[Bobbi]

#1066174

The weight issue is very complicated. But, to try to simplify things for you, when we are hyper — even by minor bits — we lose both bone and muscle mass. Once we get to stabilized, normal levels of thyroid hormone, the bone loss slows down (losing bone is normal as we age), and the muscle starts to slowly return. At least some of it comes back. The presence of strong muscle raises our metabolic rate: i.e., with good amounts of strong muscle, we can eat more than we can when we do not have as much strong muscle. Muscle uses more calories, even at rest, than other body tissues do. If you have been back and forth between hyper and hypo, you have not had any opportunity to get back to your strong muscle. So, you cannot eat as much as you would like without gaining weight, no matter WHAT level of hormone you have been at. Your metabolism has been totally messed with. Once you are at normal levels of hormone, your muscle comes back and you are then able to work to strengthen it, and your weight issues become more normal. You still may have lost more muscle than will return, but you will have at least some consistency in what is going on.

[stephg]

#1066175

Thanks for clearing that up Bobbi:) So then basically when I am going from hyper to hypo my body never gets a chance to build up muscle? And muscle burns fat therefore thats why its harder to shift? And then when I get RAI I will be still all over the place for a while Im guessing? The radiologist told me it can take up to nine months (worse case scenario for RAI to do its job!!Whoooa!) I have been told I will have to stay off all meds except my beta blockers and calcium after RAI and that I will probably be hyper then for a while…and then go hypo. Do people normally just stay as they are weightwise or do they automatically put on more weight with going hypo? Sorry there is prob loads of questions loaded in this post! I would just like to avoid having to go out and buy more clothes. Im really not worried at all about getting the RAI itself I dont really have much choice, I have just had such a difficult time of it already with weight I dread the thoughts of a bigger battle!
Any advice on how to avoid more weight or foresight on this would be greatly appreciated:)

Thanks:)

[Kimberly]

#1066176

Hello – If you do a search on this site for "weight", you will see that many patients (regardless of treatment choice — ATDs, RAI, or Thyroidectomy) struggle with extra weight above and beyond what we lost when we were hyper.

Others who have had RAI can provide more insight on that specific treatment, but here are a few general suggestions on dealing with weight issues from a nutritionist who presented at last year’s conference:

1. Include breakfast daily within 2 hours of waking up.
2. Don’t go longer than 5 hours in between meals
3. Select “high volume” and “high fiber” foods such as fruits, veggies, and whole grains
4. Limit servings of healthy fats to 1 per day
5. Prioritize at LEAST 7 hours of sleep a night
6. Do 150 minutes per week of physical activity, plus strength training 2 times per week. (Important note: check with your doctor before starting on an exercise program, because exercising while hypER can do more harm than good).

She also suggested that we NOT go *below* 1150 calories/day, as it’s hard for the body to get all the nutrients it needs on extremely low-calorie food plans.

Hope this helps!

[stephg]

#1018642

Hi All,

Can anyone shed some light on this for me? I have been up and down with hypo to hyper. I have been on ATD’s and off them….basically just chopping and changing because of how my body was reacting to them etc. Since I have been on ATD’s I have put on loads of weight(mainly around my tummy) I was to be fair extremely skinny when I was hyper and yes I needed to ”put on a few lbs” as friends and family kept telling me. But I didnt expect this much. I had to completely get rid of my wardrobe and start all over again. Even before I was diagnosed with GD I was never as big as I am now. I have been off meds for over a week now as I am having RAI next week. But I am worried that if I am this size now I will pile on the weight after RAI. Like, I dont mind that I put on some weight at the beginning but even when I was so called ‘euthroid’ I didnt lose any of that excess weight I had gained when I went from hyper to hypo (if that makes sense?!)Does anyone have any advice on how to lose weight with Graves as I have cut out all bad foods and started excercising as much as my body will allow for and I have seen absolutely no improvement..

Thanks in advance,

S x

[Kaeljia]

#1066177

I don’t know about anyone else… but after last year taking the year off due to eye surgeries..and my final one just last week.. the depression and eye sight changes has caused me to not be overly active. I’ve found that it wasn’t all just my lack of motivation but I had to relearn certain things.
The best way to describe my eye sight now is like you are watching some one walk with a video camera and the scene bounces… I used to call it bobble head effect.
I’m just looking forward to a year of stabilization so that my body starts to work with me now instead of against me… I’m not as tired as I used to be, and my energy level still fluctuates, I realize I won’t be able to do cross country running, or rollerblading.. at least not right now. I can ride my bike, but find riding on dirt roads with pot holes are not for me.. so it’s city riding for me, you know pavement riding.
Walking isn’t so bad although just recently I did miss a step tripped, and sometimes I don’t notice dips or think shadows are holes.
I so want to lose this weight and had considered the acacia berry but was warned against it by my GP,and told to be patient and to walk .

What I"m tired of the most is my own personnel lack of motivation. I hope that changes as well.

[Bobbi]

#1066178

Stephen:

When your doctor told you that getting regulated after RAI can take nine months or so, he/she did not mean that you would be bouncing back and forth between hypo and hyper. You might. But the more likely scenario is that you will spend a bit of time still hyper, while the RAI is doing it’s work, and then go hypo. If your blood levels are being checked at regular intervals, it is not typical for any of us to go extremely hypo, and if it is caught early enough, we’re put on a dose of replacement hormone and don’t spend much time in actual hypo territory. From then on, it’s a matter of adjusting the dose of replacement hormone to get it in the right spot of normal. That right spot of normal has changed throughout the years that I’ve been on replacement, to a much narrower window. For example, on our blood tests normal is a TSH in the range of 0.5 to 4 — I’m pulling this number out of the air, and it’s likely to be different. Well, my endo used to like a TSH of 2 to 3 in that window, and I typically felt good anywhere in that range. REcently she told me that the preferred range is now a TSH of 1 to 2. So, the thinking changes over time. Note, however, that any of those numbers are still in the normal "range". It’s just an arbitrary selection INSIDE the normal range of the best replacement spot. I did not have time to query my endo about this change in thinking, but I am going to see her soon, and will try to remember to ask.

Regardless of all this, I think it is extremely helpful to know what some of the aspects of the weight problem are. Knowing that I could not eat as much as I normally could because of the loss of muscle, helped me to keep my weight within a decent range. I may not have had control over my thyroid levels, but I DID have control over the foods that went into the body. I ruthlessly eliminated empty calories for a while (things that taste wonderful but have no nutritional value) and focused on regular meals with good nutrition in them. My body had been through the wringer and there was no way I was going to "diet" in such a way as to deprive it of needed nutrition. And it helped to drag me out to exercise ("pumping iron", and taking walks) when I wasn’t "feeling" like it because I knew I was helping my returning muscle to come back to some semblance of its former strength. Kimberly had a great list of suggestions about ways to approach "diet" during these days. Doing those things can help.

[stephg]

#1066179

Thanks guys for all the useful tips! As much as it pains me to say I think the best advice is as Bobbi said, only eat things with nutrional value. Not easy but certainly makes perfect sense. Anyway had RAI today, feeling fine and looking forward to coming out the other side hopefully. The support is great here, I dont think I would have went through with RAI only for the support and advice on this site, you all deserve medals:) Thanks, x

[Bobbi]

#1066180

Good luck in the coming days, Stephg. I hope you are feeling much better — and soon. Keep in mind though, that as thyroid cells die off, they will release their stored supply of hormone, so you may go through a few days feeling more hyper than you would like. This usually happens about a week into things.

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