Peata
Member
- Joined
- Jun 12, 2013
- Messages
- 3,402
Trying to get some weight loss going, along with improvement on my estrogen dominance and other issues. So rather than go back to my BLOATED intro log, I will start fresh here. Any thoughts, tips, criticisms, encouragement, etc. welcome.
I'm trying to be brief with backstory, but it will probably run long.
I always had issues with acne, oily skin, painful periods, mood, anxiety from puberty on (was often an anxious child though too).. went on BCP which improved acne depending which formula it was. But other side effects could be bad on the pill. Went off pill in mid 20s and got the worst acne of my life. Went back on until early 30s.
Also during late 20s, went on SSRIs, and that worked at first, but side effects. So I'd go through the hell of withdrawals and later go back on out of desperation, repeat. And then by mid 30s the side effects were too much and it wasn't helping me anyway, and I swore off the SSRIs for good.
In 20s and 30s, I experimented with diets/woe's because I was trying to find the best foods and ways to eat for health or specific issues. Some of the things I did - low cal, low fat, food combining, low carb, vegetarian, vegan, mostly raw, intermittent fasting.
I never had a weight problem growing up but occasionally in 20s or early 30s, where brief insulin resistance caused me to gain 10 or more pounds due to SSRI or BCP. But in the past if I wanted to lose, I could do it easily by a little less food or a little more exercise, or stopping the offending Rx. That ability changed by mid/late 30s.
Early 30s went on Metformin (finally dx'd with pcos after knowing i had it forever). Didn't seem to need the BCP for acne anymore, went off. Was on spironolactone too for androgens. Periods through my 30s were light, short, and usually skipped months. And my weight was never a problem, in fact sometimes I was a little too thin. At first I thought it was nice not to be bothered by periods except maybe once every 2 or 3 months, but of course this isn't healthy.
By mid/late 30s everything changed. Acne cysts on chin, jawline especially, change in skin, sleep, mood, increased facial hair, and more symptoms. Went off spironolactone since it seemed to be doing nothing anymore. Gyn put me on BCP as only thing that could help, and I reluctantly took them but kept forgetting doses (unlike my earlier years when I took them like clockwork), and didn't stay on more than a few months because I didn't trust it was good for me.
I gained 25# winter/spring of 2010/11. I had a hard time getting it to come off, but it finally did by restrictive dieting/IF. I was underweight at that point.
I stopped the IF early 2012. I had a lot of stress in my life during that time, and was trying to help other health issues: By late 30s I thought I was getting chronic fatigue. I also had bad GI problems and was plagued by flu-like symptoms that kept me in bed or on the couch. Also found out I had fatty liver. I was underweight during some of that time. Ate mostly like a raw vegan. And still had the acne and hormone probs. Felt like I was prematurely aging inside and out.
I noticed some weight gain coming back and ended up 5 - 7 # higher than my normal healthy weight that I couldn't seem to lose even with all my usual methods. I didn't worry about it too much. But I had worsening of all my symptoms during 2nd half of cycle, and that's when I looked into estrogen dominance and progesterone cream, and that's how I found Ray Peat.
I started changing things over to this way in March 2013 and I'm still trying to tailor it to me. I was doing well by Fall 2013 with the foods and supplements, although still having estrogen dominance problems, particularly 2nd half of cycle. And I still couldn't lose the 5 - 7#. But many things were improved so I was encouraged that with time and as I learned more, I could resolve things.
It's only from January 2014 to summer that I started packing on fat that I couldn't get to stop. Yes, it was winter and I wasn't active and did eat for comfort, but no matter how much I cut back, changed macro levels and supplemented, I couldn't halt the steady weight gain.
Finally the weight gain stopped. I am at least 30# overweight.
Exercise didn't help, and as said above, manipulating diet didn't help. My health began to scare me, as over the summer I was having issues with apnea, exercise-induced breathing problems, panic, weird lightheadedness/weakeness at times, and was worried about the excess estrogen, my fatty liver, and heading toward diabetes type 2. I had bloating issues too, making me very uncomfortable in my clothes, and walking sometimes was uncomfortable. I finally got the bloat to go away for the most part over this past fall/winter.
Also, I had chronic diarrhea for at least a year, but it went away this winter after I used Pepto Bismol.
Reducing starches was something I tried before, but felt like sugar instead of starch was messing up my blood sugar/satiety, so I didn't stick with it. This time, I'm going to stick with it at least to give it a fair try, no matter what.
I am always hopeful I can lose weight and get the other issues resolved.
I took measurements the other day to track progress.
I'm trying to be brief with backstory, but it will probably run long.
I always had issues with acne, oily skin, painful periods, mood, anxiety from puberty on (was often an anxious child though too).. went on BCP which improved acne depending which formula it was. But other side effects could be bad on the pill. Went off pill in mid 20s and got the worst acne of my life. Went back on until early 30s.
Also during late 20s, went on SSRIs, and that worked at first, but side effects. So I'd go through the hell of withdrawals and later go back on out of desperation, repeat. And then by mid 30s the side effects were too much and it wasn't helping me anyway, and I swore off the SSRIs for good.
In 20s and 30s, I experimented with diets/woe's because I was trying to find the best foods and ways to eat for health or specific issues. Some of the things I did - low cal, low fat, food combining, low carb, vegetarian, vegan, mostly raw, intermittent fasting.
I never had a weight problem growing up but occasionally in 20s or early 30s, where brief insulin resistance caused me to gain 10 or more pounds due to SSRI or BCP. But in the past if I wanted to lose, I could do it easily by a little less food or a little more exercise, or stopping the offending Rx. That ability changed by mid/late 30s.
Early 30s went on Metformin (finally dx'd with pcos after knowing i had it forever). Didn't seem to need the BCP for acne anymore, went off. Was on spironolactone too for androgens. Periods through my 30s were light, short, and usually skipped months. And my weight was never a problem, in fact sometimes I was a little too thin. At first I thought it was nice not to be bothered by periods except maybe once every 2 or 3 months, but of course this isn't healthy.
By mid/late 30s everything changed. Acne cysts on chin, jawline especially, change in skin, sleep, mood, increased facial hair, and more symptoms. Went off spironolactone since it seemed to be doing nothing anymore. Gyn put me on BCP as only thing that could help, and I reluctantly took them but kept forgetting doses (unlike my earlier years when I took them like clockwork), and didn't stay on more than a few months because I didn't trust it was good for me.
I gained 25# winter/spring of 2010/11. I had a hard time getting it to come off, but it finally did by restrictive dieting/IF. I was underweight at that point.
I stopped the IF early 2012. I had a lot of stress in my life during that time, and was trying to help other health issues: By late 30s I thought I was getting chronic fatigue. I also had bad GI problems and was plagued by flu-like symptoms that kept me in bed or on the couch. Also found out I had fatty liver. I was underweight during some of that time. Ate mostly like a raw vegan. And still had the acne and hormone probs. Felt like I was prematurely aging inside and out.
I noticed some weight gain coming back and ended up 5 - 7 # higher than my normal healthy weight that I couldn't seem to lose even with all my usual methods. I didn't worry about it too much. But I had worsening of all my symptoms during 2nd half of cycle, and that's when I looked into estrogen dominance and progesterone cream, and that's how I found Ray Peat.
I started changing things over to this way in March 2013 and I'm still trying to tailor it to me. I was doing well by Fall 2013 with the foods and supplements, although still having estrogen dominance problems, particularly 2nd half of cycle. And I still couldn't lose the 5 - 7#. But many things were improved so I was encouraged that with time and as I learned more, I could resolve things.
It's only from January 2014 to summer that I started packing on fat that I couldn't get to stop. Yes, it was winter and I wasn't active and did eat for comfort, but no matter how much I cut back, changed macro levels and supplemented, I couldn't halt the steady weight gain.
Finally the weight gain stopped. I am at least 30# overweight.
Exercise didn't help, and as said above, manipulating diet didn't help. My health began to scare me, as over the summer I was having issues with apnea, exercise-induced breathing problems, panic, weird lightheadedness/weakeness at times, and was worried about the excess estrogen, my fatty liver, and heading toward diabetes type 2. I had bloating issues too, making me very uncomfortable in my clothes, and walking sometimes was uncomfortable. I finally got the bloat to go away for the most part over this past fall/winter.
Also, I had chronic diarrhea for at least a year, but it went away this winter after I used Pepto Bismol.
Reducing starches was something I tried before, but felt like sugar instead of starch was messing up my blood sugar/satiety, so I didn't stick with it. This time, I'm going to stick with it at least to give it a fair try, no matter what.
I am always hopeful I can lose weight and get the other issues resolved.
I took measurements the other day to track progress.