Hello – You will hear many different opinions on weight issues from patients and from the medical community, but my personal experience is that weight issues became a significant struggle for me after I was diagnosed and treated. (I have been taking methimazole for 4 1/2 years).
During a panel discussion at the Foundation’s 2009 conference in Charlotte, one of the doctors on the panel indicated that it’s possible there might be a “resetting” of one’s metabolism following thyroid issues.
This conference also featured an interesting presentation from a nutritionist. She utilizes Metabolic Testing to check the Resting Metabolic Rate (RMR) of her clients. She provided one example of an actual client who had been treated with RAI and stabilized on a dose of thyroid hormone replacement. There is a “standard” calculation based on weight, height, and activity level that many people use to determine RMR. However, the nutritionist found that this woman’s RMR was actually about 150 calories a day *less* than the standard. The nutritionist’s comment for Graves’ patients trying to lose weight was, “you have to track EVERY calorie” – because our margin for error is so thin.
Also, here are a few other suggestions the nutritionist had regarding weight loss:
* Include breakfast daily within 2 hours of waking up.
* Don’t go longer than 5 hours in between meals
* Select “high volume” and “high fiber” foods such as fruits, veggies, and whole grains
* Limit servings of healthy fats to 1 per day
* Prioritize at LEAST 7 hours of sleep a night
* Once a doctor’s clearance has been received to resume activity, do 150 minutes per week of physical activity, plus strength training 2 times per week.
There really aren’t any easy answers. I know from personal experience as someone who *used* to lead meetings for Weight Watchers before my diagnosis, and finally had to quit because my own weight was creeping back up.
My personal take is that it’s important to keep fighting the good fight in terms of being active, eating cleanly, tracking our food intake, etc.. Giving up is not the answer, as that will certainly have an even more detrimental effect. But honestly, for some patients (like me), the degree of difficulty just seems to go up when it comes to weight loss.
Take care!
