Because patients with an underactive thyroid tend to have a very low basal metabolic rate, one of the most noticeable symptoms of hypothyroidism is weight gain and difficulty losing extra weight. (Sometimes an overactive thyroid can mimic an underactive thyroid by causing weight gain, although this is less common).
My thyroid has been screwed for decades. I have to exercise 2 to 3 times as much as your average person to lose a pound. Even one week of slacking in my exercise routine which is a shear exercise in will power and mild amphetamine abuse can result in 20 - 30 pounds of weight gain in less than 10 days.
To maintain my weight I swim 3 miles per week, walk 2 - 3 miles per day and walk between 30 to 70 flights of stairs a day instead of taking the elevator.
To lose weight I have to reduce calories to below 1800 per day and increase my activity listed above, which only maintains my weight, all while being exhausted from my failed thyroid. I have to get the levels of t3 and t4 hormones in my blood stream checked every 8 weeks and adjust my medications of t3 and t4 like someone with diabetes daily.
My weight can fluctuate as much as 20 pounds in a few days. I must keep my medication at 1.7 micrograms per kilogram of body weight and adjust it as my weight fluctuates. I have literally gone form 190 lbs to 340 lbs and back down to 210 and then up again to 300 in less than 3 years. I’m now back down to 280. I’m 6’ 2”.
I just love it when people make asinine statements, pulled out of their ass, when they have no idea what the f$^k they are talking about. I’ve been to Johns Hopkins and the Mayo clinic for treatment. Until you can swim 4 miles per week, walk 14 miles per week and walk up the equivalent stairs of the empire state building per week and still gain weight ( ie walked a mile in my shoes ) you can go eff yourself.
My thyroid was killed by excessive dental x-rays and work related overexposure to radiation. I was a complete bigoted ass to others about peoples weight when I was younger and before my thyroid was destroyed. My metabolism became virtually uncontrollable and I experienced for myself that it is not always the result of over indulgence and a lack of will power. I hope you never ( I’m lying! I hope it happens to you! ) have to experience a severe health problem. I doubt you or most people would have the will power to fight it.
I range from overweight to obese and exercise a lot to try and keep it under control. I’ve been shamed in public and it has been all I could do to refrain from kicking the MFers scrawny little ass from one end of town to the other and I’m 60 years old!
I find your opinion to be prevalent amongst people very wet behind the ears. Karma is a beotch. Be careful how you judge others because it just might come back and become your problem. I was an ass to overweight people when I was young and could not comprehend how they could allow that to happen to themselves and now regret my behaviour. I know a lot of people who deserve the same fate. Don’t look behind you, time and karma are catching up fast!
We all have a cross to bare and I’ll remind you “That no one gets out of life alive.” and that even the healthiest folks can take a sudden turn for the worse and suffer a horrible departure.
It’s only the very fortunate who die of natural causes, peacefully in their sleep, surrounded by loved ones. Pray! Your days on this earth were also numbered the day you were born!
My grandfather died peacefully in his sleep surrounded by friends! They were in the car and screamed all the way down to the bottom of the cliff while he slept!
Remember! Your family and friends chose your retirement home!
Yikes! My sympathies. If you would can you share your story about the dental x-rays? I have always been suspicious about the frequency and exposure rates of them.
I am about your age and my thyroid tests are dead in the middle of the range(thankfully). Still I have to keep walking and continue to be very active to keep the pounds off.
Hat tip to you and your efforts.
Thanks for the medical history. You’re the one in ten thousand. The rest are just fat and lazy. Seriously. I see fat people everywhere I go and they all don’t have thyroid problems. I don’t hate them. I pity them. I do have some scorn for them.
I have a son who’s overweight. We’re trying to teach him how to take care of himself. Unfortunately his older brother is skinny as I was a kid and can eat whatever he wants.
I was skinny as a kid. I’m now 57 and have to watch my weight. I workout and exercise whenever I can. I make time to keep the weight off. I still can eat ice cream, though so it’s all right. It IS work.
Thanks for the medical history. You’re the one in ten thousand. The rest are just fat and lazy. Seriously. I see fat people everywhere I go and they all don’t have thyroid problems. I don’t hate them. I pity them. I do have some scorn for them.
I have a son who’s overweight. We’re trying to teach him how to take care of himself. Unfortunately his older brother is skinny as I was a kid and can eat whatever he wants.
I was skinny as a kid. I’m now 57 and have to watch my weight. I workout and exercise whenever I can. I make time to keep the weight off. I still can eat ice cream, though so it’s all right. It IS work.