Hypo diet books?

[Thyroidfat2018]

Hi - keep piling on the pounds and desperate to loss some fat / possible water retention.....!

Any suggestions on books to help?

Thank you

[SeasideSusie Remembering]

Thyroidfat2018

It's not a diet book you need, it's healthy eating and being optimally medicated thyroid-wise.

Do you have your latest thyroid test results? Please post them, with their reference ranges, and members can comment. Ideally you need

TSH

FT4

FT3

Thyroid antibodies

Vit D

B12

Folate

Ferritin

FT3 is rarely done but is essential because T3 is the active hormone which every cell in our bodies need. Low T3 will make weight loss extremely difficult.

[Thyroidfat2018 in reply to SeasideSusie]

I'll have to look them out, had bloods done about two months ago, but TSH had gone up from around 1 to almost 3 (I think)….GP said everything is fine, but I can't lose weight and just add Ilbs weekly it seems.... I feel really crap! I've made an appt to see GP again next week.... don't think they will repeat bloods though as they don't like to spend money on blood tests!

I will look out my results and post them... thanks for your help :0)

[SeasideSusie Remembering in reply to Thyroidfat2018]

Thyroidfat

A TSH of 3 is too high. The aim of a treated hypo patient generally is for TSH to be 1 or below or wherever it needs to be for FT4 and FT3 to be in the upper part of their respective reference ranges when on Levo if that is where you feel well.

TSH on it's own is useless, it's not a thyroid hormone, FT4 and FT3 are the thyroid hormones. TSH is a signal from the pituitary for the thyroid to produce hormone when it detects there's not enough.

If you can't get those tests done with your GP then you might want to do what hundreds of us here do and that is test with one of our recommended private labs. The tests mentioned above are covere by the following

Medichecks medichecks.com/thyroid-func... - 20% discount until the end of October with code MED99

Blue Horizon bluehorizonmedicals.co.uk/t...

[SlowDragon Administrator]

Official NHS guidelines saying TSH should be between 0.2 and 2.0 when on Levothyroxine

(Many of us need TSH nearer 0.2 than 2.0 to feel well)

See box

Thyroxine replacement in primary hypothyroidism

pathology.leedsth.nhs.uk/pa...

For full Thyroid evaluation you need TSH, FT4, FT3 plus TPO and TG thyroid antibodies and also very important to test vitamin D, folate, ferritin and B12

Low vitamin levels are extremely common when under medicated and still hypothyroid. Regularly testing and supplementing to improve often key to helping thyroid hormones work better

Private tests are available. Thousands on here forced to do this as NHS often refuses to test FT3 or antibodies or vitamins

thyroiduk.org.uk/tuk/testin...

Medichecks Thyroid plus ultra vitamin or Blue Horizon Thyroid plus eleven are the most popular choice. DIY finger prick test or option to pay extra for private blood draw. Both companies often have money off offers.

All thyroid tests should ideally be done as early as possible in morning and fasting. When on Levothyroxine, take last dose 24 hours prior to test, and take next dose straight after test. This gives highest TSH, lowest FT4 and most consistent results. (Patient to patient tip, GP will be unaware)

Is this how you do your tests?

If antibodies are high this is Hashimoto's, (also known by medics here in UK more commonly as autoimmune thyroid disease).

About 90% of all hypothyroidism in Uk is due to Hashimoto's.

Low vitamins are especially common with Hashimoto's. Food intolerances are very common too, especially gluten. So it's important to get TPO and TG thyroid antibodies tested at least once .

Link about thyroid blood tests

thyroiduk.org/tuk/testing/t...

Link about antibodies and Hashimoto's

thyroiduk.org.uk/tuk/about_...

thyroiduk.org.uk/tuk/about_...

List of hypothyroid symptoms

thyroiduk.org.uk/tuk/about_...

[greygoose]

Probably water-retention - mucin, to be exact, and diet books won't help it. If you adopt a low-calorie diet, you will just make things worse because it will negatively impact your conversion.

I think you're just under-medicated to be still putting on weight. Do you have copies of your labs?

[KCag]

The #1 thing you need to do in order to prevent weight gain is understand calories. Not everybody needs to eat 2000kcal per day. For example, a 5 foot tall 120lb woman who doesn't exercise only actually needs around 1500kcal per day.

You need to know how many calories you expend every day, and eat that amount. If you want to lose weight, you need to eat less than that. Use this calculator (sailrabbit.com/bmr/) to work out your "TDEE" - your "Total Daily Energy Expenditure". If you are not sure how much exercise you get, just start by assuming your activity level is "sedentary". Then, use an app such as MyFitnessPal to record your calorie intake, and weigh yourself every week or so in the morning before you've had anything else to eat.