Frustrated - 3 weeks no loss.
Replies
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Iwantahealthierme30 wrote: »How do you guys manage to weigh everything? You can't weigh everything for the rest of your lives. People look at that like a disorder. I rather not stress about it and give myself a disorder on top of depression and things I already have.
Sorry, who are these people judging me for weighing my food?
My friends and family don't... not that it would stop me if they did!
I'm not an intuitive eater whatsoever. Whenever I go long periods without weighing my food, my weight creeps back up. So why not just keep regularly weighing my food? As I said, it doesn't take much time at all. In fact, I do weekly meal-preps, so I only need to weigh my portions out once a week.
Seems like you have this weird mental hangup on kitchen scales... I mean, they're just a tool. I use my scale for weighing out my soap-making ingredients too. It's just handy.
Exactly this. It's just a tool. It would be like suggesting that using a mandolin slicer to get more even cuts of foods is akin to OCD. It's not. It's just one possible way of doing things, and a way that some people happen to find easier.6 -
Iwantahealthierme30 wrote: »How do you guys manage to weigh everything? You can't weigh everything for the rest of your lives. People look at that like a disorder. I rather not stress about it and give myself a disorder on top of depression and things I already have.
1. Who said anything about the rest of your life? Weighing takes an extra minute or two, and provides a means to log accurately.
2. It's not a disorder, it's quite simply using the tools of science to achieve a goal.
3. You don't want to stress about weighing, yet you're stressing about 3 weeks and not losing.
Weight loss is simple science (CICO) Calories in vs calories out. If you consume less than your body burns, you will lose weight. We understand you have a medical condition, and it is easily regulated with medication.
Ultimately, it's your choice how you do your thing, and we are all offering solid advice on how to help you achieve your goals.12 -
Iwantahealthierme30 wrote: »How do you guys manage to weigh everything? You can't weigh everything for the rest of your lives. People look at that like a disorder. I rather not stress about it and give myself a disorder on top of depression and things I already have.
I am just weighing my food during my weight loss journey and hoping I get an idea of how many calories are in certain serving sizes. I definitely do not plan on doing it for the rest of my life as it is a bit tedious in my opinion. You could go about it this was as well! It's worth it so I can deal with it for the time being.1 -
Weighing my portions helped me learn what an actual portion of food really looks like. I still use the scale for stuff I make at home since it's so easy anyway, but I'm much better at eyeballing portions when I'm out thanks to the time I spent logging accurately. And I stress way less about my diet now that I know my numbers are right.
If you aren't using a scale, you are probably eating more than you think. If you don't want to use a scale for whatever reason, lower your calorie total a little to make up for the innacuracies you are probably logging and eventually you should hit a number that works. Understand that to eat 1800 cals you may need to log only 1400 without a food scale (that's how off I was back when I didn't weigh).
Even if you only use it for a few weeks, at least it will shine a light on where you are missing calories and what you can do to fix it.7 -
Like @quiksylver296 said above, spend $20 and treat it as an experiment. People are extremely bad at judging serving sizes, to the extent that they might be eating twice as many calories as they think. It won't give you a disorder to weigh your food for four weeks - or even just one week - but you will have some highly valuable data, plus a useful kitchen tool.3
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1) You're not taking your prescribed medication consistantly
2) You've stopped exercising, which helps increase your deficit
3) Your not weighing your food, thereby don't actually have an accurate idea of your calorie consumption
These are the issues you need to address to see the scale moving again.17 -
Weighing my portions helped me learn what an actual portion of food really looks like. I still use the scale for stuff I make at home since it's so easy anyway, but I'm much better at eyeballing portions when I'm out thanks to the time I spent logging accurately. And I stress way less about my diet now that I know my numbers are right.
If you aren't using a scale, you are probably eating more than you think. If you don't want to use a scale for whatever reason, lower your calorie total a little to make up for the innacuracies you are probably logging and eventually you should hit a number that works. Understand that to eat 1800 cals you may need to log only 1400 without a food scale (that's how off I was back when I didn't weigh).
Even if you only use it for a few weeks, at least it will shine a light on where you are missing calories and what you can do to fix it.
Historically I remember saying "Ohh, it's chicken, it's good for you" and just cooking it and devouring.
When this all began for me, the first thing I weighed was chicken breast. I weighed what I would normally consume in a sitting. Oh my! Yeah, I had zero concept of portions to actual calories. Eye opening experienced. Same with coffee creamers - OOFA. Now, I've banished them and use almond milk.4 -
Iwantahealthierme30 wrote: »How do you guys manage to weigh everything? You can't weigh everything for the rest of your lives. People look at that like a disorder. I rather not stress about it and give myself a disorder on top of depression and things I already have.
I use online banking and a spreadsheet to account for my money. They are tools I use, nearly daily, to keep me on course (and out of the hole). I fail to see how a kitchen scale is so different. I budget my calories very much like I budget my money. Exact same concept.20 -
It's either weigh and log or be fat in my case. I've lost 35 lbs. (and I'm not that strict with weighing yet) but I log every day. Before that I was eating 2x what I should have been eating in terms of calories. It is shocking sometimes to see what a "serving" is and the calories in certain foods. Nuts for example--I used to eat a LOT of nuts and I can see now where I was wracking up hundreds of calories a day eating something that I thought was healthy--and they are but one needs to be mindful of how many/calories one is eating to stay on track with weight.4
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I completely understand your frustration. I have had my thyroid gland destroyed via radioactive iodine. I have to take a supplement daily. First, have you visited your physician recently to make sure your TSH checked? Are you on generic or brand name replacement therapy? I had an old thyroid guru (that's what I called him) tell me the generic is not easily absorbed by the body like the brand name. I take only the brand name (yes it costs more, hopefully you have insurance that helps cover the cost) and have had steady TSH levels.
Second, the advise you have received on here regarding meals and caloric intake is great. But having a sluggish metabolism (due to being hypothyroid), it is very important that you workout 5 days a week. I would do cardio 3 times a week and do weights the other 2. You need to build muscle to boost your metabolism that will burn fat.
Don't give up. You met a bump in the road. Adjusting things should give your body the jolt it needs.8 -
I completely understand your frustration. I have had my thyroid gland destroyed via radioactive iodine. I have to take a supplement daily. First, have you visited your physician recently to make sure your TSH checked? Are you on generic or brand name replacement therapy? I had an old thyroid guru (that's what I called him) tell me the generic is not easily absorbed by the body like the brand name. I take only the brand name (yes it costs more, hopefully you have insurance that helps cover the cost) and have had steady TSH levels.
Second, the advise you have received on here regarding meals and caloric intake is great. But having a sluggish metabolism (due to being hypothyroid), it is very important that you workout 5 days a week. I would do cardio 3 times a week and do weights the other 2. You need to build muscle to boost your metabolism that will burn fat.
Don't give up. You met a bump in the road. Adjusting things should give your body the jolt it needs.
OP has already stated that she is not taking her medication consistently.2 -
I could not live without my food scale. Matter of fact I just bought two new ones when mine died. It is so easy. Once you get used to it it is just second nature. Put plate on, turn scale on, protein, tare, carb, tare, veggie...and whalaah you know exactly what you're eating. It takes a minute. Literally. When I make a dish or rice or potatoes I weigh them when I finish cooking them and divide by servings. I keep a small whiteboard on the side of my fridge with serving sizes for whatever is in there at any given moment. This has helped a lot too.
If you tell yourself it will be too much then it will. If you tell yourself it's just a tool and worth it then it will be. Same as the journey to lose the weight. You have to want to do it.
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food scale = no more frustration6
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I completely understand your frustration. I have had my thyroid gland destroyed via radioactive iodine. I have to take a supplement daily. First, have you visited your physician recently to make sure your TSH checked? Are you on generic or brand name replacement therapy? I had an old thyroid guru (that's what I called him) tell me the generic is not easily absorbed by the body like the brand name. I take only the brand name (yes it costs more, hopefully you have insurance that helps cover the cost) and have had steady TSH levels.
Second, the advise you have received on here regarding meals and caloric intake is great. But having a sluggish metabolism (due to being hypothyroid), it is very important that you workout 5 days a week. I would do cardio 3 times a week and do weights the other 2. You need to build muscle to boost your metabolism that will burn fat.
Don't give up. You met a bump in the road. Adjusting things should give your body the jolt it needs.
Thank you, I will not give up and I was not taking the medication consistently but I am on a very low dose. I will change that now. Realistically, I lost 11 pounds in less than 2 months and should be happy about that. @pjbitter0 -
Iwantahealthierme30 wrote: »Thanks for the flowchart which is just about everywhere. I have hypothyroid so it's not that easy.
Not taking your thyroid medicine can certainly affect your lack of weight loss as a hypothyroid person.3 -
If you want an alternative to weighing every day, take a day or two to meal prep as much as possible. Weigh everything then and put it into containers. Then it's just grab-and-go the rest of the week. The closer to the goal you get the more important it's going to be to be super precise with your logging, weighing won't be an option.6
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Do take your pills! It’s not a medication but a replacement hormone your body cannot produce in sufficient amounts anymore itself. Every part of your body needs it: your brains, muscles, organs...
Do you know what it feels like if your chest muscles and diaphragm get lazy because they don’t get enough of this hormone? I do. You wake up constantly with shortness of breath because your breathing is so shallow and weak.
So take them for 6 weeks constantly, first thing in the morning before breakfast. Then get a bloodtest in the morning and go with how you feel: fine? Goid dose. Not fine? Talk to doctor and demand increase or product change. There is no reason to feel poorly with hypo.0 -
Keep at it ! good advice here , take your meds, eat well , move when you can and stay motivated , it will come off but the slow months are annoying .
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KellyPoetry wrote: »Iwantahealthierme30 wrote: »How do you guys manage to weigh everything? You can't weigh everything for the rest of your lives. People look at that like a disorder. I rather not stress about it and give myself a disorder on top of depression and things I already have.
I feel ya. I don't use a food scale I think that it might stress me out. Measuring is good enough hopefully. I wish you well and best of luck.
Thanks! @KellyPoetryKeep at it ! good advice here , take your meds, eat well , move when you can and stay motivated , it will come off but the slow months are annoying .
Thanks @wefts1 -
I have hypothyroidism and have lost over 70 pounds since Dec 2016 through a calorie deficit with another 50+ pounds to go to goal. I try to get in some exercise, but it's not a priority--the calorie deficit works just fine.
My doctor told me that I would have to take my thyroid medication for the rest of my life (just like he does). It is important to take the thyroid medication.
I love using a scale so I don't have to guess my portions. It took some extra time in the beginning while I was learning how I wanted to use it, but now it's second nature.1 -
As a fellow hypo, for more reason than weight lose, you need to figure out how to remember to take your meds daily. It is so important for your overall health!
So true.
I'm hypo, take my meds daily, and gained 12 pounds since May because my doc kept tapering my dose down -- yay for water weight. It's now going back up (he finally listened to me about how a suppressed TSH is my actual norm), but if that can happen when I *was* taking meds, I can't even imagine the disgustingness that would have happened without them.
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JMcGee2018 wrote: »If you forget your thyroid medication your metabolism will slow and you will need a much higher deficit to lose weight. Get back to taking your medication on a regular schedule (same time every day, set an alarm if you need to) and that should help a lot.
Sorry, that's not how it works. On the onset of hypothyreoidism the BMI might go down up to 4%. However, being poorly medicated can lead to increased water weight and feeling *kitten* and moving less. And eating more. All those lead to a weight gain.
Yes. The weight gain that occurs in a calorie deficit with uncontrolled hypo is purely water weight -- metabolism has nothing to do with it. Mine was tested, and my RMR was actually 30 percent above what was expected.3 -
collectingblues wrote: »As a fellow hypo, for more reason than weight lose, you need to figure out how to remember to take your meds daily. It is so important for your overall health!
So true.
I'm hypo, take my meds daily, and gained 12 pounds since May because my doc kept tapering my dose down -- yay for water weight. It's now going back up (he finally listened to me about how a suppressed TSH is my actual norm), but if that can happen when I *was* taking meds, I can't even imagine the disgustingness that would have happened without them.
One way might be to put them around the tube of toothpaste with a rubber band, or attach to the toothbrush or something else you remember to use every morning. Take the pill, attach to object again. Preferably they should be taken an hour before anything to eat, but that's not realistic for everyone. On an empty stomach is still best. Mine are next to my house keys. Sometimes I forget them, but usually I'm fine.0 -
collectingblues wrote: »As a fellow hypo, for more reason than weight lose, you need to figure out how to remember to take your meds daily. It is so important for your overall health!
So true.
I'm hypo, take my meds daily, and gained 12 pounds since May because my doc kept tapering my dose down -- yay for water weight. It's now going back up (he finally listened to me about how a suppressed TSH is my actual norm), but if that can happen when I *was* taking meds, I can't even imagine the disgustingness that would have happened without them.
One way might be to put them around the tube of toothpaste with a rubber band, or attach to the toothbrush or something else you remember to use every morning. Take the pill, attach to object again. Preferably they should be taken an hour before anything to eat, but that's not realistic for everyone. On an empty stomach is still best. Mine are next to my house keys. Sometimes I forget them, but usually I'm fine.
Yup! What was key for me was putting the vial next to my deodorant. So as I'm getting ready in the morning, it's right there.0
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