Carb quandry - feeling discouraged and need advice. page

[MarissaLinnea]

So I'm feeling pretty frustrated as of late. Several months ago at the beginning of the year when I was still eating SAD, I had gotten quite lean, like a size 4 and I was in great shape. I worked out a lot, and I also ate a lot, tons of processed carbs and I was nursing my twin girls still.

I started Primal in April and initially lost like 6 lbs, but it was very difficult for me to stay on the diet because I had issues with binges. In the time since April, I stopped nursing and my thyroid whacked out for awhile, the binges almost stopped completely, but I have gained 20 lbs. I've been trying like hell over the last couple months to get the weight off, but it's not budging, in fact if anything I have gained. I tried going back to SAD for a month while doing Insanity workout program, but still didn't lose anything.

Now I'm back to Primal, I feel better physically, have more energy, etc but the weight still hasn't budged. I really want to lean out, I'm not comfortable at this weight and none of my clothes are fitting me anymore and it's very frustrating. I'm still active, just started a new weight training program three days a week, with cardio mixed in on the off days.

When I track calories, I'm probably eating around 2000/day, give or take a few hundred. I just don't understand why this isn't working for me. Why is it that when I was stuffing my face with processed carbs several months ago I was down to my ideal weight, but now that I've started eating more healthy, my body is stubbornly holding onto this fat and gaining? I read all about people who eat this way and they are down to body fat % in the teens and such and that is a goal of mine. I just want to know how to get there.

Thanks in advance for any advice and for listening.

[steve.mull]

Well I'm sure you know that breast feeding is good for weight loss, and I'm sure having twins increases it's effectiveness. Your other issue may be the switching back and forth between diets and exercise routines. All these changes can affect your body and it can take longer to see results because your body needs time to adjust to what you are doing. Also a breakdown of what foods you are eating will help. Calories are not created equal. Just keep it simple with your food and exercise and results will come. Try taking measurements instead of weight also.

[primalrob]

I just don't understand why this isn't working for me. Why is it that when I was stuffing my face with processed carbs several months ago I was down to my ideal weight, but now that I've started eating more healthy, my body is stubbornly holding onto this fat and gaining?

breast feeding. apparently it burns a crazy amount of calories. plus, if your thyroid was having issues, that can affect things as well. a good primal diet should help with any thyroid issues.

what does your 2000 calories look like? and, can you give us a better picture of what you're doing for exercise (heavy lifting? walking, sprints?)

[bloodorchid]

and there's also the whole 'primal isn't low carb' thing

[marcadav]

What do you mean by "my thyroid whacked out for a while"? When was the last time you had your thyroid hormones checked?

I ask because I could not lose weight, and actually gained weight ,until my thyroid hormones were optimized and my body had time to heal.

BTW- I have twin girls too.

[Goldie]

What's your height, weight (current and goal), and age? All those can influence the weight loss/maintenance and number of calories you need.

My maintenance calorie level is around 1500-1600/day, and I'm very active. Height 5'2", current weight ~110, age 55. I Crossfit two or three times a week, lift heavy things twice a week, and do about 4-5 hours of play/slow moving a week.

[MarissaLinnea]

For example, yesterday I ate:

B: two coffees with a tablespoon heavy cream, cottage cheese with a handful of almonds
L: spinach salad with 4 oz ribeye, salsa/sour cream as dressing and small sweet potato
S: some green olives, probably about five, large handful of almonds
D: Half a large sweet potato cut thin, cooked in CO like chips, and 4 oz grassfed burger

Sometimes for breakfast I will have a couple eggs over easy with onions and peppers with carne asada or something. Sometimes for lunch I'll have two sweet potatoes and a protein, I don't have salads every day. I was eating a lot of fruit and having Larabars, but I cut those out.

For workouts now on Mon, Wed and Fri I'm doing Les Mills Pump. On the other days I will do some form of cardio, like Turbo Fire or slow running. I do a lot of walking through the day doing chores and chasing after my four little children. I do a HIIT workout usually once a week. I just started the Les Mills this weeks, so prior to that I was mainly doing Turbo Fire and jogging, I tried Insanity for a month but didn't get results from it, so I stopped doing it. No point in killing myself with those workouts if they aren't even working.

I do know that breastfeeding burns calories. Back when I was BF and eating SAD, I strictly tracked calories and would eat around 3000-4000 cals a day and also had binges that would be a couple thousand calories in a sitting, and was very lean, doing the same kind of workouts, mostly Turbo Fire. I have scaled the calories WAY back since I've stopped. I couldn't eat that much now even if I wanted to, I just don't have the appetite anymore. I've had one binge in the last two months or so, so I know that isn't the issue anymore.

[MarissaLinnea]

What do you mean by "my thyroid whacked out for a while"? When was the last time you had your thyroid hormones checked?

I ask because I could not lose weight, and actually gained weight ,until my thyroid hormones were optimized and my body had time to heal.

BTW- I have twin girls too.

I tried the iodine supplementation back in May and I think that started the hypothyroidism. I had my thyroid checked last about a month ago, and the endocrinologist said all the numbers looked good and were normalizing, but initially my TSH was high which led him to test T3 and T4. At our first visit he said that he might supplement with thyroid hormone if my numbers were the same after the second round of testing, but after the second round he said they were normalizing and there was no need to supplement.

I actually have two sets of twins, I have boy/girl twins that are 3.5yrs and twin girls that are 1.5yrs. Busy house, lol!!!

What's your height, weight (current and goal), and age? All those can influence the weight loss/maintenance and number of calories you need.

My maintenance calorie level is around 1500-1600/day, and I'm very active. Height 5'2", current weight ~110, age 55. I Crossfit two or three times a week, lift heavy things twice a week, and do about 4-5 hours of play/slow moving a week.

Height is 5'7 and current weight is 163. My goal weight is 140 which is what I was at before, and is very doable and healthy for me. I don't see any reason why I shouldn't be able to get there again.

[Goldie]

You can have "normal" thyroid levels and still have symptoms (such as not being able to lose weight). Google "hypothyroid" and see if you have the common symptoms for it. I have an excellent endocrinologist who understands this and has adjusted my thyroid hormone medication according to how I feel, not to how my lab results say.

And yes, definitely a busy household with two sets of twins! You need your energy!

[RenegadeRN]

You don't mention any specific numbers, so I hope you have those in your files- not just relying on them to give you vague terms like " it's normalizing ".
That said, too many docs still go by outdated reference ranges. Most people feel best with a TSH around 1 and free T3,T4 in the middle of the ranges.

A few still use the old upper limit of normal of 5!!! I would be in a damn coma at 4 or 5! The most recent upper limit of normal for most labs is a TSH of 3.

I stay around 1 or a bit less to feel good. Gotta treat the patient, not the numbers...