Lean muscle, raised metabolism and feeling warm all the time (further points added at the end)

[Danielj1]

ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articl...

I am now about 6 months into a longer term project (with a sports nutritionist) to sort out my long term health issues around inflammation, insulin resistance, metabolism, energy levels, sleep and well being.

One part of that is that for me I have done a very high level of resistance training, pilates and weight training - not something I would ever have considered in the past. I have been asked to cut right back on long distance running to reduce cortisol and balance other male hormones.

One incredibly unexpected result is that i have morphed from someone who was constantly cold, even to the extent of fingers going white at times and always the first to need a jumper etc to now being constantly warm - being the last to put on a jumper and always needing to switch any sort of heating down vs. the rest of the family. It is truly astonishing.

There are a ton of videos on you tube about raising lean muscle and metabolic health (more technical article attached above).

This has led me to understand that the exercise element done correctly is vitally important to provide a longer term solution to our hypo issues.

I post this really only to give hope that answers are possible to some of the most annoying hypo issues - this all changed about 3 months ago and feeling warm is now a default position every day.

Life changing to be honest and more fun than losing weight which was my original target which has proved more elusive as I have put on a ton of muscle with a higher protein diet

PART 2 (to pick up on some questions below)

I have been a very slow learner as I am ex-highly competitive distance runner who at my peak used to run 50-60 miles a week. So to have any chance of building back up from close to zero exercise i did the following:

1. For 6 months prior to working with this coach I only did pilates and yoga and next to no aerobic exercise as I could not tolerate it

2. I moved from a high carb to high protein diet and all the post exercise DOMS miraculously disappeared

3. I finally listened to all the good advice on this board about b9/b12/d3 that i had not felt was sufficient priority but now realise it is critical to maintain high energy after exercising and avoid a "crash"

4. Pilates and resistance training for me keeps my HR rate down under 120 bpm or zones 1 to 2 which is very gentle aerobic mainly fat burning and creates next to no cortisol- much as gentle walking or cycling does

5. I stopped all zone 3-4 training which is what i call brisk 5-10 mile running that is still broadly aerobic but creates a ton of cortisol - ruins sleep, creates huge blood sugar swings and mental stress that means weight management becomes very difficult

6. All zones 5-6 HIIT running sprint intervals have been stopped entirely for past 6 months although i did a really quick session for the first time last week and had 2 days of sore legs and felt down in the dumps - I may have to give up 5km racing for the rest of my life sadly not through desire but risks to my physical health

7. So if you looked at my photo now, I am super fit and lean with little fast running pace but i can walk and cycle for hours (zone 1 low HR) and have very low cortisol and can sleep for 6 hours plus rather than 3-4 hours for months when I had very high cortisol (re point 6 above)

i have learnt so much in the past 6 months, for me cortisol is by far the biggest enemy (testosterone and the other hormones I think are all fine) - and I have never felt better in my life. I have not lost much weight yet, but have a ton of energy for daily tasks due I think to improved mitochondria/lean muscle and metabolism.

this is all very new stuff for me, so fine if you have a ton of comments, but i am not a sports nutritionist and plan to keep going for another 6 months to hopefully to get to a point that I can move to zones 3,4,5 and 6 i.e high HR running without the comensurate rise in cortisol.

Hope this helps!

[Regenallotment]

interesting isn’t it. Once you get diet and nutrition, physiological stress and exercise right things start moving in the right direction.

I had this experience earlier in the summer but unfortunately it was followed by palpitations and loose bowels and finally the penny dropped when my blood test showed up FT4 was 27 and FT3 10. Turns out all my hard work resolving my root causes meant my need for T4/T3 altered.

Eric Balcavage most recent Thyroid Answers podcast had some linkages to this. I hadn’t realised my need for replacement would change dramatically as I fixed the root causes of my autoimmune thyroiditis.

Ride the wave, sounds like a nice place to be. 🌱

[greygoose in reply to Regenallotment]

Are you sure it was your hard work and not a Hashi's 'hyper' swing? Those numbers look suspiciously like one.

[Regenallotment in reply to greygoose]

Bit of both maybe this was July and I’m still lowering doses slowly. How long is a swing likely to go on for?

[greygoose in reply to Regenallotment]

Absolutely no way of knowing. Could be a short while, could be a long while, and probably varies from person to person.

[Serendipitious in reply to Regenallotment]

Just wanted to say how brilliant Dr Eric Balcavage is. Hope you get to the bottom of it all.

[Regenallotment in reply to Serendipitious]

I find the podcasts can drag on a bit but I have a long commute to work so the odd soundbite sticks and is memorable. Some of the guests don’t seem to be as knowledgeable as he is which makes me giggle, he has to drive the discussion along with challenging questions. Did you hear the Bianco one. Definitely one of his best. 🌱

[Serendipitious in reply to Regenallotment]

I find his Instagram posts and what he teaches there incredibly inspiring and insightful. He explains a lot of thyroid physiology there. I haven’t heard the Bianco one. He’s also a thyroid expert? I expect that would make for an interesting conversation. However I’d definitely recommend his Instagram posts.

[SmallBlueThing in reply to Serendipitious]

Bianco should be able to give a chiropractor a run for his money.

biologicalsciences.uchicago...

[Pearlteapot]

Thanks for this really interesting and encouraging post.

Do you know why resistance training doesn't raise cortisol in the same way as running? ( I need to raise my cortisol so interested from the opposite point of view.)

[Serendipitious in reply to Pearlteapot]

I think the answer here is why is your cortisol so low in the first place. It’s merely a symptom of a bigger picture. If you have Addison’s that needs to be treated by a medical doctor as for anything else it can be a compensation mechanism. Often the body isn’t broken it’s adaptive physiology and that’s where somebody trained in functional medicine or nutritional therapy can help put the puzzle together. I imagine if you trend low overall than you need to be careful with any exercise.

[Danielj1 in reply to Pearlteapot]

it all links to intensity and how much it raises your heart rate - very high intensity training for example raises a ton of cortisol, my resistance training is done quite slowly but I do get if you turn it into a HIIT type session it may raise cortisol and HR more

[WaystarRoyco]

Very interesting. Were you someone who was able to exercise before being diagnosed with hypothyroidism? And/or how did you get into it? I used to love exercising but now can’t without getting PEM. I really need to change my body composition…

[Pearlteapot in reply to WaystarRoyco]

what is PEM?

Post exercise malaise?

[WaystarRoyco in reply to Pearlteapot]

Post exertional malaise. Comes from overdoing things in general, not just exercise, but that is where it hits me worst.

[Danielj1 in reply to WaystarRoyco]

will add a number of comments to the original post to address this...

[WaystarRoyco in reply to Danielj1]

Thank you

[Danielj1 in reply to WaystarRoyco]

overall message above you need to get supplements, diet, muscle strength and flexibility and exercise intensity all spot on...not a 5 minute job but for me a 12 month job !!

[WaystarRoyco in reply to Danielj1]

Thanks for adding in all the extra details in your original post. That’s really interesting. I listened to a few podcasts by Dr Gabrielle Lyons recently and really understood the point about muscle’s importance to health so have been trying to figure how to regain some of mine, so far without much success. Interesting that you’ve mainly stayed in zones 1 and 2 and that that avoids DOMS.

[Zazbag]

I have done very intense exercise (powerlifting and sprinting) and eaten healthily for years, had a high lean muscle mass etc and I still had freezing cold extremities until I increased my dose of thyroid hormones. I doubt you can credit the exercise and diet for your feeling of warmth. You might even be over-medicated.

[Danielj1 in reply to Zazbag]

Also bumped up D3/B9/B12 that were low. You may be right, but I am open to the view that lower cortisol and improved immune system is important too. Definitely not over-medicated based on recent blood test results. Whole point is that you I needed to do very gentle and not intense exercise as that is what had been causing all my issues.

[Zazbag in reply to Danielj1]

The amount of thyroid hormones in your blood don't necessarily equate to the amount reaching your cells. Better to go off of symptoms. Feeling excessively warm is a sign of over-medication.

[Danielj1 in reply to Zazbag]

Deffo will be mindful of your comment about dosing levels when i do the annual check- would not describe it as excessively warm - just lovely and warm eg hopefully more close to the normal that others feel most of the time- it feels wierd after >40 years of feeling cold much of the time...

[Aunds in reply to Danielj1]

It sounds like a treat to be warm, one I’m always aiming for, thanks your post is super encouraging

[BiscuitBaby in reply to Danielj1]

HiI find your post really interesting. I also used to run a lot before my diagnosis. Not competitively, just for fun!! I have never been able to get back to running any distance. 5k is my max and I have to have a few short walks. In the last 6 months I have added 3 yoga sessions and an extra strength session in the week. If I keep the weights not too heavy it's fine. I believe the yoga has had a big restorative impact on my health. My muscles feel in better condition and i get less aches. I agree that reducing stress hormone is vital to overall wellbeing. I have started breathing exercises and hypnotherapy to help with day to day stress. I now feel very sensitive to stress and start to feel horrible when I get stressed! That includes too much exercise! My dose has not changed in 6 months but my most recent bloods show an increase in both t4 and t3. The breathing and hypnotherapy are the only differences between the last 2 blood tests. I would like to lose a few kg but so far nothing has worked. It's now more important how I feel in myself not how I perform. How I performed was always more important. But this always meant I felt better. I've had to shift my mindset to heal my body to enable it to perform. I'm really interested to hear how you get on. I'm really pleased for you that you have something that works for you!

[Pearlteapot]

Thanks. That’s a super post. I was planning to try lifting again next week as I’ve got some time off work to get me going. Now I feel extra motivated.

[Billy2023]

Thank you. That is really interesting. I used to have eating disorders so even though I am OK now I still have habits that are ingrained in me. One of them being calorie burn cardo 6 times a week. I am not like you I'm only doing 45 mins exercise a time but it's swimming, running or stair master. But I am constantly cold. In winter it's a real problem for me as I love skiing and horse riding but my white fingers, raynalds, gets unbearable. I'm definitely going to take note of the weight training and see if it helps. And protien you say?

[Danielj1 in reply to Billy2023]

Hi Billy, I have put up a further post on cortisol as I think this is the trigger that fires off all the other issues that i was having about brain health, belly fat, feeling cold, poor metabolism etc etc. This shows a 26 step plan that may be way over the top for most but what seemed to have most effect for me of his 26 steps are: building lean muscle, vitamin and mineral supplements, high protein diet, remove all junk carbs. I still love coffee and will not be giving that up.

I do not want to be a naysayer but you may find for a while you need to give up all high intensity training and move back to walking 10k steps a day type stuff - I am being serious as I love the higher intensity stuff too and this has been the biggest bug bear of recovery.

All i will say is try it all and if it works then you decide what the triggers are....

[StanleyThyroid]

Great post. I am able to walk miles do pilates etc as you say with no problem. After being off a bike for a few years I am getting back into it to get some higher range exercise going, and push my heart rate up a bit.

On the subject of cold extremeties my doc cut my levo back significantly this year and cold feet especially had come back big time so I am working with my GP to get it up again. Aching muscles also came back big time so I think hormone levels drive these things as well.

[Amethist]

Wow, good for you 👍

[Noelnoel]

Your determination to understand and improve your condition is inspiring. Congratulations

[Brightness14]

All your hard work is paying off, great news.

[Peyret]

I too believe that daily exercise of a "Maffetone" nature is a crucial part of the management of my ("our"?) disease. Very curious how you measure you cortisol levels? Is this via saliva or blood?