Fitness trackers and hypothyroid?
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starsandowls
Posts: 55 Member
I've heard that people who have hypothyroid, even with the right amount of thyroid hormone, can have slower metabolisms. Has anyone tried using a fitness tracker? How well does it work - do the numbers on the tracker actually match the calorie level you need to lose weight?
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I have Hashimoto's (autoimmune thyroid disease) and lost weight more slowly than most, so be patient! But I did it just like everybody else—by eating at a deficit. Read this: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/1080242-a-guide-to-get-you-started-on-your-path-to-sexypants
I have both a Jawbone UP24 & a Fitbit Flex. Activity trackers show you your TDEE—way more accurately than any online calculator. I ate back all my calorie adjustments, and I lost weight.0 -
As far as I know I just have regular hypo. But using a H7 with my phone along with my fitbit and this websites app have been great motivators to keep me on track0
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I'm using a fitbit flex and I love it! Really helpful to see what you actually burn. So far it all seems really accurate, which would suggest that the TDEE method for weight loss will work for us too. Although I will just add that I'm quite lucky as my levels stay pretty stable. I'm not sure of the case for someone who's blood tests vary wildly month to month.0
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I have both a Jawbone UP24 & a Fitbit Flex. Activity trackers show you your TDEE—way more accurately than any online calculator. I ate back all my calorie adjustments, and I lost weight.
Did you sync your fitbit with myfitnesspal then? Out of interest, what did you set your calories too before any exercise adjustments? I've avoided syncing mine yet. I worked out what I ate over a month to keep my current weight stable and have just minused 10%. I use fitbit to check I am burning my TDEE and myfitnesspal to eat 10% less than that. Only in my first week of the new weight loss phase so any guidance would be great!
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I used the MFP defaults, set my goal to .5 lbs. per week, connected my accounts, and ate back my Fitbit calorie adjustments.
Did you sync your fitbit with myfitnesspal then? Out of interest, what did you set your calories too before any exercise adjustments? I've avoided syncing mine yet. I worked out what I ate over a month to keep my current weight stable and have just minused 10%. I use fitbit to check I am burning my TDEE and myfitnesspal to eat 10% less than that. Only in my first week of the new weight loss phase so any guidance would be great!I have both a Jawbone UP24 & a Fitbit Flex. Activity trackers show you your TDEE—way more accurately than any online calculator. I ate back all my calorie adjustments, and I lost weight.
Everything you need to know is in the Sexypants post: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/1080242-a-guide-to-get-you-started-on-your-path-to-sexypants0 -
Not sure, though I should be... I've used a Fitbit for a few years, and over the past year or two have had fluctuating TSH levels that concerned my doctors. A specialist I am seeing for another issue, periodically had me do full thyroid panels as he felt the TSH only test was inadequate. He did put my on medication within the past 4 months and now my TSH is the lowest it has been in the past two years and more stable. I am not sure whether I've had symptoms-- I mean I do have difficulty losing weight (though I do slowly lose if I diet and exercise), I did often feel drowsy, other people commented I feel cold to the touch and my morning basal temperatures seemed lower than average (I track my monthly cycles including my temperature first thing in the morning for other reasons), and I had a low resting heart rate.
Since starting meds, my morning temperature has increased a little, I've had a little more energy, my resting heart rate is about 5bpm higher and my hrm credits me with slightly higher calorie burn estimates than it use to. So I guess I must have been mildly hypothyroid when I started using my Fitbit or sometime after.
Saying that, my Fitbit seemed to give me a pretty accurate calorie burn--a little high but not bad. I was using my fitbit for general movement and step based activity and logging my heart rate monitor calorie burn for non-step or resistance activities. When I was weighing my food portions and carefully logging, I usually lost a pound per 4,000 calorie deficit (rather than the 3,500 commonly quoted though I have read that many people are more likely to lose a pound of fat for a 3,800 calorie deficit rather than the common 3,500). So if the 3,500 deficit is true, either my food logging or fitbit/hrm calorie burn was off by about 72 calories a day. I can work with that. Since my HRM calorie burn has slightly but noticeably increased since taking meds, it could be using an HRM was helping with accuracy for some activities as it would always credit less than online calculators do. I currently use a Fitbit One plus Polar H7 HRM strap and the app Digifit ICardio (which I sync to my Fitbit account). I use to use a Polar F11 (now discontinued) and still do for water activity. I haven't been dieting since taking thyroid meds, so I can't say whether it is more accurate now or not though (or that I am not still a little hypo).0 -
Wow, thanks - that's an awesomely detailed answer, and I feel like I have a Plan for if the Fitbit alone does not get me off this plateau. I was super stressed for a couple of months (sick child, eventually hospitalized, now perfectly fine, thank God), and I went from losing five pounds a month to losing two pounds in two months. Crossing my fingers that the Fitbit will help, and if not, I'll try the heart monitor, too. Thanks!0
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I've been using the same methods as kimsied and too have noticed somehow perhaps by magic that it takes me more calories per pound. This disease has kind of turned me into a fitness data nerd in a few respects.
After using the HRM. I am going to push it on whoever is really mad trying to lose the weight. I was really mad.
In the last month I have had it it has helped me make a huge difference. In the my polar app if I burn 4500 calories in any given week from workouts the weight magically falls off. I lost like 3lbs with my 7000 a week deficit that week.
My food scale is an epic wonderful piece of fat losing machinery.
The fitbit is a wonderful tool too. I like the dashboard. I look at the activity minutes and usually can lose if I at least double the activity minutes it asks you to do for the week.
Most of the time over the course of a week it will be a .5, 1, 1.5 or 2. As long as I lose anything its good with me.
I like to think of this as a triple threat for my me v. thyroid efforts.
This digifit you speak of syncs to fitbit? that sounds amazing. Does it do the activity minutes too?0 -
I have Hashimoto's and I lose slowly. I've lost maybe 6-7 lbs in just over a month when I "should" be (according to mfp), losing 2/lb a week.
It's all about patience.
Firs things first. Get your levels optimal.
Eat well.
Exercise. Even just a little movement.
It definitely is possible to lose.
I don't do much differently from a normal person. I tried gluten free and all that. It didn't help. I was moody and irritable. For trackers, all I use is mfp and my hrm.0 -
This digifit you speak of syncs to fitbit? that sounds amazing. Does it do the activity minutes too?
The activity minutes for logged exercise do have to do with the calorie burn per minute of the workout. For my stats, to see very active minutes I need to burn about 6 times my resting rate per minute. So the minutes do count if the calorie burn per minute is high enough. I do find logging my heart rate monitor burn, sometimes a vigorous workout will be credited as "moderately active" because my calorie burn per minute isn't quite where it needs to be for the standard. I think this is because my heart rate tends to be a little slower, and HRM calorie burn estimates are based on average heart rate. So this likely varies by the person. I believe hypo people tend to have slower heart rates, but I am not sure if it applies to exercise or just slow resting heart rates.
Digifit is a heart rate monitor app, I have an iPhone but I think it also has an android version. It does require a compatible bluetooth HRM strap to work (the straps that work may vary by your phone).0 -
I have a Wahoo TICKR heart rate monitor, and the app for it allows all sorts of customized zones, so Wahoo might be a good app if you need to adjust HR targets based on resting heart rate. Since one vendor does it, there's probably something in your heart rate app too that does the same thing--try poking around see if you can find the feature.
I just got the HR monitor 2 weeks ago and so far am having trouble with the range--it only talks to my phone if the devices are within a foot or two, even with a fresh battery, so if I put my phone in the back pocket of my running knickers, I keep having data dropouts. Were it not for the short data range I'd be satisfied with the TICKR. Don't know if the transmission's a problem with the TICKR product or if my particular unit is a lemon--or possibly my phone has bluetooth reception problems. The TICKR is my only bluetooth device so I can't tell if its the device or the phone.0
