How to overcome leptin resistance and lose weight

Thank you for your work helping hypothyroid patients further understand the implications of leptin and low body temperature. I’m in the process of working with a doctor to correct my own low body temperature of at least 25 years duration, much of that time on thyroid hormone (T4). I want to share with you my own experience with weight gain and the difficulty losing it. My family history includes hypothyroidism, obesity, depression, Type 2 Diabetes, pregnancy-onset insulin-dependent diabetes, and Type 2 Diabetes that progressed to insulin dependency. My personal history includes reactive hypoglycemia, hypothyroidism, food cravings (for both sweet and salty foods), 40 years of cluster headaches, chronic fatigue, fluid retention, irritable bowel syndrome/leaky gut, and a marked sensitivity to carbohydrates – if I so much as look at a carbohydrate, I gain weight. However, I’ve been able to control most of these problems over the years by eating more fat and protein and significantly fewer carbohydrates. But it has been a constant struggle to keep my weight down to an acceptable level, even though I sometimes ate less than 1,000 calories a day for long stretches. In the late 1980s I discovered the Atkins diet and it worked for me; however, I eventually fell back into old habits of eating because I simply didn’t want to admit that I could not eat the foods everybody else ate. I did stop eating bread many years ago but couldn’t resist tasty carbohydrate-rich desserts. I restricted them but couldn’t eliminate them entirely, although in other respects I kept improving my diet, adding more vegetables, using appropriate supplements and cutting down on carbs to the best of my ability. My headaches and digestive upsets became less frequent and my health generally improved.
But I couldn’t figure out the last piece of the puzzle and couldn’t lose those stubborn 15 pounds. But in November 2014 I came across two books that changed my life forever: Dr. David Perlmutter’s “Grain Brain” and Dr. William Davis’ “Wheat Belly.” Dr. Perlmutter helped me understand that gluten, which causes life-threatening celiac disease, is now known to also cause “non-celiac gluten sensitivity,” which may not kill you but might make you wish it had because it has such damaging effects on the whole body, including the brain. Dr. Davis helped me understand the literally addictive effects of wheat (and other gluten-containing grains), which create the cravings that made me reach for anything sweet. Thanks to the information in these two books, I went cold-turkey and stopped eating ANYTHING with wheat or gluten and adopted a low carbohydrate/high fat/moderate protein diet. My food cravings have disappeared; I lost 16 pounds and am down to my lowest adult weight ever (except for one time when 5 weeks of diarrhea reduced me to a very svelte 111#) and am able to maintain 115.5# with little effort because I no longer crave nor eat the sweet things that stimulate my appetite and result in increased leptin production. It took me 27 years to realize that Dr. Atkins was right: it’s not calories or saturated fats that are the problem, it’s the carbohydrates. Eliminate the highly concentrated grains, particularly the addictive wheat and other gluten-containing grains, replace them with healthy fats, including saturated fats, and weight control becomes almost effortless because the constant hunger and cravings disappear.
Getting the carbohydrate/fat/protein ratios right revealed that I can readily lose weight by eliminating concentrated carbohydrates but it also revealed the underlying fact that my body is still not functioning correctly. I still have metabolic sensitivity to even the small amount of carbohydrates in the vegetables and little bit of fruit I eat. This is because my metabolism is sluggish: my thyroid gland, possibly my entire endocrine system, is out of whack. My body temperature has been low for a long time in spite of being on thyroid medication. So I am very excited to learn about Dr. Wilson’s Low Temperature Syndrome protocol. I’m now on natural desiccated thyroid and will soon be working with a doctor who is experienced in the use of NDT and T3-only therapy and is aware of the need to make sure my adrenal and female hormones are also adequate. My hope is that getting T3 levels up will improve and possibly even reverse my hypothyroidism.
Leptin is important, but even more important is recognizing what causes increased leptin levels. Eliminating wheat, gluten and most grains was the first step for me: it stopped the leptin yo-yo ride and made it possible to lose those few stubborn pounds. Now I’m working to improve my overall endocrine health so thyroid, adrenal and female hormones can do their jobs. Our bodies are very intelligent. They send us messages all the time about whether the foods we eat are making us healthy or ill. But we don’t listen very well because we don’t make the connection between what we put in our mouths and how we feel. However, once we finally understand that we really are what we eat and choose to eat what makes us healthy, our bodies are quite capable of restoring our health as much as possible.