New to Ray Peat…having weight gain

[Franesthesia]

Hello Ray Peaters!

So happy to be here! I’m struggling a little bit with diet and weight gain. I understand I need the sugar to help get my thyroid started but I’ve always gained weight easily by eating sugar. I’ve started my Ray Peat adventure about 6 weeks ago using thyroid medicine and diet change. I’ve easily put on 10lbs and very frustrated. Has anyone else experienced this and if so can you provide me w some suggestions on how to stop the weight gain and potentially lose the weight. I understand for about every year of health issues, it’ll take that in months to correct so I have about 8-10 months before my thyroid will function properly…
I’m open to any suggestions!
Thank you!

 

[Peatful]

Hello Ray Peaters!

So happy to be here! I’m struggling a little bit with diet and weight gain. I understand I need the sugar to help get my thyroid started but I’ve always gained weight easily by eating sugar. I’ve started my Ray Peat adventure about 6 weeks ago using thyroid medicine and diet change. I’ve easily put on 10lbs and very frustrated. Has anyone else experienced this and if so can you provide me w some suggestions on how to stop the weight gain and potentially lose the weight. I understand for about every year of health issues, it’ll take that in months to correct so I have about 8-10 months before my thyroid will function properly…
I’m open to any suggestions!
Thank you!

What is your dietary hx?

 

[Franesthesia]

Hello Ray Peaters!

So happy to be here! I’m struggling a little bit with diet and weight gain. I understand I need the sugar to help get my thyroid started but I’ve always gained weight easily by eating sugar. I’ve started my Ray Peat adventure about 6 weeks ago using thyroid medicine and diet change. I’ve easily put on 10lbs and very frustrated. Has anyone else experienced this and if so can you provide me w some suggestions on how to stop the weight gain and potentially lose the weight. I understand for about every year of health issues, it’ll take that in months to correct so I have about 8-10 months before my thyroid will function properly…
I’m open to any suggestions!
Thank you!

I should also include I am a 47 year old female, 5’1” tall, and have worked out my entire life. I used to be a runner and weight trained. Now I weight train 3 x week and speed-walk (16-18 min miles) 5-7 x week.

 

[Risingfire]

There's definitely a lot of people who gain weight when they start peating. Especially if they come from a low carb background. My suggestion is to count calories. And I would try to get most of my sugar from fruit.

 

[Peatful]

I should also include I am a 47 year old female, 5’1” tall, and have worked out my entire life. I used to be a runner and weight trained. Now I weight train 3 x week and speed-walk (16-18 min miles) 5-7 x week.

This answers a lot.

What is your dietary hx?

 

[area51puy]

I was low carb and exercised a lot and put on weight after starting peating, I think there was studies say if you don’t eat sugar the cell dismantles the cellular process that processes sugar. So it may take a little while to get that back. So I gained weight and eventually lost it.

So your best bet is count calories and almost no fat while your body adapts back. That was my mistake still eating a lot of fat and not counting calories.

Yeah my overall health improved but put on some pounds. Until I eliminated fat and counted calories.

 

[area51puy]

Was also an intermittent faster for years. Which is also bad for overall metabolism. So I would spread meals throughout the day so your body doesn’t revert back too using cortisol and adrenaline to brake down body tissue and eventually have your body returning to thyroid

 

[Franesthesia]

There's definitely a lot of people who gain weight when they start peating. Especially if they come from a low carb background. My suggestion is to count calories. And I would try to get most of my sugar from fruit.

Thank you! For a female of my age and height (47 years old & 5’1”) what caloric intake would you suggest? I burn 300-500 calories a day from working out depending on what I do for my workout.

 

[area51puy]

This answers a lot.

What is your dietary hx?

And you don’t want to over exercise to the point your are raising cortisol. When cortisol rises it breaks down body tissue for sugar which includes muscle, organs and skin. And sends a signal for the body to store fat. And cortisol also opposes thyroid.

So since I started peating I put on a lot a muscle which is crucial for burning especially at rest. My skin improved and overall health is better after years of running on cortisol and adrenaline from low carb which help me stay slim but I lost a lot of muscle and skin tightness wasn’t that great. I also look years younger then before peating , I think mostly because cortisol is breaking down skin tissue for energy.

 

[area51puy]

View: https://youtu.be/3OhCZ5YEou8

 

[Franesthesia]

This answers a lot.

What is your dietary hx?

Breakfast: 10 Oz of OJ w 2 TBSP of Great Lakes collagen, a cup of coffee w creamer, 1tsp sugar and coconut oil… I try to have the coffee regimen 2 hours after the OJ to make it separate meals but sometimes my schedule can’t permit this much frequency of eating.

Lunch is usually 4% daisy cottage cheese w 10 red grapes or chicken/Turkey breast (3oz) w grapes

Dinner: some sort of fish or beef protein w mushrooms and bamboo shoots
Snacks: fruit juice (OJ, papaya or mango) w a scoop (TBSP) of collagen, or 1% lactose free milk w a scoop of collagen and tsp of honey. Snacks are usually twice a day.

A nutritionist from years ago told me to take in 1200-1250 calories per day and I never had more than 10g of sugar in anything I ate and I was eating a lot of veggies w only 2 servings (total of 1/2 cup) of berries per day. I also cut dairy out for several years due to thinking I was allergic (sinus stuffiness and gastric discomfort). Clearly a thyroid issue and not allergies

My understanding for Ray Peating, it should be higher...2000 calories…..I just can’t eat much more at this point. I get nauseated and then the weight gain is a turn off.

 

[Franesthesia]

And you don’t want to over exercise to the point your are raising cortisol. When cortisol rises it breaks down body tissue for sugar which includes muscle, organs and skin. And sends a signal for the body to store fat. And cortisol also opposes thyroid.

So since I started peating I put on a lot a muscle which is crucial for burning especially at rest. My skin improved and overall health is better after years of running on cortisol and adrenaline from low carb which help me stay slim but I lost a lot of muscle and skin tightness wasn’t that great. I also look years younger then before peating , I think mostly because cortisol is breaking down skin tissue for energy.

This makes a lot of sense. Did you have low energy in the beginning stages of peating? I’m w low energy and tiring out quickly. Ill
Lift weights between 15-30 minutes depending on how I feel.

 

[Franesthesia]

Was also an intermittent faster for years. Which is also bad for overall metabolism. So I would spread meals throughout the day so your body doesn’t revert back too using cortisol and adrenaline to brake down body tissue and eventually have your body returning to thyroid

I tried intermittent fasting, keto and other quick fixes that left me worse than before. Do you eat every 2 hours?

 

[Franesthesia]

View: https://youtu.be/3OhCZ5YEou8

Thanks for sending. I will definitely listen to this

 

[Risingfire]

Thank you! For a female of my age and height (47 years old & 5’1”) what caloric intake would you suggest? I burn 300-500 calories a day from working out depending on what I do for my workout.

This should give you a rough idea. Obviously, you'll have to play around with it to some degree.

Calorie Calculator

This calorie calculator estimates the number of calories needed each day to maintain, lose, or gain weight. Learn the kinds of calories and their effects.

www.calculator.net

 

[Peatful]

Breakfast: 10 Oz of OJ w 2 TBSP of Great Lakes collagen, a cup of coffee w creamer, 1tsp sugar and coconut oil… I try to have the coffee regimen 2 hours after the OJ to make it separate meals but sometimes my schedule can’t permit this much frequency of eating.

Lunch is usually 4% daisy cottage cheese w 10 red grapes or chicken/Turkey breast (3oz) w grapes

Dinner: some sort of fish or beef protein w mushrooms and bamboo shoots
Snacks: fruit juice (OJ, papaya or mango) w a scoop (TBSP) of collagen, or 1% lactose free milk w a scoop of collagen and tsp of honey. Snacks are usually twice a day.

A nutritionist from years ago told me to take in 1200-1250 calories per day and I never had more than 10g of sugar in anything I ate and I was eating a lot of veggies w only 2 servings (total of 1/2 cup) of berries per day. I also cut dairy out for several years due to thinking I was allergic (sinus stuffiness and gastric discomfort). Clearly a thyroid issue and not allergies

My understanding for Ray Peating, it should be higher...2000 calories…..I just can’t eat much more at this point. I get nauseated and then the weight gain is a turn off.

Im genuinely surprised there is not more wrong with you based on your data and hx.


First and foremost.
You are going to be fine.
Actually better than ever if you allow temporary discomfort to pave the way for a foundation of good health.



Based on the data i have:
There are a lot of different places i could go-
So i will briefly touch on just general points.
You can ask questions on anything unclear at any time.

- obviously that dietitian was misled at best. Reckless.
- you question the weight gain correct?
- this extra weight you are adding on is for several good reasons.
- your body is taking the extra calories and extra nutrition and it’s holding on for dear life
- you’ve probably been hungry but your cortisol has been blunting it
- your body is filling it’s glycogen storage and there’s probably some water weight and maybe some endotoxin weight if your digestion is weak
- You are also in a stage where your body is trying to repair it self to rebuild muscle as stated above and even rebuild bone
- your body is also highly intelligent and if you give it what it needs it will sort through as long as you don’t let the mirror or your emotions -your relationship to your body or food -get in the way


Yes yes
Many on the forum disagree with me on this
But i was in a place very very similar to you- but much sicker

Im well now and continue to be thin because my body healed- metabolically and hormonally
I eat 2500 kcal daily
Some days more
Some days less
And i am well

Don’t get stuck in pseudo recovery
Healing is worth it

 

[Jonk]

I would also be perceptive of how you react to certain foods.

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pDmlD0sYEgk&t=4052s&ab_channel=JayFeldmanWellness

I like this podcast a lot. You can skip to the relevant parts in the episode if you're interested. I'm not sure of the mechanism but it seems like slowing down of the digestion is linked to weight gain. In the episode above, Mike talks about losing a lot of weight when quitting all dairy (allergen to him). Also I know Ray talks about starches being less harmful to the digestive tract when consumed with fat, but also more easily leading to weight gain. On maybe the same radio show Ray talks about eating a carrot along with a fatty meal can bind some of the fat. So be wary of the different ways you might react to foods, while some allergens might have a serotonergic effect with faster transit times, some foods like A1-dairy (for some people) might have an opioid effect of constipating. Etc etc ...

 

[Franesthesia]

There's definitely a lot of people who gain weight when they start peating. Especially if they come from a low carb background. My suggestion is to count calories. And I would try to get most of my sugar from fruit.

I would also be perceptive of how you react to certain foods.

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pDmlD0sYEgk&t=4052s&ab_channel=JayFeldmanWellness

I like this podcast a lot. You can skip to the relevant parts in the episode if you're interested. I'm not sure of the mechanism but it seems like slowing down of the digestion is linked to weight gain. In the episode above, Mike talks about losing a lot of weight when quitting all dairy (allergen to him). Also I know Ray talks about starches being less harmful to the digestive tract when consumed with fat, but also more easily leading to weight gain. On maybe the same radio show Ray talks about eating a carrot along with a fatty meal can bind some of the fat. So be wary of the different ways you might react to foods, while some allergens might have a serotonergic effect with faster transit times, some foods like A1-dairy (for some people) might have an opioid effect of constipating. Etc etc ...

Ok this is very interesting…thank you

 

[Franesthesia]

Im genuinely surprised there is not more wrong with you based on your data and hx.


First and foremost.
You are going to be fine.
Actually better than ever if you allow temporary discomfort to pave the way for a foundation of good health.



Based on the data i have:
There are a lot of different places i could go-
So i will briefly touch on just general points.
You can ask questions on anything unclear at any time.

- obviously that dietitian was misled at best. Reckless.
- you question the weight gain correct?
- this extra weight you are adding on is for several good reasons.
- your body is taking the extra calories and extra nutrition and it’s holding on for dear life
- you’ve probably been hungry but your cortisol has been blunting it
- your body is filling it’s glycogen storage and there’s probably some water weight and maybe some endotoxin weight if your digestion is weak
- You are also in a stage where your body is trying to repair it self to rebuild muscle as stated above and even rebuild bone
- your body is also highly intelligent and if you give it what it needs it will sort through as long as you don’t let the mirror or your emotions -your relationship to your body or food -get in the way


Yes yes
Many on the forum disagree with me on this
But i was in a place very very similar to you- but much sicker

Im well now and continue to be thin because my body healed- metabolically and hormonally
I eat 2500 kcal daily
Some days more
Some days less
And i am well

Don’t get stuck in pseudo recovery
Healing is worth it

Thank you for such a great explanation. I’ve been told I’m not eating enough. And I am a little sicker than weight gain but I think my body has learned to cope. Your encouraging words will keep me going. I’ll have to buy some baggy clothes for the time being but luckily I’m heading into winter and not bikini season. Thank you again!

 

[Franesthesia]

This should give you a rough idea. Obviously, you'll have to play around with it to some degree.

Calorie Calculator

This calorie calculator estimates the number of calories needed each day to maintain, lose, or gain weight. Learn the kinds of calories and their effects.

www.calculator.net

Perfect thank you!