Weightloss Goal

[Wolfwoman]

Quote:
Unfortunately this doesn't work for people with hypothyroidism. I don't eat a lot... of anything. And yet the weight stays on...

 

[Chickenfarmer 1-2-b]

Only untreated severe hypothyroidism would cause weight gain. Treated or mild hypothyroidism should not be the factor. We now have screening test (TSH, stand for thyroid stimulating hormone) that is so sensitive that it will pick up any early hypothyroidism before any physical symptoms can develop. Therefore, most patients who are newly diagnosed with hypothyroid are at early stage without any symptoms. I can recall only one case of severe untreated hypothyroid in my 15 yrs of practicing medicine. He is a patient that does not like to go to the doctor, and has not seen one for 30 years. He had most of the text book symptoms of hypothyroid. I think calorie intake and calorie expenditure is the key. Burn more what you consume and you will lose weight. Lots of people unfortunatle unkowningly do the opposite.

Andy

 

[speckledhen]

The problem is that you think once they regulate your thyroid thru meds, your weight will automatically come off and that is not the case at all. I've read studies that it affects weight no matter how normal your readings and I would agree with that. I used to be almost 30 lb heavier, but if I am not super careful, if I just eat like normal people for one week, it starts creeping upward. It takes major effort to lose. Breaking my ankle a year and a half ago didn't help. Would like to be about 20 lbs lighter than now, but I just can't think about it and I can't weigh myself more than once a week or I obsess too much.

As far as calories, I don't eat more than 1200 daily, usually, anyway. I think the calories in vs calories out is oversimplified. I do know that muscle mass affects how the body burns them, though. Add muscle, your metabolism rises.

 

[Oven Ready]

Before I go any further I have to stick my hand up here and say I'm one of those people who can eat whatever they like and never gain weight, I'd actually like to gain a bit of weight but I simply can't (I can but if I don't keep up the excess eating I lose it again). I can lose weight but then I become painfully thin.

I'm with ChickenFarmer here - the laws of physics mean you can't get more energy out than goes in, hypothyroidism certainly makes it easy to retain weight but it doesn't add it.
When calories out (expended thru exercise and natural body functions) is greater than calories in, it's impossible to gain weight (except via fluid retention which can also be caused by hypothyrodism).

I think the key to any weight loss plan is honesty, honesty with yourself;
I used to work with an obese woman who was forever on a diet of some sort and yet she gained weight. She would always complain that despite eating virtually nothing she had gained however many pounds each week. He weight was becoming a health problem and she started to take more and more time off work. I asked the cleaners to collect her bin and keep it. Everyday it was full of chocolate wrappers, soda cans, sandwich boxes for Tuna Mayo or similar, all the stuff she was supposed not to be eating and that was just during work hours. I spoke to her about it, about the absenses really and mentioned the contents of her bin and she honestly told me, and I totally believed that what she was tell me is what she thought was happening, that other people must be putting empties into her bin. This continued for some time and she seemed to reach a point where instead of gaining a few pounds she was gaining huge amounts of weight each week until with her excessive absence record and her refusal to seek help I had to let her go. She simply didn't beleive she was eating what she was eating, she had somehow tricked herself into thinking she was sticking to the diet but it didn't work. It was really terribly sad.

I heard that about six months after we had let her go she was taken into hospital with a heart attack (she was only 30 at the time) but that she had survived and was receiving counselling. I never heard after that what happened to her but for sure if she continued on the path she was on, medical and simple physical problems would quickly catch up on her.

I'm not quite sure what point exactly I'm trying to make here, perhaps it's the old school adage of "If you cheat, you are only cheating yourself". There's no need to hide the fact that maybe you crumble one day and accidentally find yourself in MacDonalds ordering a Big Mac and you go 'supersize', one Big Mac isn't going to add ten pounds and being honest about it isn't going to lead you to need to hide any other indiscretions.

Obestity is a relatively new concept here, ten years ago it was rare to see someone you would even describe as 'really fat', but it's definitely become a popular choice now, particularly among children. Those children will almost never get back to a normal weight and even when they do they will struggle because of the stresses their young bodies have been through while growing and carrying twice as much weight as they should be.

Anyways I hope you get to where you want to be, or at least closer to it. Good Luck to you

 

[Wolfwoman]

Quote:
Mine is treated and at normal levels. If you don't have this disease you have no clue how it affects you body, you life, your moods and your mentality... I know what TSH is, and there is more than one test for this. Some people can be treated with Synthroid, some it does't work for. It's a complicated disease that MOST DOCTORS don't even think to treat for until they've exhausted everything else.

Your simple calorie theory just does NOT WORK for us.

 

[speckledhen]

Your simple calorie theory just does NOT WORK for us.

Absolutely. If it were that easy, some weeks I should drop 5-8 lb with all the sweaty outdoor work on little food that I do. And yes, I am completely aware of what I eat, how much I do, etc. Been doing this struggle since I was 16 years old. Wasn't diagnosed with thyroid malfunction (it was always "borderline") until I was in my late 30's or early 40's, not until I'd packed on 40 lbs for some unknown reason and my fingernails were peeling up from the nailbeds. I think doctors ought to treat borderline cases before they become full-blown. That would save us lots of headaches.​

 

[BlackBart]

I take thyroid meds for low thryoid. It helps to metabolize food but it is not going to make you loose weight if more calories go in than is being expended.
Another cause of weight gain, (especially belly fat), is your cortisol levels (stress) and candida. Candida is fed by sugar, fermented foods and yeast.

 

[Wolfwoman]

Speckled Hen, I don't think anyone is SEEING that we DO NOT take in more than we burn, that in fact, in both our cases it seems we burn more than we take in and it's just not working.

Some days all I'll have to eat for AN ENTIRE DAY is a cup of coffee, a snack at midday (usually a 1 oz bag of chips) and a sandwich for dinner. NOT everyday, but I'd say at least once a week... You can't tell me that on those days I've not burned more than I take in.

Hen, there's a good book out called "Fat, Fuzzy and Frazzled" ... if you haven't read it and I still have it, I can send it to you if you'd like. I also have "Thyroid for Dummies"

 

[rcentner]

I lost 85lbs about 2 years ago now and the best thing I ever did was make sure that I did not deprive myself. Deprivation doesn't work, I saved enough calories to eat 3 oreos at the end of the day. btw, oreos are the best cookie out there...3 per serving (not 2 cookies like the others), no trans fat and not that many calories. I have struggled with my weight all of my life and diet after diet failed. If I told myself that I could not eat something, I wanted it more. You can have your cake and it eat to (just not everyday)
Good luck with you weight loss journey, just don't deprive yourself.

 

[speckledhen]

Quote:
We sure have something in common in this regard! I'd love to read that book, Wolf. Let me see if it's in our library system. If not, will let you know.

I exercise daily by living, caring for livestock, hauling firewood, etc. I can hoist a 50# bag of feed over my shoulder with little trouble; before breaking my ankle, I would hike up and down our mountain on trails my DH cut for that purpose. We have built three buildings and added onto one, all by ourselves. I am strong, I have muscle tone under the remaining excess fat I'm trying to lose and I do expend more than I take in on most days. Yuppers, I should weigh 120 lbs just from the calorie theory, but I don't.

I think many folks who have weight issues have underlying undiagnosed problems. That's not to say everyone should jump on that as an excuse, but when a doctor hands me a diet sheet that contains many more calories than I already eat on a daily basis, they are missing something. Eat healthy, get active, get your thyroid, etc, tested.


******Wolf, my library system has the book! Thanks for the recommendation. I'll read that.