I have a lot of weight to shift. It will take m... - Thyroid UK
I have a lot of weight to shift. It will take me a lot more than 12 weeks. Will it be ok to follow the 12 week literally for years.
Hi Jan
Could you give some more information please...? Is this a weight-loss plan..?
Do you have a thyroid problem...?
Louise
I have a BMI of 44. It is a weight loss plan. I need to loose more than half of my current body weight to fall within the recommended guidelines so this is going to take me about 2.5 to 3 years at 1lb a week (which is my goal). I probably do have a thyroid problem I had one some years ago and was prescribed thyroxine but I'm afraid I stopped taking it when I had an unpleasant experience with my doctor's receptionist and I have never been to the doctors since. I have moved house now and will mention this when I register with a new doctor.
Poor you. So many thyroid sufferers plough this sort of lonely furrow. Kudos for setting yourself this task - you know it will be difficult, but it will be even more so if your thyroid is under-performing.
I wonder how much thyroxine you were taking? Thyroid problems seldom right themselves and you will need help with yours. I see that you're about to register with a new doctor, and that you're intending to get some tests done. Good idea. If you ask for your results and post them here we can interpret them for you. Then you'll have a better idea of how to start shedding the weight.
If you can get some good medication for your thyroid your diet will be much easier. They do say that if you're optimally medicated the weight starts to shift itself. Certainly you would no longer be dieting against your body's desire to add more and more weight (which is what an untreated, or insufficiently treated thyroid will do).
Hi Jan,
I wouldn't fancy a twelve-week (forever) diet.
Weight gain is a result of levothyroxine (I have read and scientific studies have been done). You have to have sufficient to raise your metabolism.
Do you have a print-out of your latest thyroid gland blood test results, with the ranges. If not, get a print-out from the surgery (and also each time you have a blood test) and post on a new question for members to comment.
I will as soon as I have registered with a new doctor. I have recently moved house.
Weight gain is a clinical symptom of hypothyroidism so ask the new GP for a full thyroid function test plus Vitamin B12, Vit D, iron, ferritin and folate.
Jan, I'm guessing that you are referring to the sole source 12 week plan with Cambridge? I was firstly a customer and then a consultant with Cambridge. If so, the guidance is that you take a week's break between each 12 week stint, but I have to say that I did it continuously for 6 months to shed all the weight I needed to. I chose a Consultant that was a former nurse and and also, I hesitate to say, intelligent, as I knew I needed to have someone advising me that I could respect and take seriously. She raised the question with one of Cambridge's medical Consultant advisors, of someone with hypothyroidism doing a continuous stint in this way, and was told it was safe but that my weight loss would be less than someone without a metabolic disorder. And that's what I did. I just put my mind to it, and went for it. However I wouldn't advise it as a long term solution but as a means to an end, it can work. For instance if someone needs to shed weight in preparation for surgery, or because of joint pains etc it can shift the weight, but not as a way of life or for years as you have calculated. Using the Govt's definition, it offers less than a very low calorie intake, and whilst the nutrition contained within the products is balanced to provide 100% of the day's needs, nevertheless there is clear evidence that such a low daily calorific intake is actually counter-productive as metabolism is slowed further than it already is, owing to hypothyroidism. So unless there is a particular imperitave to shed weight quickly, my advice would be to eat naturally and avoid the artifical weight loss way.
I have no idea what the Cambridge diet is I'm afraid. The diet I was referencing was the one I found on the NHS web site. The recommended calorie intake on the one I am using is 1400 to 1600 kcal per day. How does that compare with the Cambridge diet? The NHS diet is actually a little more than I currently consume on an average day but the balance of nutrition is probably better. I intend to go for an average weight loss of 1 pound (0.5 kg) a week and that is why I am planning a regime which will take almost 3 years. I have done rapid weight loss programs before and I know from bitter experience that they are not a long term solution. I also know that as the weeks go by I will need to increase my activity to compensate for a lowering of my metabolic rate and the fact that carrying less weight requires less energy to be expended.
Ah right, then it's not Cambridge, it was the mention of 12 wks that misled me.
Good luck with your plan.
If I ate that many calories a day without taking levothyroxine for my underactive thyroid (75mcg) I would gain weight, not lose it.
I'm feeling my way here. I have been told that it is dangerous to dip below 1200 kcal without continuous medical monitoring. I will see how it goes but you are not exactly helping me here. :0) I was sort of expecting a little more support so I think I am probably on the wrong site. Thanks anyway. Goodbye.
I wasn't meaning to be discouraging about your weight loss plans, I was meaning to be encouraging about you getting the thyroid well treated first. Then dieting will be effective rather than (as I have found) well-nigh impossible.
