Just beginning my new phase in life!

This topic contains 7 replies, has 3 voices, and was last updated by Serotoninus 3 years, 9 months ago.

Viewing 9 posts - 1 through 9 (of 9 total)

Sue0905

5:51 pm
3 Aug 16
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I am a 60 year old woman and have been dieting since I was 16 years of age. I have had some stressful moments in my life and about 10 years ago, was diagnosed with an underactive thyroid.

As it took a few years to get a diagnosis, I went from a size 16 to a size 26 even though I was eating less and less. I was very ill for some time with a lot of symptoms apart from the weight gain. Once I was on medication, I started on slimming world and lost over 2 stones and came down to a size 20, but found out how sensitive I was to carbs. For over a year I have been doing very low carb but not losing any weight.

I started the 5.2 diet just under two weeks ago and as yet haven’t lost any weight. I am concerned that my thyroid problems might be an issue again. I suffer quite badly with IBS, which is made worse with most carbs, so I mainly stick to meat, fish, eggs, salad, veg and fruit on fast days and non fast days.

I know I am right at the beginning of this journey, but have started it feeling totally down. I am so fed up with living life obsessed with food (or at least weight) . I seem to have spent 40 years being afraid to eat and really guilty if I do eat. I am putting so much hope into this and hope that it will make a difference to my health as well as my weight. I have serious joint pains in both knees and one hip.

I have been doing a lot of reading on here and look forward to reading all of your stories.

Minka

12:35 pm
4 Aug 16
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Hi Sue,

You are not alone. I’ve had Hashimoto’s Thyroiditis for probably as long as you’ve had thyroid problems and took just as long to get a diagnosis as you.

I completely agree with you on your thoughts about your thyroid being a key to your inability to shed any weight. When I’m hypo, my weight will not move, just about no matter what I do. I’ve also found that my requirements for type of thyroid medication and dosage amounts change from time to time. Unfortunately, tests routinely given by doctors often don’t pick up these changes. Or, sometimes if they do pick up the changes, the doctors don’t offer the help that is required to correct the problem.

From my experience and that of a whole online forum of about 10,000 members to which I’ve belonged, it has been understood that joint and muscle pain in thyroid patients is often related to not enough T3. I personally found that when my body had enough supply of T3 various aches and pains eased. The thing is that most doctors prescribe Thyroxine which is T4 only medication. T4 is a storage hormone only. When we take T4 the body then has to convert this into the active form which is T3. Many of find ourselves less and less able to convert T4 into T3 which heralds our slide into a hypo state.

I know this probably sounds very confusing and all. I know I found it so, especially when I was challenged by the thick brain fog that descended on me when was hypo. It is just that as you suggested, it might be good to continue with 5:2 and seek further help with thyroid issues. When I was at my worst, one of the best resources I found was at wwww.stopthethyroidmadness.com

Sue0905

3:21 pm
4 Aug 16
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Hi Lael,
Thanks so much for the support. I like you have spent many years researching thyroid issues and because of that went to see a private consultant who diagnosed me.
My TSH was well within the normal range but I wasn’t converting the T4 to T3. I did get improvements once I started on Thyroxine, but minimal. I then did my own research again and now take natural thyroxine which has all the hormones in it and a small amount of levo. It does work much better, but still no success with weight loss. I always used a group called TPA uk and now have my blood tests done privately.

I will stick with 5.2 as very early days and hope it will help with my moods as well as the weight. I will post after the next fast day tomorrow to see what the weight is doing.

Sue0905

10:13 pm
5 Aug 16
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Well, I am at the end of my first two weeks and have lost one whole pound! It is a little disappointing, but at least it is a small loss. I am on my fast day tomorrow which starts my third week. Onward and upward…..hopefully.

Minka

8:45 am
6 Aug 16
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Hi Sue, I’ve had weeks where nothing much appears to be changing and then I’ll weight myself to be pleasantly surprised that things have moved in a big way. My scale also includes fat, hydration and muscle monitoring and there have been periods where there was no change in the number of pounds or kilograms, though I did see an improvement in body composition.

I’ve heard really good things about TPA uk, so sounds like you are in good hands!

I live in Australia, though follow Paul Robinson’s ‘Recovering with T3’ method. Paul Robinson, a UK thyroid patient wrote a book by that name and runs an online group which has helped me navigate my way.

Sue0905

5:50 pm
19 Aug 16
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Well, I have just completed my first month and have lost just 3lbs! I know that at least it is a downward trend, but my partner, who is doing exactly the same has lost 10lbs and I am a little jealous.
I really try hard and even on NFD’s eat a very low carb diet and am very careful not to overeat. I will keep going as I just need to lose, but am worried as we go on holiday in 6 weeks and thinking that even if I am careful, that 3 lbs will go back on so easily.
🙁

Sue0905

5:10 pm
23 Aug 16
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I am jumping for joy today as I have lost another 1 1/2 lbs after another fast day. That is the most I have lost so far on this plan and I am really chuffed!!!! That is now a total of 4 1/2 lbs and seems to be going in the right direction.
I am still extremely careful even on non fast days and stay almost zero carbs but with higher fats. It seems to keep me healthier than eating simple carbs and therefore both my partner and I stick with it. I am only human though and sometimes crave a huge chunk of crusty bread and half a pound of Lurpak butter! That would be my idea of heaven………very simple tastes….lol.

Sue0905

11:51 am
27 Aug 16
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And another pound bites the dust! That is now 5 1/2 pounds down which is the most that I have been able to lose since being diagnosed with an underactive thyroid. I am not sure where it is going from as I have been measuring and stomach, waist and bust are still the same. I am hoping it doesn’t go too much from face and neck as they are already going south :-). Isn’t it a pity we can’t decide where it goes from!

Serotoninus

4:57 pm
16 Mar 21
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Wow! The post is certainly old, but I express my respect to you. You’re great.