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Post by alyeska on Nov 3, 2017 14:57:25 GMT
I'm having major problems with my metabolism obviously. I'm on a very restricted diet and have to force myself to eat, so it's not that I'm eating too much which is weird. I'm not really able to exercise much, but even when I was walking 6 to 10 miles 3x per week, the weight still wasn't coming off.
I've never weighed this much in my life except when pregnant and was never overweight until the last few years when Lyme symptoms have gotten really bad. I'm at the point where clothes aren't fitting, but I don't have energy or money to get new ones.
Any ideas?
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Post by Admin/ Traveler on Nov 4, 2017 0:20:46 GMT
I've actually dealt with both sides of this issue. Back in 1999, I lost over 30 lbs without changing a thing - then in 2014/2015 I gained a TON of weight, mainly due to my adrenals and thyroid crashing. What I learned was that part of my problem was actually eating too few calories! My body goes into starvation mode quickly, if I'm not getting enough calories daily, but that was only part of it. I had to get my adrenals and thyroid hormones balanced out again before I could loose the weight. I gained around 50 lbs before I could finally get things balanced out with my thyroid and adrenals. Food allergies also had a lot to do with my weight gain as well. I'm allergic to all soy (no matter how innocuous it may be for others - soy oil, soy lecithin too) and MSG, which actually has about 15 names it goes by, so it's super hard to avoid it - unless you prepare everything yourself, which is what I now have to do. So, as odd as it sounds, make sure you are getting enough calories and be sure that your thyroid function and adrenal function is good for starters.
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Post by alyeska on Nov 5, 2017 8:32:48 GMT
I had to eat more to lose the baby weight after 3rd baby. Our family practitioner told me to do that, and it worked! Of course, that was 15 years ago.
My LLMD wants me to eat only organic because my genetic workup says I'm very sensitive to pollutants, so I'm usually means preparing it myself from scratch. Ugh. I don't have the energy for that. I've been on this restricted diet for so many years, but the last year or so DH is cooking a lot more, which is great. He just doesn't always cook what I can eat too (which I understand... why should 4 other people have to suffer through this diet if they don't have to?) He also doesn't use organic most of the time because it's so expensive.
I have a soy allergy too. You would not believe how long my list is. It's so long that they wouldn't all fit on the handy dandy "foods to avoid" card for my wallet. It says "Please refer to lab report for additional reactive foods" at the bottom. My son only has about 10 things on his, and mine can't even hold my entire list. I'm so messed up!
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Post by Admin/ Traveler on Nov 5, 2017 20:10:13 GMT
Yep, with a serious soy allergy and a MSG allergy, I can't eat most prepared foods either. For a long time though, it was either eat those foods or don't eat, because I had zero energy and was bed/couch bound. Now, I'm enjoying cooking a bit (Shocked!!) because I have some energy!!! Amazing how that works! LOL! One place that I like to eat is Applebee's, as they have a special food allergy menu that lists what foods that they prepare contain soy, for example - or peanuts or quite a few other things. Mostly I just don't eat out though, nor do I eat another person's cooking -which means we don't go much of anywhere to eat other than home! But, it's really helped me get my gut issues under control more, so it's been worth it (please feel free to remind me of this any time I complain though!!!!). Most people have no clue what has soy oil in it and what doesn't - it's not even listed on a lot of things and it's included in a TON of "health foods"!!! I'm forever reading food labels!!!!
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Post by Admin/ Traveler on Nov 5, 2017 20:10:55 GMT
Oh, and watch out for candles too!! They have soy based candles that I react to!!!
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Post by alyeska on Nov 5, 2017 23:59:38 GMT
I didn't even think of that! It's always something.
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Post by Admin/ Traveler on Nov 6, 2017 16:22:14 GMT
Oh, this soy allergy drives me nuts some days! My Vet's office likes to use soy based candles sometimes and I had to ask them not to because I KNOW I have an allergy and I react when I go in for an appointment for one of my critters - but what about those that don't know why they are reacting? They were very gracious about it and have stopped burning those candles - but they do still offer them for sale there, which is nice for those that want them. Anything cooked with any kind of oil is suspect as well. Many oils used for cooking can have soy oil in it as well. I limit myself to a good quality olive oil (to be sure there is no soy in it- most of the less expensive brands have soy oil in them as well), good quality peanut oil, or a good quality coconut oil. Are you also sensitive to soy isolates, soy lecithin and soy oil? Those are supposedly the best tolerated parts of the plant - and yet during the time of my 'reintroduction' diet, where I was reintroducing foods back into my diet - it was soy oil that I reacted HORRIBLY too. Symptoms hit every single system of my body, down to and including my skin and joints. I was miserable for 2 days (and we were on vacation!!!!) -the kicker of it was I only had half of a serving size, and I was supposed to have a full serving size 3 times a day when I reintroduced foods. Boy, am I glad I had my suspicions almost as soon as I ate it! 30 minutes later, I was in total misery.....and stuck in the bathroom for a while.
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Post by alyeska on Nov 6, 2017 21:41:53 GMT
Oh, this soy allergy drives me nuts some days! My Vet's office likes to use soy based candles sometimes and I had to ask them not to because I KNOW I have an allergy and I react when I go in for an appointment for one of my critters - but what about those that don't know why they are reacting? They were very gracious about it and have stopped burning those candles - but they do still offer them for sale there, which is nice for those that want them. Anything cooked with any kind of oil is suspect as well. Many oils used for cooking can have soy oil in it as well. I limit myself to a good quality olive oil (to be sure there is no soy in it- most of the less expensive brands have soy oil in them as well), good quality peanut oil, or a good quality coconut oil. Are you also sensitive to soy isolates, soy lecithin and soy oil? Those are supposedly the best tolerated parts of the plant - and yet during the time of my 'reintroduction' diet, where I was reintroducing foods back into my diet - it was soy oil that I reacted HORRIBLY too. Symptoms hit every single system of my body, down to and including my skin and joints. I was miserable for 2 days (and we were on vacation!!!!) -the kicker of it was I only had half of a serving size, and I was supposed to have a full serving size 3 times a day when I reintroduced foods. Boy, am I glad I had my suspicions almost as soon as I ate it! 30 minutes later, I was in total misery.....and stuck in the bathroom for a while. Ugh... getting sick on vacation is the worst! It's happened to me a number of times with pneumonia. Thank God I can usually tell when it's coming and can get to an urgent care. I just ask for a z pack. It's been about 6 years since my last bout with it, but I got the flu when we went to Disney and Universal about 3 years ago. I only made it through because my husband had his first aid pack from his company that they give to people who are going overseas a lot. It had Tamiflu in it! I still felt like I had a bad cold, but at least I could participate in most stuff and wasn't in bed the entire vacation! Now I always keep it in my purse just in case. We usually only use extra virgin olive olive oil, organic canola oil, and raw coconut oil for cooking. I have no idea if I'm allergic to all of the other soy products. Sometimes I just know I've had something but can't isolate what it was.
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Post by alyeska on Nov 6, 2017 21:44:33 GMT
I'm a freak about reading labels too! It turns out I'm allergic to mung beans and kamut. I don't even recall ever having had those! I'm sure they were in something and I didn't know it.
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Post by casa11 on Nov 7, 2017 1:46:47 GMT
Hi guys, yep, I've had the weight gain too.
Kinda like Traveler, first I got scary skinny ( I had always been slim / slightly underweight, but very muscular & in great shape) then in 2011 I had a major loss/ lot of grief/stress etc.
I had been having Lyme & co symptoms for ages ( possibly lifelong) but they got really bad really fast. One of the symptoms that I didn't realize was a symptom was major weight loss. But I thought it was stress related etc. I had always been one to lose weight when stressed...I wasn't eating well ... blah blah blah...
Then about 4 1/2 years ago I started gaining weight . I figured I'd get back to my original healthy weight & stop... but no, my weight just kept going up. Way higher than it had ever been!
I also was dealing with thyroid & adrenal stuff, and just like Trav said, it took me a long time to figure out I had to eat more to begin to lose weight. I've also manipulated my diet a lot trying to ease the Lyme symptoms ( even prior to diagnosis) and also with the intention of healing my hormones / thyroid / adrenals. It's working . Very Slowly...
I'm still not back to my 'normal' healthy weight - can't fit my old pants ... but it's definitely creeping back down. I'm also not active anymore- I used to be running around pretty much constantly, and these infections have really put a stop to that. I know that's definitely part of it too- but not all...
Weird, I also have the soy allergy... I didn't always have it though- or if I did , it wasn't noticeable. It became really obvious around 2006... I figured it out & haven't touched it since!
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Post by Admin/ Traveler on Nov 7, 2017 1:53:56 GMT
Wow! There are lots of things we have in common, Casa!!
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Post by casa11 on Nov 7, 2017 1:55:24 GMT
Lots of fun things, Haha
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Post by Admin/ Traveler on Nov 7, 2017 2:34:19 GMT
Yes! Ha ha ha! Never boring!
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Post by alyeska on Nov 7, 2017 3:14:49 GMT
I never got the weight loss, ever. Just my luck.
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Post by Admin/ Traveler on Nov 7, 2017 22:28:33 GMT
Oh, believe me, you don't want the uncontrollable weight loss like that! As I said, I ended up 30 lbs underweight.
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Post by Little Bear (LB) on Nov 9, 2017 18:00:16 GMT
I'm having major problems with my metabolism obviously. I'm on a very restricted diet and have to force myself to eat, so it's not that I'm eating too much which is weird. I'm not really able to exercise much, but even when I was walking 6 to 10 miles 3x per week, the weight still wasn't coming off. I've never weighed this much in my life except when pregnant and was never overweight until the last few years when Lyme symptoms have gotten really bad. I'm at the point where clothes aren't fitting, but I don't have energy or money to get new ones. Any ideas? Hi alyeska!-
Have you ever had your thyroid tested? According to "regular" doctors, I didn't have any issues with my thyroid. This is because they didn't test my T3 and T4.
When I was a teenager and struggling with fatigue (didn't know I had Lyme), my mom took me to see a natural path doctor. He tested my T3 and T4 and said that I was hypothyroid. I also had low adrenals.
Lyme and cos can really mess with a persons hormones.
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Post by Admin/ Traveler on Nov 9, 2017 19:11:22 GMT
A really good site for thyroid information is this one - this link takes you directly to the information on testing: Stop The Thyroid Madness - testing I'm amazed at the number of doctors that think they can rule in or rule out thyroid issues by testing only the TSH - that only lets us know what our pituitary gland is putting out - not the thyroid!! With tons of research, I discovered that weight gain from low thyroid will be in the lower abdomen, and weight gain from low adrenals will be on the upper abdomen. I had both, and I had weight gain in both areas as well as the hips (always the hips!!!). It didn't matter what I did with my diet until I got my adrenal and thyroid hormones to a more balanced and proper level. With my thyroid, I didn't have the swelling most do - only the back side of my thyroid was swollen and had to be felt by a practitioner that knew what they were looking for, as an ultrasound couldn't pick up on it - it can't 'see' the back side. So, look over the symptoms of low thyroid and high thyroid carefully and find a doctor that is at least willing to test the T3 & T4, if not T1, T2 as well! Also, watch the meds they put you on if you have low thyroid - Synthroid, Tirosint, Levoxyl, Unithroid, and Levo-T are all T4 supplements only, so if you don't need more T4, but need T3. T4 is the stored thyroid hormone and often the levels of stored hormones are fine, it's the active T3 (converted from T4) that we lack.
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Post by alyeska on Nov 10, 2017 5:37:28 GMT
I'm having major problems with my metabolism obviously. I'm on a very restricted diet and have to force myself to eat, so it's not that I'm eating too much which is weird. I'm not really able to exercise much, but even when I was walking 6 to 10 miles 3x per week, the weight still wasn't coming off. I've never weighed this much in my life except when pregnant and was never overweight until the last few years when Lyme symptoms have gotten really bad. I'm at the point where clothes aren't fitting, but I don't have energy or money to get new ones. Any ideas? Hi alyeska!-
Have you ever had your thyroid tested? According to "regular" doctors, I didn't have any issues with my thyroid. This is because they didn't test my T3 and T4.
When I was a teenager and struggling with fatigue (didn't know I had Lyme), my mom took me to see a natural path doctor. He tested my T3 and T4 and said that I was hypothyroid. I also had low adrenals.
Lyme and cos can really mess with a persons hormones.
Yes, I've been repeatedly tested for this. My family practitioner kept ordering the tests for me before I started going to my specialist, and my specialist tests for it regularly just in case. Thanks for thinking of it though! You're thinking right along with the trained MDs!
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Post by alyeska on Nov 10, 2017 5:44:25 GMT
A really good site for thyroid information is this one - this link takes you directly to the information on testing: Stop The Thyroid Madness - testing I'm amazed at the number of doctors that think they can rule in or rule out thyroid issues by testing only the TSH - that only lets us know what our pituitary gland is putting out - not the thyroid!! With tons of research, I discovered that weight gain from low thyroid will be in the lower abdomen, and weight gain from low adrenals will be on the upper abdomen. I had both, and I had weight gain in both areas as well as the hips (always the hips!!!). It didn't matter what I did with my diet until I got my adrenal and thyroid hormones to a more balanced and proper level. With my thyroid, I didn't have the swelling most do - only the back side of my thyroid was swollen and had to be felt by a practitioner that knew what they were looking for, as an ultrasound couldn't pick up on it - it can't 'see' the back side. So, look over the symptoms of low thyroid and high thyroid carefully and find a doctor that is at least willing to test the T3 & T4, if not T1, T2 as well! Also, watch the meds they put you on if you have low thyroid - Synthroid, Tirosint, Levoxyl, Unithroid, and Levo-T are all T4 supplements only, so if you don't need more T4, but need T3. T4 is the stored thyroid hormone and often the levels of stored hormones are fine, it's the active T3 (converted from T4) that we lack. I have stupid weight gain everywhere. Nothing I own fits me anymore except shoes and socks. So depressing. I'll ask if my doc is checking these other levels, but I'm pretty sure he does. He does have me on a Pure Encapsulation supplement called Adrenal though... ingredients are whole Adrenal (bovine) 150 mg and Adrenal cortex (bovine) 80 mg. Yuck! I kind of wish I hadn't looked at that. Lol!
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Post by alyeska on Nov 10, 2017 5:50:00 GMT
Oh, believe me, you don't want the uncontrollable weight loss like that! As I said, I ended up 30 lbs underweight. I'll bet people knew you were sick though. I know it's terrible, but I think people would be kinder to me if I were underweight instead of overweight. It's horrible, but I think it's true. I just seem like a fat, lazy person. I've never been lazy in my life until Lyme took over. People treat me differently too. I mean, I'm not massively overweight compared to some people, but I definitely look like I just sit around and eat bonbons all day. It sure would be nice to be able to actually EAT things like bonbons since I look like I do!
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