[Meeshellee]

After a week or so on IP, I spotted for several days (maybe over a week). That finally stopped and now I'm in the midst of my first period since being on IP...don't normally have cramps, but feeling it this time and flow is way heavier now than normal. Is this too much info? Somone tell me I'm not the only one with a period on steriods while being on IP.

[Kellimomo3]

I'm in my fourth week on IP and just started spotting and then got my TOM a week early! And I am on the pill! And, my coach never told me about IP affecting the effectiveness of the birth control pill. I am actually thankful to see my TOM, because it means I'm not pregnant!!! IP should really make sure their coaches are educated about this because that would have been bad!! I have three teenagers!!! On a positive note, it means the diet is working strong for me!

[MidgieMoon]

My coach did warn me about the changes in hormones, she should know, she edned up with a baby when she was on IP! I am perimenopausal and have been spotting. Lat week was my TOM and it was "on steroids" so no, you aren't alone!

[eandc2006]

Lolo70 can you

[eandc2006]

Please elaborate more on the shock and the readjustment? Maintainence in ip is very low Arab still and I really don't want to upset my metabolism or damage my thyroid. How does one readjust after the initial shock? What is hypo? Maybe that is why I am losIng so slow because I have messed up my diet with so many diets. Is ip harmful in the long run? Can it cause health problems? I am confused

[eandc2006]

LOw carb darn spellcheck

[eandc2006]

How do you rebalance after the shock? Is that something we can control? How do I avoid becoming hypo? Could all the hormones being released Susie's me to feel more anxious or depressed than normal?

[eandc2006]

BUMP to hopefully get some answers

[infoplease]

My experience was that the diet does cause more emotional ups and downs, especially in the first few months.

I had thyroid tested a few months before I started and after I was on it for 5 months. TSH level was quite similar. Tested again after 8 months in maintenance and the TSH level actually was lower (not what you would expect if damage was being done). I am hypothyroid and have been on medications for over 10 years. Low calorie dieting does make changes to your thyroid, but they are not typically permanent. They flip side is that people who are hypothyroid often have sensitivities to wheat. Common wisdom is that avoid overloading on soy, raw broccoli (and that family of vegetables) if hypothyroid. I mixed up the products & used eggs plus used "fake meat" from soy & mushrooms, plus had cooked broccoli, cauliflower, etc and I was OK. Other people are more sensitive to this stuff and they modify the diet to accommodate.

What if maintenance isn't low carb but "right" carb? In maintenance, you have carbs for breakfast (fruit, bread or cereal) and you have a carb for dinner (potato, rice, pasta). Plus, your vegetables are no longer limited. My net carbs are typically at least 100 per day and total carbs can go up to 150g. Certainly not low enough to be in ketosis. Some people can tolerate more carbs, some less.

After you get to maintenance, it continues to take some time for the hormones to settle down, several months, but they get better and not worse.

I figure (this time, sadly) I was carrying around far too much weight for at least 5 years. As much as it makes me mad, it could take 5 years at the right weight to undo all the damage. I think it is actually taking much less than that.

I lost fairly slowly the entire time, including the first week. I think the fat messes up my metabolism far more than IP did. I think what happens is that removing the sugars and the carbs that turn quickest to sugars gives our bodies a chance to fix themselves--it's the "reset the pancreas" theory of the diet. Don't you think too many carbs has to be just as bad (if not more so) than too few?

If you think about it, human evolution would lead you to believe that we might be meant to eat less carbs. Think seasonal fruits & vegetables, year-round availability of meat and milk/milk products.

You still get "fun day" to do "carb loading" if you choose, and you just might learn that some of your old favorites don't exactly make you feel good after eating them. Plus, you can have wine with dinner during the week if you would like and it agrees with you. It's a very liveable maintenance. I find I really want to eat this way; if time constraints mess with what & when I am going to eat, I don't feel as good and look forward to "normal" maintenance eating.

Hang in there. It is so very, very worth it.

[lisa32989]

Originally Posted by infoplease

What if maintenance isn't low carb but "right" carb?

Perfect!

[eandc2006]

Thank you everyone. I have been maintaining since December and have found it really easy. Usually I stick with phase 1 dinners even in maintenance...mainly because I enjoyed the simplicity of veggies and protein and found myself sluggish after carbs. I am doing a reboot to loose the 5 in maintenance I gained the last two months and to hopefully 10 more since I think it would look better on me.

I just keep hearing all these horror stories about people having health issues and it really scares me.

[Lolo70]

Originally Posted by eandc2006

Please elaborate more on the shock and the readjustment? Maintainence in ip is very low Arab still and I really don't want to upset my metabolism or damage my thyroid. How does one readjust after the initial shock? What is hypo? Maybe that is why I am losIng so slow because I have messed up my diet with so many diets. Is ip harmful in the long run? Can it cause health problems? I am confused

Sorry, I have been a bit busy recently. I am currently digging into studies on this topic. I am not familiar with endocrinology and it takes a while to figure out what is known and what is just assumed knowledge. Most studies looking at hormones and nutrition have been done in animals, not people. So, it is hard to extrapolate the findings.

After going low calorie and low carb, your body reacts as if being in starvation. Your metabolism is adjusting to what is perceived as a threat to survival. Ketosis is one adaptive mechanism and if you stay in ketosis for a longer period, your body will react by switching to using fat as the main energy source. Fat versus carb usage affects many organs and tissues in your body. So, it makes sense that hormones not only control what type of energy is used, but their levels are also controlled by the energy source available. Ideally, everything is in balance and adapted to the current situation. When you change that situation, changes are enforced and reaching a new balance usually takes a couple of weeks. There is nothing you need to do. Just wait and don't add additional stressors like exercise etc.

Your body usually runs on carbohydrates as the main source of energy. How carbs are used is controlled mainly through three hormones: Insulin, leptin, and grehlin (there are others, but their action is not yet known well). These hormones control the usage of carbohydrates (glucose) by the different cells in your body and they control whether your body thinks it needs more of the same energy source (=hunger) or not (=satiated). Besides your immediate energy needs, your body also has different needs for energy during your sleep/awake cycles and during the different phases of reproduction etc. These functions are all coordinated with each other. It appears thyroid hormones act as a kind of master switch to do this. When your body goes into starvation mode, the levels of active T3 thyroid hormones also go down and this may be the reason why your overall metabolism slows. This is just a short-term reaction. It appears to happen in the liver and it is probably controlled independently of the thyroid gland. You still get thyroid hormones secreted from the gland, hence TSH ad T4 levels appear normal. If you are not hypo(thyroid), you probably just feel a bit sluggish until your body readjusts T3 production in the liver.

For people who are deficient in thyroid production in the gland, however, the situation may become problematic. I think there is the possibility that the overall lack of thyroid hormone activity re-enforces the lack of insulin/leptin signal in some people to an extent that their bodies never properly adjust to ketosis (or the low calories). In this case, you have to eat above 100g of carbs/day for a longer period of time to get your systems properly going again. I also had the impression, that my immune system became hyperactivated. If you have Hashimoto's, this may worsen the situation. Particularly, as soy/broccoli may affect thyroid health on their own.

So, long story short, if you are concerned about possible effects of IP (or any other diet) it seems advisable to get your health baseline well established (complete thyroid panel, estrogen/progesterone levels if possible, and overall routine levels of vitamins, minerals, lipids, etc) before you start IP. In case of irregularities, you can then go back and compare. As to thyroid or overall health, the symptoms are quite telling (also see previous poster). If you experience them for an extended period, it is better to check. It appears most negative effects of a very low carb diet can be reversed. But there are/were people on this board where reversal did not completely occur. Just stay a bit vigilant and, if possible, work with a physician if you do IP for longer than just a couple of weeks. Lisa pointed out that the original diet on which IP is based was meant to be followed for about 10 weeks. Also, the original diet was devised for healthy (and mostly male) athletes. A perimenopausal/overweight female body is a different landscape. Despite of what IP says to promote the diet (scientific basis etc.), I am quite sure they never properly looked into hormones.