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First 100 days
@bella, you look amazing. Guess what, my body looked quite similar to your before picture this fall! That same kind of fat distribution... and cellulite. Now it has already improved quite a bit since I started doing yoga! It is the only exercise allowed when recovering from burnout. So I started doing some light yoga and I really like what it does to my body comp/cellulite.
May I ask how did you transitioned out of a mainly carnivore diet, what foods did you add and how is your diet looking roughly now?
Your body is really looking fit and healthy!
Ahhh @bella congratulations!! 😁 You do look amazing! 🙂 Thanks so much for posting an update. It’s exciting to hear you’re lifting weights and getting so strong and healthy. Bone mass is such a big deal, and to know that even after chronic hypervitaminosis A and oxalate toxicity, you have have achieved excellence there—in menopause, too—is inspiring and encouraging! I’m enormously happy for you, Bella. 😊
Hello Bella! Thanks for the update!
I wanted to add my experience was menopause came late in life-- even though I think my VA toxicity was pretty bad. (55). I was a late bloomer anyways just in life. They say that is often a good predictor. (late to get teeth, late to get period, etc).
I have been making other changes (besides VA reduction) to get rid of visceral fat even though I'm not overweight. I think this is helping with hot flashes. I've always thought it was kind of a mystery why some people get them and others don't. It would be interesting if it has to do with visceral fat.
I too would like to hear more about your diet changes!
Thanks @inger, @puddleduck and @lil-chick!
I did pretty well on carnivore until the spring of 2022 when I had perhaps a shedding reaction when my husband was forced to be vaccinated. At that time my blood pressure started tanking to around 75/55 and Amber O’Hearn mentioned that some long term carnivores found they did better without salt so I decided to stop salt and counter intuitively blood pressure normalized. It was almost like my body was constantly imbalanced in electrolytes in an effort to dump sodium. Unfortunately because she was right in my case about salt I also started upping my fat intake per her love of keto and that ended up being the wrong choice for me.
I read a book called Big Fat Keto Lies and took a couple classes through Optimizing Nutrition and learned to gradually increase my carbs and protein while decreasing dietary fat (all while closely monitoring blood glucose) and that helped me transition off carnivore. The guy who runs it doesn’t know about vA toxicity so I just didn’t pay attention to that part of the recommendations. I kept getting alerts that I needed more vA hahaha!!!!
I still eat plenty of muscle meat but now I can have as many low A, gluten free, low oxalate plants as I desire. I think keeping protein high at around 35-40% of calories has been key for me personally in detox and building bone and muscle. I’m still actually working on building a little more muscle but I’m happy with where I’m at nonetheless. I was admittedly afraid of too much protein at one point but it seems important for people over 50 so I’m glad I got over that fear!
Hilarious about the vitamin A alerts! 🤣
That’s so fascinating salt ended up causing electrolyte problems for you on carnivore. Wow.
☀️ Are you still using that “diminder” app and monitoring your vitamin D levels? I overheard a lady in the shops some time ago saying whenever she uses a tanning both, her arthritis goes away for a few days following.
Yes ma’am. I do during the 6 months of the year I’m able to get natural sunlight here. During vitamin D winter I use the tanning bed for 6 minutes one time per week. My last level was mid 60’s in early December so it seems to work.
@jessica2,
Sorry it took me so long to reply. I took a weight training class in college (30+) years ago and my husband has been lifting weights for about 38 years so between the two of us I’ve been piecing things together without needing to hire trainer. I started out initially doing exercises at home with 10 pound hand weights and a weighted vest. Last summer I started using machines at the gym and basically doing a push day and a pull day. I still have a long way to go and a lot to learn but I figure trying to do something is better than not doing anything at all. Back in 2018 about all I could do was take walks and in 2020 I bought a weighted vest which helped a lot.
So there’s yet another turn of the dials happening on my health optimizing journey so I figured I’d update. 🙂
Numerous times in my 54.5 years of circling the sun I’ll have a breakthrough and in my excitement share my experience only to end up having a setback. I have definitely learned some valuable lessons. Oh how I wish we were born with an owners manual on how to take care of our unique body-hahaha.
I’m sure I’ve mentioned it before but from 1999-2012 I had CFS/ME and struggled greatly. I somehow came out of it primarily by stopping the poly pharmacy I had been put on, going gluten free after it being recommended by a functional medicine doc and starting on thyroid per Ray Peat’s recommendations. Everything improved dramatically until I started eating too much liver (again), dairy, fruits and carrots and by 2016 I was in the worst shape of my life minus CFS!
Fast forward to November 2023- I got covid for the second time when on a road-trip with my husband and in-laws. I had just lost a lot of visceral fat so I think I had higher circulating vA. I was feeling mostly recovered though by day two and on day three I went to work because it’s highly frowned upon to call off. I wore an n-95 mask because I was working with pulmonary patients. As the day progressed I was feeling worse and worse and about 10 hours into my shift the charge nurse said she needed me to test for covid. It was positive of course and I was sent home. The next morning (a Tuesday) I was informed I needed to report back to work on Thursday so I rested as much as possible. I think the 11 hours at work in the n-95 mask set me back because I was not feeling good Thursday but went to work anyway as mandated. It was a holiday so no one could cover for me. I ended up struggling through 2 twelve hour back to back shifts wearing the mask while being on my feet in an ICU setting and it was brutal. My heart rate kept going up to 150 for example just walking normally or standing in a patient’s room. After this situation I knew I had to change jobs and could no longer be in a critical direct patient care role so I cut my hours down and by January I transferred to a different position. Even in the new role which was only 8 hours instead of 12 I was still not feeling back to my normal self.
With the idea of an owners manual in mind I decided to run my dna raw data through a nutrigenomics profile because I was starting to feel similar to when I had CFS although not as severe. I got a 50 page report that I’m still working through but it has been very interesting. I’ve started tweaking things like some nutrients and my diet a bit and I’m seeing some moderate improvements. My hope is to stave off what was starting to look uncomfortably like long covid and keep the progress I’ve made thus far. I’m sure I have some residual ptsd from the prior experience of CFS/ME so I’m trying to keep stress down and just take extra good care of myself.
@bella your body tells you to slow down, and when we dont listen it will make us listen.. That is what happened to me. Maybe you need to take a month or more off to just relax to make your body feel safe again. Maybe you are like me and it is so hard to say no, because we are thinking so much about the others at work etc. Especially around menopause our bodies really need to feel safe and not stressed and overworked.
I have not worked since last fall, and I am planning on working only 2 days / week starting May and the summer months on my favorite harbor summer cafe, its a really nice place to work I have worked there two summers already by the side of my main work but now i will only work there. Nothing else. I told the boss I can promise only 2 days / week. I am so proud of me that I am able to do it, to take my needs into account. And what I am going to do comes fall, I have no idea, I am not thinking about it. It feels so relaxed.
I have been used to have 2 or 3 jobs at once and it is so insane. I now see it. I have drastically changed course now. I can see how all the stress just destroyed me. I am not willing to sacrifice this body anymore. Instead I am taking so good care of it and listening to its needs, it feels really good. I didnt even know I could feel this good huh!
@bella Healthcare jobs are a rat race for front line workers as you know. I hope the new position is not as hectic and you can think and not just react while you work. The only reason you would get long covid is because you are not able to get any rest. You weren't allowed enough time off from work to recover initially. I hope you don't have to wear n-95 masks in your new position.