Feeling cold while losing weight

[thepolly]

My temperature is weird too, I seem to have a broken thermostat.

 

[ickihun]

My temperature is weird too, I seem to have a broken thermostat.

Due to low carb dieting or everytime?
A broken thermostat can be thyroid related thou. Have you been tested about your thyroid? It needs mentioning to your gp if not.

 

[Geordie_P]

By all means, get your thyroid etc checked out- that sounds like sensible advice.
It might be OK though, provided there isn't some underlying medical issue: when I'm low-carbing and especially low-calorie-ing, I feel the cold much more easily and need to wear a light jacket for the air-con at work. I love it though: it's a cool, alert feeling.

 

[thepolly]

Due to low carb dieting or everytime?
A broken thermostat can be thyroid related thou. Have you been tested about your thyroid? It needs mentioning to your gp if not.

I usually eat once a day low carb. So maybe because of that

 

[ickihun]

I usually eat once a day low carb. So maybe because of that

From what I understand the heat our bodies generate is part of our total metabolic rate. No heat = lower metabolic rate. @CherryAA may confirm that better thou.

 

[CherryAA]

From what I understand the heat our bodies generate is part of our total metabolic rate. No heat = lower metabolic rate. @CherryAA may confirm that better thou.

I'm no doctor, but everything I've read suggests that one of the ways your body tries to conserve weight when dieting is by shutting down " non essential" activities and thus reducing your base metabolic rate to match your intake. This is one of the prime reasons weight loss slows and one of the core reasons why so many diets attempt to "trick" your body into thinking its doesn't need to do it.
if you are feeling very cold and nothing else is wrong, then its a sign that that is what is happening to you.

 

[LittleGreyCat]

I feel the cold a lot more when I am inactive, than I used to. I've (only) lost about 2 stone since diagnosis and am reasonably slim, but the main thing that I notice is how little I am eating compared to pre-diagnosis.

LCHF encourages me to eat less. Eating less shrinks the stomach which reinforces eating less. However I maintain my weight more or less eating (I estimate) about half of what I used to, or even less.

I have long suspected that one reason that you can eat huge amounts but not put on much weight is that the body doesn't bother to work too hard at absorbing food and also chucks a fair amount of heat away. Once you shut down on the sugars and stuff there is a lot less energy coming in so the body starts to work a lot harder. In times of famine people stayed healthy on a very restricted diet.

Once I start to exercise my body temperature comes right back up, so I am guessing that my BMR is turned down to save on the (internal) heating bills.

 

[CherryAA]

I feel the cold a lot more when I am inactive, than I used to. I've (only) lost about 2 stone since diagnosis and am reasonably slim, but the main thing that I notice is how little I am eating compared to pre-diagnosis.

LCHF encourages me to eat less. Eating less shrinks the stomach which reinforces eating less. However I maintain my weight more or less eating (I estimate) about half of what I used to, or even less.

I have long suspected that one reason that you can eat huge amounts but not put on much weight is that the body doesn't bother to work too hard at absorbing food and also chucks a fair amount of heat away. Once you shut down on the sugars and stuff there is a lot less energy coming in so the body starts to work a lot harder. In times of famine people stayed healthy on a very restricted diet.

Once I start to exercise my body temperature comes right back up, so I am guessing that my BMR is turned down to save on the (internal) heating bills.

You may find that concentrating the food you do it into bigger meals less frequently enables you to start eating a bit more at each meal without actually putting it back .. It seems that if you leave enough time between meals to enable your insulin levels back to base then that also helps your metabolism to recover.

 

[ickihun]

Processing food increases the bmr but bmr never reaches a high enough level to be able to counteract all the food overeaten.
That is only part of a broken metabolic system problem.
Type2 is a metabolic disease.
You would first have to fix type2 then your broken system would hopefully comply thereafter.

A fully functioning metabolic system wouldnt allow high bgs.

 

[BibaBee]

@Goonergal Did you ever get to the bottom of this? We're about three months in with LCHF and my husband has lost getting on for about 3 stone (he lost probably another stone prior to diagnosis). He is suffering with feeling cold for the first time in his life! BG is reasonably well controlled mostly in the 6-7 range. I'm suspecting he may not be getting enough calories at the moment, particularly as he is walking more. Are you still troubled by this or did it settle down?

 

[NicoleC1971]

Thanks @DCUKMod

I had just associated this with weight loss as that’s the only major change (aside from controlling blood sugars) and hadn’t considered that anything else might be going on.

I am cold a lot of the time - and in particular my hands. It’s worse in the mornings and when fasting - on days when I eat lunch I definitely warm up a bit in the afternoon, but am wearing far more clothes than others at work. I am eating a varied diet, but I’m still losing weight at a reasonable pace and averaging between about 900 - 1200 calories with the odd day quite a way above that (but still under 2000 a day).

Definitely food for thought and may well drop in to see the doctor.

Hi Goonergal. Just another thought to check out as well as all the excellent suggestions re thyroid, vit B12 or a down regulation of your thermostat! A symptom of chromium deficiency is cold hands. Other symptoms are:
Excessive or cold sweats

Dizziness or irritability after 6 hours without food

Need for frequent meals

Need for excessive sleep or drowsiness during the day
So probably not applicable given your low carb status hence presumably stable bgs? But just thought I'd mention i t! Correct by exercising and eating lamb, oysters chicken, peppers...according to my nutrition bible.
I bet you'd wished you'd never asked...

 

[Goonergal]

@Goonergal Did you ever get to the bottom of this? We're about three months in with LCHF and my husband has lost getting on for about 3 stone (he lost probably another stone prior to diagnosis). He is suffering with feeling cold for the first time in his life! BG is reasonably well controlled mostly in the 6-7 range. I'm suspecting he may not be getting enough calories at the moment, particularly as he is walking more. Are you still troubled by this or did it settle down?

Hi @BibaBee no, not got to the bottom of it. Still feeling the cold and no longer over heating in hot weather, so win some, lose some. Hopefully it will settle down in time.

Hi Goonergal. Just another thought to check out as well as all the excellent suggestions re thyroid, vit B12 or a down regulation of your thermostat! A symptom of chromium deficiency is cold hands. Other symptoms are:
Excessive or cold sweats

Dizziness or irritability after 6 hours without food

Need for frequent meals

Need for excessive sleep or drowsiness during the day
So probably not applicable given your low carb status hence presumably stable bgs? But just thought I'd mention i t! Correct by exercising and eating lamb, oysters chicken, peppers...according to my nutrition bible.
I bet you'd wished you'd never asked...

Hi @NicoleC1971 Don’t think it’s a chromium deficiency as I don’t have any of those other symptoms. However it’s a good excuse to eat more lamb - my favourite. I didn’t get bloods checked in relation to this, but have had several tests run for other reasons and there are no obvious problems. Others have said they experienced this after losing a lot of weight, so hopefully over time it will resolve.

 

[ickihun]

On 800cals I'm cold and a bit down. No higher bgs that used to make me sweat. I still sweat after a brisk walk/shuffle thou. On occasion.
Low carb didn't make me cold it heated me up and my levothyroxine was reduced because of it. Not the same on this low calorie diet.
I've realised why it doesnt bother me too much (other than cold) is because I've done hundreds of low calorie diets, all my life.