Still dealing with slow metabolism after restrictive eating. How to restore?

[Peatful]

@Peatful
What is your set point weight do you think?
Probably around 140 as I'm 5'10" with small to medium frame. I weighed 125 when I was 19 but I was too scrawny.

What is your current body composition?
I would suspect that I'm about 15 to 20 % fat. But I've not done the calipers test in ages.

How long a hx of orthorexia?
I can't say for sure. I know there was a time as a child I was picky, very picky eater. Then in my early 20s I was turned on to ginseng and then started learning all about various vitamins and supplements. I didn't really start being restrictive in my eating until around 28. I was somewhat restrictive for a couple of years and then went back to SAD.

How long did you IF with the carnivore diet?
If you mean how long each day, then it would vary from a minimum of 16 hours up to 21 hours per day. But if you mean how long I did IF, well that was for probably 3 years.

What is your current level of activity?
I walk 5 days a week on average. I would like to lift 10 or 20 pound weights for the testosterone boost but when i do this, especially during the winter, it throws my sympathetic-parasympathetic off and I become stressed and lose sleep. I don't know how all that works but it must have to do with my very unusual self. Maybe the vagus nerve is out of whack with me.

What is your primary source of stress do you believe?
Prolonged period of where I get at most 5 to 7 hours of sleep, and that's only when I take melatonin, mag threonate and phenergan.

Are you working in or out of the house?
I work from home.

What is your relationship to food currently?
I seem to do well on red meat with one or two servings of oatmeal with coconut oil and butter each day. I have coffee each morning and usually 2 to 4 oranges a day, or sometimes apples. I was eating sourdough bread at night before bed and that seemed to be helping my sleep especially with butter and himalayan sea salt. Also every other day I eat a raw carrot.

To your body?
I can actually get up and down off of the floor and have much better mobility than I did ten years ago. Btw, ten years ago I had fibromyalgia. After having vaccine derived fibro for five years, I was able to be cured from it by living in an environment far from cell towers and laptop cords and by cutting out processed foods.

Last question hopefully
But an important one

What is your daily kcal?
With what macro ratio?




With all the data above
I know you and i can see clearly a stressed metabolism

You are in what i call pseudo recovery

Not living a pitiful orthorexic existence
But not a maximal metabolism either

So many people with this history of IF and a restrictive diet end up here
Most resort back to keto usually
You’ve seen that a lot on here too i bet


Please answer my question regarding your current kcal and macros
If you know what your TSH is
Just for kicks
LMK


At your age and activity level
I doubt 4k would be your goal for healing
But i need that data from you first

 

[joaquin]

@Peatful
I'm right around 1100 calories a day give or take.
My macros, best guess would be 50/25/25 p/c/f

I have no idea my tsh. Never even had it tested.

 

[Peatful]

@Peatful

I'm right around 1100 calories a day give or take.
My macros, best guess would be 50/25/25 p/c/f

I have no idea my tsh. Never even had it tested.

That is mighty low.

Macros good.
Kcal not.

Maintaining your weight on 1100 kcal definitely points to hypothyroidism
Don’t need your tsh

Your life doesn’t sound stressful
No wife or kids at home I presume
So
If it’s just about your food vs other factors
This is really not that complicated

You present as a pretty balanced kinda personality
So that will work for you

Are you HUNGRY?
How are you sustaining on 1100?
You must freeze in the winter…

(For reference im a small woman eating 2300-2800 kcal a day
Im warm
But i still have terribly weak digestion)

Here is the difficult or controversial part
And only people who are truly ready really dive in and commit

The plan is to slowly up your calories
This must be balanced macros and easy to digest mini meals for you

I also think you may possibly want to peel back on the walking for a season
Go sit outside
Get air and sun
But
Wow
1100 is low for a man your age, size and activity level

We want to add in one extra meal a day
That’s all to begin with

I never recommend peaty foods
I recommend what you can digest
What tastes good etc


The scary part is you will see weight gain
This freaks people out

The body will hold onto this weight
The glycogen
The water
To help repair what has been damaged

There are three YouTube girls that document this visually well
Stephanie Buttermore is the best visually
Ill try to find that video for you and post below

You will add a second meal as your appetite increases
It should increase as you re-feed

You are rebuilding bone. Organs. Tissue etc
You are moving out of a stressed state into a whole state

The time it takes is directly related to the amount of damage and over what period of time

I re fed for almost a year?
But i was much much much worse than you
I don’t overstate - i was moving towards death (for reference: all i was eating was a few spoonful of peas and rice a day. I lost all satiety cues and no hunger. My body was catabolic. Eating itself)

After i re fed
My recovery took maybe 6-12 months


Here is Stephanie
She is thinner now
This was two years ago
But she still has food issues i think
Being in the fitness industry and on camera
I don’t follow her
But she has good visuals


View: https://youtu.be/N9z5xqAP7ek








This was a lot

Im a mom
Not a writer or great communicator
But i love people and long to see them healed, healthy and free

 

[joaquin]

@Peatful
Thank you for the thoughtful insight. Yes, I agree 1100 calories is low. And yes, I stay cold.

What ideas do you have for small meals thru out the day? I don't have the best digestion and that is one thing that drew me to carnivore, the digestion is easy on it.

Most of the foods at the grocery store are loaded with harmful additives, chemicals, thickeners, pufas.

 

[Peatful]

@Peatful
Thank you for the thoughtful insight. Yes, I agree 1100 calories is low. And yes, I stay cold.

What ideas do you have for small meals thru out the day? I don't have the best digestion and that is one thing that drew me to carnivore, the digestion is easy on it.

Most of the foods at the grocery store are loaded with harmful additives, chemicals, thickeners, pufas.

Honestly the best foods are the ones you can digest

Example:
I healed initially on anything processed (no pufa was my only guideline) because my digestion couldn’t handle or break down anything whole

I don’t think you are that bad
So cooked foods mostly

Stews. Grilled cheese. Tandoori chicken. Roasted rooted vegetables (beets. Potatoes. Etc). Pizza. Burgers. Ramen. Soups. Cheesecake.

All 40/30/30 50/25/25 at meal time though

It’s laborious at first…

Breakfast within your first 1/2 hour up

Eggs. Milk. OJ. Toast with butter and jam. Maybe with a piece of sausage or fish or beef on the side

Snack: cottage cheese and honey?

Lunch: a grilled cheese and a bowl of soup with a cola

Snack: egg salad sandwich?

Dinner: bowl of stew with a warm sugared glass of milk


Your goal is to increase your metabolism by feeding your thyroid and moving out of a stressed metabolic state

You feed your thyroid by calming your adrenals down -with balanced blood sugar and simply eating to rebuild the damage done by years of restriction

You should respond quickly is my hunch

I just got a DM today from someone following another thread
And it’s working for them

Reach out anytime

You would die if you knew what I ate when healing!
Crazy shtt

 

[LadyRae]

Honestly the best foods are the ones you can digest

Example:
I healed initially on anything processed (no pufa was my only guideline) because my digestion couldn’t handle or break down anything whole

I don’t think you are that bad
So cooked foods mostly

Stews. Grilled cheese. Tandoori chicken. Roasted rooted vegetables (beets. Potatoes. Etc). Pizza. Burgers. Ramen. Soups. Cheesecake.

All 40/30/30 50/25/25 at meal time though

It’s laborious at first…

Breakfast within your first 1/2 hour up

Eggs. Milk. OJ. Toast with butter and jam. Maybe with a piece of sausage or fish or beef on the side

Snack: cottage cheese and honey?

Lunch: a grilled cheese and a bowl of soup with a cola

Snack: egg salad sandwich?

Dinner: bowl of stew with a warm sugared glass of milk


Your goal is to increase your metabolism by feeding your thyroid and moving out of a stressed metabolic state

You feed your thyroid by calming your adrenals down -with balanced blood sugar and simply eating to rebuild the damage done by years of restriction

You should respond quickly is my hunch

I just got a DM today from someone following another thread
And it’s working for them

Reach out anytime

You would die if you knew what I ate when healing!
Crazy shtt

Wow this is a great thread and you provide some really useful guidance here!

I think that the importance of real sunlight exposure is often dismissed because it just sounds so hippyish, but it is so so important! I just got back from a sunny vacation and I feel like I completely different person.

People can mimic sun exposure by utilizing a tanning salon, which I understand is controversial but it really does work if you are stuck in a cold and dark climate this time of year...
Thank you so much!

 

[Peatful]

Wow this is a great thread and you provide some really useful guidance here!

I think that the importance of real sunlight exposure is often dismissed because it just sounds so hippyish, but it is so so important! I just got back from a sunny vacation and I feel like I completely different person.

People can mimic sun exposure by utilizing a tanning salon, which I understand is controversial but it really does work if you are stuck in a cold and dark climate this time of year...
Thank you so much!

Appreciate the time it took you to lmk. Thank you.

Here’s to our health and wholeness….

 

[Nik665]

Been peating consistently for a handful of months now... still dealing with low metabolic rate and tendency to store calories as fat easily. I also naturally lean towards a macronutrient ratio higher in fat. How do sedentary folks increase their caloric requirements? Estimating to ingest anywhere between 2000 - 2500 calories each day according to hunger, with half the calories coming from fat, 80-100g protein and less than what is generally recommended in carbs (maybe 150g or less). Simple yet enjoyable diet- whole milk, raw butter, organ meat, honey, dates, and oranges.

what is your gender, height weight, daily footsteps and other activiy, what is your average calorie intake? you say 2000-2500 but what is the weekly average. do you weigh when you track food, very easy to underestimate calories when eyeballing, i recommend listening to Kitty Blomfield on IG as she teaches the ray peat method and how to do it OBJECTIVELY for your fat loss or muslce gain goals