Can “Working Out” Actually Backfire for Some People?

-or-

"Blood chemistry first, exercise second."

We hear that exercise always helps so much that people just take it on faith. I hate to be difficult, but I just don't think so.

True story-

http://dietforhumans.com/2011/...ire-for-some-people/

Of course, having hypothyroidism is going to cause you to gain weight instead of lose, regardless of your activity level. That is just physiology. There is no such thing as something that is always or never true. Also, a low fat or low carb diet will not work unless it is also low calorie. A low calorie diet will not work without exercise because the body will naturally go into "starvation mode" when you reduce caloric intake, by lowering the metabolism to compensate. Exercise is needed to keep the metabolism up. That is why all weight loss programs that work, require both calorie reduction and exercise. Medically managed weight loss programs also begin by checking a large number of blood chemistries and EKG, to make sure there are no conditions that need to be addressed first.

The primary point is that there is no universal formula and each person's weight loss should be tailored to the individual.

Jan

Jan-

Thanks.

I got some interesting feedback on this one from Mary Shomon's Facebook group page. As you may know, she is a well-known author about thyroid issues. She and another knowledgeable reader both suggested high cortisol was the culprit, and I suspect they are right. I'm working on a part 2 right now.

As far as the "starvation mode" thing. This is often mentioned, but rarely explained.

I got this from my thyroid dr- When your calorie intake goes down, this signals your thyroid to make less T3, and instead make "reverse T3." This is the signal to your system to not burn the calories the same way.

I learned about this because my diagnosis was "reverse T3 syndrome," caused by using a synthetic thyroid medicine-Synthroid. I got off it and it solved the problem.

I lost 120 lb in a year and got back to normal with no exercise. In fact, when I tried to exercise to speed things up, I started gaining again.

I am halfway through Gary Taubes new book on this and he is making a case that conventional wisdom about diet and exercise is just wrong. I'm not sure I agree yet, but I know what it is like to exercise and see it not do a thing! I had to get the chemistry sorted out first.

Also, keep in mind that when you build muscle mass, it weighs more than the fat mass that you are losing. At, least that is what i have been told.

But, for sure, hormones can mess you up, if they are messed up.

Jan

quote:

Also, keep in mind that when you build muscle mass, it weighs more than the fat mass that you are losing. At, least that is what i have been told.

Yep. Muscle weighs ~1.1g/cm3 and fat weighs ~0.9g/cm3. (I think those values are correct although my units might be somewhat incorrect). Regardless, the same volume of muscle weighs more than the same volume of fat. This is how underwater weighing (hydrostatic weighing) works.

I never got around to finishing part 2, but I think I found some clues on marksdailyapple.com. 

Mark does books and a blog about Primal (low carb) living, and writes a lot about the importance of exercise, but not in excess for people wishing to "work off" the weight. This is not the same as exercising for sports fitness, which a lot of people do, and he writes on that too.

Mark did marathons, but his health went south and he stopped due to cortisol (burnout)...a hormone/adrenal issue.

The sport I was in has a lot of people that say it is hard on the adrenals. 

This could explain what I was trying to understand, which is how can someone work so hard and not see a change? If the adrenals are stressed, due to diet, stress, or hormone imbalances, this could account for it.

Edit: forgot some things.

The other thing that would contribute to "burnout" or adrenal fatigue would be years of UC and/or strong steroid meds like prednisone. I think that is the part the is relevant to j-pouchers.

Some people have reported good results with getting back on their program after surgery, which is good. If someone gets too aggressive with it, they might end up like I did, tired and frustrated.

I have talked to some thyroid patients that had the same problems. They get their TSH in line, join the gym, and nothing works! It's frustrating and people think that you are just doing something wrong, or sneaking in some twinkies when no one is looking!

I guess it just bugs me that after all that UC and getting a new start, that the docs never mentioned this stuff, and there was no followup to see if or what kind of damage was done to the endocrine system.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: S51,

I agree with what this post is saying although I can't agree that working out backfires. It's not just effective or as effective in people with thyriod disorders.

My mother-in-law has a thyroid disorder. She eats like a bird, takes yoga classes and cannot shed a pound.

On the other hand, for the general population diet and exercise go hand in hand for the same reasons Jan pointed out.

It could also be adrenal fatigue, or a combination..

http://www.shapefit.com/adrena...ue-overtraining.html

This article is about athletes that get it due to overtraining, but they discuss stress too, and with stress it can go either way. You can get thin, or a big hard belly.

The above article is not about people that had extended stress due to years of being sick, or messed up due to steroid meds, (their readers are athletes) but these things can all add up.

I was trying to understand how it is even possible to do a ton of strenuous excerize for 6 months and not lose a thing. At the time, all I knew was that the only physical difference I knew of was I had a pouch. I couldn't find much online at the time because this was the early/mid 90s. I pressed my doctors for explanations and they had no idea.

It is a lot easier to find information now. 

I'm not at all digging up this stuff to convince people to sit still. We are humans. We were made to move. I raced dirt bikes, so I know what it's like to love doing something strenuous and you want to keep doing it! I wanted to lose weight, sure, but I also wanted endurance so my rivals would get tired and I wouldn't!

I'm interested still because such crazy things happened to me and these different sources have good explanations, along with what docs found way too late to help. I had everything on the list by the time someone figured it out..the medical history, hypothyroidism, and adrenal fatigue.

Since j-pouchers that have been active want to get active again, I just hope people don't have to go though what I did.