[cutieshirl40]

, Ok, so I just joined in here today and found a wealth of info, but my main one is the dieting with hypo systems, all my meds and tests are current and optimized, but I can't seem to stick to a plan and am scared to limit my calorie intake bc then I obsess about it all the time, finally threw the scale away as it was crazy emotional roller coaster everyday. I need to lose about 30 pounds and is situated around the middle the body that bugs me the most, don't want or have a gym membership, do have free weights at home as well as exercise ball, and some good books for weight lifting, but find it hard to motivate or keep at it til the end of the book doing the exercises.
My questions are: anyone following something that seems to work for them?
diet plan or system that works for them?(ww doesnt do it for me, gained weight on it)

[Mel]

Hi there

As long as your thyroid levels are where they should be, you can be successful. There are plenty of folks on this site who are hypo and have lost and maintained their loss for years

The key is to find a lifestyle that YOU can live with...as a lifestyle. What works for someone else may not work for you. Why did you gain on Weight Watchers? Could you stick to the program and which program was it? You need to think about how you view food, what is most important to you, then formulate an eating plan taking those factors into account.

For example, if I eat sugar or refined carbs, I want MORE. So for me, a plan based on portion control of those kinds of foods just doesn't work. Sooner or later- usually sooner- I'll binge on them. So for me, the ONLY way of eating that ever resulted in weight loss (and I've maintained both the loss and the way of eating for almost 5 years now) is to pretty much get rid of refined carbohydrates and sugars. I lost most of my weight combining the SugarBusters plan with a lot of exercise and more frequent meals. I also did Body for Life, but the eating isn't much different, just more frequent. Now I eat small, frequent meals of whole grains, lean protein and lots of vegetables. That way I get to eat A LOT, which is what makes me feel like I'm not on a diet for the rest of my life. Others who can control their sugar intake, incorporate a daily dessert in plans like Weight Watchers (points).

There are endless diets out there and 3FC has a forum for a lot of them. Why don't you spend some time reading about the different diets on the forum stickies and think about how you would like to eat.

Exercise- I'm a gym rat. I love it. But you can get a good workout at home with minimal equipment. Take a look at the LWL and Exercise forums. This question has been asked about 4328576 times. Do a search on resistance bands- Meg put together a great total body workout using resistance bands. I just answered a post yesterday, I think, on the exercise forum, asking the same thing.

Motivation isn't something that is going to hit you between the eyes someday. OK, maybe if you were told by your doc to lose weight or you'd be dead in a few months....Seriously, don't wait for motivation. You need to make choices. Every meal, every workout, every offer of food, you need to make a choice and take responsibility for your choices.

Hope that helps,
Mel

[djmommy]

Hi I to found that south beach works for me. I could not do ww and trust me I tried . My friends were all losing weight and I was not. I was the only one working out. I tried sb before and was successful. I ran into health issues and gained it all back plus.. I really believe you need to find what works best for you. Carbs are not for me. There is a really good book out there about dieting with hypothy I did buy it and a lot of it makes sense. I am not sure what info I am allowed to give on this site so if you are interested im and I will give you the name. Your library may have it.

[cutieshirl40]

Thanks for the replies, and to answer the one question, why the ww didnt work for me? It would be the same thing as you Mel, as soon as I have a smidgen of sugars in a white food, bread or cookie, there I go for the day, binge city!!! Yes, I have been successful for a period of time and then I just seem to slowly fall off and boo hoo myself which makes the circle go around. I have started again today and so far so good. Just staying away from all the stuff that will make me crave. The only chocolate I will allow myself are the health bars that contain maltitol and such instead of REAL sugar, this seems to be okay for me and doesn't create a craving. I just find that I am always hungry. Could this be because of the CLA pills I take 1/2 before I eat? Could this be speeding up my digestion? Before x-mas, I could go from breakkie to lunch without hearin the tummy rumble but now since I started the pills again, it seems to be constant hungry. For instance, here is a breakddown of my day:
B--2 egg whites, 1 egg, 1/4 c cheddar cheese, 1 Tbsp skim milk, 1 slice ww bread, 1 slice bacon
L--bowl french onion soup, 1 slice ww bread w/1 tbsp cream cheese
S--1 c carrots, 4 brereton crackers, 2 tbsp ranch dressing
D--8 oz chicken, veggie marinated in light dressing, 1/4 corn, glass skim milk

This is the fullest meal of the day for me, and just by writing this out I can see that I seemed to eat alot of carbs today which I normally don't do, but since I was soooo hungry today, this is the only thing that seemed to help.
Any input, criticism, etc is appreciated!!!

[Lilian]

I was recently treated with RA-I, so my hypothyroid symptoms are still early. However, I know what severe hypothyroidism is, because during the course of my treatment I went hypo for a while. I went up to 219 pounds despite my 'reasonable' (now I know it was anything but that) caloric consumption.

Turns out, I was eating a lot of candy, and even if I was eating 1200 calories a day, or even less, I would eat more than 60% out of those indulging myself in chocolate and sweets. Obviously, I ate too little and felt so bad. So, I'd say, low calorie diets are definitely out of the question.

What worked for me, along with a major adjustment of thyroid medication, was cardio workout. I'd warn you against getting a lot, because of the palpitations and all that. But, from personal experience, I do 20 -25 minutes twice a day and I feel a lot better. At firts I got frustrated, because instead of losing weight, I gained a few more pounds, but after two months the weight started coming down rather quickly.

After that, I was hyperthyroid for a while again, and I shed a lot of those pounds, so I can't say I was really watching what I was eating, but now I'm a lot more careful. There are simple measures that can be followed without major sacrifice: try putting less salt in your food, because it causes water retention, and hypothyroids naturally tend to retain water. Also, try to drink 2 or 3 cups of tea per day, to help your body flush out excessive fluids.

I am going to follow a low Glycemic Index diet, as it was recommended by my doctor to avoid weight gain. Not now, because I'm on prednisone and he told me following a diet would be pretty useless. Maybe you should consult your specialist about dieting so that he finds the most suitable solution for you.

Love,
Lily