Now that I am cleared to return to exercise and normal activities a little more than two weeks post-surgery (bilateral orbital decompression), and am finally euthyroid after more than a year of post-RAI hypothyroidism, I'm ready to get my weight under control.

I am almost 30 pounds heavier than I was before Graves, but my physician would like me to achieve my severe hyperthyroidism weight, because even that is more than someone of my height should weigh. I've always been petite but very muscular, so I weighed more than I looked. So basically, I need to lose close to 40 pounds and I don't know where to begin. I'm very active and eat a mostly healthy diet, so I decided to call my physician this afternoon and ask for a referral to a nutritionist or dietitian.

I've read the tips on here and I already follow them. I get plenty of sleep, I always eat breakfast soon after waking, I drink a lot of water, plenty of veggies, but admittedly have a weakness for greasy food and sweets (thanks Dad).

Has anyone sought professional help for weight loss? I'm not referring to Weight Watchers or MediFit or anything like that, because I won't take a pill to lose weight and I don't want to “diet.” I want a permanent change but I think something related to Graves is getting in my way because I am more active and eat much better than I did before Graves, and I never had trouble maintaining a relatively healthy weight.

I have not sought professional help, gatorgirly, other than to get exercise help. On the diet front, by eliminating sugar (AND artificial sweeteners) I have pared off 17.5 pounds in the past year. If I were able to give up things like french fries and my daily glass of wine as well, I assume I would have lost more.

I basically substituted fruit for sugar/sweeteners and was not expecting any great weight loss. Boy, was I surprised!! I have come to view sugar (and artificial sweeteners) as toxins, and addictive ones at that.

I do wish you luck,

Hi,
I have not gone to Weight Watchers myself. The one thing I do know is that they don't use drugs, and they don't have specially packed foods for you to buy. I think that is a racket.
But I do hear very good things about it. I understand now you can keep track of everything on your iphone and/or droid if you have one. My neighbor does not care to go to meetings, but she records her food intake on the WW website. She has lost 12 lbs in a year. She did cut way down on sugars, has stopped eating in the evening, has more prepared veggies around, and decreased bread/CHO a bit. She did not change her wine intake.
I am happy that you have you OD's behind you with no major complications. large (perforating cribiform plate like one of the posters on the forum) or small. Well, I think the numbness is a small complication, but it will resolve.
Shirley

@gatorgirly - I wish I had some better words of wisdom. I'm about 20 pounds up myself post-Graves' diagnosis, and even had to quit leading meetings for WW, because my own weight became such a struggle again.

Lately, I've been focusing on a “mindful eating” program. Although I haven't lost any weight on this program, I feel like this is at least a good foundation to start with. I can PM you with details if you are interested.

Take care!

Bobbi - I definitely plan to reduce, and try to eliminate, extra sugar from my diet. As in, no sweets, ice cream, candy, chocolate, etc. I don't use any artificial sweeteners but I do put milk and pure vanilla into my coffee.

Shirley - I track all my calories in vs. calories out using two iPhone/computer friendly apps. I use MapMyFitness (also known as MapMyRun and MapMyRide) to track all my dog walks, runs, and bike rides. I don't like the food part of the app, so I use MyFitnessPal for tracking everything I eat, and then I just import my exercise data over from MapMyFitness. It's helpful to see how easily one can get off track. By the way, I am trying to stay under 1,200 calories a day. I will not change my wine intake. I only have two glasses a week usually, and I enjoy the taste and trying new kinds, so that's one sacrifice I will not make…so I'm glad to hear your neighbor still lost all that weight without giving up wine. And thanks for the encouragement regarding my recovery. You're right, the numbness is quite frustrating but I'm happy to take numbness over double vision.

Kimberly - I'm open to anything that doesn't require pills or meetings, or have any cost involved. If you don't mind, I'd appreciate the information on mindful eating. I've heard of it but never looked into it.

PM Sent!

Good afternoon
I know how you feel about the extra weight. I took RAI June 2011 and am now on Armour and feel great. Was able to get back to exercising in May, 2012. I am now doing aerobics 4x per week. Feel better than I have for years!!! I have always been very careful about what I eat. I don't snack, eat little meat, about 90% vegetarian BUT I gained 20 lbs in the past year. I've spoken with all of my docs about it and they all blame it on the slower metabolism. My endo is concerned that I may be pre-diabetic and is watching that carefully. I did some research and decided to start a low glycemic diet which is recommended for diabetics. I really haven't changed much but I realized that some of the vegs that I love the most have the highest amout of sugars (sweet potatoes, regular potatoes, squash) I have eliminated these vegs and have lost 3 lbs in the past month. I feel wonderful!! I use a little sugar in my tea and switched that to Agave which is great!

I would suggest that you look into the low glycemic diet and try to increase your exercise. The weight loss will be very slow but that is the best way to go.

Good luck to you
Gayle

Thanks Gayle. I'm definitely open to lots of different diet (as in what I eat, not “dieting”) options, but I am very careful about eating processed foods, so I don't want to eliminate any raw foods, especially fruits and vegetables. I plan to have my cholesterol and blood glucose levels checked soon, but last year, my glucose was good.

Increasing my exercise is really not an option. Well, OK, right now it is, as I'm still really weak and easily tired because I'm not even three weeks post-surgery. But normally, I bike about 10-15 miles every other day, and do strength training and yoga on opposite days. I walk around a college campus every day at work and take my dog for several long walks a day. I'm extremely active and spend most weekends kayaking, biking, hiking, etc. I don't believe in paying for a gym membership when I can do just as much, if not more, for free at home or outside.