Thyroid Issues

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likewut
likewut Posts: 1
in Food and Nutrition
Hey guys, new member here. Hoping you have some avenues that I can research. I noticed that a lot of you are pretty well experienced in weight loss, better eating, etc, so I'm hoping that you might have some valid opinions.

I've been trying to lose about 50 pounds for a few years now. When I got my first desk job, I sky rocketed up to 225 lbs. For a 5'9" guy, that's no good. This was when I was about 21, so being young, I just cut my portions in half, went jogging, kept up my weights, and knocked it down to my svelt 175 with no problem. Then I got married, started cooking for two, and gained it all back.

Now I'm 30 and I can't seem to shed it. The strength and endurance are definitely there, and I feel healthy. I bike, lift weights, eat mostly right, etc. I can drop a few pounds here or there, but overall I'm just maintaining a solid 225. I've been doing a lot of reading, and this thyroid specialist in Houston is saying that a lot of people are unable to lose weight because as their diet worsens and they get older, it adversely affects their thyroid and that bad thyroid function can make it hard to lose weight, even if they don't have any other real symptoms. Now I'm kind of worried that the diets that I did back in the day when I was heavy into lifting are causing me problems now.

Has anybody else heard this? I've got no other symptoms. I'm not fatigued, achy, sick, etc, I just can't lose the padding. Do you think it's a valid thing that I should have checked out? I mean, I always thought that a little diet and exercise would fix almost anything, but I cannot seem to shed this weight.

Any advice or other avenues of research would be awesome.

Replies

  • lulucat24
    lulucat24 Posts: 7
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    Well you are much older than the last time you dropped all the weight. This means your natural metabolism dropped over the years and you just can't eat like you did when you were in your 20's, this is especially true if you had little muscle mass which would drop metabolism levels as well. It is true that thyroid problems can be caused by extreme dieting, but it dosn't seem like you were in the neighborhood of extreme. 500 calories a day and 1 hour of intense cardio is extreme and highly dangerous which would put your body into starvation mode and could potentially damage the thyroid gland. However most problems with thyroids are genetic or develop as you get older and are most common in women. I personally have a slightly under-active thyroid. This means i am just about 3.27 on my TSH levels. This causes me to have a slower metabolism but since i am not over a 5.0, most doctors will dismiss that there is any problem even though specialists recommend the range of normal be set between 0.3 and 3.0. I eat around 1200-1300 calories a day, if I eat over 1500 I actually GAIN weight, even with workouts! It's just my life and putting on muscle and eating low calories vegetables help me keep my weight from sky-rocketing. Anyway, if you think there is a problem with your thyroid get tested! Go get tested for TSH level, T4 and T3, as well as testing for thyroid antibodies. If your TSH is over 3.0 but under 5.0, you'll just have to accept that you have a low metabolism and that no doctor will give you medication, even though you may need it, because your number is not over a 5.0. All i can say is get tested and see what happens, if you come back all normal numbers you'll just need to lower your calorie intake and make sure you work with weights as well as cardio to build muscle and burn extra calories each day. Hope this helped!
  • islandmonkey
    islandmonkey Posts: 546 Member
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    I agree with commenter above that while it's worth getting tested, you might just be finding out what happens as you get older....it can be much harder to lose weight!

    If you choose to get tested, make sure they don't just test your TSH. TSH is a pituitary hormone, not a thyroid one, so you also want them to test your "free T3" (not total T3) and "free T4".

    I personally wouldn't accept a TSH of over 3.0 as "normal" - I would push for meds. But, I also have a 20 year history of thyroid issues so have some basis for that, and know my stuff, and am pretty aggressive with my health care!
  • JustJennie1
    JustJennie1 Posts: 3,843 Member
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    I agree with commenter above that while it's worth getting tested, you might just be finding out what happens as you get older....it can be much harder to lose weight!

    If you choose to get tested, make sure they don't just test your TSH. TSH is a pituitary hormone, not a thyroid one, so you also want them to test your "free T3" (not total T3) and "free T4".

    I personally wouldn't accept a TSH of over 3.0 as "normal" - I would push for meds. But, I also have a 20 year history of thyroid issues so have some basis for that, and know my stuff, and am pretty aggressive with my health care!

    Agreed however be aware that regardless of what your numbers say they might say you're on the "high' or "low" side of normal and still refuse to give you meds no matter what you think or say. I get a full panel of blood work done every year and my TSH is always high. I had gone to a doctor about it and was told that I was "normal" based on THEIR numbers (I had to get my blood redone because they wouldn't accept what I had even though it was recent and I had everything done: Free T3&4, total TSH etc). While I don't think I have symptoms right now I'm "treating" it naturally and am thinking of getting my Free T's tested again.

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