Thyroid and Metabolism

M

mommyto2ZZs

New member
I decided to start a new thread on this topic because I didn't see one yet. :) I also feel like I should post a little background: I am 8 months post-partum with my second child, who has just decided to wean himself from breastfeeding during this past month. With my first child I couldn't seem to lose the pregnancy weight until I was completely done nursing her at 13 months post-partum. It didn't seem to matter what I did--how many calories I cut or how much I exercised. I gained 48 pounds with her, btw. But I started out at 165 pounds at 5'9" tall. While I wasn't "thin" before getting pregnant, I was relatively "fit" and healthy in spite of being the heaviest I'd been for that 10 year period of life. Anyway, by 18 months post-partum and 6 months after being done breastfeeding, I was within 2 pounds of pre-preg weight, which is when I found out I was pregnant again!

I vowed not to gain 48 pounds again. And I didn't. I gained 50. Ha!:eek: It's not that I pigged out while pregnant. I just think my metabolism and hormones freak out while pregnant. I always seem to gain 8-10 pounds in the first three months without changing anything about my diet.

Well, this time post-partum I have really struggled. I plateaud while breastfeeding again, but this time about 6-8 lbs heavier than when I platued with my first child. I have really worked at losing the last 18 pounds and NOTHING seemed to be working...not even cutting 500 additional calories out of my daily intake. Now I am done breastfeeding, so we'll see how that affects things.

Also, I see an alternative enzyme practitioner who is very much about nutrition and health, but not highly focused on weight. I figured getting back to my pre-preg weight should be a natural by-product of being healthy. I still can't get my wedding ring on, for goodness sakes! He recently told me he feels my thyroid is sluggish and put me on some natural thyroid. This is in addition to the digestive enzymes I've been taking for 4 months. I've also been following some nutritional advice that is quite different from the standard low fat, low cal, restricted calorie medical advice (I won't describe in detail in this post, which is already getting long). He assures me this will "heal" my metabolism and that weight problems are really not all about how many calories are being consumed but about WHAT is being consumed (and I'm not just talking about junk food, either). Finally I am seeing a two pound weight loss again in the past six days. I'm crossing my fingers.

Any other post-partum moms who have had hypothryoid issues? It's apparently pretty common with post-pregnant women. I'm curious how it has affected your overall metabolism and if you've been able to correct it.

Sorry for the long post. Sometimes it's hard to be brief on a complicated topic.
 
Hello,

I am sure you will do great! :)))The main thing is to set a goal. I still can't figure out why are you so sure that thyroid is to blame for your slow methobolism? I have underactive thyroid and take 100mg of Synthroid every day, probably, for the rest of my life. If think that if you really think you have a thyroid problem, the nutritionist is the last doctor I would go to. I would advice for you to go for blood test to check your TSH, levels of T4 and T3 - that will show for sure if you have any troubles with thyroid. Based on the results, your doctor will tell you what to do next. When I got my bad news about my thyroid I thought to mysleft that "THAT'S IT! Now I am going to be fat forever". I was wrong. It is a little bit harder to loose weight with bad thyroid but not impossible at all, you just have to do your part of diet and exercise every day. The key is to be consistant. No excuses, no "tomorrows",not even "I have a bad thyroid, afterall ", nothing - your body is in your hands.
I had tremendous weight gain before I was dignosed with underactive thyroid and I didn't know why I was gaining weigt so fast (235lb. !) My doctor put me on Synthroid to compensate my levels of hormones and few month later I feel and look much better. Also, keep in mind, that some foods are absolutely NO NO when you have problems with thyroid : soy in any form or shape, cali flower(? spell.) too.
Oh, and congratulations on being a new Mom! :)))
 
Coco,

Thanks for the reply. The reason I am pretty certain it's my thyroid is due to the types of assessment my alternative practitioner does. The combination of low body temperatures, slow pulse, and specific sluggish reflex responses is a really clear indicator. A blood test is the LAST thing I would trust to determine thyroid function. It has shown to be an extremely poor indicator and many many people with low thyroid function are missed with blood testing. I have much much more faith in the other methods of determining. My father is one of many people who were told by a medical dr (through blood tests) that his thryoid was fine when it wasn't and due to not being treated for it he eventually developed heart problems and two heart attacks before turning 50 (this was many years ago).

At any rate, I am also aware of the dietary things you mentioned--thanks for mentioning them. I consume virtually 0 soy products/oils and no raw cauliflower, broccolli, cabbage, grapefruit, which are all thryoid suppressing. I do consume coconut oil (2-3 TB daily) which stimulates thryoid as well as countless other health benefits, including thermogenic effects that often lead to weight loss. I eat all whole grains, but very few grains per day. Primarily Spelt and Kamut. Lots of raw foods and practially 0 processed foods. Also, no white flours or refined sugars. And I always take supplemental digestive plant enzymes with meals. I haven't been sick in as long as I can remember, and my 3 yr old daughter has not been sick in nearly 2 years (since beginning to follow our practitioners advice).

My practitioner is not technically a nutritionist, though that is part of his practice. He is a type of practitioner who works with digestion as the hub of all body functions. I actually have a lot of faith in him, and very little with MD's who have never been able to be successful with various issues in my family. Following the advice of this practitioner cleared up my daughter's eczema problem within 4 days when she was 20 months old. No MD had made any progress. His advice has also healed her of many food allergies. He follows lots of the advice of the renowned Ray Peat (you can find his website with a google search if you are interested).

Thanks for the reply. I've still only lost a couple pounds in the past month, but hey, progress is progress, right? I don't really believe in counting calories and all that, so with diet changes and reasonable portion sizes and as much exercise as I can manage with a 3 yr old and a 9 month old is about as good as I can do.

Thanks for your encouragement!
 
i have had such an issue. i was never thin or skinny in my life, except maybe when i was a kid.
anyways when i got married i managed to go down to 142 ( being 5 ft 6) and i looked ok......healthy but not skinny.
when i was trying to become pregnant, i took extra care of myself thus jumping up to 160 :). i promised myself that it will not go up, but then i discovered i am pregnant and that 160 changed to 210 after birth of my first child. i had never in my life been sooooooooo fat. anyways, every one gave me encouragement that breast feeding should reduce the weight. i did everything i could think of, dieting, exercising but nothing seemed to work. finally i got fedup and with so much struggle i could only lose maybe 5 pounds in all. from august to january i tried and then i went to my doctor as i knew something is wrong. she gave me the blood test which turned out that i am extremely hypothyroid. anyways i got the thyroid medicine as well and from january to march- may i went down to 175- around 35 pounds down. every 4 months my blood tests were being down and my thyroid mediciation was also increased slowly and steadily.
anyways then they checked if ill be hypo for life or my body is just going thru pregnancy/birth shock. it turns out that my antibodies in my blood are too many giving a slight indication that most probably i have Hoshimoto. I am still taking the thyroid medicine and they again did my blood tests to make sure all is ok- they say its ok but darn it its still real difficult to lose weight. also i am not very certain that blood tests are accurate , as my periods are still not regular as they used to be. i am not breastfeeding anymore so i assumed ill get them regular as i didbefore pregnancy, but they are real infrequent now... coming every22 or 23 or 24 days.
 
Mommyto2ZZs :) , it really looks like your doctor knows what he is doing and I am sure you will feel better and will achieve your goals with his help. After all, the main thing is to trust your doctor and feel comfortable with his methodics. Thank you for detailed answer, it made me rethink my own approach to treating my hypothyroid with regards to my diet. I didn't know about broccoli, for example:confused: . Is there any way you can share a full list of foods (if you have one) which are not recommended with thyroid problem? I have wonderful doctors and in my case blood test was able to show extremely low thryroid function. It was almost a year ago, my weight at the time of diagnoses was 235Lb. - the highest ever. After two month on Cynthroid and much affort with diet and exercise my weight started slowly to come off. I have lost 53 pounds, but then gained back almost 33 lb. - I stoped exersising and didn't really diet at the time. We had death in the family and it was hard on all of us.On August 2nd of this year I have decided to go back to my diet and exerscise. Today is exactly 5 weeks since I started my new life and as of today I am 192.5lb. - I have lost 20.5 lb in 5 weeks. I do cardio 6 days a week for 1 hour per day, I drink 92 oz. of water per day and have a very healthy diet. It is a struggle, of course, but just shows me that even with extreme hypothyroid I am able to manage with my weight.My goal weight is 140lb. Please, don't loos hope. It looks like you are doing such a fantastic job with your weight! :)
P.S. Sorry for the possible mistakes in my grammer and spelling - English is my second language and I still have a long way to go with it. :)
 
Last edited:
MyFIrstOne :) , I am so sorry you have to go through all this trouble with your health. I know exactly how upsetting it could be. I had a period of 3 month when my doctors tryed to adjust my medication and I had to go through numerous blood tests which I absolutely hated. Now I have to go for my regular check up every 6 month to make sure my medication doesn't need farther adjustment. My doctor says that it is more likely I will stay on medication for the rest of my life and will need increase in my medication as time goes by, unless I will decide to go radical and remove my thyroid. This way, at list, I will be able to stay on the stady dose of medication. Despite the fact that it is truly a struggle to loose weight with thyroid, don't loose your hope and do your part. Don't think months in advance - it is very overwhelming. Think what can I do to correct situation TODAY. Baby steps will go a long way:) .It looks like you are doing fantastic job wih your weight!:)
 
Coco,

Congrats on your weight loss! You are doing GREAT! I have lost a whopping three pounds in the last month. I guess that's not so bad as long as it creeps down. I gave up on the exercise obsession. I couldn't keep it up while juggling my kids and family. I prefer to get as much exercise as naturally as possible, going for walks with the kids, dancing to goofy music, playing at the park, etc. So I suppose if I were working harder at more structured workout routines, I would lose faster (though the first month of trying that only resulted in gaining 4 pounds). I got too discouraged and the stress and time away from my family just wasn't worth it. So now all I am doing in addition to my usual nutrition practices is watching portion control and eating small snacks/meals all day long. 200-300 calories per meal about 6 times per day. I read that this is a good strategy for hypothyroid people and helps manage the metabolism. Seems to work for me as far as keeping my blood sugars feeling level and helping me not to overeat.

As far as foods that tend to make the thyroid sluggish, the only ones I'm aware of are the cabbage family and grapefruit. Any cabbage type veggies such as broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, raddishes, brussel sprouts, etc, need to be steamed or cooked well to rid them of their negative effects on thyroid. All other fruits and as many veggies as possible need to be eaten raw.

Also, coconut oil is great for hypothyroid, and for metabolism in general. It has thyroid healing properties as well as many other health benefits. Do a Google search for a ton of information. It also has thermogenic properties that revs up the metabolism, and I've not heard of people gaining weight when they add 2-3 TB to their daily diet. I hear lots of people say that maintaining their same diet routine PLUS ADDING the coconut oil leads to a slow weight loss and leaning up process in spite of the extra calories.

My goal is to get in a health oriented nutritious groove that allows my metabolism and digestion to function at optimal levels, thus bringing me to my optimal weight and size and shape without the traditional American thinking on how to "diet" which almost always leads to more and bigger (pun intended) problems.

My thyroid must be finally improving after 3 weeks on the natural dessicated thyroid supplements. My basal temps have risen to at least 98 degrees and my resting pulse is coming up to 80 beats/minute as well. And I've dropped another pound in the past week simply doing the things I've described. I surely hope I'm on the right track. My wedding ring still does not fit and I am still 15 pounds up from pre-pregnancy. BUT at least it's no longer 18 pounds up. HA!

Good luck! Sounds like you are doing GREAT!
 
hey mommyto2zz's i am a new member i was wondering how are you losing the weight i have 3 kids and i hit a plateau and cant seem to git the weight loss moving. i have been stuck at 167lb for about 8 month i would love to at lest loss 2lb a week, also dose any one know how to get the stomach to loss all the loss skin or at lest some of the skin so i don't look like i am pregnant? any info please.

thanks
 
Oh yeah...I forgot a couple other foods to avoid for the thyroid problems: soy, and spinich. It's hard to get a soy-free diet; it's in everything. I make all our breads homemade and soy-free and eat very little processed foods, which almosts always contain soy.
 
mommyto2ZZs :) , thank you so very much for such a detailed answer. Spinich!!???:eek: I can't have spinich!? I can deal with the fact that I am not allowed soy, broccli and etc, but spinich!? Thank you for letting me know, I will exclude it from my diet.
When it comes to soy, I think it depends on amount - I have a glass of non fat milk with my protein shake in the morning, I know it contains soy, but just a very small amount. I do not eat bread at all. I eat light fish or chicken or lean beef for lunch with veggie salad with olive oil and in the evening I eat a cup of fruit salad. I do not it past 7p.m. and I drink a gallon of water a day. So, I am sure that I do not eat to much soy at all.
I think you are very brave - I could never choose alternative medicine - it is to scary for me. I do have a great doctor and I trust him entirely. You are doing such a fantastic job!Please, make sure to keep posting your progress.:) :) :)
 
natasha said:
hey mommyto2zz's i am a new member i was wondering how are you losing the weight i have 3 kids and i hit a plateau and cant seem to git the weight loss moving. i have been stuck at 167lb for about 8 month i would love to at lest loss 2lb a week, also dose any one know how to get the stomach to loss all the loss skin or at lest some of the skin so i don't look like i am pregnant? any info please.

thanks
Click to expand...

Hi, Natasha, welcome :) . I think you are doing a great job - you have lost a lot of weight! The fact that you hit a plateau is a signal that you have to change your diet and exerscise regiment to a new mode. Shake things up, do your exercise in a different time of day, drink tones of water and change foods that you are eating. You body, probably got used to your diet and needs a bit of a wake up call :) .
When it comes to loss skin - I am sorry to say, but it can not be taken care of by exrecise :( . Maybe, surgery? I know few people who lost tremendous amounts of weight and had to go for surgery to remove loss skin.
 
Natasha, You made me laugh when you asked "how are you losing the weight?" Did you miss my earlier descriptions of how I've only lost about 3 (now I think it's 4 though) pounds this past 3-4 weeks? So I'm not much of an example if you want very fast weight loss. The others who have posted to this thread seem much more successful to me than I've been. But, as I've said, I refuse to obsess. It never works for me and does a ton of emotional damage (I'm also a recovered anorexic, which no doubt has contributed to my metabolism probs).

As for how I am doing it, I've posted details in past posts, but in a nutshell, I've been eating about 6-7 200 calorie snacks/meals per day. Other than roughly estimating those calories at each meal, I don't count calories. It only frustrates me. I only count roughly to help me figure reasonable portion size. I always eat a protein with a carb. I take digestive plant enzymes with all meals. I consume 2-3 tb of coconut oil per day. I eat only whole grains, mainly kamut and spelt, but only 1 serving of those per day. I eat fresh fruit as much as possible and fresh veggies some, but not tons of them. I don't eat hardly any processed foods, and I don't eat any refined sugar--use honey, real maple syrup, stevia for sweeteners. My altenative practitioner assures me it is not calories that is the problem, it's the damage that occurs to our metabolism with American diets that causes the problems. I drink whole non-homogenized milk (yes WHOLE milk) but only about 8-12 oz a day. Non-homogenized milk is easily digested, and only whole milk can be non-homogenized, which means the cream is not processed into the milk, and it separates like raw milk. Raw milk would be best, but I cannot find it around here. When your body can digest properly, it can metabolize properly. There are other things I do, but that is the main stuff. My post would get way too long if I kept going on it.

And to Coco, I don't know about being brave going to an alternative practitioner. It's actually medial drs that "scare" me more. They don't know what they are doing much of the time because they have been trained in that medical model that is reactive instead of proactive. And their reaction is to pop chemical pills. My alternative practitioner has taught me that the body takes care of itself when provided the right environment. It heals itself and works as it was intended with the environment and nutrition it was intended. When you are healthy, there is no need for popping pills or pumping your body full of chemiclas. Also, my daughter's food allergies and eczema in the first several months of her life were finally healed by my alternative practitioner after several medical drs were clueless about it. They prescribed creams and ointments (some of which now have the black box cancer warning!) and made crazy recommendations. When we finally met our alternative practitioner he had her cleared up in four days.

When my newborn son developed eczema and was solely breastfed, I began learning more about the nutrition recommendations of my alternative practitioner. My son's eczema got steadily worse over a 2 month period until I stopped eating all white processed flours and all processed sugar and started drinking the non-homgenized milk. In four days his eczema cleared up as well. Now that he is on solids I feed him the same as the rest of the family and his skin has remained baby soft and absolutely PERFECT ever since.

I think people who see medical doctors are the ones who need to be brave, because they aren't trained by a model that views things in the proactive way I've described and they are trained to view illnesses through the blood (like the thyroid tests) instead of considering cellular fluids which are at least 2/3 of the equation while blood only gives 1/3 or less of the proper information.

By the way, my own mother has been a registered nurse for 35 years and she also sees the same alternative practitioner. Both my parents are off all their prescription meds now and are healthier than they have been in years.

Sorry again for the length. I'm enjoying the dialogue.

Oh, and by the way, I know the traditional thought is to drink TONS of water...like you can practically not overdo it. However, my alternative practitioner told me at my early visits that I was drinking too much water (about 64 oz per day was what I drank) and that doing that stresses the kidneys and organs too much, which again throws off the body's metabolism by stressing the organs. He says "drink to thirst" but much of our water needs are contained in the foods and liquids we take in when we are taking in the right stuff. Sorry to stir up more controversy...his is only one opinion (granted it's probably not popular opinion, but neither is a lot of his stuff in context of typical medical thinking). I probably drink about 40 oz of water per day or so but I don't try to push it. I do add liquid minerals to it though as nearly everyone in this country is probably mineral deficient which has large influence on Alzheimers and also general body functioning.
 
i have just started to work out with my sister she is also overweight we do Turbo Jams is been about 3 days it hard and lots of pain in the muscles. then we decided not to eat after 6:30 pm and eat what ever we want before that so fare i have lost 1 pound so now 166lb and 30lb more to lose what i am really hopping to get that extra fat around my stomach to disappear. also heard that drinking Wu- Long tea help to detoxify the body i have ordered it and will see how it works.
 
Coco...here's a link to a more extensive list of thyroid suppressing foods. I keep realizing I'm forgetting a few to list. Maybe it would help to read a little about it yourself. Also, you can do a Google search for goitrogens and get tons more info.
 
Mommyto2ZZs :) , Thank you so very much for so many helpful advises. It makes me question my own course of tretment and dieting.When it comes to the water thing - my weight is much higher than yours so I absolutely have to drink more water. Also, I remember myself before I started to drink more water and it was not a pretty picture - dry skin, always constipated(sorry), very tired. No comparison at all with how I feel right now. As my weight will come off I, of course, will drink less water. Thank you for the fantastic link too! :) :) :)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top