High prolactin levels page 2

[MalPaz]

hmm... high prolactin... what is prolactin exactly?? i cannot believe some of you eat so little protein... and some GAIN with over 100g of protein?!?!?!?!

mmkay my 'scale' i never get on but did this morning said i have 14.3%BF for some reason i keep gaining muscle and it is replacing the fat... last time i got on the scale it said 16.8 and i thought i was going in the right direction...my weight has stayed that same...

but about protein, i easily....easily clock over 160-175g a day and i barely weigh 110 at the moment- it is fatty meat too... with butter added, and veggies, and eggs and coconut milk and cream, and kefir...

[hannahc]

MalPaz, prolactin is the hormone responsible for initiating breastfeeding. So unless you're pregnant and almost ready to give birth, it really isn't necessary! Plus with protein, if you're getting more than necessary your body can turn it into glucose to use as fuel through gluconeogenesis. If you are also getting enough dietary fat to use as fuel, your body then stores that glucose it just made as body fat. That was the short story (obviously).

Protein is important, but fat is more important for some of us. Besides, you came from a very different starting point from many of us, I've never in my adult life needed to gain weight to be healthy! You're doing a great job of healing yourself, but some of us have got to go in the other direction and lose body fat in order to be our healthiest. When things are working for a while (losing weight, getting more muscle tone, etc.) and then you start gaining weight again it can be very frustrating! Just as it would be for you if all the sudden you started losing weight while eating a ton of food. You'd have to reevaluate and try and figure out what to change in order to get back to gaining weight and getting your period back. That's all we're trying to figure out here, how to get back on track while staying healthy and not reverting to CW diet disasters like slashing calories or doing a "master cleanse."

[MalPaz]

i can imagine how frustrated you guys must get doing primal correctly and not seeing results... just something i KNOW has helped me is the mentality especially women take on. until you battle your own mind you're never going to level out to a homeostatic body....like for example:

- you sit down to a meal after rushing home from work in bad traffic, A/C in car broke and you almost killed a turtle
- you throw together a steak and salad all while weighing it(150g) and tablespooning olive oil in your salad and being careful of salt sprinkling
- you wager you portions while thinking about getting the laundry done/clothes hung on the line and work tomorrow
- you sit down to eat and second guess your hunger, your portions, your appetite
- you eat while you kids are asking for help on homework and you are worried about your food

....conclusion.... youll never lose weight going about it like this or a similar style... i cannot stress enough the mind/body connection with food, health and weight. this meal if eatten in the above fashion is going to wreak havoc on your body regardless of whether it was 80%fat and 20% protein or what not. the mind, stressing, cortisol, adrenals....its all interlinked to insulin levels.

my best 'advice' (i know i am on the opposite end here but we have VERY similar problems from the other side of the grass) is to work on how you approach primal, how much time you think about food, preparation, stress, jobs, working out, portions, hunger etc etc...

[mevs38]

Well, actually Malpaz, I am a stay at home mom, my three children are 16, 12 and 9, I do some running around but not to the point of driving myself crazy, I have a housekeeper that comes 2 times out of the week to help me here and my 16 year old pretty much drives herself and my two other kids when I need her too.
I actually put a lot of thought into what I make for breakfast, their lunches and our dinners, because I do have the time. So, I do not believe it is stress. What I also read that could contribute to high prolactin levels was more about a new intense exercise and also high protien meals. I am doing both and started them at the same time.
Not all bodies are created equal and not all of us could be that lucky, it's trial and error for me and I am learning and tweaking as I go, that's the only way.
My original post was about no period, high levels of prolactin, new diet/exercise and just to let you all know, I have lowered my protien intake and I got my period. I am very happy! I guess I am doing something right!
and btw, thanks hannahc!!!

[hannahc]

No problemo mevs! I'm glad that lowering your protein brought your period back right away, that's so great. I've been really good about keeping my protein more in the .5g/lb LBM all week, and it seems to be helping so far, I'm keeping my fingers crossed that it gets me back to my normal happy weight! Thanks for the discussion, it can be really frustrating to go the wrong direction when it seems like at first glance you're doing everything right. I know it's frustrating for me (I've been primal almost a year now), but I feel so much better than I did one year ago that I'm committed to figuring out the specifics of what will make Primal work for me forever

[MalPaz]

mevs...dont ever call me lucky... maybe lowering protein is something i need to look into. how did you go about it??

[hannahc]

MalPaz I can't remember if you mentioned coconut oil anywhere, I know you're on a budget for food though and have to be careful there. I LOVE my protein, steak/eggs/chicken thighs/pulled pork...it's my favorite part of most meals! So lowering protein isn't necessarily the easiest thing for me to do, but I'm not a body builder so I'd rather not eat like one (and my hubby certainly doesn't want me to look like one either).

I've had success lowering my protein to between 60-75 grams per day by eating smaller (or "normal") sized portions of meat at each meal, 4-6oz, eating bigger portions of my veggies with whatever fat is on them (butter/evoo/etc.), and then having 1 tablespoon of Coconut Oil mixed into a warm drink (coffee is great, tea is less great, hot water is definitely not delicious). It helps keep me full, adds a good amount of calories to my meal, and adds more fat rather than more protein. If you can up your carbs via vegetables and then fruits, making sure to eat them with fat, you might speed up getting your period back and gaining more weight.

It completely makes sense that the presence of prolactin would cause your period to stop, since nursing mothers generally do not ovulate due to the prolactin in their body. Very interesting.

[Minxxa]

I am loving this conversation. Just because it shows.. again... how each of us need different levels of things and we can be doing everything "right" but it's not working for our particular body.

I think it can be extra hard when you've got a male significant other for whom doing certain things works... and they don't understand when it doesn't work for the ladies. I do think that we (in general) need less protein and more fats.. and that most like has something to do with the whole child-bearing thing (whether you actually do it or not), and the hormones in our body that are continuously cycling and changing.

In June when I start tracking again (I'll probably start a week before, jsut to get in the habit), I plan on really taking a look at my fat/protein/carb ratios. I don't have a problem keeping carbs down (if I avoid yogurt, LOL), but I do think I need to keep protein at a lower level than I have been and add some more fat. We'll see, but this conversation for sure has helped to bring some factors to light that may be issues.

Love you gals!!

[mevs38]

It was incredibly frustrating! I just assumed that doing the PB diet I was going to be able to eat whatever amount of protien without a problem, WRONG!
So what I started doing was keeping track of everything I have been eating at fitday.com. That's when I noticed I was eating as much as 117 gr of protien daily. So I brought those numbers to my crossfit trainer and that's when he said to that I was eating way too much and that I needed to tone it down to about 70ish.
I have a huge 2 egg, mushroom, spinach, tomato, serrano pepper, yellow bell pepper breakfast because it's my favorite meal of the day and I notice it carries me all the way to evening/supper time. I guess that's what made me think that I could eat as much meat, chicken or whatever protien I could have since I was only eating two meals per day.
Although snacking on pork rinds, jerkery etc...definately had to stop.
Thank you all very much for your input