Hashimoto's and 110 lbs to lose - hi ya'll!

hashimotos
newbies
(Sue) #1

Hello everyone. I have been a long time lurker and finally decided to jump in. I am 35 yrs old, weigh 255 lbs currently (down from 267 since Jan 1st, woohoo!) and have been trying hard to cut out diary, gluten and all carbs for a while now.

My problem is that I think I am addicted to sugar. Over the past month, I have slipped literally every weekend and have binged on sweets/carbs. This weekend is good so far and I am hoping to ride out till the end of the day (US MT) without any mishaps (fingers crossed :frowning: )

I would love to team up with others who have 100-ish lbs to lose, for accountability and support. I am 5’7" and 145-150 lb is my goal, but after suffering from chronic fatigue, binge eating disorder and food addiction for 3 yrs now I know better than to focus on the number on the scale. I basically weighed between 170-180 till my 32nd birthday, and then the thyroid hit me like a tonne of bricks and I didn’t get diagnosed till about 6 months ago. I literally ballooned up to 280 lbs and blamed myself for being “lazy” when I was basically chronically fatigued.

I have yet to start on thyroid meds for Hashimoto’s because my insurance won’t cover it (long story), and I need to wait till June. During this time I want to do everything healthy so I can start meds when I fully fat-adapted and comfortable on a keto diet. Thanks for reading this far and I hope to get to know a lot of you amazing folks on here!

  • Sue
(Sarah ) #2

I’d bet you’ll be very pleased with the steady energy state you’ll get from being fat adapted, and then when you start tinkering with your meds, it’ll be that much easier

(Darlene Horsley) #3

Welcome Sue!

#4

Glad to see you here, Sue!

(Liz ) #5

Welcome! I am a recovering sugar addict so I feel for you. It does get easier the more Keto you stay, the longer you can do it. For me, the cravings eased up due to whatever chemical changes Keto causes, then it was easier to avoid slipping. Hang in there, just keep at it, don’t give up, you got this!

(Teresa) #6

Welcome Sue!

I would be happy to join you as an accountability partner, yep I have over 100 to lose too. I am addicted to sugar too but I will say when you do Keto for awhile that craving does goes away. I did this awhile and had great luck, more energy, no sugar cravings, just felt better overall. You have done very well so far, just keep going.

Let me know if you want to partner up? :blush:

(Sue) #7

Hi Teresa, I would love to partner up! Either message me, or we can start a thread together or something? Thanks a lot for the encouragement :slight_smile: I do think my sugar cravings are better already (i only get them once every few days instead of every single day, but each time I go down the rabbit hole I feel hopeless and desperate.

(Sue) #8

Hi Liz. Thanks for the warm welcome. I think so far I haven’t stayed in ketosis for more than 5-6 days at a time. I watch my total cals just to make sure I see some weightloss and I guess that has something to do with it. I am going to focus on staying in ketosis for the next 3 weeks so that I can learn to eat when I am hungry instead of give in to the cravings from time to time.

(Liz ) #9

FWIW It took my body 6 weeks of strict Keto eating to start accessing my bodyfat for energy and stop asking for carbs lol, cheering you on!

Also, my hunger and satiety signals took more time than that to make sense to me so definitely keep at it & give yourself the time you need for your body to switch over.

(Sue) #10

Ah! That is indeed worth a lot to me, lol. I can’t say that I have done “strict” keto for even 2 weeks straight at this point. I do notice that I am more in tune with my hunger signals now than before (only because I was horrible before), but put me in front of sugar or chips or any sort of junk for 15 mins and I cave :frowning: even when I am not hungry. But I must say I am encouraged by my weight loss so far. Its just that I am worried I will give it up soon, not because I am not seeing any progress at all but because I find it hard to imagine a life without junk food. I went through the same with alcohol so I know the drill in theory, its just effing hard in practice.

(Liz ) #11

It’s REALLY EFFING HARD!! I know!! OMG I know. it’s legit an addiction and the only way I beat it was to treat it like one. But if you could do it with alcohol, you probably have skills that will transfer. When you finally do get clean from the carbs, you won’t have those irresistible urges anymore. It’s much easier to see your life without the junk on this side of the fence. You’ll still have the habits to contend with, but that’s a different thing. This video series by Dr Atkins’ colleague talks about the validity of carb addiction:

What stuck with me was when she said the addicted brain does not make good decisions. That made so much sense to me and I stopped beating myself up for having “poor willpower” and started putting behavioral modification in place to help me stay off carbs long enough to get clean.

#12

Ditto everything @LizinLowell has said! I too have Hashimoto’s and have a tendency to get strong cravings for carbs and sweets. What’s helped me is learning the science behind ketosis and why it’s so therapeutic for a plethora of problems. Getting into ketosis can take some time and diligence, but once I started seeing higher numbers in the 1.5-3.0 range I didn’t want to do anything to risk getting out of ketosis! Also, when cravings came a callin I allowed myself to eat whatever keto foods I wanted. I told myself that I could eat all the charcuterie items I wanted until I felt satisfied so I didn’t feel like I was depriving myself. I’m entering my sixth week and have seen a noticeable difference in my cravings. I haven’t been perfect in those past 6 weeks either, had an episode with too much dark chocolate last week during my period, but I jumped right back into the keto saddle and haven’t looked back.

Just be patient and trust that you’re doing the best for your health. Weight loss comes with the keto and fasting territory, but getting to a place where you have energy and a general sense of wellness can be just as liberating, especially with Hashimoto’s!

Good luck with your journey!

(Sue) #13

I watched the whole talk 3 times. I went through a lot of this when getting sober from alcohol, I just never allowed myself to think like this about carbs, because I think I needed some substance to fall back on. I was may be in denial, which is an all too familiar first step of the alcoholic :slight_smile:

Thanks so much for sharing this with me @LizinLowell ! Appreciate your support so so so much!

(Sue) #14

“Weight loss comes with the keto and fasting territory, but getting to a place where you have energy and a general sense of wellness can be just as liberating, especially with Hashimoto’s!”

I couldn’t agree with this more!

(Susan) #15

Hi! I realize it’s getting close to 5 years since you made this post, but I was just diagnosed with Hashimoto’s this week (after ~10 years of taking Synthroid) — it sure explains a lot about why I feel so bad/ sluggish/exhausted much of the time. Have been trying to get back to keto the past few months but have been struggling with the carb cravings…basically need to lose half my body weight, was 250 pounds at the doctor last week and at 5’0” with a “small frame” 125 pounds isn’t unreasonable…although I’m almost 60 now, so think I’d be happy with 135-140. Found your post when I typed “Hashimoto” in the search bar; just wondering how your keto journey has gone, hoping you were able to get some relief from symptoms and to lose some weight.

(Marianne) #16

Welcome to the club - I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that I am literally addicted to sugar. It’s taken me my entire adult life to finally accept and respect that. I don’t go near sugar and wouldn’t dream of even tasting it. If I were to have any of the things I used to love (virtually anything with sugar), I’d be off on a binge and wouldn’t be able to predict when I might be able to stop, plus the guilt and shame would be just as crushing. I have found that eating zero or very low carb has kept my sugar cravings at bay to the point where I don’t have trouble passing it up. I don’t mourn not having it. That is all contingent on not taking that first bite (of sugar).

I’m 5’7" also. My highest weight before coming here was 230. I am now 168 and would like to lose 20 more lbs. My best suggestion is to eat clean food (one ingredient foods; okay if you combine them to make a meal), and keep the total carbs as low under 20g/day as you can. Also, the only time I get weighed is at the doctor’s. I’m not going to subject myself to weighing at home. I know by my clothes and appearance how I’m doing; that is enough for me. I detest the scale.

Best! Hope to see you on the forum.

Oops, I just saw that the original post was from 2018!