Hello everyone, im hoping you can help me. I've had Hashie's for 15 years and im on 125mcg Thyroxine daily. for the last year i've been training (sporadically) for triathlons and haven't lost a pound.
In the last 4months i've been training consistently. swimming 3 times a week, running twice a week, cycling about 50 miles a week and doing 2 weight training sessions a week. I training hard at everything i do. i don't eat gluten and have cut back on dairy, in the last 3 weeks ive been completely sugar free too. I don't eat anything processed and cook all my own meals. WHY am i still not losing weight. its so upsetting and i don't know what else to do now. can anyone please advice me what to do?
my tsh is 1.45 range (0-5) i dont know my Ft3 or Ft4 as the labs wont test them.
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tjkj69
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Same as you I cannot shift excess weight in spite of a good diet - I don't train but walk each evening to exercise the dogs as well as swimming - my doctor's advice - leave off the nosebag sometimes - I told him I found this offensive because if I was overeating the only person I would be fooling was myself. These boards are great for getting feedback so hopefully someone will be along soon with good advice.
Sounds like you're doing just about everything right.
Are you sure you're not missing "hidden carbs", like too much fruit or the stuff they put in those so-called Yoghurts... I take it you don't eat Pasta??
Run on Fat charts world class triathlete Sami Inkinen’s transition from pre-diabetic sugar burner to a faster, healthier, fat fueled endurance athlete........
Are you testing body fact %age or just weight? All cardio depletes T3 which makes it harder to burn fat if you are hypo. But your weights (as long as they are heavy-ish), should build muscle which will make you heavier (while reducing your fat). Hypo people don't respond quite as the text books say.
Omg!!! You sound almost exactly the same as I do!!! Same problem!!! I still have no answers but am looking into my T3..... That might be the trick..... We have got to figure something out because this just gets downright depressing!!! Good luck!
thank you for your reply. yes its depressing isnt it. i too am 46 and so wish my exercising would show some results for me. im going to go for private testing soon i think
tjkj, hypo-weight gain has nothing to do with calories - neither taking them in, nor using them up - it's probably not even fat that it making you weigh more.
Hypos develope this delightful stuff called 'mucin' just Under the skin. Mucin absorbs water and holds it there. And no amount of reducing calories, nor exercising, is going to get rid of it. In fact, that could make it worse! Do a skin test :
If you can't pînch up the skin, then it's not fat you have, it's mucin. The only place I can pinch up skin on my whole body is on the backs of my hands!
I know we've been brain-washed into believing that exercise is essential for well-being, but there are exceptions to every rule. And the exception here is hypothyroidism.
Exercising uses up your T3 - and that means all forms of movement, like doing the washing-up, or breathing, even, it all uses up your T3. That's one of the reasons you have T3 in the first place, so that you can do these things.
Now, in a person with a normally functioning gland, that isn't a problem. But us hypos, we Don't have a normally functioning gland. We have to take all, or most of, our thyroid hormone by mouth. And we are usually only given the storage hormone, T4 - and very often, not even enough of it! So, we have to convert it into T3, the active hormone. But very often, we can't even do that very well.
So, you see, we are very often low in T3. And that's what causes all our problems - including weight-gain. So, if you go using up your precious T3 on exercising, you can see that you're going to make yourself even more hypo, and put on even more weight. So, until you have your T3 levels optimised, exercise really isn't the healthy option, I'm afraid. Just a little light walking, to stop you seizing up. And Don't cut back on the calories! You need them to be able to convert.
It is criminal that doctors/labs won't test for FT3 - and that is the reason so many of us are kept unwell. It is THE most important test to tell how our body's are coping, and whether or not we're converting, or if we need a dose increase. But if they did that test, we might actually recover. And Big Pharma wouldn't like that! It's all about money, you see...
Intractable obesity is not uncommon in has his/hypothyroidism. And by intractable I mean very low calories needed to maintain weight, weight gain despite low intake, inability to lose despite diet n exercise. There are many underlying genetic factors that can be at work to limit how well your body can process fat, convert fat to energy, convert fat to brown fat vs white fat, raw energy needs for a disease that causes low metabolism, etc. The low carb diet sounds great. I am on low carb, low fat, high protein and finally seeing results. Lean meat, unlimited vegetables, avoid starches n carbs. It's not an easy change, but it optimizes energy n reduces fat. Requires more meals though because the body metabolized protein faster. Good luck!
I understand! The struggle is real ... I know activated charcoal helps and so do SITZ baths! These two helped me rid of my mucin ankle swelling but not the weight.
I noticed when i took the charcoal I would have a bubbly pulling in my legs ... never knew what it was but sounds like it's the mucin!!! The only reason why I knew it wasn't just all water retention is because the pulling effect actually felt thicker ... interesting.
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Do I sound overmedicated. 
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