any advice please?

[les121]

im on 125 thyroxin daily.... 7 weeks ago i really buckled down and cut out any sweet stuff crisp and white bread...ate very healthy and strict with my diet like never before....but i dont seem to have lost much weight at all ...no one has commented on me looking different ...is there anything else i can do after all im doing the very thing that most people would lose plenty of weight....quite fed up of this really...nothing seems to change...

[PinkNinja]

It might be that you are not quite adequately medicated. I cannot lose weight no matter how hard I try. I eat healthily and I am very active. I even did a 3 hour karate session at the weekend. The good news is that, now that I am getting close to my optimum thyroid hormone replacement dose, I do seem to be losing a little water and I'm not gaining anymore. Spareribs posted about oedema due to hypothyroidism which doesn't go until you are no longer hypothyroid. Mostly it's water with some of substances called mucin and hyaluronic acid.

Eating healthily won't hurt and you may find you do lose weight, just more slowly than a lot of people. If you are losing something it is definitely worth persevering with it. I know it's frustrating (I'm in the same place as you at the moment) but try not to compare yourself to others. You are fighting a different battle to them and are doing very well considering. You are doing all the right things

Do you have your latest thyroid test results? If you can post them on here someone will be able to say whether you might benefit from an increase in dose of thyroxine.

Other things to look into are iron, vitamin B12, folate and vitamin D. It doesn't hurt to take a good B vitamin complex and a high dose vitamin B12 supplement but you need to get your iron checked to make sure it's not already at the high end before supplementing with iron. If you have deficiencies or insufficiencies in any of the above, this could be hampering your weight loss.

I hope that helps a little. You might want to take a look at the main Thyroid UK website for more info, especially the page about supplements for hypothyroidism thyroiduk.org.uk/tuk/treatm...

Carolyn x

[les121 in reply to PinkNinja]

Thankyou Carolyn .......my last bloods i had done said i was borderline aneamic so was prescribed 600mg of iron a day for 3 month which ive not taken....but why would iron make a diff to weight loss? xx

[Hidden in reply to les121]

if you are deficient in anything you body will try and keep hold of everything to help - just my take on things.

Low vitamins and minerals go hand in hand with low Thyroid function and low metabolism - it's all in the mix to get better (& then be a 'normal' weight). After having half my Thyroid out I gained 2 stone straight away (no difference in diet or exercise). J

[Hidden in reply to Hidden]

My post Carloyn was referring to is here (Myxoedema)

thyroiduk.healthunlocked.co...

[PinkNinja in reply to Hidden]

Thank you. I've been in and out all evening and didn't have time to search. I finally get chance to sit down for half an hour now before going to bed

[PinkNinja in reply to les121]

iron is essential for your cells to be able to use thyroid hormones, as are vitamin B12 and folic acid. All three tend to be low in hypothyroid patients. It is worth taking the iron if you can tolerate it. It is important to take vitamin C and fiboflavin (vitamin B2) as well to encourage absorption. B2 is found in most B vitamin complexes and also in marmite and other foods.

Your blood results might look fine but the problem might be that you aren't being able to use the thyroid hormones in your cells very well due to your anaemia. If this is the case, your body won't be burning energy nearly as efficiently as it should be, therefore you won't lose weight.

I hope that explains it a little bit.

Carolyn x

[greygoose]

It always worries me when people say they are eating 'healthily'. It often means they are doing things that really aren't very healthy at all, like cutting out sugar but using aspartam instead. Or cutting out all fat, which really isn't good. I'm not saying you do that! lol But it's just a knee-jerk reaction.

Yes, Carolyn is right. To lose weight you need to be treated optimally (is that a word?), meaning that you need to have your levels in the right place for YOU, not just 'in range'.

Myself, I can put on weight or lose it in the blink of an eye - even though doctors say that's impossible! - just by altering my dose. Once, when the pharmacist made a mistake and gave me 75 levo instead of 175 (and I was too stupid to check!), I put on 14 kilos in one month! And it took me ages to lose it because, of course, my doctor wouldn't increase my dose enough to allow me to lose it. Just going back to 175 wasn't enough because 175 wasn't enough in the first place! (Oh, I could write a book about that idiot!!! lol)

Grey