Hypothyroidism and calculating Basal Metabolic Rate

This is interesting! I'm also hypo, with Hashimoto's.....diagnosed 8 years ago after the birth of my first child. I had my second kiddo about a year ago and my thyroid levels have fluctuated wildly. I was hyper for a while, which was actually nice....I lost a lot of weight, felt good, etc, Recently, they dropped pretty low so my ob/gyn upped my levothyroxin, and I'm feeling better.

After reading this, I wonder if this is part of the reason my weight loss has stalled. I wonder if taking my meds at night might help, and I wonder if I need an even higher dosage than I am on now.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18655403
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16969140

I have had hashimotos for years and never had trouble losing weight as long as my thyroid numbers were normal... Then all of a sudden I did. 40% of hypothyroid people show some sign of B12 deficiency. Get your bloods checked.

I am on my third week of B12 shots after finding out I had B12 deficiency anemia. After 6 MONTHS of working out and eating right and never losing a pound, I have lost 2-4 lbs this week and I feel. so. much. better. (Average weight 154. Weight this week averages 150. Weight last week 155-157.)

*ed to add: I'm not saying that every hypothyroid person is going to have low b12, but it's something to watch for. Don't make the mistake I did and blame your thyroid for EVERYTHING. Sometimes just your thyroid problem is a symptom of a bigger issue (autoimmune disease) that can cause other systems to go out of whack. My iron and potassium were also extremely low. I am supplementing all of that now.

I didn't see it mentioned but I addition to an empty stomach make sure you keep your medication cool. Thyroid medication is perticularly sensitive to temprature, my mom was keeping hers above the stove.

I know I'm a little late to comment, but I just wanted to share my own experience. I'm 21 and also have Hashimoto's. When I first started taking Synthroid I felt better for the first 3 months or so. After that I felt tired all the time, cold, etc. (you know the symptoms). I had my labs done and everything was normal; I was so tired I even got tested for mono! About 2 months ago I decided to switch doctors. I found a doctor specializing in hormone manipulation and asked him his opinion about all of this. He immediately switched me to Armour Thyroid and said that Synthroid and other drugs of its kind improve the condition on lab work but not in the body. The reason he likes Armour is because it promotes the conversion of T3 and T4. Granted, this is only one doctor's opinion, but I've experienced the benefits of Armour for myself. Since starting I've been feeling much better. I hope you get this worked out soon as nothing is more frustrating than knowing you're giving your best effort and seeing little in return.

I am not sure if anyone will even read this but here goes my question.

I do not have my thyroid gland and I take synthroid every day. I workout for about an hour every day doing t25 and hip hop abs. I recently had my basal metabolic rate checked and it was at 1290. I thought that was kind of low but now looking through these posts I see it's kind of normal. I am confused when it comes to eating calories and what I should do what the calories that I burn during exercise. My question was do I eat 1290 everyday minus the calories I burn (leaving me with a net caloric intake less than 1100) or do I eat 1290 everyday plus the calories I burned exercising, bringing me back down to 1290 net at the end of the day? All these numbers are confusing to me.

I have successfully lost 60 pounds but would like to lose another 25. I am frustrated and I've now plateaued.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Hi!

Have you had your levels checked recently? Sometimes losing weight can throw everything off.

You don't want to eat 1290. That's the number of calories your body burns just to stay alive everyday. If you woke up, stayed in bed, stayed there all day and fell asleep without doing anything. Your daily activity (going to work, grocery shopping, cleaning, just basic life) adds calories to that number. So if you're getting out of bed, you're actually dipping into the calories your body needs just to survive, and that's not healthy.

MFP should calculate the right number for you. They will calculate the net number of calories you need. For me, it's 1420 (if I remember correctly, lol). My daily activity is figured into that already. But if I exercise, I need to eat more. So on days I exercise, I eat back SOME of my calories (only because calories burned is not an exact science). I always need to net 1420. So if I eat 1420 but then go run and burn 300 calories, I eat back maybe 150-200 of those. But on days I don't exercise, I eat 1420.

Does that make sense or am I just being more confusing? LOL

I don't know the answer, but I can tell you that I went to a local health clinic and got my resting metabolic rate tested for only about $40. I'll bet if you do some research, you could probably find a place within driving distance that can test it for you. In case you're nervous about the procedure, they basically just have you plug your nose and breath in and out through a plastic tube into a machine for 10 minutes, and measure how much oxygen you consume. They use that to calculate your resting metabolic rate, which has really helped me figure out how much I should be eating. My resting rate is about 200 calories per day lower than normal. Since I adjusted my food intake based on this, I've lost about 10 pounds in 3 weeks (I also stepped up my exercise).

Good luck!

I didn't ask the question, but that info helped ME out a lot! Thanks!!

Please I warn all of you, do NOT take Armour!!!
I tried it a year ago and it almost took my life on numerous occasions! I here the same lies about Armour being a better choice than Levothyroxine, but please don't believe it. Armour made my thyroid go nuts. It was dangerously low, then dangerously high, then ended up with Hashimotos. It made me suicidal, constant severe panic attacks, insomnia, and depression. I had to stop working. I urge all of you to try something else other than Armour. It can kill you.

I'd also add, in case anyone new us reading this zombie thread, that there's quite a lot of misinformation spread through the earlier posts (plus a little accurate info). There are newer threads about hypothyroidism that deliver a higher fraction of accurate info.

The answer will vary from person to person. For me, even with my hashimotos under control, I've found my TDEE to be between 100-200 calories less than what online calculators give me. This calculation came through a lot of trial and error adjusting my calories over time.

Yes I burn less than other my size, age, and activity level do on average but it is not by an extreme amount. If you aren't being treated it is probably a more substantial difference