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Any endo will tell you that just because you take a thyroid hormone doesn't mean your body will self correct and magically lose that extra weight. It is far more likely you will not lose.
Obesity is something that isn't really studied very well. Throw in the toxins and changes to our food supply and you can have metabolic changes that medicine is only beginning to acknowledge.
Believe whatever you want but best to keep it to yourself.
That is very true. I have Hashimoto's hypothyroidism. When diagnosed in 2002, I had a TSH of 125. My doctor was impressed I had not fallen asleep at the wheel on my way there I was certainly dragging enough....very fatigued, all the time.
I gained about 50 lbs over the three years prior to my diagnosis. I gained another 20 after my diagnosis, mostly because medication only regulates your thyroid, it doesn't give you magic weight loss.
I had lap-band surgery in 2011; I lost only 30 lbs., and that was with a very strict, low-carb diet, along with a personal trainer at Lifetime Fitness twice a week for 6 months.
In 2013, I began to have complications with my lap-band and was unable to eat even what I was supposed to. I was down to about 400-600 calories a day, and only then did I start to see the scale go down, about 2 lbs a week--sometimes 3. In 7 months' time, I was down another 50 lbs and finally got my band issues resolved. I was able to increase my calories to 1800-2000 a day, but I also knew by doing that, I was going to see gains. So, I began to walk with a friend, 3 times a week for about 10-12 miles total through the week at an 18:00 mile. Still gained about 10 lbs.
Now I'm running and training for the Disney 10K next Feb...I've gained a little more. I've gained a total of 35 lbs since my all-time low. It's been a frustrating thing.
People who don't know anything about thyroid disease or obesity just speculate, think fat people are just lazy, etc...but you never know what people are trying to do for themselves to be healthier.
It's hard to argue with the poster who said there is no obesity in countries with food shortages. It took me an inordinately low amount of calories to really begin to lose. Unfortunately, my hair and skin became affected, too, but yeah...overall, that's spot on. Not that I condone starvation, because I don't.
My goal is to stay at around 210. I'm nearly 6 feet tall, so, that's a realistic and healthy place for me. Hopefully I will be there again soon, but I'm going to have to cut my calories down to about 1000-1200, along with the running (and kettlebells) if I want to see losses again.
Everyone is different, but I think this whole 2000+ calories a day thing is nonsense for most. Some people do not need anywhere near that to function. That number was set a long time ago. We work in cube farms and behind desks. We really don't need that much.
In this day and age, it seems like every fat person makes excuses for their weight and claim they don't eat a lot. Obesity is glamorized these days and I don't understand why. I'm not saying we should make fun of fat people, but accepting that it's okay and healthy to be overweight is not okay.
Why does every fat person claim they have a thyroid issue or can't lose weight no matter what they do? Not everyone can be stick thin, but being obese is not natural. I think a very small percentage of people are fat because of a thyroid problem or other medical condition. Most of them are fat because they just eat too much.
Very few people were fat 100 years ago, so I refuse to believe that suddenly we have all these thyroid issues that are making us fat. Do you agree or do you think I'm being too insensitive?
Probably because they're overweight for a reason. If losing weight were easy, we'd all be skinny. I am certain that weight loss is different for different people. That it's more difficult for some and easier for others. I used to be rail thin. Back then I could eat anything and lose weight. All I had to do to "diet" was stop eating after 7:00 PM and I'd lose weight no matter how much I ate during the day. Now, I can starve myself and gain. Could I lose? Sure if I wanted to torture myself but I don't care to live hungry all the time. You tell me what changed from the day when I could eat a Whopper for lunch every day and stay skinny to eating salads and staying fat? If my weight were a product of my eating habits, I would have been a whole lot fatter when I was younger.
I have two dd's. Dd#1 thinks nothing of making herself 3 or 4 packs of Ramen noodles or eating 2 cans of Chef Boy R Dee Ravioli for a snack. Her cereal bowl is a mixing bowl (I'm not kidding). She loves fast food (her typical taco bell order is a nacho supreme, 2 chicken Quesadilla's (sp?) and two taco supremes with a large soft drink) and she never works out. She's skinny (like I was when I was young). Dd#2 watches every calorie, eats salads for lunch, gets her fruits and vegetables (dd#1 wouldn't touch a vegetable that isn't corn or cucumbers or a fruit that isn't watermelon or a banana with a 10 foot pole), works out 5 times a week, is on the swim team and the cheer team and you guessed it, she struggles with her weight. She wants to be a flier but she's a base because of her weight.
My best friend in high school restricted herself to 700 calories a day until it put her in the hospital and never lost a pound. Unfortunately, once they got her eating normally, she gained 10. She did finally lose weight with bariactric surgery (because they removed a lot of her small intestine) but that made her sick (she has trouble with vitamin deficiencies) but she's still overweight. Just not as much as she was before.
I don't know why some people can eat anything they want and not gain, like me when I was younger and dd#1 now, while others diet all the time and can't lose, like me now and dd#2, but I know that is the case so if someone tells me they have a thyroid condition or just can't lose weight, I believe them.
I know we're all different. One of the tactics I've tried is weight watchers. If I follow the program religiously, stay at the bottom of my range and NEVER go over (for me the biggest obstacle to weight loss is that I can NEVER go over on my calories. I will gain if I do. Period.), I lose about half a pound a week. However, it is so discouraging to go week after week and hear about people who lost 5 pounds a week or 10 pounds a week and they get applauded...I'm sure it has something to do with my thyroid problem (diagnosed by a doctor so I know I actually have one) but I don't get why treatment hasn't resulted in me being able to lose weight. People TELL me that it's not my thyroid because I'm on medication. It amazes me how others know my metabolism better than I do.
I've been on both ends and my conclusion is that most skinny people are skinny because of their metabolisms and most fat people are fat because of their metabolisms. Are there skinny people who are skinny because they starve themselves? Sure. Are there fat people who are fat because they over eat? Sure. But I'm not sitting in judgment because I don't know what it's like to live in their bodies. I suppose if my metabolism had never changed, I'd be claiming how easy it is to be skinny because it was for me. I know better now.
Last edited by Ivorytickler; 07-02-2014 at 05:22 PM..
Many many thanks for this information. Things just aren't the same today.
OP how many times have you been pregnant? How many children have you given birth to (not always the same as being pregnant), how many times have you been through menopause? How many divorces have you experienced? How many hysterectomies have you had? How many tiimes have you broken your foot or leg and been laid up for months? How many times have you had cancer? How many car accidents have you been in? How many parents, spouses, siblings or children have you buried? How many times have you nursed a dear one through a debilitating illness? How many times have you been unemployed and worried about losing your home to foreclosure?
In other words--how much have you lived? Any one of the above is enough to make a person gain weight and prevent them from losing it in a timely manner. Sometimes life can make you fat...but I doubt it will happen to you cause you have all the answers, don't you!
I've never had any of those things happen to me and I do feel for people who are going through emotional distress and gain weight. However, you have to be mentally stronger and not let yourself go.
Thank you for proving my point. Hyperthyroidism doesn't have to make people fat. Yes, you might have to work a bit harder to stay slim, but it's not impossible. It's just easier to make excuses than take control of your weight issues.
If anything you might lose BECAUSE you are hyper. HYPO makes it difficult to lose.
It's a shame you don't really want to do anything other than throw all obese people in the same category. I bet you didn't realize that many hypothyroid patients eat LESS than 1000 calories per day and exercise. They do this so they don't GAIN. They often do not even lose on this low number of calories.
I agree there are plenty of heavy people who have poor eating habits and that accounts for weight gain; but I hope you will try to open your mind to the idea that some people have very legit medical issues. And many of these same people will work out 5-7 days per week and eat as healthy as they can. And while I'm at it, let me throw in cortisol, which when elevated will cause weight gain.
Read up on things like BPA and gluten sensitivity. A good nutritionist will tell you any inflammation can affect the ability to lose weight. And gluten today is NOT the gluten of yesterday. Weight loss can be very complicated for some. It's not always calories in, calories burned.
Thank you for proving my point. Hyperthyroidism doesn't have to make people fat. Yes, you might have to work a bit harder to stay slim, but it's not impossible. It's just easier to make excuses than take control of your weight issues.
Hyperhyroidism makes you skinny. Hypothyroidism makes you fat. It slows your metabolism so that you burn fewer calories and have no energy. You're tired, your muscles ache and you want to sleep a lot. Your body starts storing calories it should be burning. I know a lot about hypothyroidism because I'm hypothyroid. It took almost a year for my TSH levels to stabilize and they stabilized high which means weight loss will continue to be very difficult (increasing my dosage doesn't change my TSH anymore so I'm stuck where I am. They're not sure what my body does with the excess if they up my dose but it doesn't use it.). Your TSH level should be between 1.0 and 3.0. Mine was 85.0 when I was diagnosed. I'm stable at 3.3 or 3.4 and they can't get it to go lower. Officially, I'm still hypothyroid even on the medication by the new standards (they used to consider anything below 5.0 normal but they figured out that people still struggle with weight above 3.0 so they lowered the target range).
Who are you to tell someone what is reasonable for them to do? Just because something isn't impossible doesn't mean it's reasonable.
I can lose weight if I go on about 1200 calories a day forever and never slip up (I gain as soon as I do). I will lose an average of about a half pound a week (after an initial 2-3 pound loss in the first week which is just water). I find that more than I care to do. I did it for six months and lost 12 pounds but life is not enjoyable when you have a headache from being hungry all the time and no energy and that was a lot of freaking work for all of 12 pounds.
The really sad thing is I'd weigh a lot less right now if I'd never dieted. It seems like I gain back what I lost with a few pounds extra every time I go off of a diet. I'm leaving well enough alone. I've stopped gaining and that is good. I doubt I'll ever lose anything permanently and I guess I'm just going to have to live with that. I'm not sure why this bothers you though. You're not me.
Last edited by Oldhag1; 07-02-2014 at 08:44 PM..
Reason: No rude icons
I always had a theory the obese got that way from eating too much meat that came from animals that were given growth hormones and steroids all their lives and processed foods and crops grown with certain chemicals. That and life is a lot more sedentary than it was in the old days when eating habits, including my own (too much butter, sausage, bacon etc.) were common.
I've never had any of those things happen to me and I do feel for people who are going through emotional distress and gain weight. However, you have to be mentally stronger and not let yourself go.
said the child.
You don't have a clue about any of this. years ago there was a reporter on TV in Atlanta. She was a perky little thing so full of herself on PM Atlanta. One night she was doing a show about food or dieting and she casually remarked "When I feel my jeans getting a bit tight all I do is cut back on the potatoes, rice and bread for a while and I'm right back to where I want to be." She married the guy who wrote Deliverance ( I think), Bill Diehl and he had a boatload of health problems. They never had children. The next time I saw her she was as big as a barn. I'm sure the stress of their life together had alot to do with it. I wondered if she remembered her skinny self and her flippant remark about how easy it was to lose weight.
If anything you might lose BECAUSE you are hyper. HYPO makes it difficult to lose.
It's a shame you don't really want to do anything other than throw all obese people in the same category. I bet you didn't realize that many hypothyroid patients eat LESS than 1000 calories per day and exercise. They do this so they don't GAIN. They often do not even lose on this low number of calories.
I agree there are plenty of heavy people who have poor eating habits and that accounts for weight gain; but I hope you will try to open your mind to the idea that some people have very legit medical issues. And many of these same people will work out 5-7 days per week and eat as healthy as they can. And while I'm at it, let me throw in cortisol, which when elevated will cause weight gain.
Read up on things like BPA and gluten sensitivity. A good nutritionist will tell you any inflammation can affect the ability to lose weight. And gluten today is NOT the gluten of yesterday. Weight loss can be very complicated for some. It's not always calories in, calories burned.
My cat, who is down to all of 6 pounds is hyperthyroid. She keeps losing no matter what I feed her. If I had to choose one, I'd chose hypo over hyper though. Too many health problems with hyper. I had a friend die of health issues related to hyperthyroidism a few years back. If she'd lived 6 months longer she would have met her first grand child...but she was skinny and that's what counts, right?
I hate that people fixate on weight instead of health. When my doctor starts about my weight I just look at her and remind her that she wishes her skinny patients had my blood pressure and RPR. She just shrugs. I'm active, my BP is good for my age and my RPR is low. I can run up two flights of stairs without getting winded.
Last edited by Oldhag1; 07-02-2014 at 08:46 PM..
Reason: No rude icons
You don't have a clue about any of this. years ago there was a reporter on TV in Atlanta. She was a perky little thing so full of herself on PM Atlanta. One night she was doing a show about food or dieting and she casually remarked "When I feel my jeans getting a bit tight all I do is cut back on the potatoes, rice and bread for a while and I'm right back to where I want to be." She married the guy who wrote Deliverance ( I think), Bill Diehl and he had a boatload of health problems. They never had children. The next time I saw her she was as big as a barn. I'm sure the stress of their life together had alot to do with it. I wondered if she remembered her skinny self and her flippant remark about how easy it was to lose weight.
Ah to be young again and know it all.
If you'd asked me at 25, I would have told you that weight loss is EASY because it was. At 55, it's gaining that's easy. I have a new goal in life. Eat healthy, work out and just be as healthy as I can be no matter what I weigh. I'm tired of starving to lose a little bit of weight I just gain right back as soon as I'm done dieting.
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I was certainly dragging enough....very fatigued, all the time.
My cat, who is down to all of 6 pounds is hyperthyroid. She keeps losing no matter what I feed her. If I had to choose one, I'd chose hypo over hyper though. Too many health problems with hyper. I had a friend die of health issues related to hyperthyroidism a few years back. If she'd lived 6 months longer she would have met her first grand child...but she was skinny and that's what counts, right? 