basal body temp glycogen and maintenance questions

butterbear1980

I recently decided 'enough!' With cutting calories. I found EM2WL this spring upped my cals from 1800 to 2400-2600 to maintain for 12 weeks then cut at 2130 for a few months and lost at .5#/week and then feeling impatient went to 2030/week in October and lost 2.5# that month. But just with that little extra cut I stopped sleeping well waking from 2-4 a.m. extra moody etc. A few weeks ago I was reading about Matt Stone's Eat For Heat and Diet Recovery I took my basal temp and was shocked to find it was 95.5!
I had tons of symptoms of low thyroid/wacked out adrenals including:
Thinning hair, low labido, low blood pressure, night waking from 2-4, moody, frequent urination, incessant thirst.
I decided to ditch the diet that same day and focus on getting my temp up and 'screw the scale' . My life is too important to not be sleeping and be moody and cranky!
I set my calories to maintnence 2300 but have been eating to appetite and have ranged between 2600-3200 for two weeks. My basal temp went up to 97.5 the first week! I had really wrapped my head around gaining water weight and being at maintnence/gaining....but I haven't put on water weight. I even had a .5# loss last week? Okay...what? This is after months of a pretty tiny cut where if I ate at maintnence a few days I would go up 3# of water for a few days. Could that extra two degrees of bodyheat really have increased my tdee from 2300 -2600 to 2700-3200?
Other changes I have made in the last two weeks all based off matt stones guidelines to increase body temp:
Drink less water coffee and tea from 15 cups a day to about 6.
Adding salt to everything even coffee water and tea. Wasn't restricting before but temporarily getting about 3xs as much as before.
Eating way more carbs. From about 180/day to 300+/day.
Eating grains. Had been grain free for two years now eating rice and oats.
Eating potato chips chocolate and ice cream everyday...and not really in moderation
Eating less watery foods including less vegetables.
Decreased physical activity. I have a physical job (farmer) and I've had my husband do most of the farm work and I spend 10 hours a day with the kids, usually we split the work day. So I'm working 30 hours less a week right now too!
Results from these changes:
Basal temp went from 95.5 to 97.5
Gym performance is off the hook
Sleeping well every night
Loving all this food!!!!!!!

Kind of crazy right?

So here are my questions:

Why haven't I put on water weight?

How did I maintain at 12 weeks at 2300 and loose at 2130 all which 'add up' on online calculators and now I'm eating So Much More?

How did I not know about body temp and tdee sooner?

Here are my stats:

138
5'3.5"
Bf% never had it tested based off pics maybe 20%
Cross fit 4x/week
Very active job (though taking a little two week home making only vacation)
Large body frame
35-28-37.5

I'm really wondering how it is possible I haven't put on water....

And trying not to freak out about how much I'm eating and focusing on how I feel. I feel crazy awesome.

Anyone else ever have results like this?

Patttience

If you had a thyroid issue, a blood test would clear that up straight away. I bet you haven't got a thyroid problem. The only symptom above is thinning hair but most women who worry about losing hair are only talking about the usual daily hair loss, its just that now they are freaking out about it.

Anyway there are other reasons for hair loss.

I haven't heard the business about body temperature but there's no mystery involved here. Look in a pot of boiling water and compare it to a pot of cold water. What do you notice? the boiling one is all movement and steam coming off right? Nothing happening over at the cold water pot. Its the same inside the body.

When our body temperature is higher (and your are not sick), it means all our processes are working faster. That means your metabolism is faster. So when you are up and about during the day, your metabolism will be faster than when you are sleeping at night.

Did you make sure you measured your body temperature at the same time of day. And was it both times measured on an empty stomach, say like first thing in the morning when things are more likely to be equal?

There can be other explanations for the moodiness and lack of sleep aside from cutting calories. Most likely some life issue. I've never ever noticed that less calories means disturbed sleep. But i have observed plenty of times that disturbed sleep affects your mood.

Anyway i just wanted to say all this because when i read through your post, it sounded like you reading everything through a narrow prism without thinking about other possibilities. And you sound a bit like you have over thunk everything. If you want to check on your thyroid function, talk to your doctor and have a blood test. The thyroid function doesn't change quickly either. Even with medication it is slow to respond. Unlike with so many other medications you can have changes an improvements within hours and days or even weeks but with thyroid disorders its often months to see the changes. Its the same with their onset.

RHachicho

I find this post quite interesting as i have had similar experiences. Not quite the same but here is what happened to me. I was morbidly obese and lost weight rather quickly on a heavy deficit. Took me 8-9 months but I lost about 115lbs I am still overweight. But I decided to leave losing the rest till next summer and allow my body to recover over the winter months. I upped my calories to 3000 but was still losing half a lb a month. So eventually I went to 3500. (I am a big guy 6ft 4 and with a large frame) And I suddenly gained a lot of weight. 6lbs in about 2 weeks. I panicked at first but I kept track of my waist and limb measurements and measured body fat with calipers. My waist has actually decreased a little. As has my body fat. Only areas that have grown are my limbs.

I am rather active. I run 30km/week and walk 2hours to the gym and lift 3 times a week.

I have probably gained more weight this week. I am not really very sure I should care.

butterbear1980

Basal body temp means temp when you first wake up. Its up from 95.5 to 97.5.

And yes I have an appointment with my Dr. to run some blood work.

I hope it didn't come across that I was asking for help diagnosing thyroid/adrenal/metabolism. My intent was to share my experience with upping cals and body temp and my question was how is possible I haven't put on water weight.

pattyebricker

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