July/August Weight Loss Challenge

[Catrin]

Have you been religious about taking your thyroid medicine and have you had your levels checked lately?

It does get checked regularly, but it is also true that sometimes I've trouble remembering to take it - that has got to be it! You would think after not having a thyroid for over 20 years that I wouldn't forget, but things have been busy...I will make certain I take it properly for awhile - if that is all it is then my levels will adjust properly. No point having them check the levels if I've not been taking it right - for then they will raise the dose for the wrong reason which only serves to cause further problems. Thanks for mentioning it!

[indysteel]

It does get checked regularly, but it is also true that sometimes I've trouble remembering to take it - that has got to be it! You would think after not having a thyroid for over 20 years that I wouldn't forget, but things have been busy...I will make certain I take it properly for awhile - if that is all it is then my levels will adjust properly. No point having them check the levels if I've not been taking it right - for then they will raise the dose for the wrong reason which only serves to cause further problems. Thanks for mentioning it!

Can you set a daily reminder on your iPhone. That's what I do with my BCP.

[limewave]

Catrin, I'm in a similar boat. I've been having issues too. Finally got checked and my adrenals are under stress and my liver is clogged. Which is causing anxiety, toxic build-up and other issues. And I haven't been good about taking my thyroid meds. My hair has been falling out, I haven't been sleeping well at night, my blood pressure drops when I stand up . . .

Anywho, I'm on a liver cleanse and am taking something to support my adrenals. Things should be looking up soon.

I get so irritated with people that say losing weight is easy--calories in, calories out. Obviously they've never had thryoid, hormone, or adrenal issues.

[Catrin]

Catrin, I'm in a similar boat. I've been having issues too. Finally got checked and my adrenals are under stress and my liver is clogged. Which is causing anxiety, toxic build-up and other issues. And I haven't been good about taking my thyroid meds. My hair has been falling out, I haven't been sleeping well at night, my blood pressure drops when I stand up . . .

Anywho, I'm on a liver cleanse and am taking something to support my adrenals. Things should be looking up soon.

I get so irritated with people that say losing weight is easy--calories in, calories out. Obviously they've never had thryoid, hormone, or adrenal issues.

Yep - and my not having a reproductive system doesn't help either...haven't slept well since I can't remember when That isn't thyroid though - probably need to start getting strict about not having coffee after 10:00 am or so... I've very minor hot flashes at night, but am not about to go on HRT.

[emily_in_nc]

Yep - and my not having a reproductive system doesn't help either...haven't slept well since I can't remember when That isn't thyroid though - probably need to start getting strict about not having coffee after 10:00 am or so... I've very minor hot flashes at night, but am not about to go on HRT.

My doc said that not sleeping well can be entirely attributed to peri-menopause, all other things being equal. I slept MUCH better on our two week vacation in early July than I've slept since, so it's probably a bit of hormones and a bit of stress. I fall asleep just fine, and sleep great the first 4-5 hours of the night, but after that, I wake up off and on until time to get up, sometimes staying awake for quite some time. Frustrating!

[Catrin]

I have problems falling asleep, then staying there. I wake up every couple of hours. Am on vacation now so I should be able to determine if it is stress like I think it is...

[Crankin]

Catrin, I have nothing to add about the thyroid, etc., but could you try maybe cutting out the beer or wine? I know that's what I do if I have a couple of intransigent pounds. I know it kind of sucks, as you and I are not huge drinkers, but basically it's empty calories and beer, especially, has a lot of carbs.
And, you can't exercise 24 hours a day. Your diet looks pretty good to me, so tweaking small things might work instead of trying to do more.

[indysteel]

Just to add a thought to the thyroid issue. When I was freaking out about possibly having Graves', I ran across a bunch of discussions on a thyroid message board about hypothyroid people whose TSH levels were normal but who were having problems with weight gain. If I remember correctly, their bodies were having a hard time converting T4 to T3 (or maybe it was the reverse). Adding a different drug, whose name I can't remember, helped in most cases with the conversion. I'm sorry this is rather vague, but I wanted to throw it out there as something to look for in your numbers. The sense I got from some of the discussions is that many hypos find it frustrating if they're working with docs who are only looking at their TSH levels. I'm not sure what tests your doc runs....

To be honest, your diet and exercise look really sound. You shouldn't have to ride 500 miles a month to maintain or lose weight. In fact, with that type of activity, it almost becomes hard to lose because that level of exercise really stimulates the appetite and takes a fair amount of food to sustain.

[Catrin]

Catrin, I have nothing to add about the thyroid, etc., but could you try maybe cutting out the beer or wine? I know that's what I do if I have a couple of intransigent pounds. I know it kind of sucks, as you and I are not huge drinkers, but basically it's empty calories and beer, especially, has a lot of carbs.
And, you can't exercise 24 hours a day. Your diet looks pretty good to me, so tweaking small things might work instead of trying to do more.

I average 2 beers a week, 3 at most - and I do not ever drink wine (my body hates it). Also from what I can tell, beer doesn't appear to have as many carbs as many people seem to think. For example, one bottle of Bell's Oberon has only 14 grams of carbs - and I do factor that and the calories into my daily allotment. Basically that is as many carbs as one slice of bread - though certainly more calories...

Good point though, and there may be a few favorite snacks I have that isn't getting recorded that isn't helping. I suspect that getting back on track with my medication will go far - and today I am actually down a pound - which doesn't mean much. My nutritionist recommended 200 grams of carbs for me, will knock that down to 150 to see what that does for me. I like bread overly-much anyway

Indy - good point! I've learned over the years to really press for the full thyroid series of tests - they are expensive so they tend to only want to do one of them and they really are all needed to get a good snapshot. I will give it 4-6 weeks of taking my meds every single day, and if I don't see any movement will ask them to do the tests. It takes some time to get the levels to balance back out once they get out of balance for whatever reason.

I agree, I shouldn't HAVE to ride 500 miles a week for proper weight control. I am also, probably, being unfair to myself to compare my weight to what it was last August - I was WAY overdoing it at that time. I do want my weight to get back to 129, I felt great at that weight, but I need to remember how I got it there and to do it more wisely this time.

Thanks!