I’ve Been Eating 2000-2500 Calories/day For Years. (6 Ft 8, 220 Lbs)

DB_2014

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I’ve been eating 2000-2500 calories/day for 4 years now. I’m 6 ft 8, 220 lbs.

I developed POTS syndrome (Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia syndrome) back in 2015.

My main symptoms are dizziness, insomnia, constipation, low body temperature, fatigue, and mood issues.

I was recently researching symptoms of underrating, and I found many resources that list the above symptoms as signs of undereating.

Any insight based on my stats (24 male, 6 ft 8, 220 lbs) if I’m under eating at 2000-2500 cals/day? If so, what should my new target be?
 

milkboi

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Yeah, that‘s undereating in my book.

Have you tested your thyroid and metabolism, by blood tests, taking your temperature and pulse? That would be a good start to see if you trashed your metabolism. Oh just saw that you complained of low temps.

So yeah, just try to increase calories incrementally. I think 3000-3500 would be generally good with your stats, but nobody can exactly say how much you need, you‘ll need to figure that out yourself (using your pulse, temps etc.).
 
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What's physical activity level? Calorie Calculator Calorie calculators can be a good starting point. According to it with light exercise 3times/week it puts you at 3000 kcal for maintenance. But even looking at your stats we can tell you were undereating. What's your blood pressure like? If it's low try to increase salt intake. POTS can be caused by B1 deficiency -- try it out. Also you should try cyprohepadine - it will increase your appetite.
 
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DB_2014

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What's physical activity level? Calorie Calculator Calorie calculators can be a good starting point. According to it with light exercise 3times/week it puts you at 3000 kcal for maintenance. But even looking at your stats we can tell you were undereating. What's your blood pressure like? If it's low try to increase salt intake. POTS can be caused by B1 deficiency -- try it out. Also you should try cyprohepadine - it will increase your appetite.

I work morning shift at Costco 5 days a week. Basically 8 hours/day of vigorous labor. I find myself more and more dependent on caffeine/nicotine which give me short bursts of energy, but make me feel worse in the end and suppress my appetite.

I have horrible histamine reactions to milk and gluten, so those are out. Rice gives me body pain. Many fruit give me bloating. I’m currently down to fruit juice, white potatoes (weirdly the only food that helps my constipation), eggs, fatty red meat, and liver.

I spent the last 3 months attempting to use thiamine (multiple forms). It made my histamine issues much worse. My doctor said it tends to help people with normal POTS. I should have mentioned, I have a rare form of POTS called hyperadrenergic POTS. My norepinephrine levels are massively elevated based on blood testing.

It’s hard for me to eat enough when my foods are so limited. I think that when I restore enough energy to my body, it will reduce my stress response enough so that I can begin to tolerate things like dairy or more fruits.

My blood pressure is 120/75 while lying down. It drops to 90/60 upon standing (common with POTS). My heart rate goes from 55 when lying down to 120 upon standing.

My normal body temp on waking is 98.0 F and stays that way most of the day.

I’m currently taking Cypro at 4 mg a day with weirdly no effects whatsoever.

I’m also taking famotidine and Cromolyn sodium (both mast cell drugs) for my histamine issues. These have helped me more than anything.

Based on the calculators, I should be getting 4000-5000/day when you figure in my activity level + my size and age. Like I said before though, it’s just so damn hard for me to get in enough calories with such limited food options. I can only eat so many potatoes and eggs before I’m sick.

I wake up constantly at night. I even have dreams about hypoglycemia lately. Last night, I dreamt I was having a hypoglycemia attack and that I was desperately trying to find a coke.

I’m definitely in a severely energy deficient state, and the stress of the current worldwide mass hysteria isn’t helping. I spent 2 years before finding peat trying to eat carnivore which made me much worse.

My thyroid tests show me as hypothyroid, but I have been unresponsive to naturethroid, T3, and synthroid.

I’ve also experimented with pregnenolone and progesterone with no effect. My levels of both hormones have always been perfect, even on the high end actually.

I had hypocholesterolemia (total cholesterol of only 120) in the past, but that improved after adding in more egg yolks.

I think at this point, my elevated norepinephrine/stress hormone is literally blocking everything else in my body from functioning including my thyroid.

I’m theorizing that a chronic, long-term calorie deficit could be what’s causing the chronic stress response. The resulting chronic insomnia I’ve had for 3 years just makes the vicious cycle even worse obviously.

If anyone has suggestions for easy to digest, high calorie foods based on the list of what I can eat above, I’d love to hear.
 
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Add more fat - butter, or ghee if dairy is problematic - fat is an easy way to add calories. Add simple table sugar to your juice. Good ol' honey is easy to digest. Sweet potatoes, ripe bananas perhaps? Have you tried b2? It helped my histamine issues significantly... Maybe increase the cypro dose - you're a pretty big dude. Are you getting enough magnesium?
 

Jennifer

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@DB_2014 -- Have you tried casacara and/or magnesium to help with the constipation? Have you tried honey (Manuka?), medjool dates or date syrup, fruit molasses, maple syrup, gelatin or collagen peptides, refined coconut oil, ghee or cocoa butter? And do you salt your food?
 

redsun

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I work morning shift at Costco 5 days a week. Basically 8 hours/day of vigorous labor. I find myself more and more dependent on caffeine/nicotine which give me short bursts of energy, but make me feel worse in the end and suppress my appetite.

I have horrible histamine reactions to milk and gluten, so those are out. Rice gives me body pain. Many fruit give me bloating. I’m currently down to fruit juice, white potatoes (weirdly the only food that helps my constipation), eggs, fatty red meat, and liver.

I spent the last 3 months attempting to use thiamine (multiple forms). It made my histamine issues much worse. My doctor said it tends to help people with normal POTS. I should have mentioned, I have a rare form of POTS called hyperadrenergic POTS. My norepinephrine levels are massively elevated based on blood testing.

It’s hard for me to eat enough when my foods are so limited. I think that when I restore enough energy to my body, it will reduce my stress response enough so that I can begin to tolerate things like dairy or more fruits.

My blood pressure is 120/75 while lying down. It drops to 90/60 upon standing (common with POTS). My heart rate goes from 55 when lying down to 120 upon standing.

My normal body temp on waking is 98.0 F and stays that way most of the day.

I’m currently taking Cypro at 4 mg a day with weirdly no effects whatsoever.

I’m also taking famotidine and Cromolyn sodium (both mast cell drugs) for my histamine issues. These have helped me more than anything.

Based on the calculators, I should be getting 4000-5000/day when you figure in my activity level + my size and age. Like I said before though, it’s just so damn hard for me to get in enough calories with such limited food options. I can only eat so many potatoes and eggs before I’m sick.

I wake up constantly at night. I even have dreams about hypoglycemia lately. Last night, I dreamt I was having a hypoglycemia attack and that I was desperately trying to find a coke.

I’m definitely in a severely energy deficient state, and the stress of the current worldwide mass hysteria isn’t helping. I spent 2 years before finding peat trying to eat carnivore which made me much worse.

My thyroid tests show me as hypothyroid, but I have been unresponsive to naturethroid, T3, and synthroid.

I’ve also experimented with pregnenolone and progesterone with no effect. My levels of both hormones have always been perfect, even on the high end actually.

I had hypocholesterolemia (total cholesterol of only 120) in the past, but that improved after adding in more egg yolks.

I think at this point, my elevated norepinephrine/stress hormone is literally blocking everything else in my body from functioning including my thyroid.

I’m theorizing that a chronic, long-term calorie deficit could be what’s causing the chronic stress response. The resulting chronic insomnia I’ve had for 3 years just makes the vicious cycle even worse obviously.

If anyone has suggestions for easy to digest, high calorie foods based on the list of what I can eat above, I’d love to hear.

Suppressing histamine with things like cypro can worsen digestion. Some see improvement, some see none or get worse. Histamine is necessary for optimal stomach acid production as well as electrolytes sodium, potassium, chloride and zinc. So it is vital you are well hydrated and have plenty of these electrolytes in the diet (especially sodium chloride). If you are sweating a lot at work, that is going to deplete electrolytes more than usual.

A lot of your symptoms seem related to your high norepinephrine (insomnia, poor appetite/food intolerance, and poor blood sugar control as high noradrenaline will eat through your glycogen fast) and the fact that caffeine further suppresses appetite (raises norepinephrine even more) gives that hint as well.

Usually thiamine helps increase stomach acid and then that would help food intolerance. If that was not the case, you also need zinc for stomach acid and digestive enzymes and you could very likely be low on zinc.

You are massive and engage in long hours of physical labor. Your zinc requirement is much higher than normal people. Also if you sweat a lot at work that increases zinc loss. How much zinc do you get from food daily?

Also eating liver worsens your elevated norepinephrine levels because of the insane levels of copper. I would avoid liver in your case. Zinc will reduce dopamine to norepinephrine conversion (which should improve insomnia), help improve digestion and therefore appetite should rise and you should be able to tolerate more foods. Zinc will also increase sensitivity to drugs that act like beta agonists (like caffeine) as it is a positive allosteric modulator of beta 2 receptors. This also means your body will respond better to your own epinephrine levels by making beta 2 receptor more sensitive.
 
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DB_2014

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Add more fat - butter, or ghee if dairy is problematic - fat is an easy way to add calories. Add simple table sugar to your juice. Good ol' honey is easy to digest. Sweet potatoes, ripe bananas perhaps? Have you tried b2? It helped my histamine issues significantly... Maybe increase the cypro dose - you're a pretty big dude. Are you getting enough magnesium?

Dairy isn't option for me. It makes my anxiety and histamine issues so much worse. Sugar I do tolerate, so I'll add some more of that. Honey is problematic for my histamine issues as well, but maple syrup is not for some reason. Ripe bananas are great for me. Sweet potatoes bloat the hell out of me. And the b2 is a good idea, looks like it's necessary for the DAO enzyme that breaks down histamine in the gut.
 
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DB_2014

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Suppressing histamine with things like cypro can worsen digestion. Some see improvement, some see none or get worse. Histamine is necessary for optimal stomach acid production as well as electrolytes sodium, potassium, chloride and zinc. So it is vital you are well hydrated and have plenty of these electrolytes in the diet (especially sodium chloride). If you are sweating a lot at work, that is going to deplete electrolytes more than usual.

A lot of your symptoms seem related to your high norepinephrine (insomnia, poor appetite/food intolerance, and poor blood sugar control as high noradrenaline will eat through your glycogen fast) and the fact that caffeine further suppresses appetite (raises norepinephrine even more) gives that hint as well.

Usually thiamine helps increase stomach acid and then that would help food intolerance. If that was not the case, you also need zinc for stomach acid and digestive enzymes and you could very likely be low on zinc.

You are massive and engage in long hours of physical labor. Your zinc requirement is much higher than normal people. Also if you sweat a lot at work that increases zinc loss. How much zinc do you get from food daily?

Also eating liver worsens your elevated norepinephrine levels because of the insane levels of copper. I would avoid liver in your case. Zinc will reduce dopamine to norepinephrine conversion (which should improve insomnia), help improve digestion and therefore appetite should rise and you should be able to tolerate more foods. Zinc will also increase sensitivity to drugs that act like beta agonists (like caffeine) as it is a positive allosteric modulator of beta 2 receptors. This also means your body will respond better to your own epinephrine levels by making beta 2 receptor more sensitive.

So here's the interesting thing about zinc...

Both zinc supplements and high zinc foods make me feel manic. Almost completely insane. I had hair testing done. My copper is much lower than my zinc. My zinc is actually mid range. Copper supplementation has helped somewhat with my mood and histamine as well. I know it's odd. Just my personal experience though.
 
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DB_2014

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@DB_2014 -- Have you tried casacara and/or magnesium to help with the constipation? Have you tried honey (Manuka?), medjool dates or date syrup, fruit molasses, maple syrup, gelatin or collagen peptides, refined coconut oil, ghee or cocoa butter? And do you salt your food?

I've tried multiple forms of magnesium. Citrate will sometimes work. No other forms do. Regarding your other suggestions, I haven't looked into any of them specifically for constipation, but I definitely will. And yes, I salt my food quite generously after reading "The Salt Fix".
 

theLaw

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Dairy isn't option for me. It makes my anxiety and histamine issues so much worse. Sugar I do tolerate, so I'll add some more of that. Honey is problematic for my histamine issues as well, but maple syrup is not for some reason. Ripe bananas are great for me. Sweet potatoes bloat the hell out of me. And the b2 is a good idea, looks like it's necessary for the DAO enzyme that breaks down histamine in the gut.

If you're starving (which is an understatement here), then basically anything can make you sick, with very few exceptions. It's not the food, it's your compromised state of general health.

A member here (@Kelj) has written extensively about how to get your health back with a re-feed:

Fat Is An Organ

Reversion To Normoglycaemia Occurs More Often Than Progression To Diabetes

Abdominal Fat Is A Phase Folliwing The End Of Calorie Restriction

Why It Might Be Better To Temporarily Gain Weight After Diet Improvement
 
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DB_2014

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If you're starving (which is an understatement here), then basically anything can make you sick, with very few exceptions. It's not the food, it's your compromised state of general health.

A member here (@Kelj) has written extensively about how to get your health back with a re-feed:

Fat Is An Organ

Reversion To Normoglycaemia Occurs More Often Than Progression To Diabetes

Abdominal Fat Is A Phase Folliwing The End Of Calorie Restriction

Why It Might Be Better To Temporarily Gain Weight After Diet Improvement

This is what I’ve been thinking. My body is so damaged from such a chronic, high stress state that it has developed sensitivities to multiple foods.

My only question is, how do other people get away with eating so little? My brother has some eggs for breakfast and a sandwich for lunch and is perfectly healthy at 22 years old. He gets maybe 1500 calories a day, and he’s 6 ft 5, 210 lbs. Why can someone like him undereat? But I can’t? Does it boil down to individual differences in stress than he and I have experienced over a lifetime? I did exercise 5-6 days a week for 4 years before I got sick (football). I’m wondering if the constant exercise combined with lack of nutrition created my current state.
 

theLaw

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This is what I’ve been thinking. My body is so damaged from such a chronic, high stress state that it has developed sensitivities to multiple foods.

My only question is, how do other people get away with eating so little? My brother has some eggs for breakfast and a sandwich for lunch and is perfectly healthy at 22 years old. He gets maybe 1500 calories a day, and he’s 6 ft 5, 210 lbs. Why can someone like him undereat? But I can’t? Does it boil down to individual differences in stress than he and I have experienced over a lifetime? I did exercise 5-6 days a week for 4 years before I got sick (football). I’m wondering if the constant exercise combined with lack of nutrition created my current state.

It's called being 22 or could just be luck with him, but increasing your energetic requirements without increasing calories can cause serious problems.

This is especially true if it happens over time making it more difficult to notice.

As human beings in the modern world, we are particularly ignorant when it comes to spotting health problems even if they are overt.

For instance, we live in a society where men losing their hair and women having their uterus removed in their 40s is considered normal.:eek:

Reminds me of an old saying: "you can't get there from here...........you have to go somewhere else to get there.":cool:
 

Velve921

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Have you tried mixing gelatin, sugar, coconut oil, and cream with your coffee throughout the day?

Yiu consider a gelatin/sugar snack before bedtime to help you sleep through the night?
 

Jib

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You said ripe bananas are great for you. They are for me too.

Have you ever tried eating bananas with coconut oil? It sounds weird, but it tastes good. The flavors go well together. You could just have a spoonful of coconut oil with a banana and try that a few times a day to get your calorie intake up.

Oats aren't very popular here, but I think they're great, and I've been having homemade granola for a while now. Recipe is as follows:

4 cups organic rolled oats
1/2 cup honey or maple syrup
1/2 cup coconut oil (I use hydrogenated coconut oil from Welch, Holme and Clark)
1 tsp. salt

Line a baking pan with parchment paper and put the oats in. Then add the rest of the ingredients and mix by hand thoroughly. Set your oven to 350F, and bake until golden brown. Usually takes about 50 minutes. You'll want to take it out about 30 minutes in to mix it around, to make sure that no parts get burned or overdone compared to the rest.

IMO it helps a lot with constipation/regularity, and it will also help boost your calorie intake. It's a very dense source of fat and carbohydrates and a mere half a cup will help boost your calorie intake for the day quite a bit.

So for your height and weight I'd definitely say you're in a calorie deficit, although your weight doesn't reflect any kind of massive undereating. I'd pay attention to how you feel and keep your electrolyte intake in mind. Sodium, mainly, but also potassium. In my experience, sodium is extremely important, and if I don't get enough, I will feel incredible fatigue, tiredness, and brain fog.

Calories are important, but sodium even in the absence of extra calories can help.

I'm 5'10" and fluctuate between 195 and 200lbs, and if I have much less than 3,000 calories a day, I get wicked anxiety and insomnia at night. Can't sleep without adequate calories. Just tracking for today, I'm at 2,700, and the night is young. I feel full right now but I wouldn't be surprised if I'm getting something else to eat in a couple hours.

I have other issues, though, and my appetite has been insatiable lately. My waking temps have been stuck around 97.2 as well so there's also that. If I had 2,000-2,500 calories in a day I'd feel like I was starving and would certainly not be able to sleep at all. I've tried. I just end up lying there for literally hours and have to resort to high doses of doxylamine to get to sleep.
 

gaze

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have you tried salty bone broth? I think it could help many of your problems.
 

Yody

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Goat milk, parmesan and manchego cheese, dates, ice cream, ghee, cacao, beef, liverwurst -- get eatin' big boi !
 

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