Dear Dr. Sears,
Q; I really hope you can help me. I am at the end of my rope. I am a 24-year-old 5'2" woman. I have been in the Zone for three years now, exercising and taking six capsules of OmegaRx a day, as well as your Micronutrient Support and other supplements. I have done everything absolutely perfectly, as this is what I put all of my energy into. I never have any slip-ups because I never feel hungry or have cravings, so I find this very easy. Still, I am gaining weight. I have had trouble with my weight since I was a child. I was always active, running around with my friends, and though I ate much less than other kids my age, I was overweight. I have also always had high cholesterol and ESR&CRP. No one knows why. I steadily gained weight on the low fat-diet the doctors recommended until I was 18 years old, I started trying other diets. I tried very low-calorie diets, grapefruit diet and all kinds of fads and full on fasting and did not lose any weight at all, until I found Atkins. I weighed 200 pounds when I started and only a few weeks later I weighed 155 pounds, then more slowly I got down to 130 pounds, and then the weight loss stopped, and, without me changing anything at all, started going up again. I got desperate and did a very extreme form of Atkins. Not surprisingly, I felt awful, had dizzy spells and, when I was at 165 pounds, I accepted that it was not working anymore and would probably kill me if I continued, so I started the doctor-recommended low-fat, low-calorie diet again, not knowing any better. Soon I was at 240 pounds. This is when I started really educating myself and found the Zone. On the Zone I lost 20 pounds in a few months, but then, without changing anything, the weight loss stopped. I am now 250 pounds.
A year ago my doctor discovered I had hypothyroidism, which I am taking Armour Thyroid for. Now I am at 2 grain/120mg, still slowly raising the dosage. I haven't seen any difference on it, and I found I also had adrenal fatigue, for which I have been taking 20mg Hydrocortisone for two months now. The plan is to quit gradually after a few months more. After I had started the cortisone, I lost 20 pounds, but after two weeks it was back, now I am at 250 again. It shouldn't be possible to eat like this and weigh this much. Do you have any idea what is happening to me?
Answer: The fact you are not hungry on the Zone Diet means you are doing a good job of balancing insulin. What I might suggest is significantly increasing your intake of polyphenols. At high enough concentrations it will increase the activity of the enzyme AMP kinase that produces ATP. Your existing hypothyroidism may be causing a decrease in the activity of this enzyme, therefore requiring more energy intake. I would also double your intake of EPA and DHA. The extra omega-3 fatty acids will reduce hunger hormones in the brain (endocannabinoids) and well as increase the release of adiponectin from your fat tissue that reduces insulin resistance. Your experience with the Atkins diet is not unusual, especially for females. Unfortunately, it may take some time to correct.