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Maria, it doesnt matter which treatment you choose when it comes to weight. All of them will lower your metabolism. This does NOT mean you will gain weight excessively, but you will, undoubtedly gain some weight, so you have to eat smart and exercise.
It is important for all of us to recognize that the weight loss with Graves is not necessarily healthy weight loss. Some of it came from losing muscle mass in the large muscles of our arms and legs. Think about how weak you were. I could not blow dry my hair, because holding up the dryer was too much strain on debilitated arm muscles. I could not walk up a small flight of stairs. I SAT for months. Why is this important? Because muscle weighs more than flab. A lot more. So as we get healthy again, some of the weight gain we experience is from getting muscle tissue back, and muscle tone. The good news is that muscle also burns a lot more calories than flab, so having muscle sets our metabolisms higher. Let me illustrate with the experiences of two friends. The first is an athlete. M… used to be involved in triathlon competitions. She has, since she turned 50, decided to “ease up” and she “only” competes now in marathons. (She amazes me.) She eats like a horse, and is thin as a rail. I think she wears a size 4, if that. If I ate what she eats, I would look like the Goodyear Blimp. Then there is my friend, K…, who is obese, diets constantly, and never exercised a day in her life until she turned 50. She is about 5’6″ and weighed at least 225 lbs.. She had tried every diet known to man, at least twice, until about 6 months ago, when her doctor finally convinced her she needed exercise. It was VERY discouraging at first. She was walking 12-15 miles a week, and lifting weights, AND dieting, and she GAINED weight. Her doctor forbid her to get on the scales. Because she was replacing flab with muscle. But the last time I saw her, she had lost 16 pounds and was feeling tremendously empowered.
Now these two women are obviously “extremes”, but they point out the beneficial aspects of having muscle, rather than flab. And muscle is something we lost while sick with Graves. So, when you look at the weight gain you might have experienced after treatment, try to keep in mind that some of it, at least, can be healthy weight gain. And it is the type of weight gain that doesn’t drive us into clothes that are larger. I have gained about 15 pounds since my lowest weight while I was sick. The first ten of those pounds did NOT drive me into a larger size clothing. I was exercising, and I think they were muscle gain, mostly. The next five did result in some flab. So I’m working to lose them. ; )
I wish you good luck, and good health soon.
Bobbi
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