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| Me at over 18 stone in 2010 |
Having a medical condition or illness can really make loosing weight difficult and slow but you don't have to make it an excuse when the weight doesn't seem to be moving. For me it was that pesky butterfly shaped gland in my neck that decided that it wasn't going to do it's job properly. I became morbidly obese and so ill I don't actually know how I functioned. Fortunately you can do something about your weight like me. It just takes a little more time and a lot of determination.
You see this was me at 37/38 years old before I was diagnosed with a severely underactive thyroid. The doctor thought I'd had the condition since my early 20's and I was in fact so ill that my organs had slowed down so much they were show signs of getting ready to shut down. In layman's terms I was going to slip into a coma. The doctor said it was a matter of weeks before it happen had I not sort medical attention. Looking at it like that was seriously scary and I vowed to myself that I would do exactly what my doctor advised.
You're probably sat reading this wondering why if I was so ill had I not gone to the doctors before. The truth was that the last time I went to the doctors I was 28 years old and around 12 stone. I had found a small lump under my armpit and was terrified of what I could be facing. The doctor tried to find the lump in my armpit and after sometime he said he couldn't feel anything even though I could. He looked me up and down and as if he was dealing with me having no more than a sprained ankle he said this. 'FAT people sometimes get FAT deposits and that's probably what it is. If you can still feel it in a week or two I suppose we will have to take another look'. And with that he dismissed me. As a young woman I was self conscious about my weigh and under no illusion about the fact I was fat but to be talk to in such a way absolutely floored me. He could have simply said that with me being overweight the likelihood was it was a fat deposit and nothing to worry about. I would have been fine with that. But he really emphasised the word FAT and I could see I disgusted him. It turned out it was a swollen gland and went after a week. Not a fat deposit or anything connected to weight. But this one doctor with his dismissive and uncaring manner stopped me going back to the doctors for anything. I missed really vital smear tests because of him and I simply ignored any problems I had. I also thought all my ailments were because of my weight and not my weight was because I was actually ill.
Fast forward 10 years and it wasn't till an ex-nurse started working for me that the possibly of me having an underactive thyroid came up. She realised after a few months of working for me that I really couldn't be as morbidly obese as I was without me either A/ binging on food which I didn't or B/ having a medical condition like an underactive thyroid. As a nurse she could see I was getting worse and we had been talking about her dad who had just being diagnosed with one too. It was then she asked if I had ever had my thyroid function tested. My answer was no and she told me I had to go get it check. So with that I picked up the phone and booked an appointment to get myself checked. Had this lady not figured it out I dread to think what would have happened to me and where would I be now.
Since then I have been on a very slow road to recovery. As my thyroid function was so far gone it took about a year to get my medication right and after that for the next year I still had to go every 3 months for a check up before they were happy with me having yearly checks. My doctor advised me not to try to lost weight till everything was settled as this could really make my weight loss difficult. The best thing was I started to loose weight naturally, so after the first year I had lost around 10-12lbs. Not masses but it showed me that my weight had a lot to do with my illness because I hadn't actually changed my diet. The last time I had really seriously dieted was a couple of years after the incident with the doctor and it took me about 6 months to loose just over a stone. My new doctor estimated I would have been between 23-25 years old when my thyroid had started not working properly so when that awful doctor had been rude about my size I would have already been struggling with my underactive thyroid. At my worst the doctor said had I ate more than about 500 calories a day I would have been overeating. The thyroid gland produces hormones which regulate the body's metabolic rate as well as heart and digestive function, muscle control, brain development and bone maintenance. With everything slowing down it meant even eating a recommended calorie intake of approximately 2000 calories a day I would have been eating 4 times as much as my body needed. So even on a strict diet I would still have put weight on.
About 18 months after I was diagnosed I decided to give dieting another go. I wanted something easy as I worked really long hours running my business and simply need a kick to get me started, so I chose a diet were meals are delivered to your door. I spent another 2 years on and off eating these awful meals that made me miserable. After all that I had only lost just over another stone and a half, not much for the misery and food boredom whilst on that plan. It was this that gave me the final kick to just join a slimming group and I chose Slimming World as it was one of the few diets I hadn't tried before and for me it has been the perfect match.
The thing with having my condition is that weight loss can be almost painfully slow and frustrating at times. It is however for me a lifestyle change, a commitment to my health. Since loosing so much weight my medication has been reduced. I have to say the first time it happened I had a mini meltdown in my group as I didn't want to put my weight back on but I didn't. Having a medical condition that I have to deal with for the rest of my life has made me see my weight loss as not a race. It took me a good fifteen years of struggling with my weight so I'm not going to loose it overnight. Just stay strong and try to focus on this as a way to help with your condition.
I'm still working towards my target but not quite there yet. The thing is I will achieve it one day and you can too. x
Fast forward 10 years and it wasn't till an ex-nurse started working for me that the possibly of me having an underactive thyroid came up. She realised after a few months of working for me that I really couldn't be as morbidly obese as I was without me either A/ binging on food which I didn't or B/ having a medical condition like an underactive thyroid. As a nurse she could see I was getting worse and we had been talking about her dad who had just being diagnosed with one too. It was then she asked if I had ever had my thyroid function tested. My answer was no and she told me I had to go get it check. So with that I picked up the phone and booked an appointment to get myself checked. Had this lady not figured it out I dread to think what would have happened to me and where would I be now.
Since then I have been on a very slow road to recovery. As my thyroid function was so far gone it took about a year to get my medication right and after that for the next year I still had to go every 3 months for a check up before they were happy with me having yearly checks. My doctor advised me not to try to lost weight till everything was settled as this could really make my weight loss difficult. The best thing was I started to loose weight naturally, so after the first year I had lost around 10-12lbs. Not masses but it showed me that my weight had a lot to do with my illness because I hadn't actually changed my diet. The last time I had really seriously dieted was a couple of years after the incident with the doctor and it took me about 6 months to loose just over a stone. My new doctor estimated I would have been between 23-25 years old when my thyroid had started not working properly so when that awful doctor had been rude about my size I would have already been struggling with my underactive thyroid. At my worst the doctor said had I ate more than about 500 calories a day I would have been overeating. The thyroid gland produces hormones which regulate the body's metabolic rate as well as heart and digestive function, muscle control, brain development and bone maintenance. With everything slowing down it meant even eating a recommended calorie intake of approximately 2000 calories a day I would have been eating 4 times as much as my body needed. So even on a strict diet I would still have put weight on.
About 18 months after I was diagnosed I decided to give dieting another go. I wanted something easy as I worked really long hours running my business and simply need a kick to get me started, so I chose a diet were meals are delivered to your door. I spent another 2 years on and off eating these awful meals that made me miserable. After all that I had only lost just over another stone and a half, not much for the misery and food boredom whilst on that plan. It was this that gave me the final kick to just join a slimming group and I chose Slimming World as it was one of the few diets I hadn't tried before and for me it has been the perfect match.
The thing with having my condition is that weight loss can be almost painfully slow and frustrating at times. It is however for me a lifestyle change, a commitment to my health. Since loosing so much weight my medication has been reduced. I have to say the first time it happened I had a mini meltdown in my group as I didn't want to put my weight back on but I didn't. Having a medical condition that I have to deal with for the rest of my life has made me see my weight loss as not a race. It took me a good fifteen years of struggling with my weight so I'm not going to loose it overnight. Just stay strong and try to focus on this as a way to help with your condition.
I'm still working towards my target but not quite there yet. The thing is I will achieve it one day and you can too. x
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| Me New Year 2016 |
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