Under active thyroid

[Willow4987]

People with under active thyroid…what do you do to lose weight?

I’ve got about 1.5 stone of baby weight to lose but I’m finding it so difficult!

From a diet perspective I think I can make enough changes to get some weight loss going but I think I’ll need to exercise as well which I’m finding difficult

I’ve got 2 young toddlers and I find my energy levels are awful. I’m on levothyroxine but doesn’t seem to be helping.

The motivation to exercise just isn’t there

I’m starting Pilates soon and considering what else I can do. I’ve got some PP issues which mean I can’t do things like HITT

So what do you all do!?

Hopefully bump?

i have an under active thyroid - need to exercise like 5 days a week and eat no more than 1000 calories a day to lose even 1lb of weight
can be very hard going and easy to lapse hence i still have 1.5 stone to lose
but im convinced im on the wrong dose as im only on 25mg but cant take any more as id be left without before getting a new prescription
i up my caffine intake to gt the energy but then dont sleep

Oh my god that sounds so tough!

I honestly don’t know how you do it. That little calories and that much exercise I think would kill me

I’m only on 50mcg and I know that’s a fairly low dose so I think definitely worth getting yours checked. I’m waiting a little while longer for my dose to have a consistent effect (I’ve been a bit slack at taking it) and then asking for a review as I just don’t feel any better for taking it since I’ve been consistent with it

I have an underactive thyroid and from what I've read, you really need to get onto the correct dose before weight loss is possible. It might also be detrimental to your overall health to force yourself to exercise until your energy levels have normalised.

I'm still on the journey to regain my health and have only just restarted pilates in the last few weeks. I think I may be nearing the correct Levo dose as I've had a major uptick in energy levels in the last month. It's taken 7 months since starting treatment to get here.

You both are on extremely low doses. You need to get this sorted first.

If you are on the correct dose then weight loss should be no more difficult than for anyone else.

I don't drink caffeine but have used chocolate, biscuits, sweets etc for an energy hit to keep me going. It's only now that I feel my energy improving that I've been able to drastically reduce my reliance on sugar! And hopefully drop a few pounds (or at least stop gaining).1

I’m still on the journey to getting medication. 3 rounds of bloods have indicated that it’s definitely underactive and with really high antibodies but GP wants to do another round of repeat bloods to rule out it not being a post pattern thing (I’m 9 months pp). Did those who take medication find that it made a difference to their lives? Dr keeps asking whether I feel symptomatic but I find it difficult to know what is genuine symptoms and what is just the product of having 2 tiny children!!

I've been on a very low dose for 15 years and doc always says bloods are OK and won't increase it. I struggled with the menopause and weight gain and could have done with upping my dose but he won't be having it. I've recently gone on a very strict fasting diet (one meal a day basically with no cheating) and am losing weight quite steadily - I don't feel hungry as it's been too hot to eat and I'm hoping to continue for another 4 weeks. This wouldn't suit a lot of people but I'm OK with it and the weight loss keeps me going and my BP has dropped as well which is a bonus. I hope you find something that works for you.

For me cutting down on carbs is the only thing that has helped. I lost lost 4st doing keto in first 6 months.

I’m in 125mg and have lost 1.5 stone... since jan 2020! So it can be done, but slowly for me.

I tried all sorts but basically like a previous poster said cutting carbs is the thing that does it. But I could do Keto. I love carbs too much. I started doing the 16:8 intermittent fasting where you eat in a 8 hour window. That’s just my lifestyle now. Cutting out breakfast cut out a portion of carbs a day. And I found after a while my appetite has just reduced. Women can get away with a bit of a shorter fasting window. But I tend to eat at 12ish and won’t eat past 8pm. Good luck!

I take 100mcg of levothyroxine and have lost 2.5 st. Did it by going low carb

First you need to get the dose right.

However, mine was right and I still had a massive struggle to lose weight. Then was also diagnosed with iron deficiency and stumbled upon a study which found that hypothyroid people would still experience hypothyroid symptoms in case of iron deficiency, as even if the TSH, Free T4, and Free T3 all look normal, low iron stores will impair utilization of thyroid hormone.
drhedberg.com/ferritin-hypothyroidism/

So I started supplementing with iron and about a month after I started taking it, I also started to lose weight without change in diet and exercise. I mean don't get me wrong, I'm still on calorie controlled diet and work out pretty much every day - but I finally see some effect.

tl;dr: go get both your thyroid and iron levels checked out.

Thanks everyone! I’ve been doing some more research last night around vitamins etc so will definitely look at supplementing them and iron

Hopefully the dr will increase my dose when I have the blood test

What sort of exercise does everyone find the most beneficial? I’ve read that it should be fairly low intensity as too much stress on the adrenal gland can make it worse but feels counter intuitive to do low impact for weight loss.