How can you lose weight with ME/CFS if you have metabolic issues?

[Kristianshaw87]

Hi all - throughout my entire illness I've always felt that one of, if not the main issue for me has been problems with creating energy from food and some sort of metabolic disturbance or disorder. I say this because:

1. I get very frequent serious hypoglycemic attacks following physical exertion (despite not being diabetic)
2. During the mild/moderate phase of my illness I noticed that over-eating (~4000 calories a day) would really help me feel noticeably better and give me far more energy and lessen all of my symptoms.
3. Whenever I lower calories at all I immediately become severely unwell and unable to even think or speak properly and I have absolutely no energy whatsoever to even stand and move around my house.

As a result of this over the years I've put quite a bit of weight on that I would really like to lose, but no matter what I do I can't get past 5 days maximum of calorie restriction because my symptoms and energy levels become so severe, to the point where I feel as if I'm dying.

I guess I was just wondering if anyone has any advice that could help me or even if you could tell me if this is normal for ME/CFS? I really feel that there's a clear metabolic disturbance regarding carbohydrates/blood sugar and the creation of energy in my body but my GP doesn't seem to believe me.

Thanks in advance for any responses.

 

[kangaSue]

Maybe time restricted eating could be an answer, the 16:8 intermittent fasting "diet" where it's not a necessity to actually cut down on the calorie intake, just alter the timing of your consumption.
https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/327398

 

[Mary]

@Kristianshaw87 - I wonder if the keto diet would help you? Several people here swear by it. I tried it, but it apparently depleted my branched chain amino acids (and probably other aminos as well) and I started crashing more often and taking longer to recover . . . but that doesn't happen with everyone -

You might find this interesting: https://www.healthrising.org/blog/2017/06/16/ketogenic-diets-fibromyalgia-mecfs-review/

 

[BrightCandle]

I am the same, I definitely seem to feel better when overeating. Very recently due to a wisdom tooth infection I was forced into eating every 4 hours for drug purposes and so I ate regular small meals instead of my usual bigger keto and time restricted eating regime, I lost a lot of weight on small meals regularly and critically I had that good overeating response. I am not sure of the mechanisms but try it both ways, intermittent fasting and the opposite of small regular meals and see if one works better than the other.

 

[IThinkImTurningJapanese]

I really feel that there's a clear metabolic disturbance regarding carbohydrates/blood sugar and the creation of energy in my body but my GP doesn't seem to believe me.

They don't know very much about nutrition.

Keto is a great way to hack metabolism. We have evolved over hundreds of thousands of years to utilize ketogenesis periodically, as a means of survival. Now we can consume carbohydrates continually. Obesity and diabetes are rampant.

I really like being off of the carbohydrate roller coaster.

 

[Treeman]

I have the same issues. Keto helped me to lose weight. I tried it when I was able to work and it sent me crazy, bio chemically all over the place. Now I'm housebound and a less demand of energy it works. Don't over do it, aim to lose about 1lb a week

 

[Sickandtired36]

Hi all - throughout my entire illness I've always felt that one of, if not the main issue for me has been problems with creating energy from food and some sort of metabolic disturbance or disorder. I say this because:

1. I get very frequent serious hypoglycemic attacks following physical exertion (despite not being diabetic)
2. During the mild/moderate phase of my illness I noticed that over-eating (~4000 calories a day) would really help me feel noticeably better and give me far more energy and lessen all of my symptoms.
3. Whenever I lower calories at all I immediately become severely unwell and unable to even think or speak properly and I have absolutely no energy whatsoever to even stand and move around my house.

As a result of this over the years I've put quite a bit of weight on that I would really like to lose, but no matter what I do I can't get past 5 days maximum of calorie restriction because my symptoms and energy levels become so severe, to the point where I feel as if I'm dying.

I guess I was just wondering if anyone has any advice that could help me or even if you could tell me if this is normal for ME/CFS? I really feel that there's a clear metabolic disturbance regarding carbohydrates/blood sugar and the creation of energy in my body but my GP doesn't seem to believe me.

Thanks in advance for any responses.

Hi,
Weight has been an issue for me too. I’ve tried a lot of diets and they’ve worked to different extents. The last diet I’ve tried is intermittent fasting. It helped me lose some weight and I found it manageable. I skip breakfast and just have a couple of cups of tea and coffee until lunchtime and I also have dinner.
And if I wake up and I can tell it’s going to be a bad day (extremely tired, headache, brain fog etc..) I’ll decide not to follow the diet that day.
Hope some of this info helps you out

 

[IThinkImTurningJapanese]

The last diet I’ve tried is intermittent fasting. It helped me lose some weight and I found it manageable. I skip breakfast and just have a couple of cups of tea and coffee until lunchtime and I also have dinner.
And if I wake up and I can tell it’s going to be a bad day (extremely tired, headache, brain fog etc..) I’ll decide not to follow the diet that day.

A sensible approach like that is so wise, I've found it to more often result in new habits that are easy to maintain.

Once I got accustomed to running on ketones, I started stretching the fasting window to an 18-6 feeding cycle. In hopes of inducing Autophagy.