Hashimotos, fibromyalgia, adrenal fatigue, and shingles... plus exercise??

[superal]

I'm about to launch on my second whole 30.. my first was almost two years ago and I wish I would have stuck with it because I wouldn't be in the predicament I'm in now. After losing 110lbs a few years ago with weight watchers and exercise I have gained 65lbs this past year despite a lot of exercising and attempted healthy diet. I have a bit of a sugar addiction and find it easy to binge since I was so restrictive before when losing all the weight. I developed the above conditions after losing my weight and have struggled ever since.  I have worked out 4-6x a week since 2010 sometimes even more however, recently my conditions have worsened (Hashimotos, fibromyalgia, adrenal fatigue) and I came down with a nasty case of shingles. I recently cut back my exercise (for the past three months) and only do a ladies cross fit gym 2-3x a week. I am so exhausted and am wondering if the exercise is causing extra stress which is causing flares within my immune system. Would you recommend keeping my exercise program while starting the whole 30 or taking a break and just focusing on the food portion until my body has recovered?

[Tom Denham]

I recommend that you begin a Whole30 and stay with it until you get substantial improvement in your problems. That is likely to be more than 30 days. You may need to begin thinking in terms of a Whole45 or Whole60. 

 

It sounds like you binge on exercise and you need to stop. I would recommend limiting exercise to no more than 2 hours per week, preferably in increments of about 30 minutes per session. Further, never exercise if you have not had at least 7 hours of sleep the night before and do not exercise if you are in pain from the strain of a previous exercise session. You should feel more energized at the end of a workout than at the beginning. If you feel wiped out after a workout, you have pushed too hard and need to back off. 

 

Last note: I doubt that high intensity training provides any benefits to you at this point. What you need is to move enough to sweat a little and keep your body flexible. Rather than doing anything like CrossFit for the next several months, you would probably do well to do classic yoga. Not the bouncy, aerobic style stuff that passes as yoga in some gyms, but real yoga. In a real yoga class, you might go for an hour without causing too much strain on your body. 

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Superal - you should check out Sarah Wilson's site for how she's learned to manage exercise. She's a paleosphere blogger (her program has a slightly different focus to a Whole30, but its all complementary), and most importantly for you, she documents how food has helped her heal her own Hashimotos. She's talked a bit about how she's a reformed over-exerciser too. I'm having trouble finding a specific article I was thinking of for you, but if you search on her site for hashis or exercise that'd be a great place to start - www.sarahwilson.com No one understands like a fellow sufferer - I hope you get some inspiration from her!