You will hear many people complain about weight gain with a Thyroidectomy, and complain they can't loose weight.
I gained fifty pounds leading up to the surgery. Before you fall out of your chair - I am 6'4", fifty pounds is s lot but not as much as you might think. The gain was mostly poor eating, lack of exercise, increased stress (hey! I have cancer!) and my thyroid doing crazy things to me.
Immediately after surgery I lost 14 pounds, felt great, and was confident I would drop the other 36 pounds.
But then I experienced "the crash" and was tired all the time. I slept instead of exercise, and ate to stay awake. I put back on 13 of those 14 pounds.
I have been forcing myself to the gym as much as my exhaustion can bare it I have lost a pound, which puts me at -2 since surgery.
I wake up in the morning and try to pull myself out of bed, but many mornings I can't. When my Fitbit says I only got 5 or 6 hours of sleep? I can't do it. But even when the fit but says I got 7 or 8 hours it can be difficult.
I read from many people who reported this feeling of exhaustion and I was convinced it would not happen to me, but it did. I remain convinced that if I could exercise regularly I would get more energy, I would therefore eat better, I would therefore loose weight, and I would therefore sleep better and I would return to my Pre-thyroid-problem self. That's my theory and I am not discouraged yet.
Tune back and I will try to provide further updates.
Wednesday, January 18, 2017
Tuesday, January 17, 2017
Sleep and Fitbit Update
If you follow this blog, you have noticed the frequency of posts has dropped off. This is for two reasons. First, my blogging phone app no longer works with the latest ios release, so, it is less convenient to blog. And second... life goes on. We have this thing that happens, we get past it, and then we go on with our lives. While thyroid cancer is a big deal and will regularly be on my mind, it is no longer front and foremost. I have other things to deal with: getting my son to drive and get him ready for college, holidays, vacations, and more. Thyroid cancer becomes an after thought - something that I remember only when I look in the mirror and see the scar. And that is good. It is the way it should be.
I struggle with being tired, not getting enough sleep, not having much energy, and therefore struggling to get to gym daily. If I don't get to the gym, then, I am not doing well managing my weight. And if I am tired, I am turning to bad snacks to snap me out of it.
I have worn my FitBit for going on 4 weeks now and I am seeing information about my sleep that I never knew.
For example, I go to bed, do a last check of the email on my phone, and then go to sleep. My plan is always to get 8 hours sleep (or come close to it).
What I learned is that I am spending way too long checking the email on my phone. It isn't just a quick five minute check. Some nights I am spending 20-30 minutes! And that eats into my sleep time.
Next, the fitbit tells me I loose up to 45 minutes of sleep per night. I can see when this happens: My wife comes to bed, my daughter gets up for work, my boys head out to school, and my wife gets up before I do so she can have the shower first. There are other interruptions: The cat jumps on the bed, the dog barks at something outside, someone gets up in the night to use the bathroom, or (like last night) my wife wakes me to tell me someone is downstairs (it was the dog snoring).
I might go to bed intending to get 8 hours sleep, by the time I check my cell phone and have all the disruptions, I wake with only 6 3/4 hours. If I stay up late helping the boys with their homework, I get even less. And then I wonder why I am tired all day long!
My wife says "This isn't anything new. It has always been this way. So why are you tired now?" And that is a good question. But it hasn't always been this way: my daughter hasn't always had the early shift, and I am staying up later at night than previously. Even so, it is difficult to believe that these changes make me want to nap at lunch time and sleep all weekend.
I am going to try to reverse this problem by getting more sleep and taking a sleep study in March. Stay tuned and I will provide updates.
I struggle with being tired, not getting enough sleep, not having much energy, and therefore struggling to get to gym daily. If I don't get to the gym, then, I am not doing well managing my weight. And if I am tired, I am turning to bad snacks to snap me out of it.
I have worn my FitBit for going on 4 weeks now and I am seeing information about my sleep that I never knew.
For example, I go to bed, do a last check of the email on my phone, and then go to sleep. My plan is always to get 8 hours sleep (or come close to it).
What I learned is that I am spending way too long checking the email on my phone. It isn't just a quick five minute check. Some nights I am spending 20-30 minutes! And that eats into my sleep time.
Next, the fitbit tells me I loose up to 45 minutes of sleep per night. I can see when this happens: My wife comes to bed, my daughter gets up for work, my boys head out to school, and my wife gets up before I do so she can have the shower first. There are other interruptions: The cat jumps on the bed, the dog barks at something outside, someone gets up in the night to use the bathroom, or (like last night) my wife wakes me to tell me someone is downstairs (it was the dog snoring).
I might go to bed intending to get 8 hours sleep, by the time I check my cell phone and have all the disruptions, I wake with only 6 3/4 hours. If I stay up late helping the boys with their homework, I get even less. And then I wonder why I am tired all day long!
My wife says "This isn't anything new. It has always been this way. So why are you tired now?" And that is a good question. But it hasn't always been this way: my daughter hasn't always had the early shift, and I am staying up later at night than previously. Even so, it is difficult to believe that these changes make me want to nap at lunch time and sleep all weekend.
I am going to try to reverse this problem by getting more sleep and taking a sleep study in March. Stay tuned and I will provide updates.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)