[reanbean]

Hola everyone!

I tend to avoid the message board, because it tends to make me a little "obsessive," or "disordered" a bit, but I wanted to drop in and say that I've lost 18 pounds, and I overcame adrenal fatigue/chronic fatigue syndrome (atleast for now I think)!

I've lost 3" from my belly, 4" from my hips, 3" from my waist, 1.5" from each of my arms, and 1.5" from each of my legs! woohoo!

I first started out on a low carb diet, and dropped my calories to about 1,000-1,200 per day, and lost steadily for a few months, but I started to plateau. I wasn't working out, because I was afraid of adding to my fatigue symptoms. With the help of supplements, I started feeling better.

Once my health started to improve a little, I started adding juices to my regimen, and now I've actually upped my calories to 1,500 per day, and I'm eating a vegan, whole foods/mostly organic & raw diet, with hardly any protein! I'm feeling much better with this diet, and actually losing more weight.

Since I droppped my calories so low for such an extended period of time, my metabolism was pretty sluggish. I had to integrate exercise that would raise my metabolic rate, so I integrated HIIT, pilates, and I'm taking CoQ10, thyroid glandular, naicin, iodine, liquid potassium, and I'm still taking adaptogenic herbs so that my body can recover better from the stress of HIIT workouts. This last bit that I started two weeks ago has been responsible for 4 pounds of the total 18 lost, and 2 of the 3 inches lost off of my belly!

HIIT is awesome! But I'm taking it slow and reading my body, because I don't want to force my adrenal glands to over work themselves, and end up overtraining, and ending up with adrenal fatigue symptoms again!

Has anyone else had any success with HIIT?

[reanbean]

I guess it's not that cool...

**Walks of meekly with head down

[amandie]

That's awesome about the CFS and the adrenal fatigue subsiding. Congratulations!

I have personally never done HIIT but I may one day.

[3fcuser291505109]

Congrats, that IS awesome!

i too have CFS and HIIT did it for me however pretty much any exercise causes me to have flu like symptoms but i just endure it until i know i need to take a couple days off. I've lost 90 lbs with CFS so it can be done and yes like you said the key is listening to your body and not pushing it

My HIIT consisted of walking up my graduated hill as fast as i could (i'd be gasping for breath) and the recovery phase was on the way down (i live on a dead end street) and i do that about 4X in a row, took me a long time to work up to that but i can do it now.

Enjoy your success, most people have no clue what it's like to live with CFS especially since we don't "look" sick!

[Mozzy]

Congrats!!!

[Natalie42]

I'm really proud of you! Dealing with weight loss while having adrenal fatigue is daunting. You're dedication to understanding your body is paying huge dividends!!!

[Comicbookmommy]

Hello!

This post was a godsend to me!

Some BG: I'm a mom of 2, who has gained and lost 60+ weight 2 times in my life (first time lost weight in High School, other time after first son).

I am 5'8" and and am on my THIRD weight loss journey after the birth of my second son, and I'm telling you, everything is different.

Before it was easy; Eat LESS Exercise MORE. Weight lost! At first my same routine worked. I started at 210 this time and got down to 170 (my goal was 160) then something went wrong. My hair started falling out, the weight loss stopped and started to REVERSE despite running 3-5 miles a day and eating low carb/low calories. I couldn't sleep. I couldn't handle stress, I felt panicky, my period was all weird and various other issues. I didn't know what was going on, so me being the "go getter" I just pushed further, with NO results.

Fast forward 1 1/2 years to now. A lot more stressful events happened, which required me to stop working out, so I slowly put on about 10 pounds. I tried various different approached to losing weight, with no avail (less carbs, less calories, more calories, more carbs, clean eating, you name it.). I completed the Insanity workout ( plus two months) felt great, but I GAINED 12 pounds! I couldn't believe it! Followed the program to a "T", but it put me at my current weight of 192 . I've tried working out again, running, strength training, etc, and I always seem to put on MORE weight when I work out.

I'm certain I have adrenal fatigue, and probably insulin resistance (entire family on both sides has diabetes, but not me yet). My recurrent weight losses were pretty unhealthy, I'm a recovered bulimic (7 years ago), and live a very stressful life, and I'm positive I've blasted my system to garbage

I'm so lost on how to proceed to lose weight, and be healthy with adrenal fatigue, and DESPERATE to see progress with weight loss. It sucks because I DO have the dedication and willpower to do whatever it takes to lose weight, but what SHOULD work doesn't any more. I also have public events in 2-3 months, and I'd love to drop even a little weight by then.

So help me, please ReanBean!

Here's my information, and what I'm currently doing.

Age: 30
Height: 5'8"
Weight: 192
Activity: I work at home drawing, so I sit for a large part of the day. I started back at the gym again but am unsure on what I should be doing (don't want to stress the adrenals more) so I just strength train and do cardio 45 mins. LOW impact under 140 bps heart rate.

I will say I have great muscle tone, and hold my weight well, but the fat will NOT come off!

Diet: I try to eat lowish carbs (anywhere between 30 - 60 a day), because of my diabetic family, and as clean as I can make it. I usually eat around 1200 - 1500 calories a day.

Basically right now I am eating low amounts of food, and exercising little, and my weight sticks at the same weight. What can I do to make me lose?!

Also, I am curious on the various supplements you take and what they do. I just started to take Ashwaghanda and a multi. What else should I be doing?

Sorry for the long post! I'm so excited and hopeful! And GREAT job for losing the weight!

[reanbean]

Hey comicbookmommy! Sorry, I didn't realize that you posted in response until today!

And sorry, this post will be pretty long!

I have been experimenting with my diet as of late, and have found great success in eating a whole foods diet. Low carb is essentially the same concept, in that you cut out the majority of processed foods -- both of these diets are excellent for restoring balance to a tired body.

I would say, the best thing for success is consistency. For months, I ate 1/3 of a dark chocolate (72% cocoa) every night, and consistently lost weight, but almost NEVER cheated on my diet. It's sooo difficult to do, but make changes that you want to make for the rest of your life.

I'm still struggling with some fatigue symptoms, but I no longer consume ANY caffeine, and I feel pretty dang good most of the day.

I'd have to say that cutting out sugar and refined carbohydrates was the only thing that helped me in the beginning. Now, my diet is as follows (i'm trying be strict, but I fall of the wagon because I'm working at a job I hate right now, and I feast sometimes- gotta stop!!)

I have had TREMENDOUS success with this diet (lost 6 pounds in two days after feasting for a couple of days), but I've needed to supplement with extra food at dinner time every other day.

Breakfast : banana, pineapple & kiwi smoothie with chia seeds & ground flax seed (YUM! 323 calories)

Lunch: weight loss soup :-P (http://www.eatingwell.com/blogs/food...ight_loss_soup), ~ 3 giant spoonfulls with a cup of brown rice mixed in with tamari sauce (432 calories)

Dinner: Juice (one organic apple, LOTS of crazy lettuces, 2 small organic carrots, 1/2 beet, 1/2 lemon) YUM! And I usually have a glass of wine, or Avocado and Tomato slices with 2 over easy eggs. (300-400 calories)

Okay, this is all good and great, but I honestly think that without the supplements my body would resist weight loss 100%.

-At breakfast I take a bunch of adaptogens, and without them I feel like garbage. I get shaky when I need to speak in meetings at work, and I can't handle the stress. These adaptogens allow your body to cope with stress, and I WISH I'd known about them when I started to write my thesis and stopped sleeping. I buy these in extract form- the dropper bottle, and I pour about an ounce of water into a tiny glass, then put all of my adaptogens in, swirl around, and take it like a shot. I then add a little more water, and do this twice to get all of it.

*Ashwaghanda- great for inflammation and the stress response
*Licorice root- blocks reabsorption of cortisol, so your body doesn't keep reproducing more and more, for those with a propensity to stress out, like me.
*Siberian Ginseng (essential to recovering from adrenal fatigue. I forgot why :-P)

I'm also on a very strict budget, so I spend $50 every month (swanson vitamins online) on various extracts and vitamins. So over the months I've gradually built up an arsenal of adrenal fatigue combatants.

-At lunch I take the following supplements: Vitamin C (essential for recovering the adrenal glands, 500-1000mg), Calcium, Magnesium (essential for absorption of calcium), a nulti-vitamin, and vitamin-D.

-Dinner is one of the most important times. I get a lot of vitamins from my juice, and I add potassium and lugol's iodine to the juice. I then supplement further with Thyroid glandular, DHEA, Coenzyme Q10, liquid B-complex(Walmart), and Niacin (B3) (megadoses, start with 50-500mg, work your way up to 1000 mg). Buy Niacin last, as a lot of people don't like Niacin, but I love it! It turns my skin red, it burns a little, I get super hot, and I feel like my system is detoxifying. It's addictive if you like it :P It's not necessary, but I feel like Niacin is necessary for my health.

The other thing is, make sure you don't over-exercise. 45 minutes is probably too much. I don't do more than 20-30 minutes. If you eat whole foods, and allow your body to eliminate toxins with healthy foods, you will be far better off than working out so hard.

It's also a good idea to look into which foods you should buy organically and which are okay to buy conventionally. That's why my smoothies contain 3 fruits that I don't need to buy organic- because my husband likes them too!

[CHH]

Hi reanbean

Congratulations! That's so lovely and good for you :-)

I have adrenal fatigue and I the question from me you is, can I tell you my "story" and ask you some questions too?

[reanbean]

Yes, of course

[CHH]

Thank you, i will. I am from Denmark, so maybe it will take some time to write it ;-) And I just found this site a few days ago :-)

[CHH]

Hi again

In august 2012 I went to a special clinic and had a blood and saliva test done and the result was, that I have adrenal fatigue (with too low cortisol, not high, thyroid and hormone problems).
My body was totally ¨shut down¨ many places and I didn't produce any hormones (almost any hormones), and my body was in menopause, though I'm only 35 (34 at the time).

I have a lot of hormone imbalances and I have had them for years and I have PCOS. And I know that the stress in my life also plays a big big part in all of this.

I was put on a lot of natural food supplements and natural progesterone gel and was ordered to rest much more. I have taken special supplement for 7 months and I have stopped in april because it is very expensive and I'm not sure, that it is working the way it should. I did a blood and saliva test again in January this year and some of the thing were actually getting worse according to the numbers on the scale in the test....hmmmm.

Now, that was the short version

When did you know you had adrenal fatigue? And how much of the adaptogens do you take every day? And have you read the book Adrenal Fatigue by James L. Wilson?

Many of the foodsupplements I buy in England, because i unfortunately can't get them in Denmark And worldwide delivery is so expensive.

[reggiejones32]

hey reanbean do you have thyroid problems also?

[reanbean]

That's a good question, and I'm not sure, I've never gotten it checked out. But I read the Gerson therapy, and he claims that nearly everyone has thyroid issues to some extent, so I supplement w/ thyroid glandular to be on the safe side. I should probably stop taking them after a while, but I've only been on them for 2-3 mos.

[reanbean]

CHH, I found out about my adrenal fatigue Sep 2012. I take a squirt of each adaptogen every morning. I could definitely take more throughout the say, but it's a pain to carry them around. I haven't read the book, but I've read into what everyone else has found out from reading it.
I basically experiment with a bunch of vitamins & hormones to see what works for me. I think the pregnenolone might help the most.

A whole foods diet turned out to be too difficult to stick to for me, so now I'm on a very high fat (>70%), moderate protein (~25%), low carb(<10%) diet, and it's been working fabulously for me. This is known as the ketogenic diet. All natural sources of protein, organic etc. and less than 4 oz. of meat. The only crummy part is that my muscles feel achy, but I supplement w/ K+ and it goes away. I'm told that once I'm keto adapted (~2 wk) I'll start feeling better.

I think vitamin C, Mg, Ca, D, and B-complex are essential for proper healing. I supplement additively on top of my multivitamin. I also megadose with niacin because I love niacin flushes, and I take DIM and use progesterone cream because I have estrogen dominance (& probably PCOS/uterine fibroids).

I hope this helps a bit.

Try out swansonvitamins.com, they have incredible deals. I spend 50$ every month (literally the only $ I spend on myself), get the necessities, and then I get to try new stuff when I have my necessities stockpiled up. Also, basic megadose of C, Mg, Ca, D, etc. can be bought at any large supercenter or grocery store cheap.