What has worked for you (hypo)?

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:flowerforyou: Hi, I've been diagnosed with Hypothyroidism and been on Levothyroxine for about a year now, and its made little difference to my weight problem, I'm currently on 150mg daily.
I joined this site about a month ago and after the first week or so, during which the first few KGs just dropped of, my weight loss is now very slow. I'm 128KG at present and was138 at my heaviest a few months ago. I'm currently allowing myself 1200 to 1400 cals daily and not going over that. I've cut right down on sugary things as that was my biggest weakness and eating a good amount of veg, fruit, chicken etc. I seem to be doing everything right.
I was wondering what other people have found helpful, what has worked for them etc? I'd appreciate any tips or info..
Thanks, and keep up your good work..xx
Debs..x

Replies

  • lmelangley
    lmelangley Posts: 1,039 Member
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    Hi Debs. I've been on Levothyroxine for 10+ years and stable for the past 6, give or take. The one thing that's helped me the most is patience. It took me a year to lose the first 35lbs. What I've learned:
    1. Don't compare yourself to others. For me, losing an average of 3 lbs a month was the best I could do.
    2. Beware eating too few calories. My MFP settings dropped me down to 1200 calories about 6 months in and I stopped losing altogether. I learned that I need to eat around 1340 to lose weight. It's what my body wants, and there's no fighting it and winning.
    3. I didn't go on any kind of "diet" - just began portion control and counting calories. I noticed that my carbs dropped a lot doing this, but I didn't do "low carb" on purpose - it's been a natural progression.
    4. Log everything. Over time, you can learn a lot about what you eat and how you eat that way.

    Good luck!
  • StephanieStroud
    StephanieStroud Posts: 13 Member
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    Imelangley offers some great advice, to which I would add the following. Find a way to get some exercise into your routine and avoid processed foods. That has really been helpful for me. My losses are slow and steady, which is what I expected, but exercise has helped me to have more energy and I believe that it is helping with the weight loss. I avoid eating back the exercise calories. I also avoid processed foods. There is so much stuff in prepared foods that I have decided not to put into my body. I read a book called "The Blood Sugar Solution" (yes, I have elevated blood sugar in addition to Hypothyroid) and he recommend something that I feel makes a lot of sense. If it has more than 5 ingredients or you can't pronounce an ingredient on the label, don't eat it. It's more work, but I feel better about the food that I'm eating.

    I wish you luck.
  • tecallahan
    tecallahan Posts: 732 Member
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    Agree with eating whole, fresh foods - we are not a calories in/calories out metabolism - most of us are insulin resistant, meaning we take processed carbs and sugar and convert it to fat and store it -- and never use it for fuel. You have to give your body good nutrition - that's vitamins and minerals -- and eliminate processed, starchy and sugary foods. If possible, your carbs should come from fresh vegetables and fruits.

    I also went gluten-free in January and I do believe it has helped to stabilize my thyroid. I also take Armour Natural Thyroid and feel I have more energy and less hypo symptoms. Before taking Armour I was on cholesterol meds and high blood pressure meds for 15 years -- I no longer have to take these medications and my cholesterol and blood pressure is normal.

    So, I guess the best advice is to hold yourself accountable for what you eat -- 1200 calories might look good on paper, but if it's 1200 calories of processed food, chances are you will not lose weight.
  • marijasmin
    marijasmin Posts: 160 Member
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    I agree with almost all the sage advice. For us hypos it is a slow and steady wins the race. Good news is that as I have been very very slowly reducing, I have seen fellow norms yo-yo up and down. There is some pleasure (even if the evil in me is secretly happy at being the tortoise that wins the race.
    :devil:
  • Cruxthemystic
    Cruxthemystic Posts: 149 Member
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    It's always a battle. I've tried every diet out there. Lost a little but not much and gain it back. I was on synthroid for years and had cytomel added for a few months. The cytomel seemed to help for a while. But here a few months back I switched to Armour and what a difference. It took a few months to get me regulated but I feel great now.

    I'm loosing weight and wearing a smaller size. I watch my calorie count and I'm exercising of course, which I did before. The difference now is I'm seeing results. I made some changes. Switched to almond milk cut out french fries, lol. That kind of stuff
    but I really feel the Armour is making the difference. Not that it works for everyone, it has for me.