Looking for advice

[Sheik]

I've been reading a lot of Ray Peat's stuff and trying out some recommendations but I thought it would be a good idea to ask if anyone's got any perspective on my situation.

My diet is a lot of milk, bananas, oysters 2x/week, eggs, OJ, carrots, hamburger, bacon, apples... I have white toast with my eggs but have mostly cut out grains. No vegetable oils.

I'm now getting a good amount of Vitamin A, C, and D. Still trying to find good sources of E and K. I'm taking gelatin pills, 5g per day (maybe that's not a lot).

I'm really skinny and I have a really hard time gaining weight. I'm 6'4" and 138 pounds. On average I eat about 1700 calories per day but for the last week or so I've eaten about 2000 calories per day. I was pretty disappointed when I got on the scale and found that I had actually lost weight after the week. Eating all that food was hard work.

What brought me to Peat was hair loss. It's gotten bad. I've got a really tense scalp and forehead.

I'm hoping to be able to get some red lights soon, also some Great Lakes gelatin. I'm currently waiting on MyMexicanDrugstore to deliver my cynomel & cynoplus.

other issues that might give you an idea:
-had TSH tested six months ago (pre-finasteride). was 2.46
-red dots on legs, arms [like this: http://s1263.photobucket.com/user/cipro ... 3.jpg.html ]
-some kind of acne on hips
-cold hands almost always
-difficulty sleeping. some nights, though, I sleep 11 hours.
-crippling social anxiety, stemming from panic attacks I had over a year ago
-long term side effects from one finasteride pill I took 5 months ago (Finasteride. Not even once.)
-really sensitive teeth (from sugar, not cold)
-brittle toe nails
-dandruff
-purple half circles under eyes, outlined by tiny cystic acne
-I think I've actually lost hair on my legs, not certain
-low appetite

One other weird problem is that when I masturbate, I feel like ***t for the next few days. Really depressed, a lot of pain in my body, horrible tension headaches coupled with bad stomach pain. To be clear, it's NOT shame (my doctor thought it was, ha). The same thing happens when I've gone 6 or 7 days without masturbating.

Is this mostly indicative of low thyroid? Any other ideas?

 

[tara]

Welcome Sheik

There my be other things going on too, and others may have other ideas, but this is what stood out to me:

I'm really skinny and I have a really hard time gaining weight. I'm 6'4" and 138 pounds. On average I eat about 1700 calories per day but for the last week or so I've eaten about 2000 calories per day. I was pretty disappointed when I got on the scale and found that I had actually lost weight after the week. Eating all that food was hard work.

2000 calories is nowhere near enough for any adult, let alone a tall young man, to maintain a healthy metabolism. It looks to me as though this could be a key part of your problem, if you have been eating only 1700 cals for a while. You might find descriptions of the Minnesota Starvation Experiment interesting.
Severe long-term under eating pretty reliably reduces metabolism for most people, with associated fatigue and many physical consequences. You can get an idea about thyroid function by tracking temperature and pulse. Most public calorie calculators underestimate people's needs because they are based on studies of what people say they eat, not what they actually eat.


I'd recommend eating a lot more, possibly working up to it gradually if it is difficult for your digestion. Average weight-stable non-dieting men eat around 3000 cals, more if extra tall and/or extra active, so that seems to me a reasonable minimum target, but by all means eat more if you are hungry for it. People recovering from severe under-eating often need a lot more at times. This is not from Peat's writing, but from Gwyneth Olwyn's at youreatopia.com. I think it is largely consistent with Peat's ideas, but not everyone here agrees. It is common for people to find it rough doubling their food intake - the GI tract is out of training, and there are some common phases during recovery that some people find discouraging, especially if they don't know it's normal - eg bloating in the early stages, and fat gain for while before the lean mass gets rebuilt.

While you are at it, you can aim for at least 100g protein a day - or more if you feel like it. Peat recommends calcium:phosphate 1:1 or 2:1, so you could check that if you want. You could try to get a little liver in - it's good for a number of vitamins and minerals, including a bit of vit-K. Quite a few people here (incl. me) supplement vit-E and vit-K. You may find you need to add a more calorie dense form of carbs to get enough food - if you try to double your milk and OJ, it's possible you'll have trouble with too much fluid - not uncommon. Just adding sugar to drinks, and maybe eating honey, dates if they agree with you may be an easy way. Sweetened condensed milk.

You are not the only person or the only man here who has been chronically undereating and seems to be suffering from it. Once you've got your fuel supply up, you can see if that solves some of your issues. Out of curiousity, if you feel like answering, did your dr ask how much you were eating and/or have any comment about it?

 

[Sheik]

Hey, thanks a lot for that reply. It's very helpful.

One doctor recently commented that I was underweight. That's because I was naked. I guess people can't usually tell, especially because it's winter and I'm bundled up. But I haven't had a doctor bring up my eating.

To be honest I don't really like eating all that much. It kind of grosses me out. But I didn't realize 1700 calories was so low.

I don't want to speak too soon but it seems like trying to eat more might have kick started my appetite a bit.

I'll try to work my way up to 3000 calories. I would be totally cool with putting on some fat. Happy in fact. I would like to have a buffer so I don't lose muscle.

 

[tara]

I don't want to speak too soon but it seems like trying to eat more might have kick started my appetite a bit.

That sounds promising. :) Hopefully you can find some nourishing food you enjoy. You could check out the Recipe section for a few ideas.

 

[Sea]

Try to at least double, if not triple your caloric intake. I am 5-8/150 (sedentary) and I eat 3500 calories/day on average. The first couple months that I transitioned from low carb I was eating around 4500 calories/day on average.

I recommend adding in a sugary cereal(I like Cap'n Crunch), and some refined white flour products like pizza to your diet. These products may not be optimal, but when metabolism is low you will not be as hungry and these foods are quite palatable and can help to increase your metabolism to where it should be. It is far better to eat enough food so that metabolism increases than to only eat ray peat approved/natural foods when you are in this state. If you order pizza from a non-chain there is a greater likelihood that they use olive oil and not canola/soybean oil in the crust. I have also found In N Out to be beneficial for me. If I don't feel like cooking I will often go to In N Out and order a few cheeseburgers without their spread. Their spread and fries contain vegetable oils but not their burgers/buns. Other than that I would try some denser sources of sugar like honey or dates.

 

[charlie]

Sheik,

 

[Sheik]

Try to at least double, if not triple your caloric intake. I am 5-8/150 (sedentary) and I eat 3500 calories/day on average. The first couple months that I transitioned from low carb I was eating around 4500 calories/day on average.

I recommend adding in a sugary cereal(I like Cap'n Crunch), and some refined white flour products like pizza to your diet. These products may not be optimal, but when metabolism is low you will not be as hungry and these foods are quite palatable and can help to increase your metabolism to where it should be. It is far better to eat enough food so that metabolism increases than to only eat ray peat approved/natural foods when you are in this state. If you order pizza from a non-chain there is a greater likelihood that they use olive oil and not canola/soybean oil in the crust. I have also found In N Out to be beneficial for me. If I don't feel like cooking I will often go to In N Out and order a few cheeseburgers without their spread. Their spread and fries contain vegetable oils but not their burgers/buns. Other than that I would try some denser sources of sugar like honey or dates.

I think that's a good point. The only time I succeeded in gaining a few pounds was when I ate a lot of white bread.

Today I had 2 pop tarts and found out I had just eaten 400 calories. That was kind of a relief, though pop tarts are not the best thing to eat. Do you think eating pop tarts is reasonable? http://www.kelloggs.com/content/dam/com ... es_443.gif

Sheik,

Thanks.

 

[tara]

Today I had 2 pop tarts and found out I had just eaten 400 calories. That was kind of a relief, though pop tarts are not the best thing to eat. Do you think eating pop tarts is reasonable? http://www.kelloggs.com/content/dam/com ... es_443.gif

I agree with Sea's suggestion to eat more.
My view on the pop tarts is that they have several dodgy ingredients (soy, xantham gum, reduced iron, aluminium, some PUFA, etc), so they probably wouldn't make an ideal long term staple. But eating beats starving, and in the short-term till you can figure out some better alternatives, they're not the worst option. I'm sure others will have different views. If you haven't yet looked in the recipe section, there are a few high calorie ideas in there.

 

[jyb]

Ice cream or coffee + dairy cream is a lot of calories. Coffee + cream is more nutritious and you have more control over the quality, I find.