Peggy, I'm so sorry to hear of your brother-in-law's death; bless you as you comfort your mother-in-law and process your own grief.

Becky, has the swelling stayed at bay? Congratulations on the loose jeans.

Bev, congrats to you, too!

Callie, my son (18) is very thin like your brother (6', 140 lbs) but he eats...Or at least, he eats when he's at home. I don't know how he manages away at uni, but he seems to be going through the funds on his meal card, so I trust he's eating!

I finally broke down and bought the 180 Collection, and I started reading the last several pages of the Kitchen book. I'm not happy...First of all, if I'm not gorging myself full of starch, my temps rarely get above 98.3. Like many of you here, I find the overeating very uncomfortable. My basal temps the past couple of mornings have been in the mid 96's, and this afternoon my highest temp is 97.9, after 20 minutes under my arm. Pitiful. (And remember, I'm on replacement thyroid--T3.) All this time I've been RRARFing according to the High Everything maxim, only to read in 180Kitchen that the "high everything" is a misnomer. It really only means high calories and carbs; we're supposed to cut way back on the fat if we don't want to gain 40 pounds of fat over 4 months that we then need to turn into muscle; apparently it's the high starch diet with very low fat/protein that can build muscle weight; adding the fat (butter, coconut oil, etc) causes fat weight. I wanted to get started on 180Kitchen to see what links I'm missing about the food issue. I've started reading Metabolism; hopefully I will find that more encouraging, but so far, I feel overwhelmed and confused, and starting to doubt this process. I don't know how much weight I've gained because I refuse to step on the scale, but since January, the size 18W jeans that were roomy are very, very snug; I'm lucky I can zip them. I really, really, REALLY do not need to be gaining all this flab; I'm fat enough, thank you very much!

I'm sorry to be a downer...I'll continue reading Metabolism and see what new connections I can make. But right now, the temps don't justify the fat I've gained. I've been wondering if I'm a candidate for the PSMF diet Matt talks about (p 212 in Kitchen.) It's just that eating only 400 calories a day is very scary! On the other hand, the prospect of being buried in a piano case is not very appealing, either!