Totally new and confused

[TIJJ]

Hi there,

I just joined the site after being told I need thyroid treatment for border low T3..

Not sure how long I've been in this condition.

I'm a fitness competitor and in the last 10 months been struggling to lose the last few kg to get to stage lean weigh.

Coach been thinking I don't try hard enough . However no matter what I do in terms of cardio and diet, I can not get lean enough, although I'm in excellent physical condition..

Just the recent blood test confirmed the T3 low levels..

Is there anyone with similar experience in sport and what do you do.. ?

I'm afraid, I'm not familiar with the situation and any help or advice will be highly appreciated !!

Thank you!

TIJJ

[Justiina]

Actually you might have functional hypo where over exercise and dieting decrease your ft3. It's your body trying to tell you that you are either over doing it and/or malnourished.

It's not unusual and can take months to recover from dieting/fasting/competing. Tbh I wouldn't treat it with T3 or any other medication. Best way is to increase carbs and wait how it affects. There are so many I know I have been in that situation and it eventually normalised after increasing carbs. Unfortunately it also means it might not be possible to compete. But that's what I would do and let my body heal naturally unless you have autoimmune thyroid issues.

[TIJJ]

Thank you very much !!

[Angel_of_the_North]

Often, over dieting and exercising (as you have to for a show) causes low T3 (and sometimes low cortisol and other problems as well). I never recovered from my competition days - it's a very unhealthy life style. If you stop now (which will mean ditching any upcoming shows), you may be able to reverse it by eating a more normal diet and going back to very easy exercise - 3 x full body for no more than 45 mins or upper/lower body split (ie 4 days a week) for no more than 30 mins - no cardio.

I took a T3 analogue to get through the show - after it I put on 3 stone in 6 weeks and have never been right since - also had other pituitary problems. not saying that's what will happen to you, but be aware that your body and brain are not happy with how they are being treated and will rebel.