing, while the things that are nutrient dense, like fruit, eggs, vegetables, and butter, become far more appealing.
The 4,000 calories isn’t necessarily to lose weight. It’s to get your metabolism running appropriately. You won’t want to eat that much, or be capable of eating that much soon. You would be surprised how hard it is to eat beyond appetite. But it works to give people a metabolic kick in the pants.
Plain water has no salts or sugar in it. Our cells maintain salt and sugar in fluid all the time. The lower your metabolism gets, the harder it becomes to hold on to sugar and salt. So, as a generality, the lower your metabolism gets the less plain water you can handle without it causing your cells to become overly diluted – leading to all kinds of negative symptoms, including nausea. You should look up the symptoms of “hyponatremia.” Nausea is right there.
So yes, solute-free liquids are a bad idea in a low metabolic state. But water, in some circumstances, is very healing. It depends on the person. And when you think about something as simple as water being able to really screw one person up while totally heal another, you realize how individual and complex all this health stuff really is. Everyone wants to file every food into good and bad categories for all people. Bad idea. The future of nutrition will be much wiser I hope. But we’re a long way away.
That would also explain why I add extra salt to my food all the time.
So I could add salt to my water? It doesn’t have to be sugar? How about honey, or a squeeze of lemon or orange?
Matt,
I would like to compliment you on your handling of Dani’s criticism of your “educational” background on her site. Wasn’t is she that asked you to write the article? I would have thought that she would have been well aware of your in depth research and personal guinea pigging on all subjects eating/diet/health related.
You handled it very professionally and I admire your ability to so succinctly answer everyone’s inquiries. Well done!! ….as always.
Lisa
I wanted to say I totally agree with Lisa, there is always one person who has to make a fuss in the comments.
Dani and Donielle (the site owner) are NOT the same person. Don’t mind the criticism though. Criticism, pessimism, skepticism – these are important. It’s good to question what another person is saying when it is in disharmony with your own beliefs. Plus, when you’re low-carb it’s hard not to be a grumpy tyrant. I was when I was low-carb. So I have some sympathy for that crazy behavior. I hope Dani breaks free from low-carb prison someday and gets beyond the false beliefs that all of the world’s ailments can be linked somehow to carbs, or insulin. Oops.
Like you say, it would be silly not to question anything new. I just think you did well in your responses to her. I know when I have people egging me on like that I totally cave and start having a bit of a bitch fit.
It’s still a tough criticism to counter though, and I don’t know how to get around it. I was talking with my family about the China Study and how Denise Minger had done this thorough take-down of it. So then they ask what are her qualifications and all I can say is “Liberal Arts Major” which right away makes me lose serious credibility. And all I can respond is “just go fucking read it”, which I know they won’t. I need a more snarky but well thought out response to these criticisms.
Yes, bad press is still good press.
I once read that if you study an area indepth for one year, you are going to know more than most people on that topi, essentially an expert. Since you’ve been reading for 7 years, that puts your studying in an upper eschelon in your field.
I posted something on this one that doesn’t belong here but up higher. Sorry. Not used to posting on blogs. Ack.
I can see for sure that overeating has triggered warm fingers and toes. I can also see (after 3 days only) how a stressful situation brought it on again. So does exercise, even the kind I enjoy.
My kids really enjoy the Mama Fried Chicken Skin, and request it anytime we make chicken soup, so I do it for them. I’ll eat some too, because it is soooo good.
I’m a little worried about how much weight I’m going to gain. Although today, I was kinda revolted at the idea of eating more food. I couldn’t even look at a piece of Lindt Peppermint Chocolate, yet was able to scarf down some coconut oil with cocoa powder and powdered sugar on a graham cracker. Like a reverse Oreo, but with better fats.
I’ve been gluten free–rather trying to be–for the last 7 years, I just feel better when I don’t eat it, but I find myself eating it every other day for some reason or other. Bread just looks so good with butter. and toasted. Oh, my.
Matt, have you read either of Dr. Amanda Sainsbury-Salis’s books? I am currently reading “Don’t Go Hungry For Life” and her approach seems like one you would appreciate.
It’s so funny to see the reactions to Jon Gabriel’s gluten free pizza. I have celiac disease so I forget sometimes that gluten avoidance can be part of orthorexia. It improved the quality of my life tremendously and has become so natural I don’t even think about it anymore. But I can’t imagine why anyone would want to do it if it wasn’t necessary. I don’t miss the gluten foods, but I certainly miss the freedom of being able to eat anywhere anytime and not worry about cross contamination. Although I guess someone avoiding gluten for nonceliac reasons doesn’t really need to worry about cross contamination.
It was interesting reading the comments on the link above. I think you are so far outside of the frame of reference that many of them are operating with that there was no context for your remarks. But you planted some seeds that can be followed up on if they choose. Oh and you don’t need a license to test A1c. They have home test kits now.
Yes, they are pretty good. I like ol’ Doc Amanda.
Yes, when I comment on other sites I usually don’t hold back and give my remarks a little shock value. Something they have never heard before. Not the same old same old they hear everywhere else in that sort of WAP GAP sphere.
I saw an interview she gave somewhere and was looking forward to reading her book.
she is Doctor but definitely a direct opposite of the 5 bites of a snickers diet pusher Dr. Dumbass.
Here’s a question I’ve been pondering whilst thinking about this basal body temp thing.
Does the temperature of the room you sleep in/ the amount of blankets you use factor into this?
I only ask because I know when we stay at my mothers place the room we sleep in is much warmer and I end up waking up sweating my ass off, where as when we stay at home the room is cold and my lovely husband ends up stealing the blankets so I wake up freezing.
It’s something I’ve always wondered about :)
That definitely impacts the armpit temperature. And being overly hot can definitely give you a false reading on a basal body temperature. For example, after a hard workout when I’m sweating my rectal temp goes up as high as 101F.
Q,
Besides the temperature reading being affected by the ambient air, the actual metabolic activity responsible for the temperature reading can be affected by cold exposure like that of which you mention while sleeping at home. The body will adapt to the need for increased heat output by increasing cellular activity as long as adequate calories are supplied in conjunction.
So basically, your internal temp does what you would do when the it gets cold in the winter.
“Gaddamn it’s cold out there, I’m gonna turn up the heat!”
Interesting, I’d be curious to see how big of a diffence this would make on internal temp. :)
Thanks for the feedback boys.
yes but only if there is enough wood in the fireplace
Just to give some sense of the potential requirements, consider the following passage from FixLowBodyTemp.com:
” If the ambient temperature is 30 o F lower than your body temperature, then increasing your temperature by 1 o F will only increase your metabolic heat loss by 3%. However, switching from light short-sleeved to heavier long-sleeved shirts can easily reduce your heat loss by 20% or more. Hence, metabolism is much more affected by what you decide to wear than by your body temperature.”
Keep in mind that 20% figure is only comprising the part of your metabolism related to heat generation, so I don’t know what that figures out to in actual energy needs.
Just thought I would jump in on the change of temperature under the different armpits. My chiropractor took temperature readings on both sides of me to see how balanced I was. If you have issues with balance or back/neck problems the chance that you will get different readings is pretty good. You also don’t have to have back pain when you have an injured spine. My lower back glowed bright red on the thermo scan and I had no idea it was injured because there was no pain. Chiropractic adjustments make the central nervous system work better by getting rid of inflammation and nerve interferance. The central nervous system is the “control system” for the body and will work more efficiently and bring more balance to the body when the nerve blockages (inflammation, scar tissues, poor alignment) are removed.
This is my laymans understanding of what my chiro told me.
So funny that you mention this, I just learned the same thing about myself from my chiropractor! It’s a small world.
Similar to what you mention when the body is out of balance it can affect physical performance. weightlifters and athletes alike see major increases in abilities when things are balanced, as the output is synergistically affected. When thinking about temperature it is obviously related to mitochondrial activity, the majority of which can be found in your muscles. If you are using balanced muscles in your everyday life for things as simple as walking then obviously the temps will reflect that just like you will notice blood rush to an arm being used in isolation and the heat contained within that arm will be different than the other.
WTF? My temp this morning was 100.2F upon waking. Checked it 3 times:
100.2F 1st
100.1F 2nd
100.2F 3rd
Yep, RRARF (now known as Diet Recovery) does a body good. It did mine! :)
My temps are still consistently high even now – months later.
http://1.gravatar.com/userimage/28608672/aef546951c72ed8e115b10b3bb41878c'size=450
http://0.gravatar.com/userimage/28608672/50aed09cf9a9f14b899d35f93bde46e2'size=200
Corena,
Just out of curiosity, what did you eat when you did the Diet Recovery? Just browsing the comments I see some people think the more palatable, digestible foods like pizza and ice cream are better, while Matt’s book seems advocates whole foods. Just wondering what foods you ate to get those temps :)
Hot chicks club president is now Corena! Or maybe you are going to spontaneously combust. ;-)
Hi Matt! I just found out you have a new book, Diet Recovery. I was about to read RRARF, should I skip it and just read the new one?
The new one is much sharper with other important info. added to it.
Ok, thanks.
Four months ago my body temp was SUB-ARTIC! Since RBTI everything has improved ten fold, including my metabolism. It’s been years since I’ve measured normal on the Richter scale. You’ll have to start a “Hot Grandmas” club! Thanks for all your help Matt.
If we start officially going with the rectal temperature, we will have to start a Hot Ass Club or something.
HAHAHAHAAHHAAHA you need to produce a 180 degree logo decorated thermometer for the ‘butt’. :-)
Yes, it will come in several shapes and sizes, including the premier rectal thermometer known as “The Dirty Debbie,” 3 inches in diameter with 4 vibrating speeds.
hopefully with all of the multiple readings, it wont end up like Idiocracy mixing up which is the oral probe and which is the rectal probe
Chief get thee an icon pic! We need your image to inspire us to buffet gorging heights!
It would be a little on the chubby side as I spent all summer and fall doing various weight set point experiments ended up while I delegated the monitoring off my weight to someone else It was ridiculously accurate to the pound and timeframe in snapping back…..I’m keeping this chub state in order to take everyone through a transformation and document it for the blog. I’ll tell ya it’s alot of motivation to finish work up cuz its very time consuming maintaining a fat ass … and I hate jogging.
We love you at any size :-)
You been reading Linda Bacon ? You can love it all you want, I’m not loving the extreme difficulty of clipping my own toe nails !
I’m going to a bar for taco night. Order a pitcher of anything, and get 5 orders of tacos for five bucks (15 tacos) Probably too much protein?, but it should stuff me to the rafters (Brian Regan =) quite nicely. I know some seasonings have wheat (damn you taco bell) in them though, to which I am still sensitive unfortunately. But as far as I understand, the boosting of metabolism far exceeds the worry of some lil protein burglars. Anyone here know of joshrubineastwesthealth? Jeez that dude confuses me…Freakin Ray Peat worshipper.
Yes, I’ve done some Josh Rubin interviews on his blogtalkradio show. I wouldn’t worry about the small details too much, but focus more in general on sort of the physical and psychological tag team effort which is convincing your body that it can go ahead and produce energy at the maximal rate.
Hi Matt,
Jason from Sacramento here. How do you reconcile RRARF with RBTI, since RBTI does not have one over eating? Different diets for different purposes? Are you moving away from RBTI now? I started getting a lot of allergic/hyper-immune type reactions (hives, asthma) so backed off on the parts of RBTI that I thought might be causing that.
On another and related note, have you studied the work of Dr. Nicholas Gonzalez? I recently got his What Should I Eat DVD lecture where he goes over William Kelley’s metabolic typing theories which I’m sure you’re familiar with (some people are either sympathetic dominant, parasympathetic dominant, or balanced, and carnivorous type diets boost the sympathetic while vegetarian type diets boost the parasympathetic. Parasympathetic dominants are the ones prone to allergies/hay fever/asthma. I still can’t help but wonder about metabolic typing and how it all fits in with RBTI, your current ideas about carbs, and the context of when one eats certain foods.
Jason – I don’t think of various diet ideas as being “one-trick ponies.” There are many tools out there. RRARF and RBTI are but two of hundreds of health tools. Figuring out their “uses and limitations” I would say is the trick.
As for your negatives on RBTI, most of the negatives people experience are due to either the supplements or the lemonade. Something to think about.
As for asthma and parasympathetic dominance, this makes sense. Anything that increases adrenaline will decrease asthma and allergies in the short-term. Whether this is “healthy” or a sustainable approach, I don’t know. The things that I have done in the past to eradicate my asthma (low-carb, calorie restriction, exercise – particularly outdoor exercise), were not sustainable. With low-carb the asthma came back and I had to drop the diet, and when going back to carbs the asthma was worse than it was before! Same cycle was repeated with doing 10 hours of hard exercise per day. It cures all my health problems. But then I can’t keep up with it because it destroys me, and health problems start to emerge before I finally fall of the wagon only to find myself worse off than before I started. Similar to calorie restriction.
So I don’t find these things a practical, realistic, sustainable, or healthy means of achieving better balance.
Would oral readings be as accurate as rectal or armpit, or no? Could one compare armpit readings with the other two?
I find oral and armpit readings to be less accurate than rectal. Armpit temps are pretty accurate if you really are nice and warm under the covers and take a long time to let the thing warm up before you stick it in there.
This post sums up my story quite nicely as I believe PCOS all comes down to slow metabolism. Just finished reading Diet Recovery and am thinking about your point on minimizing mental and emotional strain. I can’t exactly just walk away from my job at this point, but the more I practice self-awareness, the more I realize that my work may be sucking the life energy right out of me.
It’s a chicken/egg debate I guess. I wonder if diet could help balance my feelings and make it possible for me to come home from work and not feel like climbing directly into bed. At the same time, I wonder if continuing in this work will only sabotage any potential success food might have brought about! I wonder if I can heal in this current environment.
I think it’s Dr. Cowan in the Fourfold Path to Healing (if I remember correctly) who defines stress as anything that forces us to live contrary to what our inner guide is telling us (loosely paraphrased!)
I’m a teacher. It’s not even so much the 150 middle-schoolers tugging at me all day (although that’s exhausting, too.) I just feel like my hands are tied–I don’t have the power to do for kids what I know needs doing. I find myself walking around telling off politicians in my head all day long. It can’t be healthy!
I’m looking for “healthy” coping strategies–how do I let go of these things I can’t control and shake it off at the end of the day?
Lack of control/autonomy is the theme with psychological stress. But you can take control of your life in other ways I find, such as taking up a hobby or separate project that interests you, and devoting more of your mental energy towards that pursuit vs. putting all your energy into your job. Perhaps you could slowly work on getting an online education masters degree so that you could someday teach people how to teach, instead of being on the lower rungs where you have no control, and have to do things “the wrong way.”
But yes, diet and lifestyle changes can shift your body into a mode where you are less likely to feel stress, and when you do, be less likely to see negative health consequences from it. Most things with health are a two-way street. Even when diet isn’t the problem, it can still be the solution… if that makes sense.
I have to second the ideas in this comment Matt, if it does not make sense re-read it people. Well said
You have no idea how comforting this idea is to me. Thanks for taking a minute to respond so thoughtfully:)
i saw a bumper sticker: ” I had a life — but my job ate it”
I should make a bumper sticker that says, “I had a life, but my diet ate it.”
Hey Matt,
Quick question: Is there some way to consult with you without using a headset? I can’t afford a stable internet connection at the moment and have to rely on leeching broadwidth from my neighbours W-Lan.
The thing is that I crashed severly today after following your advice and feeling a better for the first days. I developed some minor new symptoms simultaneously like itching feet and tinnitus. Also I look like I’m 6 months pregnant and my armpits emit the worst stench I’ve witnessed in a long time. Hope you don’t mind the vulgar terminology, but it has the fishy smell of you know what mixed with vinegar. I mean WTF?!
And the worst thing is that I had an adverse emotional breakdown today, I was really feeling hopeless all day long. I’m truely desperate now.
Please let me know
Hey Marc,
Just email me and let’s see if we can figure this out. sacredself@gmail.com
what works then Matt?
Hi Matt! I enjoyed your post on Naturally Knocked up and have also enjoyed reading diet recovery. Thank you so much for the freedom to eat foods I love again, like potatoes and corn! I have begun to try following your plan for recovering my metabolism. A couple questions: first, what do I do about the ever increasing scale? It has been creeping up by a pound or two every week and I really have a lot of weight to lose! Will this stop after the month is up? Second, I could see myself in the part about addiction (only regular, not diet pop). Any advice for overcoming that? All the good food has helped cut the amount, but not completely removed the addiction. One other thing, is regular rolled oats or quick oats o.k. or do I need to find steel cut oats (and should they be soaked?)? Thanks for your help! I desperately want to join your hot chicks club (and hopefully thin club too!).
Audrey – Email me and let’s discuss this a little further. I have a lot of questions I would like to ask you before I can really dish out any specific ideas for how to address your weight gain. Eat those quick oats, that’s fine. Don’t worry about soaking them, that is minutiae. I wouldn’t worry about the soda right now either. But maybe see if you can avoid sweets after 2pm, eating lighter in the evening. You don’t have to make that a “diet” either. In fact, if you really stuff yourself at lunch and have something sweet with it, you will automatically eat lighter at night and not desire sweets. The emphasis should be on eating more midday, not less at night. My email is sacredself@gmail.com
In my opinion RBTI is a customized program. What works for one does not have to work for others. It can be that people are allergic or have an intolerance for e.g. lemonade. Therefore I do not see drinking lemonade as a general rule.
Thank you so much for replying to my comment Matt, it means a lot.
Hello Matt – I’m can empathize with Audrey.. the day you posted on Naturally Knocked up, I took the leap. I’m definitely a diet junky, having tried every possible diet/exercise program over the past 20+ years to keep myself “fit” – mostly to keep myself from exploding. For me, it is all about weight. At the beginning of this year to try getting rid of the last 10-15lbs, I decided to give up refined sugar which meant going completely whole food. While I lost maybe 5lbs in the first week or two, there was never anything since. I maintained weight over the months by restricting (not eliminating) carbohydrates. Sweets slowly worked their way back into my life, but they weren’t running it like before and I tried to keep things as unrefined as possible.
Anyway.. long story short, I figured I’d tried everything, so was just going to have to accept my weight once and for all. Then your post. I started your suggestions the very next morning (because I’m actually trying to get pregnant, too). I’m coming up on two weeks now and have gained about 7-10lbs. I’m a little unhappy because in your Diet Recovery book you state losing weight should not be a goal of this whole “plan”. My initial goal is to raise my body temp to increase fertility; my secondary goal is to lose the fat and become lean. But as I regain all the weight I worked so hard to lose a couple years ago, I’m becoming anxious about whether I will have to then accept myself at a larger size than I desire. I’m still following your steps posted on Naturally Knocked up (large breakfast with ~12 hrs in between the next meal), even though it is different than how your present things in your book. My body temp has lowered to the 96.5-.9 range, but am currently in the first part of my cycle, so I suspect it will rise again next week. The highest temp I recorded in the first week or so was 98.3.
Anyway… I guess I’m just looking for a little hope that things will actually work out? It sounds like it has for many people; I just seem to be a notoriously difficult person for many things, so tend toward cynicism at times.
Thank you for sharing all your thoughts and discoveries from all the volumes of research out there. It is inspiring. :)
Sounds like you mis-read what I wrote on Naturally Knocked Up. I said that one should maintain a fasting period of 12 hours per day. This usually comes at night while you sleep. During the day you should eat as many meals as your body dictates, and eat when you are hungry. Your difficultry getting pregnant probably stems from your “working so hard to lose a couple years ago.” You will become metabolically normal and healthy once you restore that body fat – with perhaps a little extra, at which point your body temperature will come up and you will be able to get pregnant much more easily. You may eventually lose the body fat with a long-term approach.
Also keep in mind that you have not gained 7-10 pounds of fat. To gain 10 pounds of fat in 2 weeks would mean that you have been storing 2,500 extra calories per day above what you are using, which is doubtful. What you have stored is more glycogen, more water, a little muscle, and some fat – probably a total calorie storage far less than 10 pounds of pure fat represents.
Having good metabolic health is easy to achieve. The body recomposition takes time and patience and can only come naturally – not forced or achieved with “work” which is rarely, if ever, sustainable. It’s certainly not a healthy thing to be doing prior to getting pregnant. If you are going to have a child, I would ignore what you look like for a couple of years and focus on getting your body to function correctly. Healthy mothers lose all the body fat they gain during pregnancy and often end up leaner than they were going into it after breastfeeding for several months.
Matt –
First, thank you for your response. Second, I didn’t actually misread your post; however, I did misinterpret it, so thank you for the clarification – it certainly makes more sense. Third, AAaaaaarrrrrrrggghghhhhhhh!!!!
Ok.. now that that is out of the way, I gotta say this has done nothing to comfort me or give me hope or help me believe there is any possible way anything in this life will ever go my way or is in any way in my control. The sheer number of emotions, thoughts, retorts, curiosities that have gone through my head since I posted on here is vast. However, reading the various responses to other posts/entries does provide an opportunity for me to draw up conclusions about my own situation and has seemingly kept that light at the end of the tunnel somewhat illuminated.
Now.. with THAT out of the way.. I know there is no possible way for you to come out with a clear cut answer for each person in a couple paragraphs when you really know nothing other than the few sentences they gave you. That would be laughable… or completely amazing.
I’m not really looking for a miracle (or perhaps I am), but I am looking for something better than what I’ve had. Your recent post about the “new girlfriend” syndrome comes to mind when I think about your eating solution (diet), which has prompted me to finally respond. I’ve told only TWO people about what I am doing for fear it will yet be just another failed attempt. A third person probably just thinks I’m pregnant with as much “expansion” that has happened over the past three and a half weeks. This diet plan is like a pregnancy in some ways too – where you want to wait until after the first trimester before you tell anyone because you want to make sure everything is looking good.
Many posters have multiple health issues they are trying to resolve in addition to weight loss – most of these issues are physical in nature. No one that I’ve seen has actually mentioned anything about psychological issues (it’s not like I’ve read your entire blog, though). Those are my challenges. I have suffered with depression and anxiety pretty much my entire life. I resolved about 80% of the last decade’s worth of build up in that area by finally getting separated and divorced a couple years ago. Much of my weight gain over the years was while I was in my lame marriage. So, you can imagine how I feel about your statement “You will become metabolically normal and healthy once you restore that body fat ? with perhaps a little extra”. What that tells me is that I was always meant to be this weight – which I have difficulty believing, but am not putting it outside the realm of possibility since I was athletic (competition swimmer) from 7-19 years old and then went on to repress my metabolism through one diet after another. I could put the food away when I was a kid, though. Never had a problem with that. I maintained my weight at 140 (large-boned and higher muscle mass, so I know what it’s like to not listen to the scale) for about 12 years, then the stress of my marriage started in.
Anyway ? repacking on all the pounds (with a little extra) and adding a number of inches all over (which includes buying ?fat? clothes, or fatter clothes because there sure isn’t anything in my wardrobe that fits anymore) has pretty much thrown me back into depression. How you can say people gained the extra weight but felt healthier than they ever have their entire life is beyond me. I have a physical job. I can barely move the way I am used to. I feel restricted because my body has expanded so much. It is, in a word, depressing.
My whole reason for posting anything was first about fertility, but it suggests I have been trying to get pregnant for months/years (I have, but being married to a ?fixed? man has its challenges in that arena). I actually only tried once in my life which was shortly before my initial post. I believe I conceived, just miscarried, but it hasn’t made me believe I will never become pregnant. I’m just looking for ways to improve my chances (one big learning curve over the last two months). I’m 40, so trying to tell my biological clock to wait another two years is like trying to tell a river not to flow downstream. It’s just not gonna happen. My life is non-standard, to put it mildly, and certain things are in the right place right now ? so I was just seeking out a little upgrade to the oven to help things along. The fact is, if pregnancy isn’t in my cards over the next few months, it’s just not in my cards at all.
Didn’t mean to write a book, but I think I mentioned before I am difficult, which means I overanalyze and complicate things. I am trying to keep things simple by just eating the food (hopefully enough) and hoping somehow it will all work out in the end.
I’m three days away from the 30-day mark. My temp has been on the rise because it’s the latter part of my cycle, so I am hoping I will either get hotter, or it will maintain when I restart my cycle.
I talk about mental health extensively, and many have noticed dramatic mood improvement. Even an ex-girlfriend of mine who had anxiety problems even though she explored virtually every known modality of alternative therapy and self-improvement wrote to me a week ago about how just quitting drinking so much water finally cleared it up.
How often do you urinate per day? Is your urine very clear? Do you wake up in the middle of the night and have to urinate? Do you wake up frequently at 4am and feel a surge in anxiety? Do you notice anxiety after taking a nap?
Anxiety is mostly caused by being in a sympathetic nervous system dominant state. When you are not in that state, it’s very difficult to have anxiety.
As for fat gain, some tweaks in your meal schedule and stabilization of your sugar levels will probably stop or reverse that trend. Answer these questions first and I’ll try to dig deeper with you and make those fine-tuned adjustments that you sound like you are in need of.
I actually hardly ever drink water, especially since starting the diet recovery. My fluid intake is either milk (raw) or coconut water. Sometimes I’ll have fresh OJ, but rarely will have I have juice.
I would say I urinate about every 3-4 hrs, so I do think it’s really excessive. My urine is usually not too clear, but some days it can be on the clearer side midday. I usually do wake up about 2am – whether it’s because I have to urinate or not is debatable. Sometimes I do, other times I will have to before I can get back to sleep. I am usually up in the morning between 4-5am to get my day started. My sleep pattern is horrible. Even if I were to goto bed at 8pm every day, I guarantee I will not sleep straight through, but will wake up at least 2-3 times (not always having to urinate, though). I’ve never noticed any surges in anxiety upon waking in the morning or after naps, but it’s quite possible it’s there just because I don’t want to get up for work.
Hey Matt – Seems like I might be in a no-win situation. I’m really trying to work on the sleep part, but I have been having so much difficulty lately sleeping at night. I just lie awake for 2-3 hours at times. I’ve been trying to refrain from any sleep during the day so I will be more tired at night. But because I’m so tired, I usually end up napping for at least an hour. Today I didn’t, so hopefully tonight will be different and I can keep the trend.
Because of my anxiety, I’ve stopped overeating part of Diet Recovery (it’s only adding inches and it’s already been over 30 days). I’m not restricting my diet, but am eating to appetite for the most part. Like I said above, I don’t drink any water. I’ve started to drink more juice in addition to milk and coconut water.
I’m just not sure what else I can do to help get my temp up. Seems like the anxiety is preventing it. And the weight gain only contributes to the anxiety. And I’m ALWAYS gassy. Ugh! :)
Is RBTI my next option? It just seems to be taking it to another level of extremes by doing all the testing, so I’m not sure if it’s right for me yet.
If you think I can actually be successful due to my anxiety, I will continue whatever effort. I know you’ve said others have had success ridding themselves of it, but I haven’t seen any examples on how.
I guess I’m missing something (like the good nights rest (and perhaps refined foods, which I’m bringing more into my diet now)).
Thanks mucho.
Use of the refractometer and the RBTI meal schedule will probably improve your anxiety and sleep tremendously, as well as stop the weight gain if not reverse it. You should probably switch over to refined foods as well. Sounds like all this unrefined food is causing a lot of problems, and the feeding of all the bacteria in your gut may be responsible for some of this. You need more specific help. I will email you later.
“I guess I’m just looking for a little hope that things will actually work out? It sounds like it has for many people; I just seem to be a notoriously difficult person for many things, so tend toward cynicism at times.”
KK,
I just had to chime in with a little more hope… hopefully :)
Matt wrote:
“Healthy mothers lose all the body fat they gain during pregnancy and often end up leaner than they were going into it after breastfeeding for several months.”
That is so true. And I wanted to add that breastfeeding is the best thing you can do for your baby and yourself – on several levels – but also for your pregnancy weight gain. The weight will come off naturally as you breastfeed – as long as you don’t stress over it or try to force it. And the longer you breastfeed the better – for you and baby. But you have to get healthy. And lucky you that you have time to get a good start on that before you get pregnant.
So yes forget about your weight and focus on you. Eat the food. And take some “you time” before the baby comes. This is SO important. Do things that you really enjoy and make you feel good – both mentally and physically. That will help put you in a positive frame of mind and help you relax and distract you from thinking/worrying about your weight. Plus, eliminating that mental stress (hormonal chaos) will also increase your changes of getting pregnant. Triple whammy :)
I know that sounds almost too simple, but I’ve seen it work time and time again. And even if you don’t know yet what things you would enjoy, just exploring and searching for them can be fun. Now you can take the time and effort you’ve been putting into researching weight loss strategies and use it to pursue a hobby and other things that you enjoy.
Corena –
Your post is logical and make sense and is very true. I’m actually not stressed about trying to get pregnant – it’s an exciting time for me because it is something I have been wanting for so long. If you read my post to Matt, you’ll understand why it hasn’t happened earlier. While things aren’t necessarily ideal, they are as good as they are going to get with me at this time in my life.. and I’m okay with that.
Coming across Matt’s post on Naturally Knocked Up was like finding a diamond in the rough that you know with a little work and polishing will be quite the gem. At least that was how I felt about it at that time. Then the weight came on and the depression ensued. And then he posted his girlfriend post (which makes me feel like I just started another relationship diet!). :P
Trust me, I was ready for weight gain with a pregnancy, but without that it’s a whole new challenge to sort through mentally for me. It’s not as simple as just accepting it, though logically it all makes sense. It’s also very difficult to sift through the mental load to find a new hobby. Food has been such a huge part of my life – I literally consider two things each day… what I have to do at work and what I am going to eat. I have been injured, so my weekends have been general chores. Otherwise, I’d be out hiking – that is where I’d rather be on any given day. Obviously, with recovery to consider with Matt’s plan, hiking is out.
I don’t really know where all this is taking me to be honest, but I truly hope I will see a temperature improvement soon, which I am guessing means an improved metabolism so I can get back to hiking again. Hiking has been one of those things I have always wanted to do since I was a kid, but only watched my brother do. I only just started hiking two years ago and love it dearly. I truly hope I will not have to give it up after just discovering it. That was my hobby until recently – the one thing I could do that helped me forget about EVERYthing.
Thank you for all the pregnancy encouragement. I often hear of mothers not being able to produce milk, so that was a genuine concern for me because I knew through breastfeeding weight would be lost. I really feel if I can get my health in order (which seems to be metabolism/temperature related), I will benefit both myself and any future pregnancy I may have.
Matt,
What if I have been doing everything you said on Danielle’s site but still have low body temps?
Sometimes it takes up to the full 30 days to see rising temps. Some people don’t notice a gradual increase, but a long flatline and then “Whoosh,” a sudden surge. Occassionally temps stay pretty flat and never really come up, at which point you start to look at other options – like other dietary interventions or thyroid hormone supplementation. I would consider eating more easily-digestible refined foods for a bit to see how that goes. Ice cream and pizza raise my temp like no other foods on the planet.
“dietary interventions” what are you thinking? I am already on armour thyroid, dr. won’t up it though due to “normal” tests – I can tell you I DON”T FEEL NORMAL, but they never care. So what dietary interventions are you thinking? I will try pizza and coconut ice cream (milk makes my throat close up), all carbs make me gain huge weight, like it touches my lips and my elastic waist band is bursting – what causes that?
Coconut ice cream and pizza are mostly fat, not carbs. Try gaining huge weight eating as much fruit, potatoes, beans, and white rice as you can possibly stomach. It’s much harder.
There are probably lots of little tweaks you could implement that will have you losing weight on pizza and ice cream and all your favorite foods though – such as eating 1-2 large meals per day instead of 3 or more smaller ones. I find that one main meal per day is great, with just light snack every now in then to get me through the hours where I’m not eating.
Just wondering – I have been taking body temps using the Baby Comp (a very sensitive under the tounge themo.) and it says my temps are always around 96.5 – 96.7. Could this be because I am nursing a baby though? I am currently nursing our almost 8 month old and I know when I started TRYING to raise my body temp last time I got preg while nursing – made me wonder if the lower body temp has something to do with the body naturally supressing ovulation due to nursing?
I will say though that I have about 70 pounds (as off this week) to lose. I have had 5 pregnancies in 6 years (with 5 healthy little ones born ) and have started out the last 3 pregnancies HEAVIER than I was at 9 months preg wiht the one prior. I am pretty desperate to get the weight off but anything I do seems to put 10 pounds on literally almost overnight. I did not eat any junk over the holidays but stayed grain and sugar free and gained 10 pounds in 2 weeks – I was also walking about 45 minutes a day and I am still nursing the baby (which should help me lose weight). My hubby has come home before and calculated everything I eat and I usually take in 1300 calories a day – I am guessing that Matt would think that is not enough calories for a nursing mother? I can honestly say I am really reading everything he has here because if the “low cal” think worked – I would think that 1300 calories a day for a nursing mother that is running around with 6 children and being sure to get in her 45 minute walk (because it takes 20 minutes to get into “fat burning” mode) would get me in the best shape ever. I am so tired I dont know what to do, my mind is always fuzzy, and I would do just about anything to get this weight off and my energy back.
Matt’s way seems so scary though – I feel like I cannot afford another 10 pounds – I know what I am doing is not working but I just keep thinking it must be something in my diet. I have tried raw vegan – no weight loss, the master cleanse and juice fasting – gained 4 pounds, no grains and no sugars – gained 10 pounds – what else can I cut out of my diet?
Don’t cut anything out of your diet. Include everything in your diet, and lots of it. I would love to see you hitting 2,500 calories per day as a reasonable target at first. And taking naps instead of going on 45 minutes walks.
What you’ve been doing sounds scary to me. We would love to monitor your progress and cheer you on here at 180D. I really hope you dive in and see that there’s another way! And it’s so easy! Like being on vacation! You’ll hopefully see very quickly that the Nutrition Gods are much kinder than you ever thought they were. That they actually want you to eat lots of yummy things until you feel like taking a nap, and then actually take a nap – all while getting healthier and sometimes even losing some body fat over time. Excited for you Bev. You’ve found the right place.
That’s way low no matter who you are or what’s going on. Your diet history, multiple pregancies (major stress and nutrient depleter), and current 1300 calorie diet with forced steady-state exercise are the cause for your low body temps more so than nursing.
Thanks so much for replying – so which of your books would you recommend I read first? Also – I do have a “reaction” to gluten foods – they make me really tired and sometimes give me a headache – should I keep these out? I dont eat the gluten free stuff loaded with sugar.
I have also been on raw food vegan stints – one while pregnate and nursing..come to think of it, that was the pregnacy that I gained only 18 pounds but started out the next pregnancy heavier. I seemed to never be able to reverse the tide after that. And I also feel I did the raw vegan thing “right” – all organic veggies, lots of green smoothies, etc.. – then I was told that I ate too much fat and that was why I was not losing weight ? so I cut out all oils, seeds, avocadoes, etc?
My husband said I got ?weird?
Recently I have flipped to the paleo thing ? all grass fed beef, coconut oils, etc.. and now I am being told I don’t eat enough produce and that is why I am not losing weight on the paleo.
Thanks so much for spurring me on. It is so scary to think of eating whenever I want to though ? my mind just cannot wrap around that. I am also scared of what people think ? if they see me eating so much they will say ‘that is why she cant lose weight ? she eats too much?. My husband is always telling me not to worry about what people think ? he is so great- trying to help me anyway he can with this. He knows it makes me miserable being this overweight and not being able to play with the kids and have fun ? I am so self conscious I don’t want to do anything anymore.
So no more walks?
You know what is really amazing – I have been looking into going to a reams retreat in KY for about 3 months now – I have never run across anyone else who knew what reams was (except the man who told us about it in the first place)!
Hi Bev!
You wrote:
“My husband is always telling me not to worry about what people think ? he is so great- trying to help me anyway he can with this.”
I just had to say…
You are so right! You DO have a great hubby!! I’m sure you know that you are luckier than most. But I’m not sure you realize just what an amazing gift you really have – someone who is that understanding and supports you fully. Not everyone has that. Actually very few people truly have that. And likely not most of the people you ‘worry’ will think critically of you. In fact, so many people have even worse – spouses and loved ones who criticize them and make them feel bad about themselves.
People who criticize others tend to do so because they are unhappy (most don’t even know it) and have no real support themselves. So, rather than worry about what people think about you, sympathize with them instead – especially those who do criticize. They clearly don’t have what you have! :)
So I agree with your hubby. Don’t worry about what people think. And having his support is half the battle. Also, put more attention on the things that make you feel good about yourself and make you smile – and things that make your hubby smile! :)
And if you don’t know what those things are yet, researching and exploring them is really fun – which also serves as a nice distraction from your worries – this is powerful. Also, ask your hubby about the things that make him feel good and make him smile. And take an interest in one or more of them, if you’re not already. You’d be surprised what a positive affect this will have on – not just him and your relationship – but YOU both mentally and physically. Oh and even if you already have stuff the two of you do together, exploring something NEW together is so much fun!
You will be surprised the difference all of that will make in your health, in your life, and even your weight – bonus! :)
And speaking of weight, if you are absolutely terrified of gaining weight – which that fear in and of itself can cause stress and be counter-productive… I would suggest doing a RBTI-ish version of RRARF aka Diet Recovery. Following just the basic guidelines of RBTI. Like the meal schedule, eating the bulk of your calories at lunch before 2pm, and a light dinner (if any). That should minimize fat gain. And you may even find yourself losing, like myself and others have experienced.
I’m really glad you found 180DH. I agree that you’re in the right place. Please keep in touch and let us know how you’re doing :)
Oh and Bev,
If the RBTI meal schedule doesn’t work into your life schedule or personal preferences, then by all means tweak your meal schedule to fit you. For example, you can eat most of your calories in the afternoon-evening hours, rather than morning-afternoon, if that works better for you.
It’s very important to not stress, or ‘add’ stress, or ‘force’ anything, or feel like you’re dieting.
IMO, it’s the fasting effect of the “after 2pm” RBTI guideline that stimulates the fat loss that people experience with RBTI. So IMO you can get the metabolic healing benefits of RRARFing (Diet Recovery), while minimizing fat gain, by giving your body a brief fasting period. I think you will see little to no gain and probably even fat loss.
But… when it IS time to eat, you need to really eat the food! And eat everything. Really. Eat anything you want but eat a lot and a wide variety of food – both wholesome and refined.
Corena – thanks so much for your reply. My husband is a true blessing – if I asked him what made him happy (and I have many times) he would say “to see you smile”. He tells me all the time that the prettiest thing I can wear is a smile (he actually has says that the prettiest thing any woman can wear is a smile :)
I have really been looking into the RBTI – even before I knew about 180.
Thanks so much also for your support over the net :)
It really means a lot – but I bet you already knew that from experience!
Bev,
Somehow I’m not surprised he would say that. You have a really special guy there!! And yes I know from experience :)
If seeing you smile is what does it for him, then all the more reason to focus on things that make you smile. Right? That’s a gift you can give him in return for the “special” he gives you :) – win win!
You’re so welcome. Hope it helped. I’d love to hear about your progress. Keep in touch.
You can go on walks when you are dying to take a walk, overflowing with energy, and it sounds like fun. But you’ll have to overcome a lot of past diet mileage first I think. Good luck finding the courage to ETF!!! (EAT THE FOOD)
I am a Matt Impersonator! (I’m just sharing what I think I might know, These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This comment is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease. Walk when you need to walk Bev, don’t do it for exercise. Take a breather, relax, stress is no good. Your body needs more energy! If the body is not getting adequate energy, it compensates by lowering body temperature, and the fat cells get hungry so to speak, as well as the calories you do consume are getting prioritized. Lots of caloric discrimination if you will. A cucumber for example, is kind of difficult to digest and has lots of fiber, and will not give you much energy, so a person trying to live off of vegetables like these, won’t be getting adequate energy. My digestive system has given me hell ever since I can remember. I have been over eating for a few weeks (not everyday, but when I can) and I have been having gluten and dairy and I’ve had tiny amounts of cramps but no diarrhea yet!! (some explaining about this may be needed though) Usually I am sensitive to wheat, and dairy, and it gives me severe cramps and you know what comes after that. I do think I am somewhat lactose intolerant still (I feel like I know when I feel lactose in my intestines) but that is something that can be healed I believed. Joshrubin, if he’s right, talks about how the villa in the intestines can be damaged and do not perform the proper enzymatic functions, but they can be regenerated! just like a cut in the mouth. I gotta go though, good luck to you, and everyone (myself too!) I’m nuts right now..Must be too excited that I actually get to sleep in.
Bob – that makes a lot of sense – thanks for that!
Your comment is very helpful and I am thankful that you, Corena, and Matt have all taken time to write adressing some of my concerns :)
Corena, your post is like a thousand times better than mine =\ haha. Awesome job
Aww thank you Bob! I just saw your comment to Bev too. We must have been typing same time haha. And don’t sell yourself short. You shared important input :)
Everyone’s input has value.
Hi Matt,
I am trying to get pregant and I was also trying to get fit, using PACE (and in the process I was hoping to lose a bit of fat), but after reading your guest blog on Naturally Knocked Up I am not sure anymore if I should keep exercising this way or not.
I am not a very sporty person. It takes a bit of will power to get my lazy butt out the door. But it does make me feel better. I sit behind my desk all day and in the evening move to the couch so I don’t get a lot of exercise and don’t spend a lot of time outside (especially in the winter). So going to the park to do a bit of Maxercise-running seems to be a good idea.
I think my temperatures are ok, but I’m not sure. I’ve been taking them orally (been taking my temps everyday for the last 1,5 years and orally really is the easiest way for me). According to Wikipedia oral temps are 0,3 – 0,5 degrees C lower than rectal.
Generally my oral temps before ovulation are between 36.2 and 36.4 and after ovulation they are between 36.5 and 36.7. Here are the temps with corrections of 0.3 and 0.5 degrees in C and F.
Before ovulation
36.2 -> 36.5 – 36.7
97.16 -> 97.7 – 98.06
36.3 -> 36.6 – 36.8
97.34 -> 97.88 – 98.24
36.4 -> 36.7 – 36.9
97.52 -> 98.06 – 98.42
After ovulation
36.5 -> 36.8 – 37.0
97.7 -> 98.24 – 98.6
36.6 -> 36.9 – 37.1
97.88 -> 98.42 – 98.78
36.7 -> 37.0 – 37.2
98.06 -> 98.6 – 98.96
What do you think, are these temps ok? Would it be ok to do MAXercise/PACE/Peak8 kind of exercise while trying to get pregnant with these temps?
I seem to remember dr. Sears saying that growth hormone makes you younger, so that would be good for fertility right? (I am 40 years old by the way which is probably why getting pregnant it is not going so fast.)
Sara Netherlands
Yeah, those are pretty good temps. Wouldn’t hurt to get them up slightly higher pre-ovulation, but that’s good enough. You can always eat more food to achieve that. And I think the training is fine. We all need some exercise and I think that is the most productive and hormonally favorable type. That and high intensity circuit training with weights designed to achieve a similar effect. Hey, maybe throw in a few sets of pushups into your sprint routine while you are outside frolicking in the park :) Eat hard, play hard, and I bet you will have a strong, healthy baby.
I was kind of hoping you would tell me to lay on the couch all day. Haha.
Well, ok, no excuses, I will go on with my PACE/MAXercise/Peak8 program. I was in fact also doing pushups and squats right after running. I live only 5 minutes walking distance from the park, so I’ve been doing the squats and pushups at home. I thought the growth hormone would still be up 5 minutes after my last sprint.
And I will definitely also eat the food and check my temps to see if they will go up a little!
Thanks!
Hi Matt,
I’ve been reading about your diet and interested in trying it to conceive, but I’m afraid of gaining MORE weight. Long story short – I haven’t gotten my period since I went off birth control over a year ago, so my Endo told me to gain 5lbs. Well, I’ve gained 15lbs and still nothing. My temperatures are still really low too, 96.26 this AM. I feel like everything I eat just goes straight to my stomach, I look like I’m 6months pregnant even though I’m not ha.
I physically feel terrible and uncomfortable in my body. Is there a way to do your program without gaining weight?
No, the weight gain is definitely unavoidable. And the first weight gained goes straight to the gut, as is typical of people who have a low temp. You can probably help yourself a bit by keeping the fat levels lower and carb intake much higher while focusing on relaxation and extra sleep rather than packing in the calories, but you’ll still need extra fuel and will still gain some weight.
But what seems to typically happen to those that gain weight BEFORE pregnancy, is that conception is easier, the baby is healthier, and weight gain during pregnancy is minimal. I’ve even heard from a few that actually lost weight during pregnancy and still had a super healthy kid.
Speaking of healthy kids, someone who ate extra calories to get her temps up before pregnancy just wrote this to me a few days ago. Pretty epic…
I delivered at exactly 40 weeks to a 7.5 lbs baby girl. During labor, when I had contractions her heart rate would increase, which is ideal but apparently pretty rare. She had great muscle definition at birth and was incredibly alert. Within 24 hours she was supporting her weight while standing and rolling from side-to side. She was crawling at 5 months and walking by 10 months. My baby is now 14 months, she’s very energetic and healthy. This week she is practicing saying bye-bye and my husband and I are working on getting her to not bite other children at daycare. She also occasionally speaks in complete sentences, which is just weird. Her first sentence was a couple weeks ago, when she wanted me to pick her up and said “I’m going to go with you.” During dinner last night she stubbornly demanded to play in the guacamole, I took it away and she said “I just need a little bit.” She’s still strong, although it does not seem abnormal at this point.
Matthew Stone, you truly are a godsend. I know you’ve cooled off a bit on the diet stuff in recent years, but honestly, if you knew the amount of people you have helped….
Hi Matt,
I just read your book “Eat for Heat”, and I followed the link to your 90-Day Raising Metabolism e-course.
But the e-course doesn’t seem to be available at the link.
Is it still available? Is the same information available in Diet Recovery (1 and/or 2) or in a blog article?
Thanks!
– Mark