My Journey To Optimal Health

[Cirion]

That's true. The problem is though why I and many others have failed I think now is because we see weight gain and then give up because we don't wanna gain fat. The fact is though, you HAVE to eat a surplus (IE, gain fat) to heal your body, there's no getting around this fact. How much body fat you gain is a function of how damaged your metabolism is though. Unfortunately for me, I've had a damaged metabolism most of my life so I expect a lot of body fat gain is probably in my future until I heal, I hate this, but there's nothing I can do about it other than eat wholesome food, reduce stress, and hope for the best. I'm at the point where I honestly have given up caring about how I look, and instead am focusing on how I feel. It's my hope that after I feel good, that looking good will eventually follow. Looking good =/= feeling good (when I was my most ripped, I was also my most miserable). I'd be willing to wager that 9/10 "Healthy, athletic" people have some level of hypothyroidism going on, because most people achieve ripped status the same way I did - overexercising while under-eating.

All that said, I am not going as crazy with fat this go around, since you only need a certain amount of fat to actually achieve optimal hormones, I think... on the other hand, you need tons of glucose to keep the body fueled properly. Last time part of what got me into trouble was drinking milk by the gallon, not only too much fat but also not enough variety of nutrients.

 

[Cirion]

I'm now able to keep my pulse up to 80+ bpm for a good majority of the day. Still struggle with waking in the morning though. Hoping that will improve with time. Nathan says that is probably due in part to Vitamin D plus a Boron deficiency, and suggests that I take some heavy duty Boron supplementation in the form of Borax or Boric acid.

Main couple of things I'm doing to keep pulse up...
2 cups of coffee immediately after waking alongside fruit + OJ and salt in the form of sodium acetate, with 1 more coffee after getting to the office, and 1 more sometime after lunch.
More balanced food... been just bringing this lately to work for the most part... beef cooked in coconut oil and topped with butter and salt plus sweet potatoes salted and salted apples as well. By the time I'm on my third coffee I've gotten my bpm's to 80+ and the fourth cup just makes sure it stays that way.

And, any time I notice my pulse dropping too low (< 70 means I eat something PRONTO no questions asked, lately been eating something if even < 80 just to keep things humming along and of course if hungry = eat too). It means lots of measuring of my pulse but I'll do what it takes... Nathan didn't tell me to measure this often, but I feel like this is gonna help me heal faster.

 

[Cirion]

Managed to get my pulse to 85+ within minutes of waking up today, even with less than ideal sleep quality. I added a tablespoon of sugar to my coffee this time alongside the milk. I guess I just needed to supercharge my glucose stores more quickly with the sugar which accomplished it. 2 cups of coffee so 2 tablespoon of sugar total.

 

[Cirion]

Determined that part of my sleep quality woes is simply not enough of it. 9 hrs simply isn't enough, which is insane, but after sleeping 11 hrs on Saturday evening I felt actually rather refreshed on Sunday.

Will be trying to set more militant bedtimes going forward, to ensure I'm in bed 11-12 hrs before I want to wake up. I am sure that waking up refreshed will be half the battle in healing quicker.

I have always gone back and forth on the issue of is sleeping that much normal, and the short answer is no it's not normal, but necessary because of damaged metabolism. If I feel better with more sleep, then more sleep I shall have. Feeling better is what doing all this is about, after all.

 

[Blossom]

Determined that part of my sleep quality woes is simply not enough of it. 9 hrs simply isn't enough, which is insane, but after sleeping 11 hrs on Saturday evening I felt actually rather refreshed on Sunday.

Will be trying to set more militant bedtimes going forward, to ensure I'm in bed 11-12 hrs before I want to wake up. I am sure that waking up refreshed will be half the battle in healing quicker.

I have always gone back and forth on the issue of is sleeping that much normal, and the short answer is no it's not normal, but necessary because of damaged metabolism. If I feel better with more sleep, then more sleep I shall have. Feeling better is what doing all this is about, after all.

I'm very happy for you!

 

[Cirion]

I'm very happy for you!

Thanks! I have a long hard road ahead of me, because even one day of being lazy with the sleep and I feel bad in the morning. I have to have 100% adherence, and this includes Friday night where it can be tempting to stay up late. Like I failed last night and went to bed too late, and had to have 4 cups of coffee to wake up today.

 

[Blossom]

Thanks! I have a long hard road ahead of me, because even one day of being lazy with the sleep and I feel bad in the morning. I have to have 100% adherence, and this includes Friday night where it can be tempting to stay up late. Like I failed last night and went to bed too late, and had to have 4 cups of coffee to wake up today.

Yes you do but it is so worth it and eventually you will get to a point where you won't need as much sleep.

 

[Cirion]

Did you have the same experience starting off with a RP style of eating? Lots of sleep required which eventually leveled off?

 

[Cirion]

Gonna try out this soon... it's a combo of organ meat and ground meat... all grass fed... I've known about the benefits of organ meat for a while but struggled to find a good source of it until now. Found this through a link from a podcast from Chris Masterjohn:

Beef Liverwurst - 1 lb. | US Wellness Meats

 

[Blossom]

Did you have the same experience starting off with a RP style of eating? Lots of sleep required which eventually leveled off?

Sorry-just saw this but yes, I required a lot of rest in the first couple years.

Gonna try out this soon... it's a combo of organ meat and ground meat... all grass fed... I've known about the benefits of organ meat for a while but struggled to find a good source of it until now. Found this through a link from a podcast from Chris Masterjohn:

Beef Liverwurst - 1 lb. | US Wellness Meats

That sounds good. I'm very particular about the meat I buy. I believe @lisaferraro uses their products.

 

[Taotatoes]

I've not commented since much earlier in your thread, but have been following and just wanted to pop in and say I'm so glad you've found something that works for you!!

 

[Runenight201]

@Cirion , have you seen any of the posts by Nate? He left this forum about a year or so ago, I think due to just moving on with his life? but he had thyroid cancer and he battled with what I feel like would be similar issues to you, in terms of weight gain, sleep, and having good energy and health. His blog The Blog is all about feeling good without having the concomitant weight gain that usually happens with a lot of people here. Might be worth checking out some of his posts, his blog, or even purchasing his book (which is a little pricey at 29.99, but if you like his ideas and want to see his perspective, could be worth it).

 

[Cirion]

Sorry-just saw this but yes, I required a lot of rest in the first couple years.

That sounds good. I'm very particular about the meat I buy. I believe @lisaferraro uses their products.

Good, that gives me more hope to work with!

I've not commented since much earlier in your thread, but have been following and just wanted to pop in and say I'm so glad you've found something that works for you!!

Thanks, I fell off the wagon for a while doing some stupid dieting for a bit which you probably saw, but I'm back at it and more serious than ever before.

@Cirion , have you seen any of the posts by Nate? He left this forum about a year or so ago, I think due to just moving on with his life? but he had thyroid cancer and he battled with what I feel like would be similar issues to you, in terms of weight gain, sleep, and having good energy and health. His blog The Blog is all about feeling good without having the concomitant weight gain that usually happens with a lot of people here. Might be worth checking out some of his posts, his blog, or even purchasing his book (which is a little pricey at 29.99, but if you like his ideas and want to see his perspective, could be worth it).

Yes in fact he is currently coaching me.

 

[Runenight201]

LMAO that's who you mean by Nathan....sometimes I can miss the most obvious things

 

[lollipop]

Sorry-just saw this but yes, I required a lot of rest in the first couple years.

That sounds good. I'm very particular about the meat I buy. I believe @lisaferraro uses their products.

I do use them! Fantastic - some of the cleanest meat I have ever purchased @Cirion

 

[Cirion]

Had what I believe to be fairly severe reaction to a somewhat large dose of niacinamide, so lesson learned. I tried out 1000 mg of it last night, and woke up in the middle of the night with pretty severe depression, that was not a fun time at all. I presume it did something like liberate a ton of PUFA and/or serotonin.

Felt really bad this morning also. I decided to double up on sugar on my coffee. Jumped my pulse right up to 82 with just one cup and my mood literally went from horrible to good, will be having more cups for sure today. Now I know maybe what it's like to have a mood swing disorder... crazy that your mood can change so fast.

 

[Cirion]

Seem to tolerate 500mg of niacinamide better than 1000. Still a zombie in the morning. As usual a nice serving of sugar in the coffee helps a bit. Looking forward to the weekend when I can just sleep in.

 

[Jsaute21]

Seem to tolerate 500mg of niacinamide better than 1000. Still a zombie in the morning. As usual a nice serving of sugar in the coffee helps a bit. Looking forward to the weekend when I can just sleep in.

Great information here. What supplements are you taking?

 

[Cirion]

Still a heavy work in progress so don't try to copy it or anything...

Multivitamin
Zinc
Niacinamide
Vitamin E
Vitamin D
Magnesium Glycinate
Vitamin B1
Baking soda + ACV/white vinegar (Sodium acetate)
Aspirin
Borox (nate suggested this for boron)
Sublimed sulfur (starting this soon at the recommendation of Nate)

Just started doing Epsom salt + baking soda baths as well to try to further increase mineral intake

 

[Cirion]

Fatigue is still pretty bad in general. I'm actually cancelling out visiting a friend because I just need to sleep in this weekend. My dad has severe chronic fatigue, he sleeps up to 16 hrs a day. Bad metabolism runs in my family unfortunately.

Update for the day - had another cup of coffee and seemed to normalize things. I guess I'm just going to be dependent on coffee for the forseeable future to keep things humming along.