Anyone ever done an RMR test?

[JonnyA]

For a long time, long before being diagnosed with hypothyroidism, I’ve felt like I had an issue with my metabolism. Yes in terms of how my body regulates weight, but also in terms of my energy levels and the way I feel in general throughout the day.

I’ve decided to pay for an RMR (Resting Metabolic Rate) test on Monday to try and either validate or disprove my theory. I’m not too sure of the science behind it, but I believe the calculations are made based on readings from oxygen and CO2 in your breath.

Has anyone on here ever had one of these, and did it reveal a suppressed metabolism?

[nellie237]

No, but hopefully somebody else can comment. Please let us know how you get on though.

[radd]

JonnyA,

How can your RMR be accurately measured when your thyroid hormones levels are still being optimised , and even when optimised it can takes several months/years for biochemistry to catch up depending upon level of deficiency of thyroid hormones & duration of deficiency?

Also, other health issues and life style will be contributory factors dictating metabolic rate and how calories are utilised. They will blind you with science about carbohydrates vs. burning fats but you can easily research all this with a keto diet (which I don’t wholly agree with in combo with hypo but investigations are on going 😁).

How hypothyroidism is managed will dictate weight loss and energy levels and the way we feel in general throughout the day, but due to its insidious nature most will feel the reprecussions of hypothyroidism long before it is diagnosed. In my mind the RMR is really only useful for astronauts striving for peak physical fitness.

[JonnyA in reply to radd]

Honest answer, I don’t know. All I know is I’ve spent the last three years going out of my mind trying to establish why I cannot maintain a steady weight despite installing a gym in my house and working out 6 times a week.

It’s sending me crazy and I’m looking for answers and validation that will allow me to get through to the next day - I’ve been passionately suicidal for the best part of three years despite my working life being as successful as it’s ever been.

I have two beautiful kids and I am doing my best to live for them. Honestly, I’ve felt so ill these last few years if it was purely about me I’d have been long gone, absolutely no doubt about it.

I just want to know, for my own sanity, if my biology matches up with what I feel psychologically. Is that wrong? I don’t know.

I’m struggling. I want to be the husband and father I always planned to be but I am absolutely shattered. I am the sole provider and life insurance aside I know that if I leave this earth that I leave a massive problem behind me and that’s just not fair on my family. I have so much to live for but so little energy to live it with.

I feel dead already. I really do.

[radd in reply to JonnyA]

As said previously I am so sorry to hear you are going through this JonnyA.

You have had a rough ride the last few years. However, it doesn’t change the fact that both hypothyroid mental & physical symptoms are notorious for lagging behind good biochemistry, and the severity & duration dictated by how long we remained undiagnosed.

If we consider the long duration it takes to get into the terrible physical & mental states we do, it makes sense it’s gonna take a good while to get out. Nobody on this forum is here because they have always felt well. The forum provides a relatively safe place to vent, chat, and to seek, receive and offer hopefully balanced & sound suggestions made by many members contributing knowledge founded from their own rough experiences.

Sometimes the enormity of chasing well-being can appear overwhelming on top of the mental & physical changes we suffer, so go back to basics because you haven’t been medicating that long. Is your biochemistry good? Are iron & nutrients good? Are cortisol levels adequate? What are circadian patterns like, ie are you getting adequate sleep/rest?. Are you eating enough calories & protein in your diet? Are you managing stress levels? Sometimes even accomplishing good biochemistry still isn’t enough and we have to dig deeper. Reread replies to your previous posts because you have received some good advice. I myself explained about common blood sugar issues & male sex hormone irregularities which can inhibit weight loss.

I think a gym work out six days a week could be counterproductive both mentally & physically whereas replacing some sessions with more gentle/mindful yoga/walking/reading could be helpful. Maybe activities with your children, ie gardening, painting, insect hunts, etc will do more for your health than failed gym sessions because your physical body isn’t ready for it yet.

It is worth noting that T3 is known as a neurotransmitter as well as a hormone, like adrenaline and many others. These have huge influence on not only physical energy levels and how we burn fat but how we function mentally, our stress responses and impulse control, and can dictate our moods.

Your thyroid hormones are working on a level where you are able to read & articulate so think of your journey in chunks of small challenges. I found writing notes on the next ‘project’ helped me navigate my own journey, whether it was adopting a g/f diet, trialing Ashwaghanda or getting some genetic test organised. Just being actively progressive helped me manage my own depression and stay focussed on the end goal of well-being. Also noting how you feel because many symptoms just disappear as insidiously as they arrived, and sometimes we fail to notice how well we are doing or how far we have already come 😊

[Frodo in reply to JonnyA]

Sorry to hear this. Presume you've addressed any issues with B12?

[Localhero]

Hey JonnyA

I’m curious to know how your test goes and what it tells you. Do keep us posted.

Meantime, I assume you already understand that your thyroid function controls your metabolism? In fact, you might say that your thyroid IS your metabolism. So, it stands to reason that, if your thyroid hormones are not yet optimised, your metabolism will still be underperforming.

I’m a woman, but I do empathise greatly with what you’re going through. I used to be able to weight train four times a week and was in good shape. But as my thyroid really started to fail, I put weight on and no amount of gym work made any difference. Actually, when I began to take Levothyroxine at first, I put even more on, and then could not workout at all. The hardest thing to accept was that my old ways of keeping fit etc were no longer working and that I was going to have to look elsewhere for answers.

In the last two years, I’ve deliberately put on hold any ambitions I might have had about losing weight etc, and I’ve made being well my goal, believing that, when I’m well, I’ll have the energy to focus on other things, and indeed that weight gain etc might start to sort itself out. It has been hard to accept myself in a softer, fatter body than I have been used to or indeed want. But I’ve tried to reason with myself that I’m playing a long game and that it’ll all get sorted in time.

It has taken me a long time to get my medication in a good place and I may have some tweaking yet to do. But I feel so much better now. Life is becoming less of an effort. I’m also able to do more regular walking. And my weight has stabilised.

I’m now tackling the next major thing that hypothyroidism affected: my gut health. I’ve been toying with the idea of intermittent fasting, but I’m forcing myself to take things one step at a time.

[Zephyrbear]

I’m sorry you’re going through such a tough time right now but I think many here will agree that the hypothyroid journey is not an easy, or quick one back to anything that resembled normality before. I was diagnosed with Hashimoto’s in 2004, but I believe my thyroid was being attacked probably as long as 10 years before that. The first sign was the weight gain… going from my normal weight of around 9.5 stone (being able to eat whatever I liked whenever I liked without it affecting my weight at all) to 12 stone and not being able to lose that no matter what I tried was soul-destroying. Being treated with T4 (up to 250mcg/day at one point) made no difference to either my weight or my mood and, like you, I didn’t want to be here anymore in spite of my 4 precious children and 1 gorgeous grandchild. Then my endo put me on T3 and my life changed completely! (I now take 50mcg of T3/day and just 25mcgT4/day which works for me) I got my brain back, lost the brain fog and could think and learn again. I went to university and got myself a BA(Hons) degree and started living again! Sadly, I’ve had to accept that the weight isn’t going anywhere and I have to live with that, but having said that, once you can accept that you can get on with living. By all means, do all you can to keep fit, but don’t make it the be all and end all of life! There is so much more out there to enjoy, especially with young kiddies around you! I wish you all the best. 🙂

[BrynGlas]

JonnyA, I have had the same problem, believe me. I was diagnosed hypo in 1999 and I was put onto Levothyroxine, which never worked. I have been lectured that I have to accept that my weight is my own fault!

Stop sitting and eating crap food while watching TV, it was all my own fault and I am now 69 years old.

If you are lowthyroid I would advise that you cancel the test next week and go back to learning about your hypothyroid treatment with a view to treating your hypothyroid yourself if the GP can't or won't help you.

You will get help from the Forum, and most of us are on here because we couldn't get the right treatment via the NHS.

I have got scars on my wrists and was last in ICU in June 2018 for a couple of weeks and then I had to sign myself out because they didn't want me to leave.

In 2019 I decided that I wasn't going to take this any longer. My GP was crap and still is. But I joined ThyroidUK and started to teach myself how to treat myself. It is not easy, but you will get a lot more satisfaction from taking that way than beating yourself up.

JONNY, IT IS NOT YOUR FAULT, IT IS NOT YOUR FAULT, IT IS VERY LIKELY THE CRAP

treatment you have had for your hypothyroism. If you go through this test next week, I don't think it will help you. It might, but you know you are hypo, so you probably have a slow metabolism. You already know that.

It will cost you a lot of money and you know the result before you have the test.

we understand and I still dread the scales each morning. Been there done that many times over. I lost my 2 daughters, and a husband along the way.

But you can find the right treatment for you, you can learn how to feel better.

Save the money for blood tests, supplements and text books. You will need it. For most of us, we have been through what you are going through, right now it is soul destroying I know.

And nothing makes sense, I have been the same.

Please, if you would like to talk to me, send me a PM and I can hopefully help you feel better.

I am the only person in my family who has hypothyroid and they all thought as I did, that I was taking the medication and of course everything would now get better, only it didn't and it didn't do a thing for me, but you are not alone.

And I now know that others are in the same boat. The good news is we are here to support you and each other through it JonnyA. I feel for you because I have been there.

[nellie237]

Hi JonnyA,

I've just re-read through this post, and thought you should hear from somebody who has managed to lose the weight, and kept it off for 5 years now.

I am female, and my normal weight is 9st 4lb. At my heaviest I was 13st, and I hated it. It took me a few years to shift the weight....a ton of salad.........and leaving the car at home and walking wherever I could.

I can't say that I've felt well since dx (2007), but getting the weight off has helped enormously. I do think that you need to give your body time to adjust to your meds before embarking on a serious exercise regime, but then hopefully it will work for you.