:grouphug: Even though our particular issues are different, I can relate so much to this! It seems like the moment I say that my migraines are doing better, then I get hit with a terrible streak. :cursing: And I'm trying so hard to track possible triggers, eat right, take supplements, etc. But it's so hard to figure out which things are actually affecting them and which are coincidence. I'm sorry, I'm not trying to make this all about me, me, me. I just wanted to say that you have my sympathy!

Hi everyone! I haven't been around for awhile, but I'm still doing okay with both the diet and exercise. I've been lifting weights three days a week, so I'm finally starting to make progress again. Got my leg press up to 160 from 140, so at least that's something. I'm enjoying the cooler fall weather, and dreading the day that it gets cold enough that my gym manager decides to turn on the heater. They keep it so ridiculously hot in there all winter long that I am seriously considering switching to another gym. Well, that's about all the "exciting" news that I have, lol. Faith, you may already know this, but potassium deficiencies are not uncommon with low-carb diets. The standard advice in the LC community is actually to eat more salt. The reasoning is that your body has to maintain a specific ratio of potassium to sodium, and dropping your carb intake causes your body to also drop a huge amount of sodium. So it has to dump potassium too in order to keep the right balance. Many LC advocates recommend drinking super-salty broth every day to keep sodium levels up. I used to do it myself (if I didn't I got terrible muscle cramps) but I'm honestly not sure how safe it is, so I would recommend that you ask your doctor. That was one of the things that I felt relieved about when I first went off the LC diet - it didn't seem "right" to have to guzzle that much salt every day. But I don't know how sound that reasoning is, so perhaps there are better ways to get your potassium levels up!

Samba, so many yummy sounding meals in your post. Thanks for the inspiration!

Joining in late, but I’ve enjoyed this thread. I went vegan about two months ago, and it has been great. The severity and frequency of my migraines has been significantly reduced, allergy symptoms also less troubling, my skin looks better, and I lost a few pounds. I’ve been so much more satisfied with the diet than I ever could have imagined — I was a low-carber and sworn carnivore for twelve years, and never would have thought I could be happy eating this way. But I love my diet so much more now. Every meal is a joy. Thanks for posting this!

Thank you, hornblower, this sounds like good advice to me! Thank you so much for this explanation! I really appreciate it. I will trust that my results were normal, then, and I’m glad my mom is seeing an endo.

Sorry, that was silly of me! Both labs were using IU/mL.

I know I've bugged you guys with a million thyroid questions, but I have yet another one. :blush: My mom and I both went to walk-in labs for thyroid antibody tests because our doctors wouldn't order them for us (despite a family history, a diagnosis of hypothyroidism on her part, and some mild symptoms but "normal" numbers on my part). Because we live in different states, we went to different labs. My lab said my TPOAb level was 16, and the reference range was 0-34, so mine was normal. My mom's lab said her TPOAb level was 21, and the reference range was 0-9, so hers was high. Those are some pretty different reference ranges. I'm trying to figure out, does that mean that if I'd gone to her lab, mine would have been marked as high as well? Or does that mean their equipment is so different than their lab might have measured mine at 4 or something instead of 16, and it would still be normal? I did a quick google search and found reference ranges ranging from 4 to 35, with several in-between. I'm so confused! Should I be worried about my thyroid or not? (My mom does have an appointment to see an endocrinologist.) Thanks!

I was initially going to encourage you to keep it its current length, but this changed my mind. I know I prefer my hair longer because I’ve had everything from a pixie to waist-length. But if you’ve never worn it short, give it a try! It will grow back if you don’t like it, but if you do like it you’ll wonder why you didn’t try it sooner. It’s fun to experiment! Go for it! And post pics when you do. :)

Your diet sounds very healthy, so I don’t think you need a radical change, just a few tweaks. Switching to whole grains rather than white flours, as you mentioned, is a good idea. You didn’t mention desserts, but that’s something you could cut out or cut back on. I always have fruit for dessert, and I’ve lost weight during a time that I’ve eaten more fruit than ever before (I’m not on my desktop so I can’t do hyperlinks, but I’ll put some links below to studies showing that fruit does not cause weight gain). Meat intake is associated with weight gain and diabetes, and saturated fat intake has been shown to cause insulin resistance. So I think you are doing right by using olive oil instead of butter, and eating meat sparingly. In her particular case, she might need to eat it even more sparingly, and cut back on the oil a bit more. I read somewhere recently, much to my surprise, that chicken is actually the food that is most strongly associated with weight gain, probably because farming methods have changed and now the chickens themselves are obese. It is not the low-fat meat that it used to be. I can’t remember where I read that one, but I will put some links below about meat in general and saturated fat. I know this must be frustrating and you must be worried about her. But you’ve got such good habits in place already, I think you’re going to be able to address this pretty easily. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18439712 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21745628 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21883530 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20592131 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22223576 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23509418 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11317662 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16596361

Yes, very scary indeed! My Mom has found an endocrinologist not too far from her who will accept her insurance. Of course I can’t be sure he will treat her better than her family doctor, but it’s worth a try at least. I’ve asked two doctors to test me for thyroid antibodies, and they both refused. I had given up, but after this conversation, I’ve decided to get the test myself at a HealthCheckUSA. I’m going to do that today. Thanks again to everyone who posted!

I didn't realize that stopping thyroid meds could have such scary consequences. She has decided to stay on the meds for now, and see another doctor. I'm having a hard time finding a good one close to her, but I'll keep looking.

Thanks so much for all the replies. Even though I’m not responding to each one, I am reading each one, taking notes, passing things along to her. So I really appreciate the help. Bill, that’s a good suggestion about calling her doctor. Thanks!

Thank you for the further replies! Bill, I live 500 miles away from her, and typically visit only once a year, so unfortunately it’s not practical for me to take her to her doctor’s appointment. But I have two brothers and one sister in law near her who would take her. And after I told her what you and the others here have said, she agreed to see an endocrinologist. She asked for my help finding a good one near her, so I will do my best! I know Ellie once posted a link to a website with a thyroid doctor locator, so hopefully I’ll be able to find that again! Attolia, thank you for mentioning Nature-throid and Armour. I will pass that along to her.

Thank you all so much for the help! I don’t know if she’s had her progesterone and estrogen tested so I will mention that. I have also encouraged her before to see an endocrinologist. She would have to drive at least an hour to do so, which normally isn’t that much of a problem. But my dad has been having a lot of health problems recently, so she’s been quite busy driving him to various specialists all over Oklahoma and north Texas (one of the many reasons I don’t want to live in a small town). I think she’s pretty emotionally fatigued by all of that, and is hesitant to add yet another specialist to the list. But I think it might be worth it, and perhaps when I tell her what you’ve said about her numbers not being optimal, she will agree. I do know that she asked her current doctor about increasing the dose but he said he “can’t†do that since her numbers are within normal range.

I know we have several board members who are very knowledgeable about thyroid issues (Ellie, gardenmom5, and others). I was hoping I could pick your brains once again on this topic, but this time for my mom. She was diagnosed with hypothyroidism several years ago, and has been taking thyroxizine (50mcg per day). She doesn't have easy access to an endocrinologist in her small town, so this is just a family doctor who prescribes it. I'm putting the results of her most recent lab tests below (I know they aren't complete - that's all the doctor ordered). The problem is, she's had very bad hair loss over the last several years. It started before she was diagnosed, so she was hoping the thyroid meds would help. But they didn't, and it's continued to worsen. She ran into an old friend the other day who told her that when she got diagnosed with hypothyroidism, she didn't have any hair loss. But then when they put her on thyroid meds, she started losing her hair. So she stopped the meds and started using a supplement instead, and the hair loss stopped again. So, my mom is thinking about stopping her meds and using this supplement instead, and I wanted to know if you think that's a good idea, bad idea, or worth a shot. The supplement: It's a company called 1 Body and it's called Thyroid Support dietary supplement. It's high in B-12, Iodine, Selenium and Manganese . Also has zinc, copper, molybdenum, L-Tyrosine, Schizandra, Coleus Forskohilii, kelp, ashwagandha root, bladderwrack and cayenne pepper. Most recent lab results: TSH 2.670 (Range 0.450-4.500 uIU/ml) T4 Free (Direct). 1.14ng/dL. (Range 0.82-1.77 ng/dL) Thank you in advance for any advice!

Selkie, congratulations on your progress and accomplishments! Beckyjo, welcome aboard! Soror, I’m so glad you got good news on the ultrasound! Had a good weight workout today. I was able to increase the amount I was lifting a little bit, first time in a long time. So that was nice.

Thank you, Cynthia, this is a huge help! I can’t wait to try one. :)

September recap: The good news is, I met my goal of rehabilitating my ankle to the point where I could run a mile. The other good news is I stuck with my dietary plan without any trouble and lost another pound. That puts me right at what I consider my ideal/normal weight to be, a weight which I haven't seen for the last three years until now. So my "old" clothes fit again, and the clothes that I bought when my weight was at its peak are now too loose and baggy. So I'm happy about that, because my old clothes were cuter! :D The not-so-good news is that I haven't made any progress toward my weight-lifting goals. Well, that's not entirely true. Thanks to your help (all of you, but particularly solascriptura) I realized that twice a week wasn't going to cut it, so I did lift weights three times per week for the last couple of weeks. So hopefully NOW I will start to make some progress! I was finding it hard to go without hubby on the weekend. It's not a problem to go without him during the week because I'm used to it. But for some reason, on Saturdays when he would say "nah, I don't think I'll go after all" then I wouldn't go either. But yesterday, I did! Plans for October: continue with the diet as-is, keep gradually increasing the running, start gradually increasing the amount of weight I'm lifting. And I think I'm going to treat myself to a session with a personal trainer.

Nice! Those little victories mean a lot, don't they? Oh, wow, I've never done solo camping in my life! That is such a great idea. Why haven't I done this?? Where do you like to go? I wouldn't feel safe doing it anywhere near where I live, because the crime is so bad. But give me something to daydream about: what are your favorite spots? :hurray: Not just "not bad", I'd say that's fantastic! By "aerobic base building" do you mean making sure that you are training in the true aerobic zone (as opposed to higher intensity, which tends to go toward anaerobic)?

I'm sorry you're having such a rough patch. :grouphug: I hope that you get some answers and some healing soon!

My husband took our daughter to a couple of "Me and My Guy" Girl Scout dances. It was perfectly normal, with poodle skirts and such - no limos, corsages, or high heels. Since I was her troop leader and was involved in every Girl Scout activity that she did, I was glad that there was at least one event where he took over! :D During those years, he was traveling a lot, and didn't get to spend that much time with her. So I was honestly grateful for it. It was just a fun way for them to spend some time together, nothing creepy about it. Now, purity balls, that's creepy. But I think it would be a tragedy to let creepy purity balls ruin the whole concept of fathers and daughters dancing together!

Thanks for posting this - they have some cute stuff! I am looking for "packable", wrinkle-free clothes for travel so I'm very interested. I was wondering if you could tell me: does the waistband on the Ruby fall right at the waist or a little bit above? I'm kind of a ruler/rectangle shape, thick-waisted. And I've learned that dresses which have a "waistline" higher than waist look more flattering and feminine on me. So I think the styles like the Trudy and Megan would definitely work, but I was curious about the Ruby because I love the look of wrap dresses, but normally can't pull them off. In some of the pictures, however, it looks like it falls just above the waist on the models, which would be great if it fit that way on me as well.

I've tried to do the same, with everything from diaper changes to Facebook posts.

Nothing particularly exciting to report, but I'm doing well. I've met my workout goals every day this week so far, and husband and I are planning to do weights together today. Solascriptura and bookbard, it's great to see you back! Thank you for posting this - very encouraging! I hope that your medical things clear up and that you are doing better. :grouphug: I recently made a major dietary change and I've been eating a lot more beans too (and no meat at all). As a sworn "carnivore" before I am very impressed by how satisfying beans are, and how much they fill me up and keep me energetic until the next meal. And I've lost some weight too, which is nice.

Congratulations! :hurray: