More and more overweight people blaming thyroids nowadays. (program, body, effects)
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Location: where you sip the tea of the breasts of the spinsters of Utica
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Quote:
Originally Posted by bluemoon75
Wow.. this thread is getting rather vicious. For those who encountered folks who like to blame their weight gain on thyroid or other medical issues, shame on them if they really don't have a condition and is using that to, I suppose feel better?
But there ARE some that do have the condition and has developed unexplainable weight gain over the years. I'd be one of them. I was diagnosed with T2 diabetes 4 years ago, and have stayed on a very strict very low carb diet (25-50g a day) to keep my numbers low. I don't bolus for my meals since I don't eat starches or sugars that would require them. I stick to good protein and lots of greens. I do not eat sweets, other than the occasional berries. And I exercise regularly. Earlier on, it produced weight loss, and I felt fantastic. Then about a year ago, things changed without any reason. I started gaining weight, I had brain fog and odd exhaustion that would pop up time to time, usually by the end of the day. And it wasn't until I saw an endo that he diagnosed me with Hashimotos. I've been on the hypo end of Hashimotos, with TSH in the 3-4s, but apparently not enough for my doctor to put me on meds. I've cut 1/3 of my food portions and tried to increase exercise. I'm still gaining. Will have to ask the doc to prescribe me meds when I see him next.
So, yes. There are some folks out there that DO take care of themselves, and the weight will STILL pile on. At least I have an explanation now, but it was driving me insane that it just popped out of the blue. There may be some that are un-diagnosed. My endo did the ultrasound and checked for antibodies. My primary doc, and no longer my doc, was never concerned about the TSH levels.
STILL. If you know you have the problem, you do need to address it. Eating poorly helps no one.
Have you tried reducing sodium intake? The way hypothyroidism affects me is through water weight gain - it's truly freaky at time how much my appearance can change as I gain or lose fluid. I was fat long before the thyroid problems, in fact since I was a year old, but the weight gain really accelerated when I started having those issues.
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The main way to tell if someone is using thyroid as a fad excuse (like the fad against gluten) is if they tell you they learned about it some other way than through actual lab tests.
I gain weight from mood stabilizers I have to take. Saying meds are the cause of weight gain isn't always a cop-out. I exercise 4-5 times a week, eat out a few times a week, but otherwise watch my weight and eat carefully. I don't say no to good food. If I eat a buffet, I know I'm going to gain weight, especially since I'm a small boned woman, so I eat really clean for two days to get back down. But if I start gaining weight unexpectedly, that's when the meds are a likely cause. I then have to speak to my doc to switch them around.
Fake to a cancer person you have cancer and I bet they are not amused about it either.
Why should I let fake thyroid people drag "my" disease through the mutt? So guys who might want to date me don't because they think all thyroid issue affected people get overweight the sooner or later?
{shrug} most guys I know aren't so ignorant.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Chemistry_Guy
No one likes to be deliberately deceived, myself included. I see lying as a form of disrespect. In my experience, many overweight people who claim to have a thyroid issue are not lying, they are self-diagnosing. They try to lose weight, but for whatever reason they are unsuccessful, so they associate their condition, correctly or incorrectly, on thyroid issues.
This is my experience as well. Its also my experience that people who have no idea about thyroid issues think it only is a weight issue. Its a medical issue. There are many impacts on the body, and weight is just one of them.
Most people don't even know the difference between hypo/hyper, graves, hashimotos or multinodular toxic thyroiditis.
And let's not forget, most overweight people didn't even see that thread because it's in the Exercise and Fitness section. It could have gone down much worse in the Food subforum.
Quote:
Originally Posted by st33lcas3
LOL, your post reminded me of this.
Wow. Could these two posts be any more ignorant and classless?
I have thyroid issues and I'm heavy. I was on psych meds, though, and they made me gain A LOT. Now I'm only treating my thyroid condition and I've lost 30 pounds, but I have more to go. I exercise and eat as healthy as I can.
Have you tried reducing sodium intake? The way hypothyroidism affects me is through water weight gain - it's truly freaky at time how much my appearance can change as I gain or lose fluid. I was fat long before the thyroid problems, in fact since I was a year old, but the weight gain really accelerated when I started having those issues.
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The main way to tell if someone is using thyroid as a fad excuse (like the fad against gluten) is if they tell you they learned about it some other way than through actual lab tests.
Hi Woof: The only time sodium had that much of an effect on me was when I had to live on cold cuts for some time. (long story) I do use salt, but not overwhelming in quantity. Although I have to wonder if it only affects my tummy. That is the only area that keeps expanding.
Hi Woof: The only time sodium had that much of an effect on me was when I had to live on cold cuts for some time. (long story) I do use salt, but not overwhelming in quantity. Although I have to wonder if it only affects my tummy. That is the only area that keeps expanding.
I use the un-iodized salt, the health food store salt. One thing that can cause fat gain around the gut is insulin resistance. Excess insulin causes the body to hold onto fat. Another thing is stress or an imbalance in adrenal hormones. If you experience anxiety, you may be chronically releasing adrenaline into the system. It's not healthy.
Or the tummy area for you is just genetic for weight gain, vs. hip and thigh area.
Humans aren't meant to be obese. Genetic obesity is extremely rare. Most obesity (99%) in this country is people that are just freaking lazy.
To be factual, it is dietary and a lot of that is now out our powers as the federal government and the FDA control that aspect of our lives. Are blacks or hispanics who develop diabetes lazy because the foods available to them are basically poison to their bodies? The same is true for most any other ethnicity moving to our country and eating the junk passed off as "food". Those living in poverty can't afford to eat that which doesn't consist of overprocessed wheat, sugars, oils and other good stuff. Sugars/sodium/fats are slipped into everything most people eat in ways one wouldn't believe.
Genetic obesity may be rare but the foods one eats erases that theory when several generations are eating the same foods, blowing up and getting ill. Lazy has nothing to do with it unless you are totally motionless. The workout routine of a 24 year old NFL player may not be enough.
It sure is easy to point at the target and assign blame with no remedy to right it.
What are GMOs and hormone laden animal flesh doing to our bodies?
Thanks for the info. I have 90% of all symptoms. wow.
I was diagnosed when I went to my doctor and said I had all the symptoms of depression. Except depression.
He said -- Oh, that's a blood test.
A week later I was on meds. Took almost two years to normal out -- the dosage I needed to take was too much of a hit for my body and gave me heart palpitations... I had to ease up to it, and then I needed a higher dosage and went through it all again.
It does make it harder to lose weight, because of the lack of energy, and your body is resistant to losing weight. Doesn't make it IMPOSSIBLE, but it does make it harder.
That's new one. I'd love to hear hte explanation behind that.
There isn't any explanation that I know of. It just that, as a matter of statistics, left-handed people are more likely to be hypothyroid than right-handed people. No one knows why. No one knows why people with prematurely gray hair are statistically more likely to be hypothyroid either.
The eyebrow thing could be chalked up to another version of thinning or brittle hair. My eyebrows are so obviously short in length, hairdressers have commented to me about it since I was a teenager. They would yell at me for "over-plucking." I would say, "I don't pluck them at all, they just never grew in." Now had those people added, "Then go get your thyroid checked," they might have saved me years of developing every other symptom on the list, too.
There is still MUCH to learn about thyroid problems of EVERY type. I actually had my thyroid checked many times in my life (because of my huge list of hypothyroid symptoms) only to be told my thyroid production measured "within the normal range." Then finally, the endocrinology board decided to re-think the measurement standards they had been using since the thyroid blood test was invented. Lo and behold, they decided their measures were WAY too narrow and they were changed. Still, there are many practicing physicians who are unaware of the new guidelines. I'm glad I finally met a doctor who knew about them because my life changed drastically with the addition of levothyroxine taken daily.
I know a lot of people will disagree with this, but in addition to the laypeople who mock low thyroid functioning as an excuse for obesity, there are a lot of doctors who are reluctant to test people for low thyroid functioning. Why? In my opinion it's because the majority of people who complain about the symptoms are middle-aged women. Some doctors are quick to write them off as whiners who are menopausal and just complaining about everything. Also, the symptoms of low thyroid are also the symptoms of many other diseases, so sometimes doctors look in the wrong place. Or if the patient has an existing serious condition like rheumatoid arthritis or Crohn's disease, for example, doctors just assume the symptoms are part and parcel of that disease progression.
If you take the Shomon test and come up with a score indicting you have thyroid issues. go to and endocrinologist. Don't expect the family doctor to diagnose this problem, even though many do.
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