Hypothyroidism, metabolism & weightloss

I had my annual bloods done just before Christmas. Ranges way out. Tsh 18.0. In the last year I’ve had a lot of emotional stress. Everything slowed down, chronic pain, weight gain, fatigue. I’ve had three increases in my dosage. Since then I feel like a new person. I’ve lost nearly a stone in weight by doing nothing. Now I’ve got more energy and more get up and go, I’ve started exercising and eating better. This has now helped me further with weight loss. 

My weight and health in general has stabilised after being diagnosed hypothyroid about a year ago. Was started on 25mg, moved up to 50mg but the positive changes came when i was eventually put on 75mg last October. So gradual is better, and slowly the body catches up. Patience is needed!

Hi Brookie, I gained massive weight on the Levo due to the side effects. 

Thyroid disease makes weight management extremely difficult. For years I tried diets and would gain weight on them. Eventually I stumbled onto a very old diet book written by a medical doctor in the 1970s that was incredibly helpful. Unfortunately I don’t remember the name of the book.

My point is that you have to try different things, read as much as you can, and see what works for you.

When I did lose weight, it literally took months of serious dieting with hard core cardio before I got results. Then two months later, the weight started coming off. I learned that I could not rely on traditional calorie counts (had to go much lower), had to maintain even when I felt like it wasn’t working, and I need a lot of exercise.  With thyroid disease, during the times you’re diligent but feel like you aren’t making progress, you could actually be preventing yourself from gaining  weight. 

You’ll find you hit plateaus, just stay diligent. You could try letting up on the weight training a little. I’ve found cardio to be most effective for weight loss, and I’ve found longer cardio sessions to be far more effective. An hour and fifteen minutes to an hour and a half seems to bump my metabolism a lot more than the usual hour. (This was when I was younger and before the massive autoimmune problems caused by the Levo. Now it’s a very slow recovery for me.)

Once I’ve lost the weight, I pick up the light weights (high reps) and polish things off.

Thanks, everyone! Sounds like it varies with each individual and I just have to take my time and see what happens. Since I just started on the medication my doctor advised that I will need to come back in 6 weeks for more blood work, so perhaps by then I’ll see something on the scale. My life of dieting can be maddening, so I was happy to get the diagnosis (obviously it would be better if I didn’t have the issue to begin with, but knowing that there is a medical reason behind the difficulties was a relief), and I’m eager to see how/if it changes things. But I’ll take the advice and be patient. Thanks again!