2 weeks on Lyle Mcdonald's RFLD...advice please?

Dee,

I just took a quick look at your post history. Based on what I saw, my recommendation is this: get off the RFLD now. With your history, this is not a good plan for you.

Holy ****, I did not realize you were recovering from an eating disorder. I completely agree that this is a HORRIBLE IDEA for you. I have a feeling the author of the diet would completely agree.

THIS.

And again, explains why you aren't able to lose the weight. Excess Cortisol, from PCOS and additionally the extra stress you are adding with the crash diets. And perhaps a suppressed metabolism.

I'm still throwing in for the thyroid since your TSH level puts you in overt hypothyrodism at over 3 (and yours were over 4).

Perhaps that too. But even if it is not thyroid, she probably has enough going on with cortisol to prevent normal weight loss, paired with what damage there may have been to metabolism from past unhealthy eating.

Dee,

I just took a quick look at your post history. Based on what I saw, my recommendation is this: get off the RFLD now. With your history, this is not a good plan for you.

Holy ****, I did not realize you were recovering from an eating disorder. I completely agree that this is a HORRIBLE IDEA for you. I have a feeling the author of the diet would completely agree.

THIS.

And again, explains why you aren't able to lose the weight. Excess Cortisol, from PCOS and additionally the extra stress you are adding with the crash diets. And perhaps a suppressed metabolism.

Over restriction can lead to binge eating

Well I'm going to have more tests on my thyroid in a few months, but I went to see an endocrinologist in the past and he told me my thyroid was fine so even if it is sluggish how do I get anyone to do anything if they refuse to accept there's a problem? Very little specialists I can see outside of this without a ton of money to go private.

What you said makes me think about a few years ago when I gained 12lbs over 9 days over Christmas. Now these judegmental people on here will say, "Well you must have been stuffing yourself with an excess of 2,000 cals a day!" but to me that is excessive. I wasn't counting calories so I can't say how much I was eating but eating 3,000 cals in one day makes me so full I want to puke so I can't see it likely that I was consuming over 4,000 a day. I don't have ALL the signs of hypothyroid though...I believe my body temp is normal even though my hands and feet are ALWAYS cold.

Did you have to pay to see a specialist? The problem I see even if I am found to have a slow thryoid is that the treatment is thyroxine which doesn't seem to be hugely effective when it comes to weight. My mom has a friend who's got weight problems, was diagnosed with hypothyroidism, given thyroxine, but still struggles to lose weight :-/. I'm sure it'd be worth a try...my GP said if my thyroid is still borderline in a few months they'd trial me on some but went on about side effects and this is why they're hesitant to prescribe it. How did they treat you if you don't mind me asking? What medications? I do agree that doctors should be looking at what's optimal and not what's ok because it's only JUST outside of range. This is the strange thing...my first test showed borderline (4.3 or something), then months later 2 more tests were both around 2 or so. Then most recent one was 4.22, so I'll have to wait to see what the next one says. I have nothing to lose though so I will try push the issue next time...Lord what a relief it would be to not have to suffer so bad just to lose a couple of pounds! I'm sorry you had bad experiences with people being nasty to you too. I really don't understand why people don't believe it's possible that we're all different and metabolic issues are a REAL thing. Them saying that because they can lose weight on a certain amount of calories you must be able to too is like saying to someone in a wheelchair, "Well I can walk, so you must be able to walk too!" but just because they can't SEE it they can't believe it. They can't SEE what your body is doing inside so they refuse to believe it's not working optimally. It's very very narrow-minded.

I'm pretty sure by the current standards, you're overt hypothyroid now. The "normal" levels for TSH used to be 0.5 - 5.0. As a few years ago, they adjusted that to 0.3 - 3.0, putting your ranges in the clearly hypothyroid area at 4+. Having different readings with no treatment is common with Hashi's as people with Hashi's swing from hypo to normal to hyper depending on how much the immune system is attacking the thyroid at any given time -- so that may be what's happening (that's exactly what happened to me). You really need the antibody tests (read that article I linked to) -- some with Hashi's still won't show antibodies but the vast majority will. You need to find a doctor that can help you with this. Far too many docs and endos are terrible with this -- seriously, go to thyroid websites and you'll see such stories all the time. As I said, I saw 4 docs before I got where I needed to be -- 2 primary care and 2 actual endos. Plus, if you read that article I shared, it explains why if you have the antibodies of Hashi's, how many of the tests are ineffective as they don't know how much of the free T3 and T4 the antibodies are binding up and making ineffective. I too have a normal body temp and my hands and feet were cold ALL the time. You totally sound hypo, in some variation or another.

Unfortunately, I did end up going private and it is costly (first visit was $600, follow up visits $400 -- but I only have to see him once a year now). But, man, did I wish I'd spent the thousand+ (after the first few visits and all the labs) 10+ years ago as my insurance docs weren't getting it done at all. For me, I pay my doc directly and then he orders labs/tests through my insurance. If you go to thyroid sites, people will recommend folks or send you to sites for referrals for docs who specialize in thyroid (some are endos, some are family practitioners with an emphasis there, etc.).

If you can't go private at all, I'd start doing the research yourself about these tests and challenging your doctor on it. www.stopthethyroidmadness.com is good resource and you'll find soooo many people with similar stories to yours. You can also have labs done yourself through places like quest and mymedlab if your doctor refuses to order them. And, if none of that works, find a new doctor and keep looking for one that can answer these issues on thyroid.

As for treatment, I tried both synthetics (Synthroid which is just T4) but ended up preferring Nature-throid (which is a combination T3 and T4 drug -- it's natural dessicated thyroid). And it's cheap -- like less than $10/month -- and has been around many, many years. Some endos prefer the synthetics because the dosing in more precise and consistent, but the natural dessicated thyroid is still pretty good (and many docs like mine says the differential is negligible) -- and for whatever reason, some people like me just do better on it. In the end, I'm more concerned about symptoms than anything else and that works for me. In thyroid forums, you'll see big debates about synthetics (synthroid, cytomel) versus natural dessicated thyroid (Nature-throid, Armour, etc.). Personally, I wonder if the synthetic bias isn't somewhat linked to kickbacks to doctors.

As for the weight issues, thyroid is only part of the problem sometimes. For example, when we were investigating thyroid, he looked at a lot of stuff that can contribute to the overall picture -- adrenal issues, liver issues, blood/glucose issues, vitamin deficiencies, etc. He said if something is off (especially adrenal), you can first feel awful on thyroid treatment because another part of the equation is off (because when thyroid goes off, it can cause a cascade of things). So, before I started on thyroid treatment, he wanted to make sure everything else was where it should be -- and that's when he found the insulin resistance and vitamin D and magnesium deficiencies (which can also contribute to difficulty losing weight). So, it's totally possible that your mother's friend is fine as far as her thyroid goes (or it could be be undermedicated), but have some other issues like adrenal fatigue or insulin resistance which is creating a roadblock to weight loss.

And, thyroid medication doesn't make you lose weight per se. You still have to put in the hard work in diet and exercise (but you seem to have that part well under control). It just evens the playing field and means that people like us will be able to lose weight like a "normal" person. And that's exactly what happened for me once I got it all sorted out. But, man, do I wish I'd known this 10+ years ago. I could have stopped that sysphian struggle a long time ago.

As for the nasty people here (i.e. not the people that are genuinely helpful and kind). I figure it's either a fear thing --- they want things to be simple, so they insist on forcing those round pegs into square holes in order to comfort themselves about such issues -- or, like a lot of internet trolls, they're just sadists looking for vulnerable people to pick on. It's how they get their rocks off. I really wish the moderators actually moderated this because such disrespectful behavior is totally unnecessary and just drives people away. It will hurt them more in the end.

And the funny thing about the whole "special snowflake" thing some people throw around, it turns out I was that special snowflake apparently. Though, I've since learned, there are quite a few of us out there. For example, the American Thyroid Association estimates something like 20 million Americans have a thyroid disorder (60% of which are undiagnosed) and 12% of the population will have one at some point in their lives. Or, insulin resistance numbers are estimated at 80 million Americans or 25% of the population. That's a LOT of special snowflakes. Once you add in other things like adrenal issues, liver issues, diabetes, PCOS, etc. -- the numbers are pretty significant. If people are truly doing the eating and exercising and calculating of such faithfully as you appear to be, they probably are one of those special snowflakes.

I made it to page 3, 3 pages to go and I'm already jumping in. Jesus, Lindsey, how the F is this thread about you now? OP has said multiple times she is NOT insulin resistant and not hypothryoid. Yes, yes, we ALL know YOU'VE been tested, blah blah blah, and that's how you lost weight and yay for you.
Are you going to show up on everyone's thread and talk all about yourself and your tests and how you lost weight from those tests and forget completely about the OP?

Dee,

I just took a quick look at your post history. Based on what I saw, my recommendation is this: get off the RFLD now. With your history, this is not a good plan for you.

Can I ask why? I'm not at risk of becoming anorexic, trust me. Binge eating was my problem and I haven't done that in a long time.

Looking around at people who have tried the diet and decided that it didn't work all said that it led then to binge (one was on here, a couple on bodybuilding.com). I would think this diet could be a horrible trigger for you. As much as it sucks, I think slow and steady will work better for you.

In addition, I don't know how much weight you have to lose, but have you considered working on body recomposition instead of just losing weight? I don't know if you've read Staci's story, but it's a great read. http://www.nerdfitness.com/blog/2011/07/21/meet-staci-your-new-powerlifting-super-hero/

She weighs 11lbs more in the photo on the right, but looks much smaller:

It sounds like you're already back in a super-disordered place in your relationship with food. Do you think this diet will bring you further away from that, or closer to it? I'm not being judgey, but if I were in your shoes, I would be wanting people to tell me not to focus on the wrong part of the story, and right now, the scale moving is the wrong part of the story.

Dee,

I just took a quick look at your post history. Based on what I saw, my recommendation is this: get off the RFLD now. With your history, this is not a good plan for you.

Holy ****, I did not realize you were recovering from an eating disorder. I completely agree that this is a HORRIBLE IDEA for you. I have a feeling the author of the diet would completely agree.

THIS.

And again, explains why you aren't able to lose the weight. Excess Cortisol, from PCOS and additionally the extra stress you are adding with the crash diets. And perhaps a suppressed metabolism.

I'm still throwing in for the thyroid since your TSH level puts you in overt hypothyrodism at over 3 (and yours were over 4).

Perhaps that too. But even if it is not thyroid, she probably has enough going on with cortisol to prevent normal weight loss, paired with what damage there may have been to metabolism from past unhealthy eating.

Yep you're probably right about cortisol...I have been having some difficulty with sleep and pounding heart. I am going to get through the rest of this week then next week perhaps slowly increase calories to prevent rebound weight gain and hopefully find a good balance.

Do you tend to hold fat along the middle (rather than limbs/hips/thighs)? I know that's a common sign of excess cortisol.