A year later

I think a year ago I probably was at my maximum weight.  I don't weigh myself, in fact I usually don't even look at my weight when I am weighed at the doctor's office.  But we waited nearly half an hour at the gym before we could swim last Thursday, and I took the opportunity to weigh myself.  A doctor might not be happy with my weight--184--but I am.  My guess is that I have lost 30 pounds in the last year.  Photos are from June 2011 and November 2012.

 























A year and a half ago I decided to try taking Metformin, hoping to improve my diabetes control a little more and hoping it might help me with my pattern of post-menopausal weight gain.  I kept increasing the dose, because I felt it wasn't doing anything.  I went up to 1000 mg twice a day, and thought maybe that was helping.  Then I got something like the flu, though my flu test was negative, and lost a clothing size in a week of being mostly too sick to eat.  After that we spent all of Christmas vacation cooking, but my clothing size didn't go back up.  It was in mid January that I started following the Primal way of eating.  I think I went down another clothing size in a month, and after that I have been very very slowly losing inches (as judged by how my clothes fit).  A few weeks ago I switched my pants down another size (luckily I kept a lot--I have one more size in the attic).

I went off the Metformin last summer when I learned that my A1c was 5.8--exactly what it was before I started the Metformin.  So I don't think I am eating particularly lower carb than I was; the difference is that I very rarely eat anything made with grains or refined sugar.  I eat large meals--I am not careful how much I eat--but I have given up snacking except for a bedtime snack.  I also started supplementing with iodine and over the course of the spring and summer I worked my way up to 25 mg., which I think has given me more energy.  Having more energy makes me happy! I'm doing pretty much the same exercise--swimming twice a week, some walking and gardening.

I'm very glad to have found what works for me.

going primal and boosting my thyroid

I'm now about three month into following a primal way of eating, learning mostly from Marks Daily Apple.  I was already eating low carb, so the big change is that I have given up all grains, legumes and sugar (things I previously at in small amounts) and am trying to avoid all vegetable oils except olive and coconut oils.

My thyroid is fine according to my doctor, but my TSH has been creeping up and two of my sisters are on thyroid replacement.  I realized I was cold all the time and decided to  try supplements to help my thyroid.  For many years I took no vitamins or minerals at all, figuring I ate a very healthy diet.  I'm not entirely comfortable with the "you need these vitamins to clear the toxins from your body" line of argument, but I did see a difference from supplementing vitamin D on days when I wasn't in the sun, so I will try the whole package.

It made sense to me that I might be deficient in iodine because for years I almost never added salt to my food and I eat a lot of seafood only a few weeks a year.  So I am supplementing with iodine and the necessary companion supplements.  I currently take:

• 2 drops Lugols 2% (increasing my iodine very slowly)
• 2 Brazil nuts for selenium
• 1000 mg. vitamin C in ascorbate form
• 200 mg. Magnesium in Bis-Glycinate form
• 100 mg. Riboflavin
• 500 mg. Niacin (as inositol hexanicotinate)
• 5000 IU vitamin D3
• Ashwagandha (reduces the effect of stress on my blood glucose)
• 1/2 teasp celtic or himalayan natural salt

and am adding

• 1100 mcg. vitamin K2
• milk thistle

I'm particularly curious whether my LDL cholesterol will go down--apparently high cholesterol can result from low thyroid.  Last year I tried garlic and oat bran, and neither helped.  My HDL and Triglycerides are excellent so I don't take any medication.  But my LDL did go up when I briefly took Zoloft, which is known to reduce one of the thyroid hormones.

It was late last fall before I got to a dose of Metformin that I thought did anything for me, and my weight gain stopped at that point.  So I can't say one thing made the difference, but I am down two and a half pants sizes since the beginning of December, without limiting how much I eat.
I am beginning to realize that I do have more energy and feel better.  And it is lovely not to be hungry.

It is so nice to have those visible results because by conventional wisdom it is a strange way of eating.  My usual day goes something like this:

• Breakfast: smoothie with one cup yogurt made from raw milk, 1 tblsp MCT oil, 2 local eggs (raw yolks, whites cooked in coconut oil), 1 banana, 1 kale leaf, and ice cubes
• Lunch: salad with meat and cheese on it or leftovers
• Dinner: meat and vegetables
• Bedtime snack: currently local strawberries with cream or custard

quiet evening

I have a sore throat--to be sick three times in one winter is unusual for me. I'm going to start taking vitamin D on days when I am not out in the sun. I'm going to encourage John to take it too--I think he was tested but I don't know if it was the right test. The information at the Vitamin D Council may be oversold but I think it is likely to be useful on such topics as which form of the vitamin and which test.

John tends not to get around to things until late afternoon or evening, so after dinner he took our son to Walmart to buy new watches. John says he is now convinced of the possible benefits of a watch that has three alarms (Timex Expedition is what I usually buy).