This is making me very depressed

traleen

my thyroid dose changed over a month ago. Should be long enough to regulate it. I regained a lot of weight due to the unbalance. Now I can’t lose. Eating 1500 cal. Exercise as able. Health issues. How do you deal with the depression of going nowhere when you have motivation, put in the work and get nothing but .2 loss for the week or up even tho no restaurants and low sodium ?

cmriverside

Well…there are two choices: Give up or keep trying.

I've been on levothyroxine for over thirty years, and my dosage has changed many times over those decades. I can lose weight just fine if I'm honestly logging everything I eat.

You don't say what other health issues you have, but exercise really only plays a very small part in weight loss. It's 95% about the food.

You say 1500 calories. How did you find that number? It could be wrong. Apparently you've only been stalled for one month? Maybe you need to tighten up your food logging? You don't have your FOOD diary open for us to view so no way for us to know if your logging is consistent and as accurate as possible, but you know.

cmriverside

Also, it's not just about restaurant food (although you do have a good point there!)

Weight stalls and fluctuations have several well-known causes, here:

https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10683010/the-weird-and-highly-annoying-world-of-scale-fluctuations

SafariGalNYC

even with an under active thyroid.. (which you have been in continuous meds for) being in a consistent calorie deficit for a long enough period of time should give you weight loss.

Are you weighing your food and counting calories effectively? Do you have an open diary?

AnnPT77

https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10938511/this-is-making-me-very-depressed

I can understand the discouragement - a common reaction here to a scale stall, especially when feeling like the process has been hard going and a strong effort. I hope some of the PP have given you some things to consider, including the idea that scale stalls are normal, even when our goal of fat loss is moving along nicely.

Still, I'm perplexed, because you haven't really given us anything to work with to give practical advice: Demographics; food logging habits; whether you're logging every bite, lick, taste, cooking oil, condiment, beverage, cheat meal/day, unplanned oopsie; etc.

One thing I'd suggest, if you haven't seen it already, would be to read the thread linked below. It's a very good thread, written by a former MFP-er who is a scientist in the hypothyroidism field, himself hypothyroid (thyroid gland surgically removed, IIRC), who lost weight by calorie counting. Unlike the many clickbait or scammy marketing sites on the internet, it's solid, scientific information. Highly recommended.

https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10767046/hypothyroidism-and-weight-management

But what you're asking for is more psychological or emotional support, how we deal with the depression?

As background context, I'll mention that I'm severely hypothyroid (properly medicated for it), lost from obese to healthy range in 2015-16 at age 59-60, have been maintaining a healthy weight since. The good news is that hypothyroid people can lose weight, even hypothyroid people who are also old and menopausal, among other things that are sometimes claimed to be weight loss doom.

It's true that being undermedicated can reduce our calorie needs somewhat compared to people who aren't hypothyroid. That's annoying, and adds difficulty, but the actual calorie difference isn't typically huge, and weight loss is difficult for most everyone, just the "why difficult" differs. A good way to look at it, IMO, is as a problem-solving process. Just keep chipping away, and you can figure this out. Many of us do, and we're not special superhumans, just regular people like you.

There are a few things I did and do to avoid discouragement from unsatisfying progress during a hard slog.

One is to understand the process very well, so as not to be discouraged by things that are completely normal. Over a short timespan - you mention a week - it's normal to be down only a tiny bit, or even up. The thread Riverside linked explains that well.

One biggie is that our bodies can be 60% water, and fluctuations of that water are part of how normal bodies keep themselves healthy. Those shifts can be several pounds/kilos from one day to the next.

Even fast fat loss is slow: Losing 2 pounds a week is just a bit over a quarter pound of fat per day (4.6 ounces) on average. Losing a kilo a week is about 143 grams per day. The big multi-pound/kilo water shifts play peek-a-boo on the scale with the slower fat loss.

Conclusion: We don't see a loss on the scale as quickly as we might wish. A trend over 4-6 weeks, whole menstrual cycles for people who have them, is where fat loss shows up.

Another part of the process is accepting that food logging and calorie counting accurately can be a subtle skill, with a learning curve. Until we get that tuned in, most people tend to under-estimate calorie intake, and over-estimate activity calorie burn. As we work through that, loss may be a bit unpredictable.

You mention something that's another common pitfall: Overestimating the impact of exercise limitations. Exercise is good for a body, and burns a few more calories besides, which is great. But for a typical person, exercise is going to be perhaps 5% of average daily calorie burn, maybe 10%. It's not a deal-breaker. It's entirely possible to lose weight without increasing exercise. (I pretty much did that myself, just doing the exercise I'd been doing while still obese. But there also have been wheelchair users here who lost weight by calorie counting, a much more extreme activity restriction than most of us face.)

The final thing I'd say about avoiding discouragement, one that's probably the very most important for me, is to make the easiest possible plan that will gradually deliver results. When not working so bleep hard, not feeling miserable, it's easier to avoid depression or discouragement.

This may not apply to you, since you don't give details, but we see people here frequently to whom this does apply: They shoot for the fastest possible weight loss rate, 2 pounds or a kilo per week; they adopt a bunch of restrictive eating rules, maybe trending named diets, maybe skipping social events that involve eating, never having a treat, imposing arbitrary rules about "superfoods" and "junk/fast foods", etc. Many of them try to stack the most punitively intense exercise routine they can manage on top of that. That doesn't end well, but does usually end quickly.

Personally, I'm lazy and pleasure-seeking. The harder the process is, the more likely I am to give up . . . in general, but especially in the face of slow progress.

If you aren't already doing it, I'd suggest picking a moderate weight loss rate (yes, that will take longer to show up on the scale). I'd suggest eating foods you enjoy, and reviewing your diary and checking in with yourself to figure out which foods, eating times, etc., keep you the most full, energetic and happy most of the time on those moderately reduced calories. I'd do whatever amount of fun - at least tolerable and practical - exercise fits into your schedule without causing fatigue or throwing your life balance out of whack.

For myself, if I'm not suffering, I'm less likely to feel a deserve a big reward on the scale. As a bonus, that learning process helped me figure out how to eat and exercise so that maintaining my weight loss long term has been relatively easy - almost an autopilot thing - long term.

This is something you can do. Self-honesty, patience and persistence are important, and commitment to the goal is essential. If you keep chipping away at it with reasonable consistency - not necessarily even perfection - you will succeed. Learning and problem-solving are part of the process. Slow/stalled times are part of the process. Oopsies, failed experiments, and setbacks are part of the process. Keep working at it. Only giving up results in failure.

Best wishes!

Duchy82

It can actually take several months for a change in dose to take effect so don't lose hope yet and give it a bit more time and persevere. Weightloss when hypothyroid can definitely be done I've lost 35kg over several years in the past, I've regained some of it since with having a child, thyroid levels going out of whack etc, etc so I'm back and it is most definitely coming off again as I've lost 4kg since January it's slow but that's fine by me.

traleen

thanks for the advice. I lost and was at goal for several years. I lot of bad stress in the last year coupled with a thyroid that should be a score of 4 or less and was at 25 caused a large slow gain

My doctor upped the dosage and prescribed naltrexone. I took it for a week with bad side effects and quit. My doctor recommended 1500 calories. I walk slowly for exercise. Foot injury

I do chart all my calories but find myself snacking sometimes from depression with weight and just the hopelessness of it all . It is pure hell to get to goal and be happy and proud. Wearing clothes that I love to being in sweat pants avoiding seeing friends

cmriverside

I bet your friends would love to see you regardless of what you're wearing or a few extra pounds.

Most people have some sort of struggles in life from time to time, next year you may be supporting them.

I'm sorry for your troubles, you can make it back to your Goal weight. Don't throw in the towel, it's just a process that has to be figured out.

crazyhorse8

https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10938511/this-is-making-me-very-depressed

Hello and I am sorry for all the misery you are suffering with concerning Low Thyroid. I have this problem as well except I also developed Hashimoto's Thyroiditis on top of it. My body produces antibodies that attack my thyroid and it is an autoimmune disorder now and low. I have gone through so many ways to try and adjust caloric intake, exercise, medication changes for my thyroid, weight loss meds i.e. Naltrexone etc. I truly have empathy for you…I put on 20 lbs this past year because of shoulder pain and not being able to lift weights as I was before. I am 63 and could not be more frustrated! If you would like a friend who understands, maybe we can put our heads together and support each other. My journey started in 2017 and I had achieved a 53 pound loss until this last year. I am also on 1400 to 1500 cals per day. Never give up…there has to be a way to win this war!