Hermiones Mom's Journal, 19 June 2017

What a challenge! I can only imagine. I hope you're able to keep away the hunger pangs! 

Protein takes the longest to digest, so it will keep you feeling full longer. I'm not sure why you're limiting it, but I tend to eat lots of chicken breasts, fish, and shellfish. I have a hard time getting above 1300 calories per day, but I limit fats and carbs. Fats have more than twice as many calories per gram as protein or carbs (9 cal per gram of fat, 4 cal per gram of protein & carbs) 

It might be worth seeing a nutritionist once to see if they can help you get a plan that will work and keep you satiated 

Thanks everyone. I think my next step is going to be to push myself back onto the ice and try to get more exercise every day so I am burning the calories. I have yet to find a nutritionist who knows anything about low-FODMAP eating, and I don't want to have to educate someone. I don't have more than a couple days a month of IBS trouble since I went low-FODMAP, and the bad days only happen when I actually eat something off plan -- like heaven forbid a bagel. So for now, I'm just going to struggle along making little adjustments. I am finding that cottage cheese seems to really help, so I thin I'll start eating more of it. It's just trial and error... 

Try checking your list of low-fodmap foods against the satiety index (which measures how long you continue to feel full after eating a particular food). Oranges and boiled potatoes are both low-fodmap and have a high fullness factor. 

RoeCocoa -- thanks for this suggestion. I wonder if that explains the fact that I developed a huge craving for citrus a few months ago, and I have continued to regularly eat oranges and grapefruit as a side dish. I'm careful about potatoes, though, because I try to eat low-glycemic -- using up as many carbs as possible in high-fiber, low-glycemic fruits and veggies. But I am going to pursue your suggestion. Thanks again. 

I will try to keep this short. I hate telling my clients to restrict calories. Instead I tell them about all the options they have if they increase their fruits and vegs intake to 60-80% of their caloric intake a day. 2 pounds of strawberries is less than 300 calories! Don't worry about the glycemic index for fruit. Fruits are a monosaccharide. That means they can go into your cells without the help of insulin. Do some research on glycemic load. Looking at glycemic index without understanding glycemic load is like looking at a map without understanding the cardinal directions. Consumption of too much protein will make your body acidic. This will increase the potential for chronic diseases like diabetes and hypertension. There is no need to worry about protein consumption when you eat a lot of plants and some grains. I am 6'5" and weigh 200 pounds and I only consume 50-80 grams of protein a day. I have not had a loss in muscle mass. When it comes to filling satisfied, eat fruits that have a high water content. This will leave you filling full and hydrated. I understand the struggle you are experiencing. You don't know what you don't know and this is okay. Take all advice with a grain of salt(even advice from doctors). Try something out and if it feels like it is a struggle to make it work then try something else. Health and well being is easy. Some activity + living foods(fruits and vegs) = THE LIFE YOU WANT! I wish you the best!😉 

I appreciate your advice, The Energy Coach, and I'll study more.. but I know very well that I must restrict my calories to maintain or lose weight. I know my body. Keep in mind: I have successfully lost and kept off nearly 80 pounds. And when you have to eat low-FODMAP, increasing your fruits and veggies to 60-80% of calorie intake is just plain impossible without having serious IBS problems. The variety of fruits and vegetables I can eat safely are very very limited, and even safe fruits and vegetables have limitations on portion size. I am sure you mean well. But this is not sound advice for me. 

Hermiones Mom, you sould like you have an auto-immune issue. I went thru IBS and crazy low calorie "maintenance" because I have Hashimoto's and really fatigued adrenals. At one point, my doctor had me on 1100 calories a day AND a prescription diet pill JUST TO MAINTAIN MY WEIGHT! I never lost an ounce during that time. It was super frustrating! Even today, if I want to lose weight, I have to eat under 1400 calories (I shoot for 1200 to get this weight off, but its my goal, not my reality). I am finding out that as I have been working with a functional medicine doctor, eating an AIP-Paleo diet for 6 months, and balancing my hormones and nourishing my adrenals, slowly the acceptable caloric intake is going up and the lists of foods that don't make me sick are getting longer. I have been re-introducing foods over the last little while and learning which ones are my body's enemies and which ones are neutral friends. If you are having IBS and maintaining weight at a low caloric intake, you may want to invest in seeing a functional medicine doctor to help. Best medical decision I ever made. I only wish I'd done it 20 years ago! 

*sound* not *sould*  

I agree with the loading up on veggies as well! (Forgot to mention that!) :) 

Gedgal -- thanks -- but I don't have an autoimmune disease, although I am low-thyroid and take medication for that and have been thoroughly checked out to make sure everything else is ok. I've just always been a person who had to eat a lower calorie count to actually lose weight. Luckily, I've learned to be satisfied with a 1/2 pound loss per week, 2-4 pounds per month. And I have discovered that by losing weight at that rate, I keep the weight off. I developed IBS-A (alternating between constipation and diarrhea) secondary to a food-borne infection that I had 3 years ago this month. It may or may not go away eventually, but my symptoms respond very well to low-FODMAP eating. I only have symptoms these days when I do something stupid -- like treat myself to frozen custard or a piece of chocolate cake. If I stick with low-FODMAP eating, I do very well. And at this point I am able to eat a number of foods that are high-FODMAP, but don't seem to bother me, including limited amounts of onions and asparagus. I can cook with garlic without a problem, but I can't eat roasted garlic as a spread on crackers (I tried it -- didn't work out.) That said - "loading up" on veggies is not real practical on low-FODMAP eating, as the range of vegetables I can eat is pretty limited, and even some veggies considered FODMAP-safe are safe only in very small portions. I have definitely increased the amount of fruits and veggies I'm eating over the past six months because I came to the conclusion that it's better nutrition to use my carbs in fruits and veggies than in potatoes or grains, and I eat virtually no bread or crackers or other baked goods because for the most part, gluten free baked goods are very high sugar and poor nutrition, not to mention they taste bad. I don't actually feel that I'm eating a very low calorie count -- I'm eating 1500-1600 calories per day and losing very, very slowly. And even when I stay below 1400, I lose very, very slowly. It's just how it is. I think I would be more concerned about this if I felt in any way deprived at 1600 calories -- but I don't. I eat plenty of nutritious food, my bloodwork is great, and I am losing incrementally. What I'm trying to figure out is how I can make adjustments to my diet to lower my calorie count to speed up my weightloss but without feeling hungry. This is important because, although I'm willing to continue to accept the slow weightloss, it would be nice to speed it up. But I still want to have an eating plan that I can stick with permanently. It's complicated.  

Are you allowed to eat legumes? (Don't know low FODMAP rules) Black beans, lentils, etc? Lots of protein and extremely filling. Also nuts/seeds! Grab a few between meals to tone down the hunger. 

Lots of veggies and low fat meat like chicken breast. I could seriously fill up for hours on 200 calories of chicken breast 

No, Smil3yGirl, legumes are an absolute no, and nuts are very limited. Jonborn1 -- I'm very happy for you that 200 calories of chicken breast fill you up. You have no idea how many chicken breasts I have eaten in my time. In the short run, this works well. In the long run, it's not really a solution because it is BORING.  

Drink more water and eat more vegetables. They full you up but less calories. 

I think your own solution was the best. If eating less than 1500 calories is too hard, then getting on the ice, or exercising in another way is a great solution. I do not lose if I do not exercise. I too am hypothyroid and lose slowly. I keep my calories around 1200 and exercise at least 5 days a week, yoga, weight training and power walking. I usually burn about 900 calories each workout day. That is the only way I lose weight. Dieting alone does not cut it for me. The exercise absolutely speeds up my metabolism. 

Hermoines Mom, I am wondering if you might be eating too many fruits? Fruit season is coming up ... just eat the fruits in season in your area. When they go out of season, don't eat any. I am thinking that is the way I am going now. I am reading the "Plant Paradox" now. I am still in the first pages but, so far, this book made me think of you. I would love to know your take on it if you should decide to read it. :) The fruit idea I have heard before, but this guy gives explanations as to the reason.  

Mom2Boxers -- You know I appreciate everyone's advice, but my situation vis a vis IBS and kidney stones is complicated. The only fruits I can eat are berries, melon and pineapple....and the berries have to be eaten with yogurt or other dairy, because otherwise the oxylate in them promotes kidney stones. If I stop eating fruit out of season -- and our "season" in the Midwest is about 3 mos. -- I won't be eating any fruit at all, which narrows my menu choices down to next to nothing. Same with veggies -- we have about a 4 mos. season here. Growing up we had no veggies except frozen because, well, you can't get local seasonal veggies in the middle of the winter. I'm sure there are folks who can easily go the "slo food" route including only eating local, but that's just not practical for me or for most people living in cold climates. I eat almost exclusively organic and the only prepared foods I buy are an occasional splurge on Whole Foods' turkey meatloaf and jars of tomato cooking sauce. I make everything else -- from spaghetti sauce to salad dressing. I even make my own ice cream on those rare occasions when I can't stand another day without ice cream. So I am definitely not looking to eliminate anything more from my diet. What I'm trying to do is find the right balance between protein, fat and carbs to keep myself full and happy at no more than 1400 calories per day.  

To me, you are doing everything right. This book just has my mouth hanging open at the moment. It pretty much says we shouldn't be eating anything with seeds as they are what messes up our digestion, thus causing inflammation (including IBS). I am just getting into it. My husband says I panic. Me? I do get excited. LOL!