My Struggles With Hashimoto’s

With less than two months remaining in the year, I can’t help but reflect on 2018 in terms of my postpartum fitness journey.

This is my second year postpartum and first year I’m no longer breastfeeding. I weaned from breastfeeding around 14 months back in March. Since then, particularly as I look back now, I’ve been struggling with my weight. At the beginning of the year I feel like I was at the top of my game. I was doing 80 Day Obsession, and I was killing it! Never did I think I’d begin reversing my results and fluctuating up to 10 lbs heavier.

It’s very discouraging to say the least. While breastfeeding may have been my cardio, neither my diet or regular exercise have really changed, so it’s only normal to question what other underlying issues could be causing such changes.

Diagnosis: Hashimoto’s

I’ve never publicly brought attention to this, but during routine blood work for my pregnancy, my thyroid levels were out of range. Long story short I was diagnosed with hypothyroidism and Hashimoto’s disease. I am now subject to take a thyroid hormone replacement pill every day supposedly for the rest of my life. This irritates me, probably because I’m in denial of my diagnosis, but this year I’ve really placed blame on my weight loss struggle with this damn pill. I thought for sure once I was no longer pregnant or breastfeeding that I could stop taking this pill. Apparently not. I recently had my annual physical and my thyroid levels (while still taking the medication) are in range. 😑

So now what?

Am I going to allow this disease and weight gain define me? Am I going to accept that I may need to move up a jean size? Am I going to continue to let myself feel uncomfortable in my favorite clothes?

Absolutely not!

I feel like a broken record when I say this, but if I’m unhappy with how I feel, it’s obviously time to make some changes, changes that won’t happen over night. I need to ask myself how’s my diet? How’s my exercise? How’s my sleep? These are all areas I need to evaluate to get myself back on track. Consistently taking a pill alone won’t necessarily fix how I may feel if it is indeed related to my thyroid.

Coincidentally, my favorite health & fitness podcaster released an episode last week interviewing Dr. Becky Campbell, a functional medicine doctor, regarding healing thyroid disease. It was informative and encouraging to know I can approach this disease proactively. One interesting takeaway I might consider exploring is eliminating gluten, though I most definitely will do more of my own research before making a decision.

Healthy self.

Heal thy self.

With this being said and with the new year approaching, I’m ready to reset my diet, take the time to program my workouts with my goals in mind, while not forgetting to prioritize sleep above all.

And that’s the thing too… I have twin toddlers… twin toddlers who are going through growth spurts, teething, and sleep regressions. I might have the best intentions of waking up early to workout; however, my streak of restful nights is not so lucky. I’ve basically been on autopilot these last two years as I retrieve the 3 AM lost pacifier or deal with another waking up every two hours on the dot…

I love to exercise, but when a restless night cancels my 4 AM workout, and a long 12-hour day of work + commute mentally drains me of any energy I might muster for an evening workout, you might understand why my workouts aren’t always consistent. The key is to not give up though and to try again tomorrow.

During your journey you will try and you will fail. But never fail to try.

If you’ve also been diagnosed with Hashimoto’s, I’d love to hear your story, struggles, and successes.