Hi there I'm new, my name is Tom. I was diagnosed with hypothyroidism about 2 years ago. I'm currently taking levothyroxine for treatment. I was taking 100mcg but my doctor just recently upped it to 125 because my levels went up with the last blood test.

I don't really have a whole lot of symptoms of hypo, mainly just 2. I do have a bit of fatigue and tiredness, and I can't lose weight no matter what I do. I'm currently 325 lbs, I started a low carb diet about a month ago (not as strict as Atkins) and I've been working out like crazy for about 5 weeks. I have managed to lose all of 6 lbs, most of which is water weight I suspect.

I'm very frustrated. I am a pretty active person as it is, I own a landscaping company and most days all I do is walk for at least 6 hours a day. Plus I bike ride and exercise on top of that. Yet I can't get my weight to budge. Even on the levoxy treatment for the last 2 years.

It's very frustrating because my doctor tells me to lose weight but it won't come off. I get the feeling he doesn't believe me when I describe my activity level and my food intake. I'm eating at a huge deficit when you factor in my exercise and activity, and can't get this weight to budge. I'm pretty sure it's caused by the hypothyroidism at this point, because this just isn't natural.

Like I said I'm pretty frustrated at this point. I've got an appointment to see him next week, and I'm thinking about asking to see an endocrinologist. I've been doing some reading and learning about the T4 and T3 differences, I'm pretty sure he is not testing me for that.

I need to know what I should tell the doc and what I should ask him to do. I am a pretty healthy person other than this issue, and I like being active and exercising. But this weight problem is just getting unbearable, and something has to be done and I'm ready to raise a fuss until it happens.

So what kind of advice can you offer me?

Thanks

1. You need a new doctor.
I have been eating 1000 to 1400 calories since I was a kid. Anything over that and I gain very fast. Yet I'm as hungry as anyone else so it takes great willpower. I'm on low Carb because it allows more than 1000 calories a day without gaining. I have gained eating only vegetable soup for two weeks.

You are not to blame. This is more common than you think. My daughter has the same issue?

I figure skate do yoga and clean houses for a living so I'm extremely active.

Keep up the good fight.

All of us who have been through this, seemingly defying physics running on air and sunshine, and staying puffy, will attest - I emphasize BASAL METABOLISM is what Burns the majority of calories NOT EXERCISE.

I know many nerdy techs who are scary skinny without ever leaving their computer.

Calories in/calories out may be a simple and true statement but the denominator is variable so it does NOT work for all complex human systems. Some people have the ability to adapt to famine by becoming physically depressed so that the ratio stays constant regardless of how the numerator varies.

THE SUNROSE THEOREM
Example: calorie in/BASAL METABOLISM

Week 1: 1500/1500

Week 2: 1200/1500 = temporary weight loss + water loss

Week 3: 1200/1150 = slow gain + fluid retention

Yikes, it is frustrating, isn't it? Unfortunately you most likely won't find the endocrinologist is going to embrace giving you T3, which is probably what you need. They're fully indoctrinated into the synthetic T4 way-of-thinking.

Hopefully someone can refer you to a doc in your area more open to giving you T3, which synthetic or natural, along with the T4. Also, being "in range" with TSH isn't necessarily a good thing, since the range is overly large. Being at the top of the range can be quite a different than being at the bottom. What you want is to be treated such that your thyroid hormones are optimized for you.

I've found that ND's and naturopaths are better at treating thyroid than mainstream doctors. I also hear that DO's and sometimes nurse practitioners can be good. Best bet is to get a referal from another thyroid sufferer.

At you can probably find all the links you need at: http://stopthethyroidmadness.com

I'd also advise you to be more strict with the carbs. That *will* help you shift the weight. Half measures don't work well when the thyroid is wonky. And sometimes even when it isn't. Depends on the person.

Frustrating isn't quite the word. At this point I'm pretty angry about it. When I was first diagnosed, the doc told me to take the pills and that would solve the problem, etc. So I did and really didn't worry a whole lot about it. But I also wasn't really worried about the weight. But at the time i was at least 20 lbs lighter. So I've put on weight, and my muscles hurt me some days, and my joints aren't really happy either. This winter was the bottom line with me and I realized I had to make changes now that I'm 40.

So now that I am paying attention to the thyroid problem and doing research about it, things finally make sense to me why my body works the way it does. The tiredness and the weight problem and my inability to shed lbs even with a lot of activity.

This last test I had my tsh was at 10.9 with the 100mcg of levo. I was previously at a 3.6 level after first getting on it. I'm hoping the new 125 pill will help out. But I still want to question him about the T3 and T4 tests. I've been reading a lot about natural supplements that help with the t3 conversion and I'm interested to see what he knows about that. I am going to try to get him to work with me, but if he won't I am willing to start looking around. All this reading about thyroid has me worried about my kidneys and adrenal glands now too. And I'm concerned about my testosterone levels.

I have been tracking all my food now for about 6 weeks. I tracked my diet for a couple weeks before I started my new eating and ever since. I've got my macros set at 150 carbs, 200-250 protein, and about 90 fats. I was at almost 500g of carbs before I made the changes. I've cut out the sugars, pops and candy and all the sweets. Nixed the breads and buns, switched to whole wheat and grains and lo gi carbs. And lean protein like chicken and turkey, tried to get away from the red meat a bit. I actually feel a lot better and don't mind the switch. The real issue for me is everything you buy now is so loaded with that crap in it. The way we eat is so unhealthy in this country. I'm really into trying to prevent insulin spikes and maintaining the same insulin level through the day. The way I used to eat, with sugar and carb cravings, I can see how unhealthy it was now.

Welcome!!

Doing research is great. Check out Gary Taubes, Peter Attia, Dr. Eric Westman. Wheat belly is a great resourceWheat Belly , Sugar: the bitter truth is another eye opening video. So much to learn and so little time...

You're really going to need to get rid of the grains if you want to minimize the insulin spikes. If you must eat carbs, eat ones like sweet potatoes, potatoes, squash, a little fruit, etc. Grains, even so-called healthy-whole-grains, are not healthy.

Becky is right, read Wheat Belly. The fewer prepared foods you eat, the better you'll do. I think you've still got a few elements of brainwashing you need to examine: grains being healthy and low fat being good, red meat being bad.

IMHO you're still too high carb to lose weight, especially if your thyroid isn't optimized.

There's no reason you can't lower your carbs gradually, either. Do whatever feels comfortable, but at some point, I'd drop the carbs under 70 and see how it feels after a couple of weeks and see if the weight doesn't start coming off.

I was diagnosed Hypo about 10 years ago. My GP was of no help whatsoever - all he did was look at the blood test ranges (TSH) and try to prescribe withing that range(.5 to 5.0). I finally got in to see an Endo and she was extremely helpful! Did a full barage of tests including free T3 and T4. I got tested every 2 months until we got me down into a range that I "felt" good at which happens to be at 0.6! My Endo shared her info with my New GP and everything has been fine since then. I get my blood tested every 6 months to to keep on top of things. I still have a harder time losing weight than I used to but when I cut out the carbs it seems to come off a lot easier. Maybe you could keep working with your Doctor or seek a specialist who understands the disease is not just a refrence range on a TSH blood test.

That sounds like a lot of food to me. I stay low calorie too, but I know I have a low metabolism.

My typical day is calories, 400, 400, 200 300, 30 gms or less carbs from greens and berries, and small amount of nuts, and 50-60 gms of protein, rest of the calories are fat from meat, butter and salmon.

I am female of course so the calories are probably 2/3 of a man's weight loss diet. I am trying to lose 3 pounds that I just gained. 1400 calories is maintenance for me. That is really low for most people. Your calorie intake sounds like about 2400, I would definitely gain on 1600 or more a day.

You're probably metabolically deranged so you can start losing weight only on a VLC diet. Like the above says, I would do 70g net carbs and see how I fare.

Hypothyroidism could also be hindering your weight loss. Another possibility is elevated cortisol. Have your salivary cortisol tested by an endo (morning, night), and see if that's stopping you from losing weight.

Hi Tom - do you know what's causing your hypothyroidism? If you have Hashimoto's you may have some underlying food sensitivities that are triggering the autoimmune response and messing up your thyroid further. Just another reason to ditch the grains (gluten being a very common trigger food, even in those who don't test positive for celiac disease); even if they're low-GI they're probably not doing you any favours.

Maybe try tweaking your macros to ratchet down the carbs and protein and up up up the fat?

In case you haven't yet, I can't emphasize enough how great NancyLC's advice is, and to check out Stop The Thyroid Madness. Very very very very helpful stuff.

Good Luck!

So drop the grains entirely, eh? I'm only eating like a slice of bread a day and that's my only grain source. I'll work on getting rid of it entirely.

I burn a lot of calories every day, I'm pretty active. I have a physical job and on top of that I work out (weight lifting) and do bicycling as well. That might seem like a lot of calories in, but I'm burning 3000-6000 calories a day depending on the day. That has to come from somewhere, and eating only protein and fat for calories isn't going to cut it. Heck my bmr is in the 3000-4000 calorie range depending on who you ask, I weigh 320(ish). I don't think I could do it on just 70 g of carbs a day. 1400 cals a day would be starvation mode for me.

Most of those carbs come from either breakfast or after a workout. You're going to get an insulin spike at breakfast either way, coming off a fast. And after a workout I actually want that spike to help get the protein into the muscle for repair. Most of those carbs are from fruit in my protein drink and yogurt. I'd say 90% of my carbs come from those 2 meals alone.

As far as red meat goes, I just don't like eating it anymore. My wife had to give it up for her gout problem, and since we knocked out the ground beef I personally feel a lot better. I can notice the way it makes me feel now when I do have a hamburger or some kind of ground beef, and I don't like it. I eat beef jerkey as a between meal snack, and a hamburger once a week to break things up, but I can't do it regularly.

Since I started taking the higher dose of levo my weight loss has actually sped up. I lost 4 lbs since starting it up last week, which is encouraging.

My gp hasn't really given me a reason why I am hypo. But like I said in my op, I don't have the other symptoms of hypo that are normally listed, other than the weight problem and tiredness. Although I do have food allergies to peanuts and legumes.

Your BMR would be in that range, but for the thyroid issues. No doubt it'll be lower than that.

I am going to look into the thyroid issues. I am having serious problems facing long term low calorie future. I do exercise every day, but my job is a sit'down type. I would love a more physical job. I do ice skate and the kind of yoga I do at least twice a day, is very isometric. I am quite muscular. Still, for higher energy levels and well being, boosting my metabolism would be better. I am paying attention to this thread, maybe the advice will work for me.

I talked to my doc today. I actually had to go in for a sinus problem as well so that killed 2 birds with 1 stone. I've had a sinus thing going on for about 3 or 4 days. Never in my life have I felt such pain from a sinus infection that had no cold symptoms. Just incredible pressure and burning and pain. Horrible, wouldn't wish it on anyone.

Anyways, I managed to get in some thyroid talk as well. I got him to do a T4 and T3 screen, and also a testosterone screening. I talked to him about my weight loss problem and he told me getting the right dosage is sometimes hard because it's a non-linear relationship and a tiny change in med can cause big level changes, or none at all. He agreed to test me more often to keep an eye on the levels. Like I wrote, my weight loss has increased since I started the new med last week, this cold has kinda stalled that though with no exercise for the last 4 days. The doc also said that eating 2000 to 2500 cals a day for me is right where I want to be for weight loss at my size, but if I managed to take off a bunch that would have to be adjusted.

At least he was responsive to my concerns. At first he didn't want to do the T3 and T4 tests but agreed to do so when I told him of all the activity I do. Then again, he got on me about my cholesterol results from last week, which I thought was odd. My total cholesterol was 150, but my HDL was low by about 5 points. He wasn't happy with that, but I dropped almost 40 total points including a bunch of Triglycerides from my last test. IMO 150 total cholesterol is pretty damned good.

The other thing I found weird was my question about when to take the levo pill. I have been taking it before bed, since I usually have an empty stomach and no calcium or fiber or veggies for several hours. He really wants me to take it an hour before eating in the am. I told him that isn't going to happen, I barely get up in the morning and I'm not going to start getting up even earlier and waiting to eat. Does it really matter? As long as you take it on an empty stomach with lots of water does the time of day make a difference?