What else should i try? Graves disease

all4yum

in the past I lost over 140 pounds. I regained about 40 pounds firstly when I had hyperthyroidism, back in 2016, the anti thyroid meds are terrible for it. I had half my thyroid removed in 2018, lost the weight, and more, got weight lifting, fittest I had ever been, pounds away from being a healthy bmi when autoimmune hyperthyroidism hit, graves disease, this was exactly a year ago. I had to stop working out and the meds made me gain back another 40 pounds (I never lose weight when I'm hyperthyroid, unlike most people, even when severely hyper) I'm still on then and am desperate to not gain more weight, I've worked so hard. But nothing is working.

I eat around 1100-1300 calories most days, and average around 1,099 last week (consumed), which is right where I should be, and I'm just losing and regaining the same couple of pounds over and over again. I've attached the weight tracking. I can't really eat less, I can't stop my meds, and I'm not in full remission until my graves antibodies are negative even though my thyroid levels are normal now, but I am struggling with the extra weight, it made such a difference being 40 pounds lighter. Should I try to increase exercise to burn extra calories? Weights or cardio? I havent been back in fitness since my diagnosis, I was really sick with the graves and couldn't do anything at all to increase my heart rate.

Lietchi

Just to be clear: how long has this 'up and down' lasted? The weigh-ins you show are for the past 2.5 weeks, which is still quite a short period. Also, seeing the actual weight graph might be more helpful, to identify the weight trend.
Generally it's best to look at a period of 6-8 weeks, or for menstruating women 1 or 2 menstrual cycles (comparing identical relative points in the menstrual cycle) before determining what the real weight trend is beyond the daily fluctuations.

Increasing your activity level could possible help yes - it doesn't have to be exercise, any movement is good. Just a word of warning: exercise, especially when it's new and especially strength training, can cause water retention, temporarily masking fat loss on the scale.

cmriverside

I would work with a good endocrinologist and Dietician. You need more help than we can really give you with all the medical issues.

There is some level of medication, food and exercise that will lead you to a healthy weight. Just believe that and keep working toward it.

sollyn23l2

As someone with Graves who got rid of my thyroid through radiation, I would advise you to please stop seeing your weight as correlated to your thyroid. As you say, your weight seems to go up and down no matter what your levels are, which fits what I would expect. You may also be miscounting your calories, but regardless of how many calories you are eating, the only real answer, if you don't want voodoo, is "eat less than you're eating". I know you don't want to hear that. But, the alternative I'd accepting the weight you are at.

all4yum

Lietchi wrote: »

Just to be clear: how long has this 'up and down' lasted? The weigh-ins you show are for the past 2.5 weeks, which is still quite a short period. Also, seeing the actual weight graph might be more helpful, to identify the weight trend.
Generally it's best to look at a period of 6-8 weeks, or for menstruating women 1 or 2 menstrual cycles (comparing identical relative points in the menstrual cycle) before determining what the real weight trend is beyond the daily fluctuations.

Increasing your activity level could possible help yes - it doesn't have to be exercise, any movement is good. Just a word of warning: exercise, especially when it's new and especially strength training, can cause water retention, temporarily masking fat loss on the scale.

Yeah, i only posted a couple of the screenshots. The up and down has been going on for the last few months, then i downloaded the app so to actually record my daily weight to see if there was a pattern over the last 4 weeks, and the pattern is just gain and lose and gain and lose without reason. I'm not really seeing much of anything useful, my weight is almost identical to this exact cycle day last month. Don't get me wrong, I'm happy that I stopped the weight gain that I was seeing, but dieting as I am, just to maintain is hard to motivate myself to keep going. I'll try some sort of exercise. Historically, exercise never helps me lose, I lost most of the weight on a vlcd diet (500-800 cals) a day, and I wanted to avoid that again.

all4yum

cmriverside wrote: »

I would work with a good endocrinologist and Dietician. You need more help than we can really give you with all the medical issues.

There is some level of medication, food and exercise that will lead you to a healthy weight. Just believe that and keep working toward it.

I wish My endo would help, or just refer me to a dietician, but his attitude is just that Its not a major problem, it'll sort itself when I come off the meds, but by then the weight gain could be way more than this. Its likely to be at least another 6 months before remission.

And thank you, I've been focusing on the fact that there will be something that will work, I just need to figure out what my body needs. I just want to avoid a vlcd again.

all4yum

sollyn23l2 wrote: »

As someone with Graves who got rid of my thyroid through radiation, I would advise you to please stop seeing your weight as correlated to your thyroid. As you say, your weight seems to go up and down no matter what your levels are, which fits what I would expect. You may also be miscounting your calories, but regardless of how many calories you are eating, the only real answer, if you don't want voodoo, is "eat less than you're eating". I know you don't want to hear that. But, the alternative I'd accepting the weight you are at.

I only know it's likely related to my thyroid, because when I was previously hyperthyroid, (although not with autoimmune hyperthyroidism), the meds made it very difficult to lose, and others on carbimazole say the same. Once I had the nodule removed and came off the meds, my weight began to stabilise and start to come off. None of this is about wanting some quick fix, or magic pill. I'm working hard, I'm counting every single thing I put in my mouth, and even assuming a 10-20% undercalculation, that would be putting myself at maximum 1300 calories on average. The assumption that I just mustn't be trying hard enough, is exactly why the doctors won't help. Of course, I CAN go back on a vlcd, because yes, 800 calories a day does work, but I felt so exhausted and so sick last time I did it, I want to focus on improving my health, not just getting thinner. I've put in the work to lose this weight, I once weighed over 320 pounds, graves set me back so far.

sollyn23l2

I'm sorry, but I'm not really here to go back and forth about anything. I gave a suggestion, that's all.