Calories to subtract or my hypothyroid...

embclark

So I read somewhere online about calculating out how many calories someone that is hypothyroid should eat...

It stated that you basically have to subtract an extra 200 from what a calculator like MFP has. But why 200? Each of our thyroids work differently and have to figure out how they each work.

So I have been set at sedentary, lose 1 pound a week while eating back my exercise calories and I exercise over an hour 5 days a week.

So 5 days a week I have been eating 1360 + 900 and the other 2 days, just the 1360. Always netting 1360.

For 5 weeks I have lost nothing, not up or down.

So now I am setting myself to lose 2 pounds a week in hopes of losing even 1/2 pound a week.

I feel like if I didn't have a you'd problem I would have been at goal a long time ago. How do you account for your calories and being hypothyroid?

tecallahan

I think the 1360 is good -- where are you getting the 900 from? Do you think you burn 900 calories doing exercise? Just wondering what type of exercise and how long? 900 seems high -- and MFP does give us too many calories for exercise sometimes.

embclark

I think the 1360 is good -- where are you getting the 900 from? Do you think you burn 900 calories doing exercise? Just wondering what type of exercise and how long? 900 seems high -- and MFP does give us too many calories for exercise sometimes.

I do two 40 minute workouts (give or take). One is a jillian michael's DVD and one is EA Active thought the Wii. And I track them with my heart rate monitor. It's a polar ft4. I get a great workout between the two!

With the 1360 I haven't been losing anything. I tried upping my calories about 2 months back and I didn't lose any weight that way either. I am running out of options and need to try something new, so now I feel like I have to decrease the calories...

brooke800

I'm in a very similar situation. I can't lose no matter what. I tried upping my calories and I felt very full and still didn't lose so I went back down. I have been trying 1350 calories a day and still nothing. In fact I was up a pound today.

My labs are now all normal so I'm not sure if metabolic rate still differs. I wouldn't say 200 calorie subtraction would be very accurate, but I have NO idea. Basically I just aim low because how on earth can my metabolism burning less than 1000 calories a day?! I exercise a lot and always estimate low on how many calories I have burned.

Maybe try estimating your caloric burn a little less and see if that works out. 900 calories for 80 minutes of exercise seems very high even if it is a really hard workout (but again I have no idea, really)

fiberartist219

Honestly, I don't count calories anymore. It was good for me to do for about a month or so just to learn about my food and what's in it, but I find that if I restrict calories, I don't function very well. For me, I think, the best way to lose weight is to focus on getting the nutrition I need and just stop eating when I'm not hungry. So, I look for lots of fiber and protein, and try to ease up on the refined carbs. Carbs aren't necessarily bad, but I try to get them in the form of fruits, veggies, and whole grains. That way, I get some fiber and vitamins with it, rather than just calories and "enriched" vitamins that don't digest as well.

Usually, the better foods I eat, the less I need to eat overall.

The progress is slow, but it's coming off.

embclark

Not keeping track of my calories is how I got here, so I can't try that. I like writing everything down, even my calendar is completely covered with everything I did each day. I am a journal person.

But yay that you don't need the help anymore! good for you!

lmelangley

I just plugged in losing 1 lb a week with sedentary lifestyle (which is accurate for me) and followed what MFP gave me. Took me a year to lose 35 lbs. The only time I plateaued for more than a month was when I tried to drop my cals to 1200 a day. I need at least 1325 if I want to lose weight. But, as you say, everyone is different.

brooke800

Why do you think you plateaued by a 125 calorie decrease? That's amazing to me that such a minimal difference made such a difference!

debbylee22

Looks like she said she had to increase it by 125, not decrease.

brooke800

Right, but I mean the smaller amount of calories caused the plateau. She had to increase to see a difference.

debbylee22

That's actually the way it is with me too. I gained most of the wt. that I had on less then 1200 calories... had to go on a body-builders diet to build my metabolism up on "clean foods" then doing a rotation diet (4 different days ranging from 1300-1900 calories) to make the wt. drop off. Once the body gets used to the higher amounts, it lets go of the storage.

tecallahan

Lower calories, when you are hypo - will cause your weight loss to stall. But it is likely that the reason you are not losing weight has nothing to do with how many calories. I've posted at least 3-4 times this week on all the reasons why we can still be hypo even though doctors say our labs are "normal". I can almost guarantee you, that your metabolism is not normal. Until all the aspects of your metabolism are optimized you have a small chance of losing weight.

embclark

Well, I've lost almost 30 pounds before plateauing...

tecallahan

Well, I've lost almost 30 pounds before plateauing...

Ok - so drop calories and see what happens. Maybe your metabolism is ok.

brooke800

Debby- Can you tell me more about what you did? When you increased your calories did you gain weight initially?

debbylee22

The physique transformation diet starts you off with conditioning, that lasts several weeks. In following it, you learn to eat clean carbs/foods only, to get your numbers to balance... much like you do here... or (at least most of us do). Each day had a different allotment of calories all in a good balance, and each week the numbers went up... I ended up with the highest calories being 2368 calories (I am 5'4" tall & was in my 50's). I lost 4 lbs during that 5 week conditioning (oh, you also do more muscle-building exercise to try to rev up your metabolism). Then fat-burning the calories are dropped lower, but still quite high on the high days (2,100), doing aerobics on the lower-cal days. It worked amazing. I got down to my goal wt. on 1100-1400 calories) and was able to maintain that loss for years, eating 1400-1700 cal.
Now this time, since I don't eat badly... I just started doing the fat-burning on my own & it worked good, even though my thyroid has slowed down... but the main thing I had to add was exercise...
I bought a my trak (step-counter) in November & it got me moving again. It also alerted me to my heart palpitations, which got me to go to see a dr & find out about the thyroid thing.

isys5

yes I was having the same problems too and had to up my calories from 1500 to 1700, plus felt so much better. For me this is a life time change, I still want to lose the weight as quickly as possible which is slower than for someone without thyroid issues I am sure, so I want to eat enough clean calories to not feel deprived.

I found doing interval cardio training on the elliptic trainer 5-6 days per week and weights for rougly 45 min 3x week has been really working well. I am just getting back into the weights but found I did not lose any strength and tone (I could not see the tone as much until I upped my cardio though to 60 min 5-6 days per week. The extra muscle mass increases metabolism but takes awhile to build up so it has been frustrating not seeing the results faster but it seems now that I have made these changes things are really starting to show. Even though my scale is nuts it says I gained 4 pounds this week but my clothes and the mirror tell a much different story.

I really think it is crazy to try to live on 1300 calories as in my mind, you are just teaching your body to function on less, who the heck wants that??!!? I think creating a calorie deficeit of around 1000 calories from your TDEE should do it. I am 5'4" and 140lb 44yo and think my TDEE is roughly 2000 per day. So if I eat 1700 and burn around 650 a day I broke my plateau and am seeing results. I think Debbie's suggestion about the calorie cycling is really good too and just read about that in the Burn the Muscle Feed the Fat ebook ( having 3 low calorie days & the 4th day being just over your TDEE) is supposed to help your metabolism, can't hurt to try it

I also found Debbie & tecallan's tips about foods to eat and supplments really helpful. I am hoping a sticky can be posted on the forum with all the supplement, food and exercise tips clearly laid out to help others as it is frustrating enough without having to hunt around The eating clean & supplments have also really helped my energy & brain fog too. I did a post awhile back too itemizing what food/supplment changes I made.

Hope that helps

mycatchicken

I have been eating 1200 calories a day and buring around 300 a day with exercise. I thought I had lost some weight
but realized the scale at home was wrong- that I actually gained! I am really struggeling with weight loss. I only have
20 pounds to lose but it seems just losing a pound is impossible. I take armour thyroid. Has anyone else had any
luck with different meds? I would really appreciate the info as I am close to just throwing in the towel!

debbylee22

Hi mycatchicken,
Have you tried low-carb/high protein diet? How about gluten-free?

brooke800

Mycatkitchen....me too

embclark

I started on coconut oil yesterday... I mix it with PB2 and agave nectar. Twice a day, between the oil and the PB2 it is giving me a bit more protein each day. Hoping that is what I need... Realized my protein intake is almost non existent come days...