Underactive thyroid

[Sidycat411]

I was diagnosed in 1996 with an over active thyroid, I weighed 111 lbs.  I'm 5'5" tall.  After treatment for a few years the thyroid went to underactive.  I've been on 88mg of Levothyroxine for many many many years.  Recently I noticed a weight gain without trying.  My PCP appt in October 2017 I was 142, my most recent visit along with thyroid testing I was 146.  I have not changed my eating habits at all.  Glass of Tropicana probiotics juice for breakfast, half a turkey sandwich for lunch with diet peach tea, and a light supper, yet I continue to gain weight.  Since April I've kept my calorie intake below 1200 and am taking Alli diet pill, and I haven't lost 1 rotten lb.  I am limited to exercising due to painful RA.  What else can I do to lose 15 ?????

[Paxiled]

Not sure this is clear -- are you saying you're thyroid is still hypo, or are you saying it was for a time?  What this means is your endocrinologist isn't properly adjusting your medication.  Also not clear -- were you put on this drug when you were hyperthyroid?  If you were diagnosed with a condition that left you hyperthyroid and the treatment pushed you to hypothyroid, that could be your problem, but because you say this is a many years problem it's just hard to tell from your post where you're at currently with this.  Obviously, if your thyroid is not being treated properly, or was improperly diagnosed, that could be the problem unless all that part of it happened a long time ago and isn't currently a problem.  As for your diet, your so-called probiotics orange juice has no probiotics in it, most likely, they're probably dead -- long dead.  Basically your breakfast is a glass of sugar.  Your lunch has no balance, just bread (white bread?) and turkey.  You don't say if you load on the veggies at dinner.  All types of arthritis are a pain, but they don't respond very well if you're sedentary.  Some form of exercise you can handle is better for arthritic conditions than not doing much.  Your diet is also not an anti-inflammatory diet nor is it an immune system diet if you're not eating enough veggies and basically having a glass of sugar for breakfast.  You're also taking a diet pill, but you hardly eat.  Not eating doesn't necessarily lead to weight loss if what you eat doesn't give you the energy and health to move.  Diet pills don't work unless they're speed, and even the theoretical function of them will only work is your thyroid is working well because when it isn't your adrenals will be off as well, your diet suits you and gives you sufficient nutrients, and you move as much as you're able.  I wish I could be more helpful but when people like you and I have multiple problems going on and doctors who might not be doing their best for us, it can be very hard.  A person you might contact hangs out on the weight loss forum, and is named Barb.  She has been fighting the good fight with her thyroid for a long time and might be of some help to you.

[Sidycat411]

I am still under active and was told it will be that way for the rest of my life, I must take Levothyroxine every day except 1.  I do it 6 days a week.  I did mention to my Dr the additional testing that can be done but I can't remember everything he said but he was not convinced it would be of any benefit to me.  I even printed some link I got with what exactly I was talking about.  He wanted to keep it and read it, so I won't see him till October.  That's my problem, he just didn't agree with what I was telling him.  As for the class of juice its a mix of banana & mango with probiotics by Tropicana.  I don't eat white bread or whole wheat/grain, I use rye, it was less calories.  I do have fruit in the evening which would be strawberries and blueberries, cantaloupe or a melon sprinkled with diet sugar.

[Paxiled]

Again, your diet is very pro-inflammatory, not one anyone would recommend for anything but especially not for someone with RA.  Way too much fruit, which is very high in sugar.  And again, that breakfast is just sugar and acids and Tropicana doesn't do organic and doesn't do real.  Someone like you should be shopping in a health food store and only buying real food, not filtered juices.  You need a breakfast with some oomph to it to get you going.  The same with your fruit -- why would you need any kind of sugar sprinkled on fruit?  It's mostly sugar as it is.  I don't know what diet sugar is -- I'm assuming you're using artificial sugar, which is highly highly bad for you.  Sugar is actually better for you, but sugar is pro-inflammatory and you have an inflammatory disorder.  Fruit is best eaten in moderation, at least the highly sugared fruits you're eating.  Berries are great for antioxidants, but you don't need any added sugar -- they're incredibly sweet and very high naturally in sugar.  Veggies, on the other hand, especially green leafy veggies, are also high in antioxidants but also high in minerals, especially electrolytes (bananas are also high in electrolytes).  Rye does not have fewer calories than any other grain -- grains in general aren't a calorie problem, they are a metabolism problem.  If you're eating whole rye, and that would mean dark in color and very earthy tasting, that's fine, but so are other whole grains.  Almost all rye bread sold in grocery stores is mostly white wheat with some rye added in.  Not great for you, as wheat is again highly pro-inflammatory.  And calories are not that important for weight, though it is a factor; what's most important is how quickly you metabolize what you eat into sugar and then how quickly you burn off that sugar, as if you don't it will quickly store as fat.  That's why all that fruit isn't so great for you, and also why grains that are not whole grains are not so hot.  Also why eating sugar for breakfast in the form of a fruit juice with the fiber filtered out of it so it's not even all that good a quality of fruit juice without balancing it with a whole grain or even oatmeal soaking in protein such as almond milk or some nuts or an egg means that sugar just goes right into fat storage.  You won't lose weight that way.  Eating very high calorie and fatty salmon will lose you more weight than eating all that fruit.  Given the nature of your range of problems, I would definitely see a holistic nutritionist and get a better diet.  I'd try and find some exercise you can handle -- anything is better than nothing.  And if your current doctor isn't a great endocrinologist, find another who is better at balancing your hormones and testing for them.  Lastly, I really would encourage you to contact Barb by private message -- as I say, she has fought the thyroid wars for many years and it took her a long time to convince here doctors how to treat her properly.  I think she can be helpful to you both on the weight issues and the underlying thyroid problem.  Good luck.

[Sidycat411]

Maybe I confused some as to the fruit I have on a daily basis, it's not all I listed but just 1.  I might have a few strawberries one night, next night maybe some cantaloupe, but I do  not have all that I listed every night just ONE.
Nutrition summary:
Calories
128
Fat
2.48g
Carbs
23.64g
Protein
3.86g
There are 128 calories in 1 slice of Whole Wheat Bread.
Calorie breakdown: 17% fat, 71% carbs, 12% protein.

Nutrition Facts
Bread, rye
Amount Per 1 slice, thin (25 g)
Calories 65

Yes rye bread has less calories.

One more thing I hate all fish, I can tolerate fish sticks maybe once a year, tuna the same, I do not like fish at all.   If I want to go see an  endocrinologist I must travel 1 hr which I will not do because I hate driving in unfamiliar territory, the town I live in is very limited in the specialists, you must travel for anyone good.  I use to see one who came here once a month but he retired years ago.  This crummy town just can't bring any kind of new business to the are because we are so highly taxed in everything.  We're paying $3.10 for gas, drive south for 45min and you will get it $.20 cheaper.  Its a rotten county to live in, if I could move I would but that's an impossible dream of mine.  So thank you all for your suggestions I will do some further research on your recommendations.

[Paxiled]

You are still confusing calories with how quickly the food you eat metabolizes into sugar in your body and then stores as fat if you don't quickly burn it off.  Again, almost all rye bread eaten is mostly wheat unless it's very dark in color, in which case you might be eating whole rye, but it's still a grain and the calories aren't that important from one grain to another.  You need to do a ton of research on nutrition.  I have a really bad anxiety condition exacerbated by medication, and so I don't see practitioners when I should.  It's not a good idea to live like that.  You never get better.