[MRMom]

I already posted a lot of my background in another thread, so I'll copy and paste that here. But let me back up a little bit first...

I was of normal weight as a small child. Then by mid-elementary school I was slightly chubby (too inactive and too much junk food). By 5th grade I was dieting, and by junior high I was doing silly 300cal/day diets. In high school I compulsively overate and was over 100lbs overweight. In college I lost all of that extra weight with moderate exercise and my own eating plan which was basically just to eat a reasonable amount of whatever I wanted (pizza for breakfast, taco bell for dinner). Not a healthy plan, altho' it worked. (I now eat "clean" and have been for years.) Got married and gained 6lbs the first year. This should have been no big deal, but for whatever reason it threw me into 2-3hrs/day of exercise and a 1000cal/day diet. I dropped 20lbs quickly, but then got hungry and put it all back on in the blink of an eye. THEN I got pregnant with our first child and put dieting on hold. After the baby was born I dieted and exercised back to "normal" weight. Over the next 10 years I went on to have 4 more children (and am currently 28wks pregnant with number 6). I continually cut calories further and further. And that brings me to what I've already posted before:

"I've been eating in a deficit and overtraining (cardio and strength) for approximately 10 years. My deficits have increased over the years and eventually got to around 60% less than maintenance for the past 4 years (lower carb, but not keto). (I do weigh and measure food.) In spite of this I have never reached a low body weight. The lowest I've gotten to is 156lbs at 5'10". Maybe because of this I've never had any trouble whatsoever with my cycles. Also, I've had hypothyroidism for 10 years (I'm on T4 replacement and my dose has been stable since day 1.) My sleep habits were 5-6hrs/night. And about 3 years ago I was diagnosed with severe chronic autoimmune neutropenia. I may be wrong, but I completely contribute that to my poor lifestyle. I've been feeling worse and worse over the years... then about 18 months ago I just couldn't do it anymore. I had recently had a baby (continued overexercise and undereating throughout the pregnancy as always - gained 45lbs eating 1000cals/day and exercising for 2hrs). I couldn't lose even 1 pound continuing on that regime (at a highter intensity) after the birth (I was at 183 then). And even more importantly I was completely EXHAUSTED. I could get through my workouts but then had NOTHING left for my family and my moods were horrific. I did a home saliva test for cortisol and the numbers came out below the normal ranges (but DHEAS was high, which supposedly put my at stage 6 adrenal fatigue). I knew I needed to change. So, I cut back my workouts to 5 days/wk, 30mins/day, and lightened the intensity a lot with a focus on strength rather than aerobics. I also began trying to sleep 7-8hrs/night. However, I continued with eating 1000 cals/day, because #1 - every time I've tried to increase I've gained fat, and #2 - I wanted to lose the baby weight. Eventually I slowly began to lose the weight after I started taking licorice root (it's supposed to extend the life of the cortisol that you have)."



I'm now halfway through week 2 of working to establish a normal calorie level. I'm at 1600-1650 cals/day and am resting according to the MRM.

I'll write more later, but just wanted to say that anyone who happens to be reading is more than welcome to respond. Any and all feedback is appreciated! :-)

Michelle