As always, this is not medical advice, and reading this does not form a client relationship with me - your health is your responsibility.
Today's newsletter will include the following:
An update on my intuitive fat-loss phase.
A discussion on health labs.
Some remarks about autumn.
Please feel free to skip to the parts you wish to read.
Intuitive fat-loss phase end of week five update:
On Monday, 31 October, I averaged 112.8lbs. So, I am down another 0.8lbs or 0.7% for week 5. If I may share a frustrating thing - my desire for this fat-loss phase was for most of my fat-mass loss to come from my lower body. However, my body has had other ideas, and as seems to be my history when it comes to fat loss, I have lost more from my upper body than my lower. My lower body measurements have gone down, so not all has been lost! I know there are arguments about estrogen receptor activity and weight loss during the follicular vs. luteal phase coming more from women's lower body vs. upper. There is also the addition of what seems to be a PPAR-gamma tie-in to lipedema and being a DES granddaughter. However, I am incredibly thankful and proud of my body for this phase! I expect to end week six at about 112lbs. My next substack will outline how I plan to come out of this fat-loss phase and the next steps. As a sneak peek, I need to put on more muscle.
Some have asked if I have significant water weight fluctuations with my scale weight. I do; what I weigh in the morning is not what I weigh in the evening. Also, I often find myself up or down about 1-2 lbs, depending on the day. This is why I use a daily average. When I am in maintenance, I only weigh myself once weekly - usually Monday morning. I then compare this one-day-a-week value to the month before vs. between the weeks. This has to do with fluctuations during my menstrual cycle.
My weight swings often result from my overall body stress. During this fat-loss phase, if my water weight stayed up about 1-2lbs for 2-3 days, I made sure to eat more the next day - especially before bed. This may sound counterintuitive - why would you add more food when your weight is up? Gaining 1-2lbs of fat in a day is arguably impossible. Eating more for a day or two from a hormone and cell structure standpoint is consistent. Especially when I am not swinging the opposite way and "over-eating" - I spent many years in my early 20s swinging back and forth between "fasting" and "over-eating." I added a small snack before sleep on the handful of days this happened. The snack was different each time, but it included some carbs and protein and was micronutrient dense.
One can see how this would help from a hormonal standpoint - the additional food lowers the need for cortisol and adrenaline. These two hormones have direct and indirect (via aldosterone, etc.) effects on cell swelling (hand, etc. swelling occurs in Cushing's, hypothyroidism, etc.) and overall body water retention. Also, the additional micronutrients and macronutrients will support ATP generation and provide more electrolytes and amino acids, which leads to increased cell structure and a higher-energy resting state. My training does not lead to much metabolite buildup, so I did not have to take a day off. And I usually do better with more steps - which makes sense, given walking effects on the lymphatics. I also took a bath and went to sleep a little earlier these days. So a little more food, a warm bath, and sleep were what I needed to see that water swing correct itself. For two days during this phase, I had some bloating but no increased scale weight - this coincided with decreased bowel movements. I used the same techniques for those days, and the bloating was gone the next day.
Labs:
Many have asked if I plan to run labs after my fat-loss phase - I am; however, let me clarify some things. First, labs are only snapshots in time, and many of the results I look at as "artifacts" than numbers to chase. Given my view of them being "artifacts," I view them as what "has been" and where my body's "cumulative water structure" was. My continually growing understanding of Dr. Gilbert Ling et al.'s work has allowed me greater clarity in my prior labs, especially the patterns and their totality. I am glad to see the movement towards at-home tests. The forms include - blood spot, saliva, urine, nails, etc. I know many are hesitant about specific labs because of DNA. I have a different view of DNA, much having to do with the water structure seems to be what leads to the structure, code, how it's "read," etc. (we will get there, eventually). I also do not ascribe to the idea that we should get rid of our blood - this also has a lot to do with how our body structures blood, etc. There, of course, may be outliers. However, even those with hemochromatosis should be taking other steps and not only relying on blood donations or therapeutic phlebotomy.
I also have concerns about what happens when we poke through the fascia layer. I am more concerned about cutting through more extensive areas of it - obviously, most surgeries are not "elective"; however, I think one should consider the cost:benefit, etc. Especially given some of the newer research about ACL vs. placebo surgeries. When drawing blood, I wonder about repeated pokes to get a vein (me with my small veins that like to roll), etc. Of course, the home test plunger needle could still be making its way through, so it's something to consider. The over-arching reason is that our skin is the barrier between our internal self and the external world. Many will argue - "what about the digestive tract?" - the digestive tract faces the outside world with the one-cell layer of enterocytes, etc., forming the border to our inside one. I do not think we were meant to breach our skin layer with a needle, etc. All that to say, having minimally invasive labs done is a cost I am currently willing to take.
Many go the lab route before working on the basics of health - many are looking for a hormone, neurotransmitter, microbiome, etc., reason as to why they have numerous symptoms and diagnoses. Many want to point to this instead of taking a minimum of six to twelve months to - reverse diet, sit at maintenance, work on supplements that benefit them, work on relationships and boundaries, look at their inner life, spend time slowly building movement capacity and working on mechanical tension for hypertrophy, etc. All that to say, once one has optimized these things for themselves, running a basic lab panel every so often, especially after a significant change like a fat-loss phase, can be insightful. Also, running labs can be helpful if one has spent sufficient time and practice optimizing these things, but they still have significant health issues. I want to stress that people give their bodies and minds the time and basic building blocks to heal. Spending a couple of days or even a few weeks on a subset of the list above, then throwing up your hands and saying, "I must have a hormone problem," is not enough time. For those with significant health symptoms and diagnoses, the six to twelve months could extend to a few years, depending on how fast they can start implementing things. People should start by adding things to their lives versus completing an overhaul. The reason mostly goes back to my 19 October 2022 substack discussion on homeostasis.
A fair argument for testing is that labs can give someone a clue about where to start. My goal in exploring Dr. Ling et al.'s work is to provide you with that place without needing labs. In conjunction with their ideas, a urinary organic acids test is helpful - specifically for the metabolic markers.
There are potentially many issues that go into labs, especially frequent lab drawing - many are chasing values instead of looking at the overall pattern and noting circadian, menstrual cycle, etc. fluctuations. This is comparable to when people use wearables like a Fitbit or oura ring. One runs the risk of going into a lab panel, feeling good about their health and body. Then a panel comes back and reflects a more "negative" health space than they believed themselves to be. Much like when one wakes up feeling good after their night of sleep, only to look at their sleep data paints a different story. This can often "ruin" the rest of their day as it serves almost as a nocebo. There is the other side of labs where - "they all look great!" - said with disdain for the numerous docs who told me that as I progressed further into myoclonus, rhabdomyolysis, etc. What they and most docs failed to recognize is maybe the "right lab for you" was not drawn - they finally realized something was "wrong" (because my "presentation" was not clear enough evidence) when my creation kinase and myoglobin came back. Also, the general population dictates their reference ranges. And if the population is not "optimally healthy," their range will illustrate their average vs. vibrant health. This has been recently seen in lowering the standard basal body temperature guideline.
My friend, Alex (@strongsapien), is affiliated with a company called SiPhoX Health (http://siphoxhealth.com/strongsapien). I will be using this as a basic check-in after my fat-loss phase. They measure:
1. HgA1C, insulin, cortisol, and triglycerides
2. ApoB and ApoA with ApoB:ApoA
3. 25-hydroxy vitamin D
4. Total testosterone (male) or estradiol (female)
5. hsCRP, Ferritin, and homocysteine
6. Folate
7. Total cholesterol, HDL, LDL with total cholesterol:HDL
His link gives you a 10% discount, and they are running a 50% off code right now for the first kit: 50monthly2022. I will discuss labs further once my results come back.
This substack is already nearing 2000 words, so I will end with a quick detour to discuss autumn. Next week's substack will be about what I will do to come out of this fat-loss phase and my upcoming plans. Because of that, I will continue my discussion of Dr. Ling's book in two weeks.
Fall:
Fall is my favorite season. The last few weeks, I have been feeling the need to draw more inward and shed the new growth from the spring and summer that are no longer serving me, etc. I have been drawn to the quiet, where I usually fill the void with thoughts or podcasts. I have also been spending more time with the shutters shut in the dimmer light with candles. Of course, we still go outside for some fall air, sunlight, our nightly family walk, etc. For example, today, my son and I were laughing and playing in the rain all day. I have noted that my son has embraced the fall land winter similarly since he was a baby. Our dispositions are alike, but this is more of a natural cycle we go through yearly. The fall and winter are when the most internal growth happens for me - I put into practice the things I have been learning and thinking about over the past year; it is a refinement and integration period for me. My introverted trait also increases during this time - I prefer being around my immediate family most of the time. The spring and summer are when I continue with what fits from the Fall and Winter. I also go into the world, try new things, and meet new people. I think a part of this is I naturally use the fall and winter, so my INFJ side can integrate the stories, emotions, etc., people "lay on me" throughout the spring and summer. I am grateful for this time, and the more I embrace it, the more "refreshed" I am for the coming new year.
I've never considered an opinion about this: I do not think we were meant to breach our skin layer with a needle.
I have opinions about the contents of needles, though the vehicle I've truly never had a thought about. Would you share more?