Posted: 9/3/2015 9:29:18 AM EDT
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So I was diagnosed with Hashimoto's Thyroiditis and have been on levothyroxin (currently 100mcg) for a couple years. It runs in my family and my grandparents, aunt, mother and sister all have a thyroid disorder of some sort. After dicking around in the gym for years I started seriously lifting (SS, then Advanced Novice and now Texas Method) 11.5mo ago with good results strength-wise and obvious muscle gain but disappointingly modest weight loss despite a deficit. Other people have said I'm noticeably leaner but my weight on the scale is very reluctant to move up or down. I probably have a tendency to retain water. I don't blame being fat on being hypo though, it's 100% my own fault for having no self-control when i was younger and eating crap for years. I'm not a "but muh genetics" person and I don't like people who make excuses and don't take responsibility. Lazy bastards. But my main problem is that it does seem to take me longer to recover than other people. High volume just murders me. After 5x5 above 80% of 5RM it takes many days before I feel solid again. I don't mean just muscle soreness, I mean I feel completely drained and sore and weak for days and days. Oddly enough, I do much better on low volume/high intensity days. I never, ever skip workouts. Should I reduce 5x5 to 3x5 or some other rep scheme on high volume days? I'm a "just follow the fucking program" sort of person and am reluctant to deviate from it but this is seriously draining the life out of me. Maybe leave an extra day between volume days and the light "active rest" days? I try to go for a 45min bike ride on my fixed-gear once a week but I'm considering laying off that for a couple weeks. Anybody else with diagnosed thyroid disorders here? Any suggestions on dealing with the symptoms or how my diet should be different? Current diet is pretty heavy on fish and chicken breast and some dairy with a lot of green vegetables. No sodas or white sugar or fast food unless it's a special occasion (i.e. two or three times a month). At 5'11" 317lb I'm averaging under 2000kcal a day. I should probably eat a little more but it's hard to fight the programming that more food = bad when you've struggled with weight your whole life. I eat cleaner and am more active than a lot of the skinnyfat people I know but you wouldn't know it to look at me. If it matters, my numbers are: Squat: 335x5 Bench: 250x2 Press: 150x4 DL: 395x1 (should be higher but I stalled, adjusted my technique and reset) |
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Hashi's here too, though I probably have had it low grade for a couple decades. Get your endo to let you try a run of liothyronine in addition to your T4. T3 works much better in me than T4. I take both daily.
I would ignore the scale. I would guess you are losing fat and gaining muscle, and may be approaching equilibrium where you have adapted to your workouts and are metabolic efficient for your existing efforts. How many days a week do you lift? Mix things up a bit. Maybe high volume but low weight for a couple weeks. Ride more maybe. Take a week and ride daily but no lifting. What are your latest full thyroid numbers? You might get some good ideas from a blog called Hypothyroid Mom. |
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Quoted: Hashi's here too, though I probably have had it low grade for a couple decades. Get your endo to let you try a run of liothyronine in addition to your T4. T3 works much better in me than T4. I take both daily. I would ignore the scale. I would guess you are losing fat and gaining muscle, and may be approaching equilibrium where you have adapted to your workouts and are metabolic efficient for your existing efforts. How many days a week do you lift? Mix things up a bit. Maybe high volume but low weight for a couple weeks. Ride more maybe. Take a week and ride daily but no lifting. What are your latest full thyroid numbers? You might get some good ideas from a blog called Hypothyroid Mom. I've heard others say the same about T3, so I'll definitely have to ask about that. Regarding weight, it's got to be as you describe; I mean I know I've gotten stronger and gained muscle despite very little scale-weight loss. I was also reading an article about how water retention can mask fat loss, which makes me feel a little better considering I seem to retain water sometimes. I've had people say that I look better and ask me how much I've lost and it's awkward to say I haven't lost any. I do a full-body routine 3x a week, usually SUN/WED/FRI depending on my schedule. I don't think Texas Method was designed for someone in a serious calorie deficit so I may try to look for something else, or maintain for a while and focus more on cardio. I feel like I could use a short break to catch up recovering. I'll have new bloodwork pretty soon so I'll try to remember this thread. |
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Quoted: +1 on direct T3 replacement. I've been taking Cytomel for years. It made a huge difference for me. There are a lot of disagreement out there about different brands of T4 replacement. I'm currently on Synthroid and will probably stay with that. I'm on generic levothyroxin and now I'm wondering if maybe I'd respond better to something else. |