Thyroid + Nutrition

angelsong21

Kind of a random question, but does anyone on here have hypothyroidism?  Even on medications I'm having a REALLY hard time losing any weight whatsoever no matter what I do.  Anyone dealing with this who has some suggestions, I'd love to hear from you!

MyWedding13

Does your medication need to be adjusted? When thryoid patients come into my clinic, I notice that they have more sucess with weight loss if they limit carbs from non-plant based sources. They only non-plant carb they seem to eat is steel cut oatmeal in the morning, then fruit and veggies all day along with lean protein. If you were to eat similar to this, just make sure you are getting enough fiber. Do you have normal cholesterol values? If not, don't limit whole grain because that will be helpful in lowering those values. I hope this helps!

sb9411

I have Hashimotos. I agree with PP suggestion to look into your medication and see if it is really regulating your thyroid. I truly believe that with the right medication, your thyroid should be functioning like "normal" and you should be able to lose weight/gain weight (whatever your fitness goal is).
Man times with Hashimotos comes high cholesterol, so I am sure to eat whole grains such as oatmeal in order to lower my cholesterol. I'm right around 200, which is borderline high.
My best advice would be to go to your doctor often to check your T4 levels, and make sure that your medication is at the right dosage.
What's your exercise regime like? How many calories are you eating a day?

arwo

I have Hashimotos, as do most of the people on my mother's side of the family. I agree with PP that you should be working with your doctor to make sure that your TSH levels are where they should be.

I'll also say this: some of my family is overweight, and some of us aren't. The biggest difference between the two groups (in my family) is physical activity--those of us who are not overweight tend to be very physically active. I've also seen at least one study that suggests that exercise improves thyroid function in patients with Hashimotos. If you aren't exercising regularly now, I'd suggest adding that in (after talking with your doctor, of course). Good luck!

em01092

I too have Hashimoto's and I'm struggling to lose weight. I'm working out 4 days a week for at least an hour and trying to stay around 1500 calories. Limiting sweets, only whole grain, lots of fruits and veggies, drinking loads of water.  (This may not be enough, but I went from no exercise regimen and worked my way up to this- 3 months later better stamina is all I have to show for it- no weight/inches lost, very frustrating) I'm meeting with my endo next month to discuss options.

 From some similar discussions, I've discovered that some people can have normal TSH levels but if its on the higher end of normal, they still may have trouble losing weight. What is normal for your body varies. I need to find out what my lab/endo considers normal and see if we can try adjusting some numbers.

At my last blood test, my levels were "normal" but I'm losing hair like crazy, which is usually an indication that my dosage needs to go up. 

angelsong21

Thanks so much everyone!

I am working with my MD on meds.  Went back last month for a 3 month checkup and labs were mostly "normal" but she thought we could do better, so she upped my Armour and added 5mg of Cytomel 2x per day.  I have noticed no difference whatsoever over the last month -- no weight loss, super exhausted (falling asleep in class despite adequate sleep while taking adderrall, t3, t4, b12...), etc.  I had already planned to call her office on Monday although I'm not sure if I should be seeing results in a month or not? 

Need to improve on exercise, but its one of those things where that's REALLY hard to do when I can barely wake myself up enough to go to school;  by the time I get home mid-afternoon, I'm ready to nap, and when I let myself do that, I sleep an additional 4-5 hours.    Anyway, it's hard to find any energy/desire to exercise.  I know I need to, I just odn't know how to make myself.  Em, I feel your pain -- I did exercise before, eat better, limit calories and lost...nothing.

I didn't know about limiting the grains.  I'll have to work on that.  Are potatoes twice a week okay or just steel-cut oats?