Weight loss regimes?

[Ruthi]

I would like to hear from anyone who has successfully lost weight once euthyroid. I have been struggling, partly with increased appetite, for a while and need to get this whole thing under control. I think that to some extent it is indeed a matter of self control, and I do need some sort of 'regime'.

I've started swimming again because although I walk my dogs daily my previously broken knee is getting grumbly (I was warned at the time of the accident I'd need a knee replacement, but need to ward it off for another couple of years till hubby retires!)

I am particularly interested to hear from people who have tried a ketogenic diet, paleo, or anything similar.

I will NOT go to a slimming club, nor use artificial sweeteners or any other processed food. And I am gluten intolerant.

[Frumpty]

Hi Ruthi,

I did manage to lose about one and half stone doing low carb, high fat (keto)...however a huge caveat is that in doing so it whacked me straight back into hypo after about 8 weeks on the diet and have struggled for a couple of years to get my thyroid sorted ever since. I have since researched and found some evidence that you need carbs to convert t4, and a lack of carbs increases rT3. I've seen some evidence that if you take t3 this offsets this effect, but don't really know enough about it to know if it does...hopefully others have some good success they can share.

[Ruthi in reply to Frumpty]

Well, I don't convert my T4 terribly well anyway, so am on NDT (reacted badly to T3). Hence the issue of needing carbs for conversion isn't important for me. I'm attracted to the diet because it is relatively rich in nutrients.

I think any diet is likely to cause some stress and I won't do 5:2 again because it disrupted my sleep. But I do need to do something.

[greygoose in reply to Ruthi]

But Ruthi, unless you're are taking a huge dose of NDT, there isn't enough T3 to live on, you need to convert some of the T4, surely.

[Ruthi in reply to greygoose]

It's difficult to tell, of course, but I suspect I do convert some of the T4 in NDT. But on synthetic T4 only my T3 was down to 2.5 after 8 weeks, one week on NDT and it was up to 5.5 (3.2 - 6.8).

DI02 testing is on my agenda, but highly likely, I think. Low energy from childhood, early diagnosis of osteoporosis, of which there is a family history.

[Jazzw]

It's pants, isn't it? Are you sure you're optimally medicated?

[Ruthi in reply to Jazzw]

I finally managed to get a T3 test out of the docs. Mid range so I have upped my meds by a quarter grain. Haven't felt any different so might go up a bit more in a couple of weeks.

[Jazzw in reply to Ruthi]

Sounds like a plan. I've come to the conclusion that short of starving yourself, no diet works too well if you're undermedicated.

And many here say that *no* diet is needed if you are optimally medicated - the weight will start to come off without you really trying.

[Ruthi in reply to Jazzw]

I am very tempted indeed to deliberately take myself high. Only thing is that it hasn't worked particularly well to reduce my weight in the past. So at least for the time being my plan is to get myself to the top of the range and see how dieting works.

[Arab]

Hi Ruthi,

I have GD and have been euthyroid for 12 months now.

In order to lose the weight put on by taking Carbimazole, I eventually discovered Dr Michael Moseley's 8 Week Blood Sugar Diet.

It was a deal breaker where nothing else really worked, and while I stuck to it, I lost 16lb. I did this for about 6 weeks, then we had Easter and guests! (I'm just about to start again to shift the final 10lb I need to get rid of.)

It takes a little while to get used to, but works a treat. Well worth a go!

Arab.

[sulamaye]

I have struggled with my weight since a teenager, became more accepting of my weight as just being around 13 stone in my twenties and then suddenly put a further three stone on over three months for no reason and then was diagnosed hypothyroid. Thought, oh medication will help me get back to 13, no. Took years of hard work and then a few years later another three stone went on quickly, my meds had to go up, and the same struggle ensued. Then I got m.e five years ago, weight went up again and this time nothing I could do would stop it. I am bed bound house bound and my liver was fatty and it was as if everything I ate was laid down as far rather than going into energy production. I tried 2/5 fasting, it made me iller and no weight loss etc etc.

Then I started consulting an m.e specialist dietician from the optimum health clinic, first she put me on sugar, gluten, dairy free - amongst other supplements etc - in 6 months I lost 1 kg showing how my body was not doing what it should. Then in January I started on wahls paleo for a month and then wahls paleo plus which is ketogenic. The good thing about Terry wahls is that she dictates high levels of nutrients, her diet is very broad in its nutrient density. As soon as I dropped the grains, as soon as I started wahls I started losing weight. Nothing else has changed in terms of my ability to exercise etc.

Since January I have lost 18 kgs, 3 stone, and for the first time in my life I am now below 13 stone and continuing to lose. I was on the paleo plus for three months but am back on just wahls paleo as being ketogenic is hard and a recent test my dietician did showed I may not be processing the fats properly.

all my blood markers, my fatty liver ALT has gone from 109 to 44, diabetes and triglycerides have all dropped significantly.

I know that if I am going to recover from m.e it is going to be a slow journey but that if this diet can drop my weight so significantly and start clearing my fatty liver and improving other blood markers that this diet is changing things at a biochemical level.

I feel that this diet is what my body needs, what suits my body and having done the ketogenic part for 3 months being wahls paleo feels luxurious and sustainable. I just had my birthday and had two days off from everything as a treat, but I believe that bar birthdays I will continue to eat like this for the rest of my life. I believe I will finally reach my goal weight of 11 stone - I couldn't cope with being skinny just want to be the top of my healthy weight- I have never been able to sustain that, prior to accepting my weight in my late twenties I could only reach weights like that or below if I starved myself, or ate the Cambridge diet 300 cals a day etc. But the Weight would immediately start going back to 13 as soon as I stopped the extreme regime and I was hungry all the time.

I'm not hungry on this, I can eat as much as I need and more importantly it is helping my body heal. Hope this info helps.

[Glynisrose]

Eat regular meals and fruit in between. Personally I have lost 10 kilos by doing this just eating normal food but less of it. On another note any sort of exercise uses up precious T3 and if you don't convert well its almost impossible to replace.

[olgadimitri]

Hi Ruthi, I was 30 years with hypothyroid and struggled with my wait all my life. Last year I was on similar way as sulamaye and glynisrose from posts above. Plus I avoiding food after 6pm and use trail for 30 min 3-4 time a week. Result just amazing.

[puncturedbicycle]

Have you tried a food diary? Many (20?) years ago after weight gain due mostly to ill health I followed a modified Weight Watchers-style regimen (no meetings) and lost 3.5st which I've mostly kept off.

The WW tenets that helped me were (1) a food diary which helps you figure out what 1200(ish) calories looks like and where you're exceeding that allowance, plus (2) a free-for-all on (most) green veg. So if you've eaten your allowance and are still hungry, you can always fill up on soup, salad, crudites etc. I frequently ate a whole head of broccoli with dinner, or a whole bag of carrot sticks or punnet of cherry tomatoes for a snack. The food diary (whether you follow one online or use the WW points system) keeps track so you don't have to bother with calorie counting or weighing or any of that nonsense.

Having said that, I've crept up a little bit in the last five years or so (ill health again) so I found an online food diary and have gone back to skimmed milk and eating fewer starchy foods. It seems to be working.

I believe that for many (not all) folk, a big bump in veg consumption would sort out a lot of health issues (blood sugar, weight, constipation etc). I don't mean another stick of celery, I mean two, three or four times as many veg as they're eating now, eaten throughout the day, from the morning meal to the midnight snack. A naturopath told me that 70% of our diet should be green veg and having seen what it did for my weight I'm inclined to agree.

This is what worked for me, but everyone is different.