hypothyroid and weight loss

vickster82

i made a post on this some time back. i take daily levothyroxine to keep my thyroid in check and its considered normal now, but its making my weight loss extremely hard. when i eat my assigned calories i am usually hungry. then i dip into hypoglycemia when im borderline starving and just devour food. i know the answer is to eat every few hours and keep a healthy snack handy. im just wondering if anyone else is out there w/this condition and is trying to loose a small amount of weight. im shooting for 15 lbs. right now im considered normal weight by my body fat percentage is borderline overweight. i am pretty active, walk and run a lot, yoga and even occasionals weights. but i just cannot loose more than 3 lbs. any professional nutritionists out there who can provide some insight?

vickster82

i made a post on this some time back. i take daily levothyroxine to keep my thyroid in check and its considered normal now, but its making my weight loss extremely hard. when i eat my assigned calories i am usually hungry. then i dip into hypoglycemia when im borderline starving and just devour food. i know the answer is to eat every few hours and keep a healthy snack handy. im just wondering if anyone else is out there w/this condition and is trying to loose a small amount of weight. im shooting for 15 lbs. right now im considered normal weight by my body fat percentage is borderline overweight. i am pretty active, walk and run a lot, yoga and even occasionals weights. but i just cannot loose more than 3 lbs. any professional nutritionists out there who can provide some insight?

IUChelle423

I have the same issue. I'm hypothyroid and on levo as well - in the normal range now and trying to lose about 10 pounds, but it's very difficult. I'm like you - always hungry and can't seem to lose more than about 3 pounds even when I eat healthy/within my calories and exercise. The only thing that has seemed to help me if pilates & light strength training to tone up and fit in my clothes better. I wish I had some insight for you. You're not alone!
~Chelle

mechanicmom

I also have hypothyroidism and have a hard time losing weight. One thing someone told me was to make sure you are eating your BMR in calories. That's very important. Everyone wants to lose it fast but that's not healthy. If you are eating 1200 cals a day plus exercise cals it could be too low for you. I upped mine to 1400 (my BMR) and I started losing. Someone else also said to eat small meals throughout the day because people with hypothyroidism need the small meals to keep the metabolism up.
I hope this helps. It will come off I did lose 15 pounds last year. It just may take a little longer.
MM

vickster82

thanks for the post. very helpful. how long did it take you to drop that 15?

small meals definitely work better for me. if i eat something large, i will end up almost falling asleep. my energy level drops suddenly and seems like all effort is going towards digesting the food.

well i calculated my BMR and to stay at my current weight i should be eating 1450. however then i dont drop weight since i am not reducing my calories. so how did that work for you?

:flowerforyou:

vickster82

oh and check out this article:

http://thyroid.about.com/cs/dietweightloss/a/losingweight.htm

lenece

I have no thyroid..It was killed with radiation 8 yrs ago and I know take levothyroxine .112MCG It is very hard to lose weight when having this condition n like u I also have hypoglcmia* and I take gulaphouge for it...My dr told me to eat every 2 hrs light and healthy also..It sucks tryin to lose weight with this condition cuz your thyroid plays a very big part in your body more then others think..What helped me was finding the right dose and having blood test every 3 months to see where my levels are..Thats one way I started to lose the weight was getting that problem fixed..I go back next month for my blood test and I hope its still normal but I dont think it will be...I've been really tired here lately and I know that usually means my levels are off...

mechanicmom

thanks for the post. very helpful. how long did it take you to drop that 15?

small meals definitely work better for me. if i eat something large, i will end up almost falling asleep. my energy level drops suddenly and seems like all effort is going towards digesting the food.

well i calculated my BMR and to stay at my current weight i should be eating 1450. however then i dont drop weight since i am not reducing my calories. so how did that work for you?

:flowerforyou:

I fought and fought to get the weight off for probably three months or so and then wham it came off pretty quick, like from November to February. I ate 1200 cals and lost a little at first, then stopped. I upped it to 1400 and after two weeks it started coming off again. Your BMR is what you burn if you laid around and slept all day. It's really confusing but I will try to explain. When you set your goals, MFP sets your calories for maintaining at your BMR + whatever you typically burn whether you are sedentary or active. Mine I think is set at 1750 ish. MFP then subtracts 500 calories from that and that's what you eat, plus the calories that you burn on top of that. I really don't know that it's a good idea to stay around 1200 calories for long because your body can go into starvation mode. You can try it for a couple of weeks or a month and then up it a couple hundred. It will shock your metabolism so you can start losing weight again. I hope this makes sense. I lost more weight eating 1400+plus exercise calories, than I did when I was eating 1200 +exercise calories.
I talked to a midwife a few weeks ago and she suggested Drenamin and Thyrotrophin, which help support the pituitary and adrenal glands. These glands are apparently pretty important in the function of the thyroid too. I haven't had much time to look into them but I will. She said I would have more energy and feel better.
I hope this helps you and didn't confuse you. Hang in there! It may take a while for the weight to come off, but once you find what works it will work for awhile. You will then have to change it up a little again to keep it going. Let me know if I can be of any more help!
MM:happy:

ivykivy

I also take levothyroxin (125 mcg) after having radiation therapy. My endocrinologist gradually upped my meds. Like Lenece I went every 6 weeks. It took about two years to get there but when my levels became normal I started loosing weight.

I don't know if it makes any difference but I started exercising before I changed my diet. I just walked on the treadmill.