I'm 320 lbs. for the second time in 10 years.
I was a lean gym rat all through high school and college. In my mid-twenties, I stopped going to the gym, instantly adopted a sedentary life, and emotionally ate myself to 315 lbs.
Two years later, I was tired of being fat..bought a stairmaster. I guess I did a modified version of atkins, but I was a vegetarian. My diet consisted of two eggs and two pieces of toast with butter for breakfast, a low carb protein bar for lunch and tofu and raw veggies with ranch or blue cheese for dinner. My philosophy was carbs once a day in the morning, and it worked like a dream I lost 80+ lbs in the first 6 months....140 total in under a year with diet and exercise alone.
Anyhoo...I kept the weight off for 4 years or so and then developed hypothyroidism. At the time I was exercising 6 days a week...very hardcore 2-3 hours per day....1.5 hours on the stairmaster etc. One day I didn't have the energy to do it...one day turned into a week. I developed terrible chronic fatigue and gained 60 lbs in the next 3 months...80 more in the next year or so. I was devastated, exhausted and just defeated.
Three years later, I still could not get the weight off. I tried everything!! My trustworty body I previously knew how to brilliantly coax results from was completely betraying me. So I went extreme! I went low carb vegan 1400 -1600 calories per day started exercising 1.5 hours per day 6 days a week, took every natrual thyroid supplement under the sun along with my prescribed meds. I did this for nearly a year and lost 11 pounds.
Don't get me wrong, I was so unbelievably healthy. At 300 lbs I was able to hike 4 hours with the skinny people, blood work/pressure was a dream, and I felt amazing. But I knew if I didn't get the weight off, I would have no hope of saving my thyroid, and it could turn into a permanent condition.
So, I turned to Atkins. I read two versions cover to cover. The original, and the 2002 version, and started on my journey. I lost 30 lbs in the first month and 1/2, but the meat was just too much for me. Within 4 months My knees started to swell, and I started to develop arthritis, my blood pressure raised, and again, I felt defeated. I did something I never thought I'd do which is to eat meat after 10+ years of vegetarianism...out of sheer desperation, and I was losing the weight, but my health was starting to fail.
So, now I am trying to find the balance. I am now doing a vegetarian version of atkins. Within the first three weeks all symptoms went away, and I feel much better. I am able to stay under 20 carbs per day, but the weight loss is slower. I read that going in and out of induction will significantly slow down your metabolism, also I developed MRSA in January from sitting at my father's bed side at the hospital. During the bought with the infection, my resting temp. dropped to 95.8 and I gained all the weight back I had previosly lost doing atkins. I am also trying to figure out how much exercise my thyroid can take...too much and it shuts down...too little and no results.
So...there it is. Thank you for reading if you made it this far.
I'm happy to be here.
Thanks for allowing me to be a part of your fantastic family!
February 25th, 2009, 08:09 PM
I hope what you're doing works for you! Do you eat fish? 
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Vegetarian and Hypothyroid 
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