Hello, this forum has been so helpful, I’m wondering if you may have some advice. I’m embarrassed to say that I now find myself “obese”. I’m 68, work part time, walk, as far as my lower back pain will allow doing 4-5000 steps regularly. Ive just had TSH results of 5.1 and TSH Free 12.9. Haemoglobin A1c is 39, so not diabetic. Waiting on GP tel call - presume my Levo dosage of 125 will be increased and hope that will help me lose a little weight.
I’ve been reading of diet pills / obese / diabetes. Is anyone using these, via GP/Endo or over the counter. Has it been successful ? Thank you
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Shower90
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I lost 7 stone over 4 years ago by following a low carb diet I was heading for a wheelchair. I have fibro, arthritis in my knees joint hypermobility. My diet was poor and my exercise non existent. I dropped bread, rice potatoes, pasta, refined sugar. I ate as much fresh healthy food as possible. Increasing fruit, veg, protein and healthy fats.
I'm very sensitive to sugar and I was eating far too much. The weight dropped off. I also started walking ,gradually building up. As I lost weight I felt more mobile, more energetic, I was in less pain. I got a GP referral to the council gym and that helped me lose more and maintain it.
Maybe you are eating too much for your current metabolism or maybe you are sensitive to carbs and sugar. A tip my GP gave me was to download an app like My FitnessPal and record everything you eat and drink for a week.
Everyone and I mean everyone underestimates how much they eat, in the region of around 30% or around 200 calories a day. Which mounts up. The app will track how many calories you are eating as opposed to what we think we are.
I wonder if something like swimming or yoga would help you exercise and help your back. Walking is good but it's not always intensive enough to help weight loss. Unless you walk fast enough to get out of breath and a bit warm and sweaty. I would also suggest weight bearing exercises or using light weights to add muscle mass. Muscle burns calories even at rest. You can use tin cans or bottles of water to do some exercises at home.
Diet pills can help but they often have side effects, sometimes very unpleasant ones, Orlistat, which you can buy, gives really bad diahorrea if you eat fat. They are a short term fix, they don't help with the underlying reasons for weight gain, often once you come off them the weight piles back on.
Some have been linked with serious medical problems like heart attacks and stroke and withdrawn. Personally I would prefer not to use them.
I agree with Sparkling Sunshine & Seaside Susie and would like to add. I lost a lot of weight on low carb and kept it off for many years and my health improved a lot. I think it's because it removes all the things out of our diet that's not very good for ppl with low thyroid.
Those apps are very good - I use my fitness pal and have a fitbit and when you don't feel strong enough to do much of anything, I would suggest you stick youtube on the TV with some of your favorite music and soon you'll be bopping around to the beat try for 250 steps an hour - which is just less than one song...and build it up from there.
Before considering diet pills (and I'm not really sure they're a good idea), you need to get your thyroid levels optimal. You are obviously very undermedicated with a TSH of 5.1, not sure how low FT4 is because you haven't given a reference range but I expect it's low. So your FT3 will also be low and it's low T3 that makes weight loss difficult.
Do you always take your Levo as we advise - on an empty stomach, one hour before or two hours after food, with water only, and water only for one hour each side. Also, any other medication and supplements should be at least 2 hours away from Levo, some need 4 hours. This all ensures that nothing affects Levo's absorption.
Are you nutrient levels optimal - Vit D, B12, folate and ferritin? These need to be optimal for thyroid hormone to work properly.
I expect you will be given an increase of 25mcg when you speak to your GP. Please make sure that you are retested in 6-8 weeks to check your levels, you may need a further increase depending on what they are. You need to get TSH, FT4 and FT3 all tested at the same time. It's doubtful whether your GP can get FT3 added, in which case you may want to consider getting the full tests yourself like many of us here do.
MonitorMyHealth do TSH, FT4 and FT3 for £26.10 with a fingerprick test, details here:
It is an NHS lab so your GP should accept the results even if he doesn't like the fact that you've tested privately.
Ask your GP to check your nutrient levels too, if he can't or wont get all those done we have recommended labs that will do the full thyroid panel plus vitamins.
I agree with Seaside Susie, first make sure your thyroid is sufficiently well medicated then think about the weight. There was someone on Radio 4 this morning talking about research which shows weight gain seems not to be related to calories etc. Studies done with twins showed that it's what each individual eats, not how much nor how much exercise is done, that affects storage of fat, that it's to do with microbiomes. I think it's possible that when our thyroid function is good it affects the microbiomes, especially as absorption in some people is definitely better when properly medicated. Sorry, I seem to have gone on a bit but just wanted to send a bit of information that seems valid and relevant.
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