Thyroid and weight loss help.

[Amiee89]

Hi guys :)
Im a 28 year old woman suffering from an under active thyroid.
I have gained over 40lbs in 2 years.

I  have always been very petite and slim
Due to my thyroid my weight is continuing to increase
my body is not used to all this extra weight resulting in achy joints and stiff legs.
Im starting to become quite depressed.

Im looking for advice.
I am an extremely fussy eater when it comes to veg and struggle to eat healthy due to this.

I was hoping for some healthy recipes that do not include vegetables!
maybe an effective diet plan.
A good exercise routine to help me burn fat effectively.
and any other helpful advice :)
Thankyou xox

[Barb135]

I totally agree with everything Paxiled said.  

The first thing we need to know is whether or not you are taking replacement thyroid hormones to get/keep your thyroid levels under control.  As Paxiled noted, adequate thyroid medication will go a long way toward helping get things back on the right track.  

Hashimoto's is the most common cause of hypothyroidism in the developed world, so if you haven't determined the cause of your thyroid condition, this would be a good time to do that.  That's done by testing for thyroid antibodies, Thyroid Peroxidase Antibodies (TPOab) and Thyroglobulin Antibodies (TgAb).  If either/both are elevated the diagnosis would be Hashimoto's.

You should also be tested on a regular basis for Free T4 and Free T3 - those are the actual thyroid hormones and many doctors don't regularly test those. Many only test TSH, which is actually a pituitary hormone and does not always, even often, correlate with thyroid hormones, especially when one is on a replacement thyroid medication.

Even if you're tested for Free T4 and Free T3, just being "in range" isn't good enough... We all have our specific point(s) that we need to be and if our medication dosages aren't adequate, we won't achieve optimal levels.

All of that said, there may be other things involved as well since many of us with Hashimoto's/hypothyroidism also have various vitamin/mineral deficiencies and/or other conditions that also affect our metabolism.  

Iron, vitamin B-12, vitamin D are all necessary for proper metabolism of thyroid hormones and many of us are deficient in the nutrients, plus many of us have malabsorption problems as well.   Adequate testing is necessary to determine what, if any, further issues you might have.

As far as diet, I can't say much more than Paxiled already said.  I don't know of anyone who doesn't eat at least "some" vegetables.  My husband is one who eats the least of anyone I've ever known and even he eats a salad now and then that includes lettuce (even though it's iceberg which little/no nutritional value) and tomatoes.  He eats corn and potatoes, both starchy, but they are veggies.  He also eats sweet potatoes (though they have to candied) and on the rare occasion, he'll eat a helping of cole slaw or baked beans.

I was never really big on veggies because there were a lot of things we didn't have when I was growing up, but I've gradually learned to eat a pretty large variety of things.  You can change the way things taste by adding herbs, spices, etc or cooking them in different ways.  That's what I've done to make my diet more healthful and to add more veggies.  

Try walking through the produce section of your local grocery store and pick out a couple of things to try, then go home and find recipes for them.  One thing I've learned to make is "zoodles"...  what's that?  Zucchini noodles.  I bought a $10 spiralizer and instead of making spaghetti to eat with my sauce, I make my noodles out of Zucchini... I have almost no calories involved in the zoodles and with the sauce, I can't even tell I'm eating Zucchini instead of pasta.  You can eat spaghetti squash or yellow squash the same way.  You can hollow out cucumbers to make a "boat" for tuna or chicken salad or make a sandwich with sturdy lettuce leaves instead of using bread... there are all kinds of ways you can incorporate veggies and barely know you're eating them.  Eventually, you'll even start to like them...

My husband and Paxiled's brother could almost be the same person or at least closely related... except my husband does not eat a disciplined diet as far as the sugar is concerned.  In fact, he eats tons of it, drinks soda, etc.  He does not have a thyroid condition and he's quite slender, but he's also not healthy, though he doesnt believe that. He thinks if one is thin they are healthy, but he doesn't see that layer of fat under his skin, either. He's lost muscle strength, has some memory issues, has had bladder cancer (disputed), colon resection, etc.  

All of this said, you'll find a lot more information about hypothyroidism in the Thyroid Disorders forum.  Please feel free to acces the forum via the following link:
https://www.medhelp.org/forums/Thyroid-Disorders/show/73

[Paxiled]

I would contend there is no such thing as healthy meals without veggies, especially if you're getting painful joints.  Colored veggies have the antioxidants that help prevent inflammation.  You can probably lose weight in the short term by eating a high protein diet, but even the most ideological protein fanatics eat some veggies.  With the huge number of veggies out there it's hard to believe you can't find some you enjoy, but there's something about veggies that I found.  Most kids have problems with a lot of veggies tasting bad to them but usually with exposure outgrow it.  For me, a big move was only eating organically grown veggies at home, because to produce a strong plant without using the shortcut of synthetic poison they use older seeds that were bred not only for durability and resistance but also for flavor.  They are just sweeter tasting than petroleum farming.  We all have some veggies we just don't like, but we all have some we really do like but don't know it.  And there are a million recipes for preparing them.  So I encourage you to find a way to eat that emphasizes veggies both if you want weight loss that lasts and if you want to be healthy.  But that aside, if the problem is in fact your thyroid, if it's really that off, are you on medication to fix it?  To be off that much I'm assuming your doctors have found you have a disease state that is responsible for this.  My wife gained some weight when she got Hashimoto's, an autoimmune thyroid disorder, but lost it once her medication stabilized her and she just cut out some sugary things she was eating, such as muffins for breakfast.  I would ask, is your diet perhaps responsible for at least a portion of this?  If you tell us what is wrong with your thyroid, there are people on here with thyroid problems who can probably help you, but again, if the thyroid is the culprit I would assume you have to get it under control to lose weight.  Otherwise, something else is also going on that also needs fixing.  As for recipes, there are a million cookbooks out there, and a million that focus on healthy cooking.  So recipes aren't hard to come by.  Forming an overall diet is what's difficult, as is sticking to it for permanent weight loss.  Also, do you exercise?  I have a brother who has no thyroid problems but who also hates veggies, and he's made it to nearly 70 years old now and still hates them.  I think potatoes is one of the few he likes.  He doesn't have a weight problem, though, as he eats a very disciplined diet as far as sugar is concerned, but he isn't the strongest guy in the world, has a heart problem, and has always gotten a lot of colds and viruses because of his eating habits.  Didn't stop him from working a million hours a week and didn't stop him from being successful and doesn't stop him from traveling the world now, though, so don't despair, you can do this if you can fix that thyroid problem whatever it is.

[Maniah]

kudos,the information detailed very well