Post pregnancy slow weight/fat loss= Possible thyroid??

[mick01]

Well, I usually can find a solution for people in reference to their dietary and training needs to help them meet their goals. But I seem to have run into a sticking point. I???m wondering if the thyroid could be an issue?

Scenario: Female, 30yr 5'3" 145lbs about 20%bf mother of 1yr old. Classic Endomorph. Carries most of her fat below the waist. She is VERY STRONG!

Prior to pregnancy: She had been over weight for about 10yrs. Then she got the fitness bug and started training and eating right. She got her BF fairly low. Not sure how low, but she had nice definition in the upper body (nice set of abs) and you could see the split between the quads/hams.

Pregnancy: She got very heavy, gained about 60lbs to a BW of about 200. She had to stop working out do to sever edema in the legs and feet.

Post Pregnancy: In January she was about 160lbs BF pretty high. Pants size 14. Then I started helping her out. We have tried every diet and workout you can think of, but the results are coming very slow. Much slower than when she initially started training. We even tried a diet similar to a pre-contest carb cycling diet with only a small initial drop in weight. She is currently the stats listed above and in a size 10.
She is starting to get discouraged because she has been a size 10 for about 3-4 months now. This girl works very hard and diets hard as well. She wants to be that size 6 again.

The only thing we have found that works for her although it???s very slow is a diet of about 1200cals (I know its not much) and doing cardio before weight training. The weight training is done with very little rest between sets and moderate to high reps.

I guess I should add she is weight training 2-3 times per week, upper/lower split immediately after 20min of interval training first thing in the morning. She will "power walk" pushing a baby stroller on every other morning.

Could it be a thyroid condition or some weird insulin sensitivity issue??????

Thanks
Mick

 

[ponyboy]

I'm no expert on post-pregnancy hormone changes, but I seem to remember that hormone fluctuations after pregnancy can last for several months. That could have something to do with it. It's too bad she gained so much weight during her pregnancy.

I'm always a little wary about blaming the thyroid on a plateau in weight loss because it seems to be a trend and too many people are using it as an excuse when (sometimes) they simply aren't putting what they need to into their workouts and dieting.

Have you tried cycling her diet back up a little bit? During pregnancy she was probably consuming a lot more calories than that and by dipping that low it may have caused an imbalance which is leading to this plateau. Maybe up to at least 1500 but spreading them out quite a bit if she is able (it would be hard with a new baby). I don't think 1200 calories is enough for someone that had a baby six months ago...especially if she is still breastfeeding the infant.

 

[mick01]

She gave birth over a year ago. The kid is about 13-14 months.

Anyway we started her at 2000 cals when she was in the 160's and she was still gaining weight. She started loosing weight with 1500 cals but when it stopped we tried to up the cals in hopes of sparking her metabolism. The weight started to come back. We slowing dropped them down every few weeks until we got as low as 1200.

I never seen anyone who could actually get stronger on 1200 cals a day while doing cardio and weight training, but she is.

 

[lina]

Best thing is to have that blood test taken by the doc to confirm hypothyroidism. Then you can go from there.

It is too bad she gained so much weight during her pregnancy from where she was before. I can sure understand her frustration wanting to get back to her pre-pregnancy weight.

Good luck!

 

[mick01]

Originally posted by lina
Best thing is to have that blood test taken by the doc to confirm hypothyroidism. Then you can go from there.

It is too bad she gained so much weight during her pregnancy from where she was before. I can sure understand her frustration wanting to get back to her pre-pregnancy weight.

Good luck!

The sad thing is she kept her diet in check while pregnant. I think the doc may of though she had a diet full of crap. Her had her write down everything she ate for a week and see a nutritionist. Well, of course the nutritionist changed nothing. Having that baby was hard on her.

 

[lina]

I assume that you are in UK where it is hard to see a specialist for your friend??? She needs to see an endocronologist. I too have hypothyroidism but not as extreme case ( excessive weight gain, etc.) But sounds like she must've suddenly gained weight not due to overeating during her pregnancy, so there's another clue..

I found some good info from this sight and kinda diagnosed myself before going to the doctor. Here's a checklist you can use as a general guideline but nothing can replace a good doc's experience and some bloodwork, because some of these symptoms are very general and can be a cause of so many other diseases, etc.

http://thyroid.about.com/blchklst.htm?terms=hypothyroidism