Could be... and the kid has to have somewhere to SIT while Mom is outrunning the bandersnatch too. "Good birthin' hips" make just the right kid-holder.

I think it's pregnancy, too. A big belly is balanced by extra weight in thighs and hips. A prime directive of evolution = protect the next generation.

I had to look up your fabulous word, Bat Spit:Learn something new everyday!

as soon as i started gaining, it was all belly and i'm a woman. looks really weird to have this skinny butt and stick legs with a big old belly like mine lol. it took a good deal of weight to start putting on back fat and butt fat.

Starvation causes changes to the endocrine system, like the thyroid, that sound EXACTLY like the symptoms you've described yourself as having. However, after the starvation is over, the symptoms should go away. If you're still having those symptoms, there's something wrong with your health. My guess would be thyroid. You might not be producing an optimal amount, you might have Hashimoto's, you might not be converting T4 -> T3 well (very common) or you might have some other issue entirely.

But I've lost 70-ish pounds in the past and, other than not really fixing my underlying eating habits, I felt just fine.

You really owe it to yourself and your loved ones to look into that. There's no reason you can't be thin and healthy! Granted, we'll never be able to eat the same way as skinny people, but that's a different issue.

Right now, there is no way in the world I could ever outrun a bandersnatch.....(staring mournfully at my over abundant hip/thigh area)....and I don't even know any "skinny hunters." This is not looking good......

Woo,



If you're taking your doctor's word on this, you might be mislead. There is such a thing as sub-clinical hypothyroidism and it is generally undiagnosed. You really need to look at 3 different tests:

TSH -- The range has recently been lowered to 3, but even I felt horrible at a TSH of 2.

FT3 -- The amount of Free T3 (not to be confused with T3, which is total T3. Your body can't utilize T3, its been bound to a protein, it can only use Free T3 (FT3)). There does seem to be a correlation between extremely low carb diets and poor FT3 conversion.

FT4 -- The amount of Free T4. This is used directly by some tissues but mostly gets converted to T3 by losing an iodine molecule, which is done in the liver.

My hypothyroidism was undiagnosed for many years until I read up on the newer tests. Doctors are doing an utterly abysmal job of diagnosing it. Basically unless you have a rare doctor, probably one who is also hypothyroid, you've got to go get the health tests done yourself.

And just because you're "in range" doesn't mean that's an optimal level for you. Women generally feel better in the upper 3rd of the FT3/FT4 ranges. Really good doctors ask you about your symptoms in addition to looking at your blood test results.

thyroid.about.com (pretty good site)

Woo-
there are many people on this site who care about you, and have followed your many long posts on many issues. What really sticks in my mind about this current thread are:
1. You are only eating 1700 calories/day- and that appears to be inadequate for your body based on
2. Your symptoms- yes they are symptoms- of starvation.

If your "goal weight" was "arbitrary", maybe it's time to base your weight goal on feeling good. When is the last time you actually felt good, healthy, well? This is not an issue of control- you have proved to yourself you can control your body (as you have posted in other threads about attitude and weight loss)- but a quality of life issue. I think Lynda (UTH) really cares about you and wrote you a post from the heart- and she has the numbers and experience to back it up! Please think about it-
E