[archipelago]

My shrink decided to augment treatment for depression with thyroid. There was consultation with my primary doctor and blood work done to confirm that I have low T3. But after a month I felt more tired and weaker than ever, right when I had time off and had planned to try to really do my exercise routine.

Turns out I reduced my calorie intake way too much by accident. I didn't realize till I joined some free online site that tracks calories and activities for you. I was getting around 500 calories. I thought that I was eating well--a thick healthy protein shake first thing and a nice dinner with protein, veggies and salad. I felt satisfied by the food, but I didn't have any energy and now I know why. While depression and thyroid do play a part, basically I had no energy because I didn't have enough calories.

Now my body is in starvation mode so my metabolism is basically stopped. I can barely eat more that about 700 calories. I'm going to get my shrink to call my primary care physician to order some labs and help me get out of this. I have a serious thing I must do in about 6 weeks and if I don't get somewhere with this, it's going to be a disaster.

It's so frustrating because I thought that by now I would be on my way to getting fit and losing weight but this has totally changed the picture. It's like I first have to eat way more and then hope my metabolism starts so I can work it off. Somehow I don't trust it and feel very demoralized by the whole thing.

[Gus1234U]

the art of listening to one's body is a great art. it cannot be 'thought', it must be 'felt'. i hope you can find the way to feel yourself growing stronger and more balanced~

[archipelago]

The direct way to feeling stronger is to make myself eat at least 1000 calories, which at this point feels hard to manage, but I'm making the effort.

This happened by accident. With depression, traumatic stress, and thyroid in the picture, it would be nearly impossible to sort out why exactly I had no energy. They all are factors and I worked with each. With complex determination there is no way to be able to sort this out completely. With some labs I should be able to see if I have low potassium which could be another factor.