Thyroid issues?

mcgutman
mcgutman Posts: 7 Member
edited August 2017 in Health and Weight Loss
Has anyone on here had the typical thyroid test and your Dr tells you it's normal, but actually ended up finding out that you did have low thyroid?
I've been tested many times because my mom and brother have low thyroid.
I've been stuck at the same weight now for two years after losing 33 pounds. According to my fit bit I'm burning between 2500 and 3500 calories per day. I don't base what I eat off that number though.
According to calorie calculators, I need 2400 cal to maintain my weight. I have been eating between 1500 and 1800 for months and I'm not losing pounds or inches. Getting very discouraged and wondering if my body is fighting me? I'm not close to goal weight, still have another 30 pounds to lose. Maybe it's my thyroid?
Any suggestions appreciated.

Replies

  • DietVanillaCoke
    DietVanillaCoke Posts: 259 Member
    edited August 2017
    If your GP has tested you many times, it's probably not your thyroid. I've had issues with my thyroid and thyroid cancer is on both sides of my family, so i get checked every 6 months. My levels are all over the place and I've chosen not to turn to medication because it's for life and I'm in my mid 20s and my GP thinks It could balance out. I'm still able to lose weight, so long as i measure my foods every day.

    Are you weighing all your foods and drinks and logging every single day accurately?

    Also fitbits can over exaggerate how much you burn. Mine tells me i burn 2700 a day. I don't, I honestly only burn 2100-2200 a day unless I work out. Maybe try reducing your calories by 250 a day this week and see if there is any change. If not I'd reduce it by another 100 calories the next week and see if there's any change.

    I don't want to be that person, but an idea of your goals and a look at your food diary might help.

    If you are 100% measuring everything and you've checked your food scale and you're logging everything you eat and drink, then maybe see a different doctor.

    All the best!


  • mcgutman
    mcgutman Posts: 7 Member
    edited August 2017
    Thank you for your reply. I agree that fit bit over calculate the calories burned which is why I don't pay any attention to those numbers. But at the same time I am not extremely sedentary either, I'm doing well on my steps.

    I'm also curious about the number of calories to be eating. In order to have 1000 cal deficit and be losing 2 pounds per week, I would need to be eating 1400 cal per day. When I have tried this in the past, I feel extremely hungry. Maybe I will try it for a week and see what happens. I have read a lot about people actually under eating too much and that keeps them from losing weight. Thank you for taking the time to write me back.
  • ccsernica
    ccsernica Posts: 1,040 Member
    edited August 2017
    By definition, if your thyroid tests come back normal then you don't have low thyroid. Sometimes your doctor might note a trend in your hormone levels that might point to a future problem -- which is what happened in my case, so that when my TSH was finally above the normal range it came as no surprise -- but otherwise, no. You don't have low thyroid. I guess if you want to take a suspender-and-belt approach you can ask the doctor to order a T4 test besides the usual TSH the next time you go in for an exam, if he hasn't done that yet. But it would be very unusual for you to not have elevated TSH if your thyroid hormones are really low. The thyroid goes wrong much more often than the pituitary does.

    I wouldn't put too much stock in the calorie expenditure your Fitbit tells you. https://med.stanford.edu/news/all-news/2017/05/fitness-trackers-accurately-measure-heart-rate-but-not-calories-burned.html

    I'm sure someone will post The Flowchart sooner or later. It's breathtakingly easy to miscount calories. There was a time when I was regularly eating about 700 calories/day more than I thought I was, for several months, and wondering why my weight loss was so slow.

    The other thing is that it becomes more difficult to lose weight if its already in a healthy range.
  • theledger5
    theledger5 Posts: 63 Member
    Personally I would ask for the ranges that they are testing and look at where you fall in that. Being 'normal' could mean they have tested T4 only. You need to know what they have tested- it should include free T4 and free T3, you could have conversion issues. Having said all that even if you're a little underactive you can still lose weight. I have no thyroid and had to drop to 1400 to lose weight consistently and I do a lot of exercise too!
  • yirara
    yirara Posts: 9,387 Member
    If you happen to be in the UK (or other countries) then you might be hypothyroid but you GP doesn't know how to interpret results. They only test TSH and sometimes fT4. The more important fT3 never gets measured. And even if TSH is elevated doctors are quick to point out that it's no problem. A trial on levothyroxine for a couple of weeks (at least 6) might be worth it, but try to explain to your GP.

    Being hypo though does not lead directly to weight gain. yes, being hypo means you might hold onto more water, be more hungry, less active and generally less happy. This all might lead to overeating. But it does not really make you store more fat and gain weight through that.
  • tinkerbellang83
    tinkerbellang83 Posts: 9,129 Member
    ccsernica wrote: »

    I'm sure someone will post The Flowchart sooner or later. It's breathtakingly easy to miscount calories. There was a time when I was regularly eating about 700 calories/day more than I thought I was, for several months, and wondering why my weight loss was so slow.

    The other thing is that it becomes more difficult to lose weight if its already in a healthy range.


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  • TavistockToad
    TavistockToad Posts: 35,719 Member
    mcgutman wrote: »
    Thank you for your reply. I agree that fit bit over calculate the calories burned which is why I don't pay any attention to those numbers. But at the same time I am not extremely sedentary either, I'm doing well on my steps.

    I'm also curious about the number of calories to be eating. In order to have 1000 cal deficit and be losing 2 pounds per week, I would need to be eating 1400 cal per day. When I have tried this in the past, I feel extremely hungry. Maybe I will try it for a week and see what happens. I have read a lot about people actually under eating too much and that keeps them from losing weight. Thank you for taking the time to write me back.

    so aim to lose 1lb per week?

    you don't have enough weight to lose to sustain a 1000 calorie deficit really, that's why it makes you so hungry...

    when you say you have been eating 1500 - 1800 cals, are you weighing everything you eat? that seems like a reasonable number to be n a deficit but not vastly hungry?
  • artanis50
    artanis50 Posts: 96 Member
    Have you thought about seeing an endocrinologist vs just seeing your GP? Do you have any other symptoms of low thyroid besides difficulty losing weight?
  • trjjoy
    trjjoy Posts: 666 Member
    tiffaninghs wrote: »
    it could also be the types of food that ur eating.. cut out the starches. all of them and you'll see an improvement. btw being overwieght i had my thyroid tested numerous times. no issues my entire life.. i end up losing over 100lbs in a short period of time and bam now my thyroid is all over the place.. sigh..

    There's no need to cut out starches.
  • mcgutman
    mcgutman Posts: 7 Member
    edited August 2017
    Thank you everyone for your replies. It is possible that I have overestimated my calories from time to time but for the most part I am eating between 1500 and 1800 cal per day which does seem like a reasonable number and it should put me in a calorie deficit.
    I do have to say that I tried and tried to lose weight for many years, even going as low as 1200 cal per day on Nutrisystem and still was not able to lose. I also believe that is too low of calories for me. I am 5 foot 10.
    The only thing that actually started my weight loss was doing a whole 30. I lost 12 pounds that month and then even though I added back in other foods, I continued losing the remaining weight over the next four months. Since that time I have stayed the same weight. Whole 30 is great but it is very hard to sustain for the long-term.
    I plan to diligently track each and every thing that I am eating and measure everything out for the next week and see if I get any results from that. Thank you again!
  • sifmole
    sifmole Posts: 10 Member
    One week is not a sufficient time, most likely. And by "measure" you mean "weigh". Cups, Tbps, Tsp, etc. can be quite variable in actual grams contained. I am hypothyroid - when I weigh and track my consumption I lose weight just like I would expect.
  • k_braddock
    k_braddock Posts: 50 Member
    Is your doctor running a full thyroid panel, and not just checking TSH? Your TSH can be in normal range, and Free T3 be low. That is hypo, too.
  • amenok
    amenok Posts: 116 Member
    edited August 2017
    Actually, i can sympathize with you greatly- because i'm sure you feel like you're measuring carefully and busting your butt so much, and it doesn't get any benefits(or only end up losing a few pounds and doesn't drop for months).

    See if the doctor can run a test to see too(for hashimoto's), and possibly a sonogram for your throat too. My sister and mom both have hypothyroidism, and i was struggling for years eating 1200-1350(@ 260+lbs), working out intensely- and would barely budge(ex. 2lb in 6 months) then give up. It took many years of the typical thyroid test, it ended up just making me think that somehow i just have a very lame genetics- until i met a different doctor who didn't do the stereotypical bloodwork only. Now that i'm being treated, its night and day, i didn't realize how much a difference i feel that i was dealing with :)

    Edit: i was able to see that you lost quite some weight already, congrats too :) I'm not saying that you have hypothyroidism, but if they do check the other thyroid levels, antibody test for hashimoto and sonogram at least you can rule out its your thyroid.
  • Fitnessgirl0913
    Fitnessgirl0913 Posts: 481 Member
    Do you have any other symptoms of hypothyroid other than inability to lose weight? As others have pointed out if they only test your TSH you still could be hypo. When my thyroid is hypo I can tell in ways like exhaustion even with getting 8-9 hours of sleep, increased appetite, and daily persistent headaches.
  • mcgutman
    mcgutman Posts: 7 Member
    Thank you, I think my doctor only test for TSH, not a complete panel. I will see if I can get T3 and T4 tested. I do struggle with feeling tired but mostly when I am only getting six or seven hours of sleep.
  • not_a_runner
    not_a_runner Posts: 1,343 Member
    If you're just getting TSH tested (all I've ever done) - what falls under the "normal" TSH may not be optimal for you.
    Anything between .4 - 4.0 (someone correct me if that's not the right numbers, but you get the idea here) is considered "normal". I get mine checked at least every 6 months, and I feel better when I am around a 1. It can be tricky to get a doctor to work with you to start and adjust medications unfortunately...

    That being said, I've been on meds for hypo for several years (I'm 23). My TSH has been up and down a lot, but I've never had any issue losing weight when I'm tracking correctly and sticking to my calories. Even one day per week not tracking can be enough to blow my weekly deficit and result in little to no weight loss.

    As mentioned above, eating too little should result in losing faster, but it's ultimately going to come down to consistency. (I was losing about 3 lbs per week for several months, I would not recommend. Felt like poo and I think my body had a hard time adjusting because it was too aggressive. I gained all the weight back and more..)

    If you think about losing 30 lbs, one pound per week, and take into consideration that a day or two of eating too much could potentially be enough to wipe out a loss for the week - it takes a lot of consistency to get that weight off and keep it off.

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