HI folks,

I am 34 and have been without my thyroid for 9 years. I had papillary cancer and had it removed. I'm currently taking synthroid .175 and glucopage 500 mg. My thyroid levels are fine and healthy. However, I have continued to gain weight since I ran my first marathon last summer in June of 2002.

I had "thrown in the towel" when someone told me about a doctor at UCLA who was an endrocrinologist speciallizing in nutrition. Well, I went to see him and explained that I was following low carb, high protien, high fat and working out regularly 5 days a week. My workouts include boxing, running, wieght training, and pilates.

He put me on a machine and figured out that I'm burning 1268 calories a day. The average woman my size, 5'2", 34 years old, burns about 2500 to 3000 with my activity level. He suggested I go on Meridia, add more protein, lower fat and count calories. He also suggested 4 months of a supervised liquid high protein diet.

Are any of you familiar with this? I'm not a big fan of diet pills and counting calories sounds like a lot of work. However, I've continued to gain weight for no reason. At 34, actively dating, a liquid diet sounds a bit extreme.

I'd love any advice.

Warmly,

Girly girl.

Meridia is an appetite suppressant. Generally, people have found that eating Atkins, low carb, higher protein, it suppresses your appetite naturally.

As far as calories or a liquid diet ... I personally would not do a liquid diet unless you were extremely obese. Then I might consider it. I don't think you are obese. Overweight for your height, possibly, but not obese.

Calories for hypothyroid generally have to be on the low side. For me and others I've talked to. You might be different. I find that if I stay in the 1200-1400 range, I lose. 1400-1600, I maintain. Above that I gain.

My carbs are generally in the 30 area or below to lose. 40-50 I maintain. Above 50 I gain.

I take Levoxyl. I used to take Synthroid. I take a lot of vitamin supplements.

Everything has to be tweaked for your own body.

I think the idea behind Meridia is that if you do a liquid diet you are going to be hungry and the Meridia would suppress that hunger.

I would give a low carb diet a try before I would do that. Keep in mind that hypothyroid loses slower.

I've also read a lot of things that say that doing too much exercise is actually counterproductive for hypothyroids because it puts too much stress on your body and you release too much insulin and increases hunger and throws your body into a survival mode and it hangs onto fat.

I've read a lot that says 20-30 minutes three or four times a week of cardio and 20-30 minutes three times a week of weight resistance is much better for hypos.

Again, this is just stuff I've read and might be different for every individual.

I walk three or four times a week for about half an hour each time. I'm going to try weights after the first of the year.

I lose a little than sit for a while at a weight, than lose again.

I've lost about 55 pounds since early September.

I take CLA, GLA, Tyrosine, Carnitine, Chromium, CoQ10, Atkins Basic #3.

Virginia

Thanks Virginia,

Thank you for sharing your wisdom with me.

Yes, I agree with you. The liquid diet sounds obsessive to me too. I've been low carbing for a few years however, never watching calories. I think that running the marathon may have been what tilted my body into storage mode.

I take "super food" which is a green powder form multivitamin, calcium/magnesium, EFA, CLA, Synthroid, Glucopage, Prevacid (acid reflux), and organic iodine. Prior to the marathon I never needed Prevacid or Glucopage so what you say makes sense with the too much exercise and insulin levels.

I'm now going to start counting calories and see how that works.

Thanks for your post and CONGRATS on your wieght loss!

Warmly,

Girly

I know counting calories seems like a lot of work, but I actually don't count them. I have just fallen into the habit of eating a certain way and in general my calories stay around 1200-1400 naturally. I have to really pig out to get that high. In fact, I have to make an effort to get over 1200.

I hope you're doing okay after your cancer removal. I had breast cancer in '96. It had moved to two lymph nodes. I had lumpectomy, chemo, and radiation.

I know it doesn't make sense to a lot of people about too much exercise and hypo, but I've seen a correlation from listening to a verbal history from a lot of people. And indeed, your marathon might have been the straw that pushed you over the edge.

Good luck.

Virginia

Hi Virginia,


thanks for asking about my tyroid cancer. Yes, I'm feeling fine with the exception of my scale frustration. I went through exactly what you did and hope you are doing fine too.

Like my mom says "don't sweat the small stuff, and it's all small stuff."

My doctor says because I only burn 1268 calories a day, in order to lose wieght I must be consuming between 800-1000 calories. That's fairly difficult but, I'm logging it all in fitday.com. I'm sticking to fish and chicken protein and zuccini type veggies because they are lower calorie. I snack on nuts and cheese to get the fat.

Hugs,

Girly

If you went to a doctor in Los Angeles, then you must visit my doctor in Torrance, Dr. Kent Holtorf.

If you are on just Synthroid, I can tell you right now that is the cause of your stagnant metabolism and difficulty losing weight. Synthroid consists of only T4, and you need T3 to affect your energy levels & metabolism. Because your thyroid gland produces more T4 than T3, and because your body naturally converts T4 to T3, many doctors do not prescribe T3 medication. This is a shame, because T4 replaced by medication does NOT convert to T3. T3 is so important, because it is the hormone that regulates energy level & metabolim.

My mom was on Synthroid for 20 years, and I finally made her visit Dr. Holtorf in L.A. She lives on the east coast, but he is so amazing that I flew her in myself. He was able to tell, just by looking at her feet and her neck, that she was undermedicated for her hypothyroidism. He took blood tests, and began her on a new medication May of 2002. Since then, she has lost 32 pounds by doing nothing except changing her medication. Her hair is growing back in, her energy level is up, and her weight is down, just by adding T3 to her system.

I swear by this Doctor - and highly recommend him to ANYONE. If you are in this area, though, then you really have to at least visit him. If you want more information about this doctor, or any other thyroid question, drop me a line at thyroid~justice.com [thyroid AT justice.com] or you can check out my new website [still in progress!] at http://diagnosis.4t.com.

In the meantime, his information is:

Dr. Kent Holtorf, M.D.
The Hormone and Longevity Medical Center
Diplomate A.B.A.A.M.
______________________

23441 Madison St, Suite 215,
Skypark Building B
Torrance, CA 90505

Work: 310-541-7115

www.hormoneandlongevitycenter.com

I have referred many people to him in similar situations, and all have had life-changing experiences visiting with him.

Margie

Hi Margie,

Thank you so much! I just called his office and scheduled a visit for February 18th. They didn't have anything sooner and I'm on a waiting list if something comes up.

I tried emailing you but, it was bounced back. Feel free to email me at girlygirlnxtdr~yahoo.com

I'm so frustrated grasping for straws and am excited to have a new straw!

Hugs,

Girly

Margie,

Just got called they have a cancellation for tomorrow morning. I'm going in at 11:00.

I'll keep you posted on the progress.

I'm exstatic.

Warmly,

Girly

Glad you are going to a new doc.

I can second the T3 advice. I'm on Levoxyl (t4) AND Cytomel (T3) also. I could feel a marked difference when I switched.

I, too, had my thyroid removed. I had a tennis-ball sized goiter on the one side and a small sac of papillary cancer on the other.

No further iodine treatment for me, but I do want to keep my TSH levels as close to 0 as possible because we don't want more thyroid cells growing.

Today I saw my family doctor (she will handle the routine thyroid stuff now) and she said that my numbers were in the normal range. I had to ask to suppress, but she readily agreed to up my Levoxyl ... I hope that will make weight loss a bit easier as well as give me a bit more energy all-around.

"Normal" is a wide range ... so even though you're in the normal range, it may not be "normal" for you. That's why a good doctor who knows the thyroid is mandatory.

I'm lucky that my family doctor, too, had thyroid cancer, so she is very current on these things.

She told me a new medication was available that mixed the T3 & T4. It was a 1xday med, but it had to be refrigerated. Since the levoxyl and cytomel was working for me, I decided to stick with them.

Wendy,

Thank you! I'm glad you are feeling better.

I had my endrocrinologist change me to Armour. He doesn't believe the T3, T4 theory but said he'd do it for 60 days to appease me.

In the meantime, I saw Margie's doctor. He had lot's of lab work done and I go back in 3 weeks for results. I really like him and feel hopeful. I'm sure he will end up changing my perscription so we'll see...

Hugs,

girly

Margie et all,

I had my second visit with Dr. H. He went over my lab results line by line. I took a friend with me because I get overwhelmed at times. She was premed and is naturally very analytical.

It turns out I was high T4, and virtually no T3. My estogen was high, my testosterone and progesterone were almost non exhistant. 40 is normal and I was .07. My cholesterol and blood pressure were good but, I was low iron (odd for high protein) and my adrenals were low. He said we would focus on my hormones and thyroid initially and it way heal the other stuff on it's own. He prescribed higher T3, testosteron and progesterone replacement, and iron. I will go back in 6 weeks for a follow up.

It just feel so good to have hope again. 30 lbs in one year is a lot for someone who works out like a maniac and monitors my food intake religiously. My girlfriend said everything he said made perfect sense and she felt very comfortable with his diagnosis.

Hugs,

Girly girl

Girly Girl,

I'm so glad to hear your update on your second visit with Dr. H, but more importantly, I'm glad to hear that you guys found areas that could be involved in your lethargy & weight situation. I'm also glad that you brought someone with you who is experienced, and that you both felt comfortable with what he had to tell you. I think finding a doctor who can listen and respond adequately and in a way you are comfortable with is the most important part of any health problem you might face.

I hope that he has given you some medication to address the issues you guys found off of your blood work ups, and that you start to feel better in the next few weeks before your next appointment. By the way - if that is going to be in 6 weeks, that's awful close to my appointment with him!

Margie

HI Margie,

Thank you again for your referral! I'm feel very confident in Dr. H and looking forward to fitting into my clothes this summer.

Yes, my appointment is the day before yours.

Hugs,

Girly Girl

This is very interesting to me to see that there are options. I've been on synthroid for 28 years with weight gradually eeeking up. I've never been able to lose, not on WW or any of the other diets. I have lost on Atkins before so am back at it. I am very intersted in the info about the T3. No dr has ever mentioned anything else but synthroid. Is this why I can't lose?? Is this the reason my energy level is never as high as I think it should be? Is this why my skin is dry and creepy?? I wonder. I'm going to see if there's an endriconologist in our area, LA is a bit far to travel. Maybe my stats are all messed up too.

i just had to reply, i read all of thyroid_m posts, and i have changed dr. ... i could never lose, i even gained on akins he said from my labs i was UNDER TREATED for years, even after surgery , i am now on amour, going slow, as not to upset the heart, since i have not had t3 for so long. i am so mad i was cheated out of 8years of my life plus i have 30-40 lbs to lose . i would not mind the weight if i had the pleasure of eating the food to justify the gain!!!!!!