Anyone else have no thyroid/trouble with meds, losing weight

I have a slow thyroid. I am only on 50mcg's of synthroid. It is harder and yes carbs and sugar play a much bigger roll than with a person that doesn't have thyroid issues. I have been able to lose consistently since starting to exercise and stay around 1200 calories. I am disabled and live a sedentay life for the most part so maybe your calories won't be the same as mine.

Good morning everyone! I am trying to find other individuals who have thyroid issues and hoping to find and give support/motivation. I had my thyroid removed almost 4 years ago and have been back and forth with med changes on Synthroid ever since. Seems that every 6-8 weeks the endocrinologist does bloodwork and adjusts the meds. I am hoping to find any advice, etc. on how to successfully lose weight with thyroid issues. I have tried low carb and it worked but its not maintainable personally so this time around I am trying 1200 calorie days and exercise 4 days a week. Would love to make some "thyroid" friends for support and motivation.

Your thyroid creates about 80% T4 and 20% T3. T3 is the "active" thyroid hormone that does all the work in your body, and is like a key in the ignition for your cells.

Without a thyroid, your body is already down in T3. Synthryoid is a T4-only synthetic med, and the molecular structure is different than the T4 your thyroid produced. Your body creates T3 from T4 -- and it has a much harder time doing that from Synthroid because it's a different structure. That's likely why you're struggling to get your levels regulated.

Is your endo checking your free T3 and free T4 results? Hopefully they are not just checking your TSH, but that's unfortunately quite common. TSH is not only not a thyroid hormone (it's from your pituitary), but it's also very unreliable once you are taking thyroid meds.


I would strongly recommend that you ask your doctor about natural/dessicated thyroid meds like Nature Thyroid or Armour. They not only contain both T3 and T4, but the T4 is bioidentical to your body's T4 and is easier to convert into T3.


If your doctor won't test free T3, I would find a new doctor...


(I had my thyroidectomy in Oct 2012)

I had my thyroid removed in 2008 and have slowly but surely been gaining weight ever since. Even with the Synthroid meds I am tired. I used to be able to eat whatever I wanted but not since the surgery and it has been difficult to let go of old habits, esp around my family who are big foodies. Anyways my doctor won't up my synthroid dosage because she is worried about calcium and nutrient absorption. My biggest issue is that it is easy to blame my sluggishness and weight gain on the loss of my thyroid even though I know it is a combination of factors. I need to eat better and exercise but without my thyroid it seems more difficult to see results than before I had it removed and it is hard to find motivation when I am tired all the time. I'm trying to change - I hope the calorie counter on this site helps!

Has anyone else tried the natural replacements? I haven't heard of them before. I wonder if they would be better than the Synthroid...

Please read my comment above re: T3 and thyroidectomies. Almost every single hypo patient, in particular thyroidectomy patients, do MUCH better on natural meds like Nature Thyroid or Armour. Synthetic T4 is a terrible replacement for people with thyroidectomies.

Does your doctor test your free T3 and free T4? I would get those tested right away, especially the free T3.

Your thyroid creates about 80% T4 and 20% T3. T3 is the "active" thyroid hormone that does all the work in your body, and is like a key in the ignition for your cells.

Without a thyroid, your body is already down in T3. Synthryoid is a T4-only synthetic med, and the molecular structure is different than the T4 your thyroid produced. Your body creates T3 from T4 -- and it has a much harder time doing that from Synthroid because it's a different structure. That's likely why you're struggling to get your levels regulated.

Is your endo checking your free T3 and free T4 results? Hopefully they are not just checking your TSH, but that's unfortunately quite common. TSH is not only not a thyroid hormone (it's from your pituitary), but it's also very unreliable once you are taking thyroid meds.


I would strongly recommend that you ask your doctor about natural/dessicated thyroid meds like Nature Thyroid or Armour. They not only contain both T3 and T4, but the T4 is bioidentical to your body's T4 and is easier to convert into T3.


If your doctor won't test free T3, I would find a new doctor...


(I had my thyroidectomy in Oct 2012)

^^^THIS!!!

I was diagnosed with hypothyroidism about 3 years ago. My doctor started me on levothyroxine, and after about 6 months moved to synthroid. After a couple more months on the synthroid, my doctor tested my free t3 and t4 and saw that it really wasn't helping me even though my TSH levels were showing that I was fine. My symptoms were shouting that things weren't fine!

She finally switched me over to Nature Throid and I get tested every 6 months to a year to make sure my levels are good. There really isn't a way of avoiding the carbs issue... even if your meds are a consistent level, if you don't fix the types of foods you're taking in, you're not helping your body out at all. I try to keep my net carbs under 60 grams per day (total carbs - fiber = net carbs).

Just my experience. I'm not a doctor! I also second the notion that if your doctor doesn't test for free t3/t4, find someone else who will.

Good luck! :drinker:

Thanks everyone for the comments. My endo does test for dree T3 as well, but I still have trouble with having "normal" levels, seems like every appt they adjust my meds. I go back in March so if it is still off then I am going to search for another doctor. I will definitely ask about the natural thyroid hormone. That makes sense to be the best option! I wish the best of luck to each of you!

Which levels are low? If your free T4 is normal and your free T3 is low, you NEED either a synthetic T3 or a natural med. Your body just isn't converting the T4 into T3, and no amount of increased synthetic T4 will help. It will just keep upping your free T4, and could potentially cause your body to create reverse T3, which jams up the receptor for T3 and makes it unable to act.

I believe my doctor does test for free T4 and T3 as well, but I haven't been very recently so I should probably get another test done asap. I will definitely ask about the natural meds when I see her next! Thanks for the advice.

On another note, I am now completely terrified of menopause - I didn't even consider the effects my thyroidectomy would have that far down the line. Am I destined to be overweight my whole life? I don't know how I will cope with that **** when the time comes. I get really angry about all this because my entire thyroid was removed and now I have all these complications and there wasn't any cancer in it, in the end. I had some goiter and hurthel cells but nothing definitive and they still took the whole thing out. Everyone is so scared of the idea of cancer that my doctor and family convinced me to have the surgery but I can't help feeling it was a little preemptive. Obviously no one could have seen the future and hindsight is 20/20 - but it's still very frustrating.

I have had thyroid probems for 5 years now. They tell me i'm overactive but I have never lost an ounce of weight through my thyroidism.

I gained weight while hyperthyroid - there's a perception out there about symptoms that I don't think is very accurate. It's actually quite common to gain weight while hyperthyroid, I know for me it was because of the food I needed to eat to keep functioning (lots of sugar and quick carbs!)

Currently i'm on a high dose of Carbimizole in preparation for radioiodine treatment. My consultant has warned me to be careful as I will put weight on. He also said not to go overboard with exercise so I feel like i'm trapped in a catch 22 situation at the moment.
I'm ignoring everything he said and am doing at least 4 gym sessions and 4 high impact aerobic sessions a week which is keeping my weight steady for now and while ever I feel well enough I intend to keep this up.
Any tips on actually losing some pounds other than running myself into the ground?

Did your doctor discuss with you your other options, other than RAI? I elected to have sugery instead for many reasons, the primary one being that I'm looking to have children asap. However, I also had minor TED (thyroid eye disease) and having RAI can make it worse, potentially for years. I have never met anyone who didn't regret having RAI....

Have you tried being on the anti-thyroid drugs for any length of time, or are they moving directly to RAI? Many people successfully go into remission with meds. Did they diagnose you with graves disease....?

As for the exercise that recommendation makes NO sense to me???