Looking for realistic weight loss tips with underactive thyroid and busy job

[Pennydroppedtodaysniff]

Hi all,

Just feeling really low about my weight. Could anyone offer any tips to get started? Im starting to feel the odd ache towards the top of my legs and im worried it could be sciatica exacerbated by my weight.

Im around 100kg, 5ft 6 but will weigh tmw.

Now wearing a size 18, but would like to be back to a 16 or less
My weight is mainly on my stomach.

I have a very busy sedentary job wfh, but manage 15k steps daily (slow) on school run
Images on my ring doorbell have confirmed im a lumberer! Have had plantar before and I think my posture isnt great. I trip from time to time and I wonder if its all linked.
Underactive thyroid

Food : nothing till 9am, then i eat the remainder of my kids cereal topped off with more. Terrible I know!
12 noon: 2 poached eggs, 1 avocado, 2 slices sourdough, parmesan
6pm : main meal : curry or shepherds pie
or some type of chicken dish with rice/veg
Drinking <1L a day of water

Portion control is an issue as ill eat the leftovers that my kids leave. Friends say I dont eat badly but I cook well and end up eating big portions.

If I have a stressful work week, I may drop the walking and water, and feel worse for it.

Scared to take Mounjaro so would like to do it without this.

If you want to do this using real food, count calories and/or get rid of carbs.

I have lost over 93kg with both methods.

@ChubbyGroundhog I guess i dont know where to start, im going to try and do my steps today, then attempt to bin the cereals.

I'm impressed that you do 15k steps a day - that is A LOT and must take quite a long time. I try and reach 10k steps and it takes an hour plus with dog, and then a further 45 minutes later on. No way could I reach 15k a day.

As for the food part cut the cereal out as you say. And make it your rule never to have more than 1 slice of bread. Your evening meal sounds fine - with a reasonable portion size. And then no snacks or food after evening meal.

One of your meals needs to be smaller, both your lunch and dinner are quite big.

Either half your lunch…only one egg, one slice to toast, half and avocado, ditch the Parmesan. Or eat it as you described but have it for breakfast and then don’t eat again until dinner (which you may want earlier).

I don’t know what your portion size is like for your dinner but cut it down if too big.

Honestly though, Mounjaro sounds like it would help you.

@SixAndJuliet sometimes I dont even feel my portions are that huge but clearly bigger than they should be. I find that lunch makes me less hungry for dinner though. Would you recommend a 16/8?

Im very scared of any side effects with WLI. Single parent too so cannot afford to get ill in any way.

@Spottyvases Hi, so its actually 35min x 2 per day collecting my children from school. When I started, I was stop starting but when I do it regularly, its fine. Easily 15k steps a day albeit slowly.

Nothing you eat sounds all that bad and you are getting plenty steps so it sounds like portion size and possibly your age/hormones working against you. I also wfh and piled on weight round my middle for several years from my early 40s. I was in the 90kg range at new year last year and now low 60s. I have used mounjaro and will never look back, you just don’t even think about leftovers and you can eat much the same as you are now in smaller quantities without thinking about it. But I absolutely understand it’s not for everyone. If you are against it then have a really good go of reducing the size and avoiding leftovers with willpower, if no change in the right direction in a month, we area a friendly bunch over on the wli board.

Please don’t be scared of Mounjaro. I was scared too and other than a tiny bit of nausea (sorted with lots of water) and a bit of initial constipation (sorted by eating fruit and ve especially kiwi). I’m hypothyroid and it’s the only thing that’s worked for me - believe me I’d tried lots of diets! Now nearly three stone down from my heaviest weight. Down from 16/18 to size 12. It’s taken me from Oct ‘24 to now as the hypothyroidism makes weight loss even on weight loss injections very slow. I’ve had stalls and plateaus on the way but it always results in further losses in the end rather than regaining more weight as I used to do. Which just shows how needed it is. I also followed the Zoe podcasts and have changed what I eat a lot. I’m on a very supportive mumsnet thread on the wli which also is very helpful with lots of tips. Not trying to persuade you, but just to give a positive perspective. Good luck.

Read your last comment about MJ and I had those fears too but realised side effects for vast majority of users (who take the real thing with care) are very minor- becoming less mobile, high blood pressure and all kinds of new aches and pains were far more likely to make me less present and fun (or not at all) for my DC than what has been a bit of mild nausea and constipation at worst. And that was only the first couple of months. Stories of people who became very ill are almost always due to getting grey or black market meds from TikTok or using them to suppress to the point of starvation. If the loss is steady with care to ensure nutrition thoughoit the risks are tiny and much smaller than being obese. Good luck whatever you decide, it’s hard to say just how much better it is not being closer to 100kg, moving around is just so comfortable. Running with the kids, sitting on play equipment with them without worrying about it breaking. Not getting out of breath climbing the stairs or uphill on the school run. It’s not all about us being vain and wanting into size 10s (though not gonna lie that’s quite nice too!)

Underactive thyroid here and I went from 90kg to 65 over a year.

Calories in - calories out is the only way weight comes off - that may be packaged as this or that diet but that’s the crux of it. Find the least painful way for you personally to do it.

Bulk up your plate with enormous quantities of veg. Eat apples / carrots as a snack if you are hungry.

Minimise calories through drink (alcohol, milky coffees).

I would change your lunch to one toast, two eggs, tomatoes and wilted spinach with a very small bit of guacamole as butter.

Kids cereal tends to be awful for anyone so I would look at what they are eating and miss breakfast if you can. Are you seeing the doctor about your thyroid?

I would also look at increasing exercise. Can you do some strength training at home, or take the kids swimming or fit in some kind of exercise as a family? Even a dance off in the living room. I would also see a physio if you can about an issues if things aren’t right.

I can’t advise on injections but they aren’t permanent and if you didn’t like them it’s a week at a time doses so not like you are stuck with them but you would need to learn better habits or stay on them for life or the weight comes back

If you want to avoid the expense of weightloss injections and you eat healthily but struggle with portion size, then the best plan is to automatically split your plate into three. Half is filled with salad/vegetables, a quarter is protein and a quarter is carbs.

Oh and ditch the leftovers.

Are you on medication for your underactive thyroid?

Kindly, are you sure your step count is correct? Or have I misunderstood and it's 35 minutes each way, twice a day?

15k steps in 70 minutes would require quite a good pace, if you are going slowly as you describe I can't work out how it would be possible. Also 15k in a day isn't sedentary!

I am sure I have misunderstood, but have been checking my own steps/distance of late and it's always less than I hope and totally baffling when I achieve more.

Use a smaller plate.

Thays not slow op, that’s incredibly fast. Unless you mean it’s 70 mins x 2 twice a day. 15k steps is about 7 miles. So if it’s 70 mins walking, you’re doing a mile every ten mins, that’s running pace. So you’re way fitter than you think, even if you were doing 70 mins twice a day, ie 35 mins there and back each day, twice, it would still be a very good pace.

16/8 works for me and is easy. Plus low carbs. And good portion control. I use bowls instead of plates for example. Try writing down everything you eat and look back after a couple of weeks to see what can be cut further. I have homemade soup, crackers and cheese, or Greek yoghurt and fruit, for lunch.

Steps don't really help with weight loss - especially if many of them are achieved by merely moving around the house/work. It usually takes me 60 minutes at a brisk pace around the park/streets to reach 7,500 steps

Yup. I’m on Levothyroxin. I joined Slimming World. I’ve lost 3 stone so far.

All of the peer reviewed research into obesity and weight loss, show that calorie restriction alone with exercise is rarely successful in reducing body mass from obese to healthy . Is incredibly difficult with a success rate of 0.2 %. Compared with 70-85% with WLI.

I am rather perplexed by the ‘scared’ remarks. There are an estimated 3 million people on GLP- 1s .in the UK. The vast majority of whom purchase it privately.

There are literally hundreds of threads on here covering every aspect of taking these drugs . From people like me who suffered not a single side effect and are over 10st down and maintaining over 18 months later. To some rarer posters who struggle with side effects but deem the stunning results worth a bit of nausea.

I would urge OP to look up the SUMMOUNT study for actual facts rather than believe all you read online. The side effects compare favourably to blood pressure meds and statins - which are Ironically the most common drug to be prescribed to obese patients. So if you would not hesitate to take a blood pressure medication if required, then being ‘scared’ of WLI is entirely illogical.

However - the one thing that really stood out for me is that you have what sounds like sciatica in your leg. This was the most debilitating painful experience of my obese life and spurred me on to order my first pen. I started at the same weight as you and am now 9st 5. 5ft 6 and 64 years old but now feel 10 years younger.

Hi @Safarisagoody - so for example today, ive done a walk back which is approx 3 bus stops and im at 7000 steps. This has taken me 40min. Ill do another walk later back again. People always think its a lot but although i feel a lot better, it hardly translates on the scales. My doctor weighed me and said as im wfh, i need to quicken my pace more to see the benefits. From 9am till half 2, im solidly at my desk so id say its sedentary.

Im on medication for my thyroid - 100micrograms

I weighed myself today and im at 103KG - ill probably join another weight loss thread as at least loads in the same boat so didnt want to hog this - i just feel like its an uphill struggle.

Op walking at a moderate pace each mile takes about 2000 - 2500 steps per mile. 10 000 steps is generally about 5 miles. If walking slowly it would be about 2200 - 2600.

if you know the distance it is easier to get a rough calculation of how many steps. Your calculation is hard to understand, so I’m guessing you walk two miles to your kids school, taking 35 mins, and two miles back, and you do that twice a day, which would be about 8 miles, and then be about 15k steps. But the good news is your not slow, you’re very fast if you’re covering 2 miles in 35 mins.

3 bus stops is hard for us to judge, but it would say if you’ve done 7000 steps, it’s 3 and a half miles. I would imagine more bus stops in this distance, but it would take the average person, about 70 mins to walk 7000 steps at a moderate pace.

I dont think im that fast, I just checked and its 1.8miles to the school from here directly, whereas i do some windy roads. Id probably say 40min one way. It still doesnt feel much as im 103kg!

Im low thyrod and they've not yet got hte meds right

I've lost 30kg to get to 70kg with:

• Intermittent fasting - now typcally eat in an 8 hour window, but did also do shorter windows
• Focussing on eating for health - lots of protein for satiety, lots of low fat dairy for calcium, lots of berries and veggies.... So yes, I believe in feeling full to lose weight, not eat less and feel as if you are starving which leads to lapses for me
• I eat low carb and lowish fat (at least 1T olive oil a day and some nuts)
• I did kick start weight loss with Fast800 for 12 weeks, the maximum Michael Mosley recommends.... yes, less volume then, but still tried to make it as high as possible - berries and most veg don't add up to much, add some 0% Greek yogourt and you do feel full.

So I do believe try changing what you eat before MJ. For me, not eating bread/cereal/etc has been a real game changer. The advantages of losing without MJ are that you are developing the diet you'll use for the rest of your life.. I truly love the food I eat now (including the 2 squares of 85pc choc each day)... and I happily eat meals with friends and enjoy sharing puds, etc. But I also recognise many people need MJ - but both the cost and the weightgain if you come off it do concern me, more than the side effects.

And steps - I walk at a moderate pace and find it takes me 20 mins to walk 2,000 steps... so 1h20 + more moving round the house gets me to 10,000 - which since no longer doing the school run I have to make a real effort to manage!!

Good luck!!