The Leptin Reset: Week 2 Results, or Can a Broken Heart Make You Fat?

Picture to the left: Week 2 on the Leptin Reset (http://jackkruse.com/my-leptin-prescription/) and it’s failure, failure, failure. Nothing could lift this mood…except what started it.

I ended Week 2 of the Leptin Reset, my health project for July and perhaps August, by gaining back 1 of the 2 pounds I’d lost in the first week.  Truthfully, I’m grateful that I didn’t gain 10 pounds in this week of sudden emotional stress.  That’s happened before.  Eating clean, exercising like a mad woman, nothing changes but an emotional situation, and bam!  Up 5 pounds or maybe even 10.

As mentioned in a couple of my earlier posts, I endured a fair bit of trauma during my 2nd week of following Dr. Jack Kruse’s Leptin Prescription.

Yes, it would have been hilarious to watch some sitcom on TV where a horrible coincidence  nearly destroyed a fine relationship, but it’s not so funny when you’re in the middle of it and absolutely cannot reach someone special and that someone special is equally desperately trying to reach you and all indications  for both of you are that it’s over and you both intend to shun the other.

I started the week on a high note after a string of high notes, then the trauma began and my mood fell.  The next day, my weight was up 3 pounds.   Yes, 3 pounds overnight, with food, timing, level of physical activity, and all else being the same.  Not quite all else.  My sleep was fretful and much shorter, but this was as a result of the trauma.  The trauma affected mood, sleep, and weight, in that order.  The next day of my horrible mood and feelings of despair brought another couple of pounds.  Though I ate on schedule and according to the protocol, I found myself twice at an evening meal, thinking “**** it,” and ready to eat for taste.   As soon as I got some protein in me, as well as 2 pieces of my cocoa-Xylitol-coconut-oil candy, I was fine.   And once the emotional snafu was cleared up, my mood shot back up, though not quite as high as earlier in the week due to the exhaustion of the week.

So here are my observations for Week 2:

1. That Big Ass Breakfast still holds me well into the afternoon, though steak holds me much longer than chicken or salmon.  On the amounts I usually choose, I can last easily 6 hours, sometimes 8 or 9, before I feel hunger again.
2. I have few to no  cravings all day.  The closest I come to cravings is for macadamia nuts or coconut oil, so I try to have those with my meals to ensure good fats are loaded into my system for the day’s efforts.   Once or twice, I had a few nuts later in the evening when I’d eaten only 2 means that day and it was long past my suppertime.
3. Because I am eating fewer meals, I am focusing more on the quality of the food I eat.  This means wild-caught salmon or grass-fed beef, though I have to drive to the next town over to find a supermarket that carries such “exotic’ fare.
4. I can’t tell any smoothness or shift in hormones this week.  Friskiness is gone.   The stress is too intense to notice anything more refined.
5. I’m waking before the alarm clock, and when I’m not broken-hearted, I’m sleeping normally with vivid dreams.
6. My headache was worse this week, exacerbated by the stress.  It’s definitely allergy-related as many friends and family are having the same problem right now.  Something’s blooming!
7. My blood sugar has been steady and close to my preferred range.  Blood pressure has been up, but still in the 125 range instead of 105 range.  Pulse has been up, too.  I have been physically and emotionally hurting.
8. My hip and bust measurements were down slightly from the previous week by the end of this week, though my other measurements fluctuated wildly in the middle of the week.
9. My weight went from -2 pounds to +5 pounds and back to -1 pound.
10. I was fatigued the entire week, but fatigue and sleep problems were directly related to my emotions.  The stress of the trauma, in other words, caused the fatigue and sleep deprivation.
11. My exercise has been relegated to casual walks and stretching/yoga for now.  It’s way too hot outside this week to do much more than leisurely walks.

Bottomline, the stress of personal trauma (vs work trauma) affects my mood, sleep, and weight in unflattering ways.  I ended the week in a more emotionally stable place, with everything thankfully  being “all right” but any progress I might have made on the Leptin Reset was lost to my emotional state.

Week 3 awaits.

For more articles on the Leptin Reset experiment, click on the Leptin tag below.