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Welcome and thanks for stopping by my blog. I am a 30 year old mother of two wonderful children. On my 30th birthday I decided this would be the year I take control of my health for good. I had always been a small person who never really had to worry about gaining weight. I was also very active. However, as I got older my metabolism changed dramatically, and childbirth seemed to drastically change the way my body worked. I gained about 70-75 pounds while pregnant with my son. After giving birth to my him, I was diagnosed with Hashimoto's Disease of the thyroid. This is a type of autoimmune disease that attacks the thyroid gland and causes hypothyroidism. When I received the diagnosis, I found out that hypothyroidism has no easy fix. The common method of treatment is synthetic thyroid hormone. However,the dosage level a person needs at any given time fluctuates often and rarely are the symptoms such as weight gain and extreme fatigue totally alleviated. I popped up pregnant again with my daughter about 10 months after my original diagnosis. I was still holding onto about 20 pounds of pregnancy weight from my son despite being treated for my hypothyroidism. I gained 35 pounds while pregnant with my daughter. That left me with about 55 pounds to lose after her birth. Since that time (She is now 3 years old), I have shed about 15 pounds of that weight, which I have effectively kept off. However, I still have about 40 pounds to lose to get back to a weight in which I feel healthy and energetic. This is not my first attempt to lose weight. In my many efforts to feel better and shed unwanted pounds, I have done much of my own research on weight loss, hypothyroidism, and autoimmune diseases. I started this blog to monitor my progress, discuss my challenges and successes, and to share with others who may be going through the same thing. This blog is not intended to diagnose or treat any condition. I am NOT a doctor. I am just a person trying to navigate being healthy & active with an autoimmune disease and a family to care for.

Monday, July 9, 2012

July 9, 2012

Today I decided to start trying (again) to get my health under control.  The majority of my research on weight loss, and in particular weight loss for someone with Hashimoto's Disease or any autoimmune disease, seems to point to the following ideas:

  • Avoid sugar! (other than the kind naturally occurring in fruits and berries)
  • Avoid gluten and other processed carbohydrates (this does not include the carbohydrates naturally occurring in vegetables)
  • Avoid most dairy products (Greek yogurt and some cheese is the exception)
  • Exercise at least 30 minutes a day (Yoga was a specific suggestion)
  • Drink LOTS of water (Adding natural lemon juice is OK as is organic teas.  I use Stevia to sweeten my teas)
  • Eat natural foods such as fruits, berries, nuts, vegetables, greens, beans, organic eggs, natural chicken & turkey, seafood... (A good rule is that if it grows and can go bad then it is probably good for you.  If it doesn't, it probably isn't.) (Red meat should be limited)

I started following these rules today.  I know, they seem pretty strict.  I am just going to do my very best.  I did hit a bit of a wall of exhaustion after dinner.  I forced myself to go to the gym to do 40 minutes of moderate cardio and that woke me up.  I am quite convinced that I suffer withdrawal symptoms from all the processed foods and sugar especially.  That is why I usually cheat at night and usually within the first week (day 4 has been my most common day that I lose control on in the past).  I was very tempted to cheat a couple times today, but I told myself the benefit of good health in the long run outweighs relieving the temporary withdrawal symptoms in the short run.

My plan is to do very low carbohydrates for the first few weeks.  This means no grains (such as rice since I cannot eat gluten anyway).  After the first few weeks I will add the rice and some gluten-free carbohydrates back into the diet to make it more sustainable.  This way I should get some better results the first few weeks and readjust my taste buds and metabolism.

Today's menu consisted of the following:
Breakfast: 3 organic eggs over-easy
Lunch:  Blueberry smoothie made with Greek yogurt
Snack:  Handful of walnuts
Dinner:  Baked chicken breast tenders, "mashed" cauliflower, and green beans
Snack:  Handful of walnuts and peanut butter smoothie (I got the smoothie from the gym for free so I may have accidentally cheated here.  I will make sure I do not in the future, but it was free, and I know it was low calorie because the gym owner told me so.  ha ha)

Today's exercise consisted of the following:
40 minutes on a treadmill alternating between speeds 3 & 4.  2 miles total.  (Slow 2 miles I know, but it has been months since I ran so I made sure to take it really easy so I will feel like doing it again tomorrow.)

Well, I suppose this post is long enough.  Hopefully, this blog will keep me motivated and help someone else who may be just starting out as well.
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