Weight Loss with Hypothyroidism?

M

mcb727

Member
I have been exercising for approximately 3 years now and I first lost over 30#'s with Weight Watchers and exercising, then my father became ill last March and past away in December 2005, I am a stress eater and I regained about 20# of my initial weight loss, and since January 2006 I have been fighting to get the weight back off. I have hypothyroidism which makes it harder to lose the weight. I need some suggestions on how to clean up my eating and trim this darn belly fat. I don't want to be a diabetic or have high blood pressure (this runs in my family, both parents and a brother).

Any ideas or suggestions would be great. I just started working out with Cathe (from Fit TV), I have been working out with the Firm and walking on the Treadmill at least 4 days a week, sometimes more.

Chris

A minute on the lips, is forever on the hips.:)
 
Well I am not Cathe but I have been reading and following the book by Joel Fuhrman, Eat to Live. Since I have been following this plan, I have had a major decrease in my cholestrol. I also believe that this book also benefits candidates for diabeties and or high blood pressure (I too come from a family with lots of this type of stuff in it).

Keep on exercising and make sure that you do a variety of different types of exercises and cross train.

Sheila
 
Hi,
I've tried everything I could think of to lose weight with hypothyroidism and so far, the only thing that has worked is low-carbing it. Lots of vegetables and protein, limited amounts of healthy whole grains and no sugar or refined flours.

I'm not following any particular "diet" but keep an eye on how many carbs I consume. In Mary Shoman's book - I believe the title is "Living Well with Hypothyroidism" - she she says that some people have been very successful on Weight Watchers but the vast majority of hypothyroids she has dealt with needed to cut carbs. So far, this has been true for me although each individual is different.

This approach may not work for you but it has been the only way I can lose weight without being hungry all the time. I tried calorie counting but I would get so frustrated and hungry I'd rebel and start binging.

Dana Carpender and George Stella each have a bunch of cookbooks on Amazon you could try if you are interested in low-carbing it. George uses mostly fresh, real foods but a lot of soy flour (apparently soy is bad for your thyroid - check out Mary Shoman's hypothyroidism website on about.com). Dana uses protein powders and a lot of artifical sweeteners - I'm not a huge fan of those but she also has a ton of good recipes that use real food.

Hope this helps.
 
Thanks for the information, I have done the Weight Watchers flex plan and in the beginning I lost approximately 30+ #'s, and as I said once my father became ill and I began spending alot of time in the hospital with him, I let myself go and it has been extremely hard trying to get back on the band wagon. I seem to gain my weight mainly around my middle (stomach area).

One of my sister's is doing the low carb thing and she has lost over 120#'s in the course of 2 years. I had never really given this much thought considering that I love breads and pasta (I do however, eat all of this in the whole wheat form and I usually do not have it on a daily basis). another one of my down falls is my sweat tooth! ugh, it's as tall as I am (5'2").:)

I started today by trying to clean up my eating. for breakfast I had 1pkg of Carnation Instant Breakfast with 1 scoop of Protein powder and a banana, then at 10am I had an Oatmeal to go bar (raspberry), for lunch I had a salad with lowfat Italian dressing, fresh fruit (strawberrys and pineapple) and a cup of low fat banana yogurt, about 3pm I had some dried fruit & nuts and for dinner I had about 20 baked lays chips and a chicken BBQ sandwich. plus I have had about 64 ounces of water (which is mainly all I drink). any suggestion?

Thanks in advance

Chris
 
Hi Chris,
Well, I'm not a nutritionist nor do I play one on TV, LOL but if you are thinking about low-carbing it, most of the food you ate yesterday would be off limits. I don't know what advice to give you so I'll just list what I ate yesterday.

Yesterday for breakfast I ate a 2 egg omelet with about 1 oz of colby jack cheese (I eyeballed it) and some salsa (the brand I buy doesn't have any added sugars - from Aldi) and 2 slices of turkey bacon. That kept me filled up until 12:30.

Then, usually I would have had a huge salad with homemade sugar free dressings or purchased low sugar dressing and a protein but I wasn't that hungry so I just had a small helping of cauliflower "potato" salad and a blackened chicken breast (sprinkled generously with cajun seasoning, then sauteed in extra virgin olive oil (EVOO).

For a snack at 3 PM I had a crab-stuffed mushroom (ick, LOL) and a cup of coffee. Normally I would have snacked on BBQed or Cajuned pumpkin seeds or a mozzerella cheese stick but I made those mushrooms and they cost me over $5 to make 8 of them so I'm choking those suckers down whether I like them or not! Normally life is to short to eat food I don't like but seriously - $5 for 8 little mushrooms!

Usually I have no problems adapting the main dish I serve my non-low-carbing family but last night I made stromboli and there is just no low-carbing that! I made myself a hamburger patty and topped it with onions, jalepeno peppers and mushrooms sauteed in EVOO. I also finished up the "potato" salad. I had a small helping of homemade sugarfree chocolate mousse for dessert.

Yesterday was unusually light on vegetables because I was just not very hungry. I try to eat 3 big meals a day featuring a protein and heavy on the vegetables and don't snack much because for me, snacking is a disasterous diet busting mistake. Since I started low-carbing it I am rarely so hungry I'm raiding the cookie jar eating everything in sight. My blood sugar stays regulated and I usually eat because it is mealtime, not because I'm hungry. I don't binge or overeat anymore either.

Unlike you, I don't have a sweet tooth - I have a salt tooth so I don't miss the cookies and candy and cake. It's the potato chips I crave!

I've always been a huge believer in moderation in all things and eating a well balanced diet but since my thyroid stopped working that approach doesn't work for me anymore. Low-carbing does.
 
A minute on the lips, is forever on the hips.


I have ordered a book called "Living Well with Hypothyroidism". I am hoping that this will give me some insight on what I am doing wrong. I have started watching what I eat more closely, and working out more intensely. a lot of cardio at least 4 days a week. and I have added an extra 30 min walk at lunch time several days a week. so hopefully this will help some. thanks for all of your advice.
 
Hi Chris-

I was diagnosed with hypothyroidism several years ago. I read Living with Hypothyroidism by Mary shomon too and I think it is a good book.

The eating plan that worked very well for me is a book called "weigh Less, Live longer" By Dr. Lou Aronne. There are two plans in the book and the one called "Lower Glycemic Index approach" worked very well for me when nothing else did.

The book also has alot of very good, very sensible information that I hadn't read in other places. Mary SHomon actually recommends this book too.

Good luck!
 
Marianimal,

I just started reading the book Living well with hypothyroidism last night, I think it will be very informative. I may have to buy the book inwhich you were speaking of "weigh less, live longer" once I am done with the current book.

I did the Weight watcher flex plan about 3 yrs ago and lost over 30#'s then a little over a yr ago my dad became very ill and I started spending a lot of time with him either at home or in the hospital (neglecting myself), then he finally passed away on 12/9/05 , and I am a stress eater, so I begun coping with my loss with food, (the old hand to mouth theory).:-( My dad and I were pretty close. Just in the last 2 months Have I decided that he would've been very disappointed in me for gaining 20#'s back, so I am trying my best to get back on track with not only exercising, but also with my diet and understanding a little bit more about hypothyroidism. My mom and brother are also diabetic (as was my dad), so I have also started reading up on how to keep type 2 diabetes away.

Thanks againg to everyone that has answered this post.

Chris
 
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