How My Exercise Addiction Suppressed My Thyroid And Made Me Gain 10 Pounds in One Month [Research: The relationship between exercise and hypothyroidism]

*Warning for possible triggers regarding eating disorders.*

Beautiful Twins in the midday rest

 Your body grows and repairs when you rest – even babies know that! And also: Babeez spooooning!! Awwwwww.

“How did you find time to exercise 3-6 hours a day?” (I organized everything else in my life around exercise, didn’t sleep much and did insane stuff like shuttle sprints in the dark parking lot after doing my grocery shopping. Also, I didn’t watch TV.)

“How skinny did you get?” (Not as skinny as you’d think I would have been.)

“I want an exercise addiction, hahah!” (Come over here so I can smack you.)

“No seriously, that’s really a problem?” (Yes. It’s a type of eating disorder.)

Over the years as I’ve spoken more openly about my years of compulsive over exercise, people understandably have lots of questions. But one question I’ve gotten a lot lately is “How did you know you needed help?” The sad-but-true answer is I didn’t. I was so deep into my illness that I couldn’t see it for what it was. But I can tell you what finally drove me to seek medical care.

It wasn’t the runs in the dark in the middle of winter at 4 a.m and again at 10 p.m. It wasn’t leaving my son’s hospital bed to go do a high-intensity interval class instead of showering for the first time in three days or sleep. It wasn’t when I fainted after running a marathon followed by an hour of kickboxing – can’t miss a workout! – without drinking or eating anything and then being carried down the gym stairs by a friend who tried to make me drink a Vitamin Water which I refused because it had 50 calories. It wasn’t even when my heart started doing this weird sick jumping in my chest and I briefly wondered if I was going to die on the floor in front of my young children.

No, the thing that made me finally talk to a doctor was when I gained ten pounds in one month because all my over-training (fancy code word for compulsive over-exercise) had suppressed my thyroid. Those 10 pounds completely unhinged me. That is how deeply ill I was.

A lot of people are surprised by the connection between over-training (even if it’s not an addiction or disorder) and an under-functioning thyroid. I know I was sure surprised when my doctor told me the results of my blood tests. I’d never had thyroid issues before! As she gently went through my daily schedule with me she observed dryly, “You’ve beat your thyroid to death. Literally, with all that kick boxing.”

I gulped. “So what do I do?”

“You stop.”

“Stop what?”

“All of it.” I almost fainted.

And with that pronouncement I was on doctor-ordered rest from all exercise – even walking on the treadmill! – for 8 long weeks after which point we’d retest my thyroid.

I was reminded of this moment when I read this little story on Athlete.io (thanks Stephanie for the tip!):

“I watch my friend Jessica running on the treadmill—day after day, year after year—like a madwoman, and going nowhere. Her body seems to get softer with every mile, and the softer she gets, the more she runs.

She’s still fat. Actually, she’s gotten fatter.

I’ve tried to rescue her from the clutches of cardio in the past, but my efforts didn’t work until a month ago, when she called to tell me that a blood test had confirmed her doctor’s suspicion: She had hypothyroidism, meaning her body no longer made enough thyroid hormone.

Her metabolism had slowed to a snail’s pace, and the fat was accumulating. This was her body rebelling. When Jessica asked for my advice, I told her to do two things: To schedule a second test for two weeks later, and to stop all the g*****ed running until then.

She took my suggestion and cut out the cardio. Two weeks later, her T3 count was normal. Go figure.”

Because, it turned out, my story ended the same way as Jessica’s: without any other medical or drug intervention other than not exercising, after the 8 weeks my thyroid levels had returned to normal and I stopped gaining weight.

Your thyroid is basically the corrupt dictator of your body: it controls everything, is very picky, and if you defy it, it will burn your house down. The pituitary gland releases TSH (thyroid stimulating hormone) which tells the thyroid to release T3 and T4. Often when labs “check your thyroid” they are only measuring your TSH levels. Too high means your thyroid is not producing enough hormones, also known as hypothyroidism (inferred because all the TSH means that the normal dose isn’t releasing enough T3 and T4 so the body keeps cranking up production). Too low means your thyroid is over producing, known as hyperthyroidism – which has its own set of issues. What numbers are “too high” and “too low” is actually something of a debate these days and can also depend on which type of test they do so it’s really important to read your test results carefully. The lab notes should say what the “normal” range is and even if you fall in it, if you’re close to either end you may still have symptoms. In addition, you can ask for a “full-panel” thyroid test which can include free T3, free T4 , reverse T3, and cortisol markers  because TSH sometimes doesn’t give the whole picture. (At least that’s the way I understand it. This is whole thing is more complicated than calculus so if I screwed up something in this explanation please correct me!! Except for the dictator analogy ’cause I dig it.)

It’s been known for a long time that stress can influence thyroid performance but it’s only been recently that scientists have really looked into how the particular stress of exercise can mess with your ‘roid. A 2012 study recruited a bunch of healthy males volunteers and put them in three groups: a) a group that did 45 minutes of steady state exercise at about 60% of their VO2 max (non-geek speak: they were doing a normal “comfortably hard” tempo run on the treadmill), b) a group that did 45 minutes of high-intensity intervals at 100-110% of their VO2 max (non-geek speak: Gaaaahhhhh most painful workout ever! Seriously 45 minutes of that level of HIIT? I’m kinda shocked none of the participants puked or fainted), and c) the control group of dudes who did nothing.

The researchers then measured the “full panel” of thyroid markers. Their findings were pretty interesting. Both exercising groups saw a spike in thyroid hormones post exercise BUT 12 hours later their hormones dropped way below their baseline levels and stayed abnormally low for 24-48 hours afterward. The effect was worse for the HIIT group. (Charlotte’s note: I’m no scientist but I would guess that’s because the sadists made the poor suckers do super high-intensity HIIT for 45 ever-loving minutes. Other studies have shown that short – like 4 to 15 minute – HIIT workouts are optimal. This type of training is extremely stressful on your body so to maximize the metabolic benefits, you gotta keep it short!)

Another interesting note in the study said that observational analysis of larger groups like military training camps showed that when people exercising also have reduced caloric intake, high emotional stress, and/or a lack of adequate sleep, (sound like anyone you know?) the effect on the thyroid is abysmally worse.

A separate study agreed, “[the data] makes a compelling case that too much cardio can impair the production of the thyroid hormone T3, its effectiveness and metabolism, particularly when accompanied by caloric restriction, an all too common practice. Women inadvertently put themselves into a hypothyroid condition when they perform too much steady-state cardio.” [Charlotte’s note: Thanks to all our baby-making machinery, women seem to be more susceptible to this phenomenon than men. The scientists speculated that when we expend large amounts of energy exercising our bodies assume that we’re in trouble and start downregulating our whole system to preserve our ability to support a fetus.]

AthleteIO explains it this way:

No matter which way we hope the body works, its endgame is always survival. If you waste energy running, your body will react by slowing your metabolism to conserve energy. Decreasing energy output is biologically savvy for your body. Your body wants to survive longer while you do what it views as a stressful, useless activity. Decreasing T3 production increases efficiency and adjusts your metabolism to preserve energy immediately.

Nothing exemplifies this increasing efficiency better than the way the body starts burning fuel. Training consistently at 65 percent or more of your max heart rate adapts your body to save as much body fat as possible. After regular training, fat cells stop releasing fat the way they once did during moderate-intensity activities. Energy from body fat stores also decreases by 30 percent. To this end, your body sets into motion a series of reactions that make it difficult for muscle to burn fat at all. Instead of burning body fat, your body takes extraordinary measures to retain it. [Emphasis mine]

Short version: If you workout too much – particularly by doing long stretches of medium or high intensity cardio (i.e. running, jogging, or biking NOT walking) – it stresses out your body which raises your cortisol levels. The stress suppresses the function of your thyroid. This signals your body to retain and store fat along with making you extra tired so you won’t be as inclined to burn as many calories. And that? Equals 10 pounds gained in one month from exercising too much.

How do you know if this is happening to you? The most common symptoms of a failing thyroid include fatigue, increased sensitivity to cold, constipation, dry skin, unexplained weight gain, muscle weakness, thinning hair, slowed heart rate, depression and impaired memory. I can tell you that I had every one of these symptoms but you may have just some or others not listed.

How much exercise is too much? While you can suppress your thyroid with weight lifting it’s far more common to do it with excessive cardio. At the height of my disorder I was doing 3-6 hours of intentional exercise (like classes, running, biking) a day. BUT the effects are cumulative over time and so even when I tried cutting back to “just” 2 hours a day, my problems continued to get worse. The other issue is how often you are working out – I was doing 6-7 days a week with no rest days ever. That’s dumb. Your thyroid levels take a minimum of 24 hours and can take up to 6 days (!) to fully recover, depending on how hard you worked.

How long do you need to rest? I get this question a LOT. Honestly this depends on your personal physiology, how long you’ve been over-exercising, the intensity of the exercise and other mitigating factors like stress, sleep, diet and pregnancy. For me 8 weeks was what it took. I read the story of an Olympic swimmer who needed 6 months. You may only need a week. Unless you measure your thyroid levels before and after (like I did) then you won’t know for sure but a good rule of thumb is to rest until you feel the symptoms are totally gone. Also, I had to work back into exercise slowly and from that day forward (up to and including now!) I’ve been under doctor’s orders to not workout more than 1 hour per day.

Do you need medication? Thankfully I hadn’t permanently damaged my thyroid so it came back up to normal function on its own. Others may need medication to help. Only your doctor can tell you what you need to do.

Anything else I can do to make it heal faster? My doctor instructed me to increase my consumption of iodine-fortified table salt (wheeee!) and if I ate cruciferous veggies like cabbage, broccoli and cauliflower to make sure they were cooked.

Moral of the science story: One of the scientists, when asked what people should take away from this research, answered simply, “The benefit from exercise, and there is a benefit, is from the adaptation, not the activity itself.” In other words, your muscles only grow when you rest!

Moral of the Charlotte story: Not exercising will make you sick and gain weight. Exercising too much will make you sick and gain weight. Don’t be me. Find that sweet spot where you exercise to live not live to exercise!

Did I miss any questions about hypothyroidism from overtraining? Ask away and I’ll add the Q&A up here in the main post. Have any of you ever struggled with your thyroid? Any advice to add??

*Note: I am not a doctor and none of this is intended as medical advice. Just use this as a jumping off point to talk to your doctor about your concerns!

36 Comments

  1. I think it’s so great when you talk about this. People still don’t seem to get it when it comes to over-exercise. When I was anorexic and addicted to exercise I had people tell me I should eat more and workout more. Like, seriously? I never had thyroid problems I don’t think but I had plenty of other consequences that were not what I was going for with all that exercise.

  2. As someone who continues to struggle with overexercise after years of trying to kick it (ironically, the part of my eating disorder that doesn’t directly involve eating/food is proving the hardest to overcome), I really appreciate the efforts you make to raise awareness about this issue. Living with an exercise addiction is like living inside a glass box–you’re trapped inside of it, watching the world go by while you literally burn hours and hours every day, and rigidly regulate even the non-exericise hours to accommodate those routines. You know glass is breakable and you should be able to leave the box at any time, but it just never seems feasible.

    With all of the glorification of ultra-fitness in the media (just today the NYT has a profile of an Olympic rower vaunting her 45-60 hours of workouts every week), I’m really glad you’re pointing out the fact that our bodies are not machines, and we can only build up so much physiological debt before we have to start paying it back, voluntarily or not.

    • Thank you for having the courage to write this article and rest! I am struggling with the notion of having to rest after foot surgery and what it means to “take it easy”. I have had years of identity built on being the strongest, most fit, and most athletic one amongst my frineds. It is now catching up with me and my Thyroid is being affected, as well as anemia, and stomach issues. I find it extremely difficult to let go of hard core exercising due to the stories I have told myself about self worth and being in shape. I have to work on allowing myself quiet time and self reflection to grow and detach from the value I have placed around this and be confident in being me. Thank you again. Amy

  3. Great post! I really love that you’re willing to speak about this.

    I do have a question though. Has anyone looked at this with regard to endurance sports? I trained and completed a half ironman this summer (and am looking to pursue a full later on) where I was doing what a lot of people would consider to be excessive. I know there’s a lot of other factors involved (intensity of exercise, food, whatever), but I was just curious if there was any good info you’ve come across related to that.

  4. Fascinating read–sorry you had to go through this to discover it. This completely jives with what my favorite holistic doctor has to say (http://sock-doc.com). He is always, always preaching exercising at a true aerobic level (most of us never do) in order to keep cortisol levels in check. I’m willing to bet that this issue is far more common than most of us realize. Great job getting healthy and staying there!

  5. Only a few things to add. I’m hypothyroid and my mother was hyperthyroid (not as common). She said that the only time she felt normal when she was hyperthyroid was when she was exercising hard because her heart would race when she was resting. Similar to being over caffeinated. Thyroid problems are hereditary so if you have relative with problems and have even slight symptoms it’s worth asking for a full blood work up. Also it very common to be a little hypo as you get older. As a matter of fact the main drug manufacturer has occasionally had trouble keeping up with demand. Doctors see very little harm in prescribing it if you are at the edge of the range. And it’s not a wonder drug, it takes a couple weeks to feel the effects and they are subtle. I know people who think yay a drug to fix my problems, nope you still need the right mix of diet and exercise for weight loss. But the symptoms are worth medicating. I also have the bonus of having a pituitary tumor that tricks my body into producing extra prolactin (the hormone that helps you make milk after having a baby), it’s benign (most are). Mine was discovered after a couple bouts with morning sickness without being preggo! Fun! And ironic because when I did get pregnant I was blessed to not suffer even once from morning sickness. But bottom line is that these disorders effect your moods/emotions. If you have a feeling that things are out of wack push your doctor for a full blood work up. Symptoms can be subtle and doctors can assume that other things are more likely causes. Fatigue means you need more rest, etc.

  6. When I started working out I was going sometimes twice a day, but soon afterwards almost crashed. The pt that came to help told me I could only come every other day so my body could recover from the stress. From a 30 minute easy routine. It just felt so great while exercising! It made me feel like I had energy again and I wanted to keep that going. Turns out it doesn’t work that way when your body thinks otherwise. It looks like adrenals can cause similar pain to the thyroid. Stinkin bodies telling us we are idiots… So glad you were able to recover naturally and relatively quickly!

  7. Within the elite running world there has been much talk lately about hypothyroidism and it’s treatment. In brief, some athletes, for the purpose of performance enhancement are being treated for hypothyroidism when they may not, in fact, have thyroid issues. For more info, read this WSJ article (http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424127887323550604578412913149043072) and watch this discussion (http://www.flotrack.org/coverage/250603-2013-Outdoor-Track-and-Field-on-Flotrack/video/704658-Fleshman-Mackey-and-Magness-debate-the-thyroid-issue-Part-I)

  8. Great post, Charlotte! When I was first getting sick with what turned out to be Lyme disease, I had just completed a year in which I was training for a marathon and a half (yeah…39.3 miles, sounded good at the time!). To do this I was doing regular training runs, but also threw in 3 marathons and 5 half marathons throughout that year to get ready for the big one. It was about 5 months after that big one that I started to exhibit strange symptoms and the doc did take the time to rule out over-training. Turns out my thyroid started failing as part of the endocrine system stressing out from what turned out to be Lyme disease that went untreated for the better part of a year by the time I had blood tests to confirm. It’s not the first thought in Texas, had to mention being in Wisconsin visiting my mother for him to have the Aha moment. I was putting 1-1.5 pounds on per week! It was a 40 pound gain in all. UGH! Just what a recovering ED needs to have happen. I had to go 4 years before I was allowed to start walking longer that 10-15 minutes and another year before I could start running. It’s been slow, but it’s so easy to over do it, that I would rather go slow than have to sit on the sofa again! That was brutal. The damage to the thyroid is now permanent, tho, but I started a different med in August and after the first 3 weeks of change over, I have actually been getting some of me back. So exciting 🙂

  9. I fully agree, BUT walking can also do it. My son – and several others I know – have been diagnosed compulsive exercisers from walking as well.

    Now, he walked 3-4 hours a day, really fast, with a heavy backpack, so we are not talking about a stroll in the park. But it was mainly from walking he almost died.

    Otherwise, I agree.

  10. As always, another great post. I don’t know that I was ever a true over-exerciser in the classic textbook sense, but I was probably there or at least borderline for a long time. I have been very lucky that I haven’t had any long-term effects, and that I’ve been able to learn when to just say no. (Exercise…the drug of the millennium?) I did get blood work done recently and my TSH levels were elevated, but the Dr wasn’t concerned enough to look at a full blood panel. I’m getting tested again in 3 months, so I may ask for a full panel.

    At one point, I was exercising between 1- 11/2 hours a day, without any rest days. Now, I have to convince myself to workout for 45 minutes!

  11. This was an awesome read! Thank you! I have a question though, maybe you have some insight.
    I have had hypothyroidism for 11 years now and I have struggled with my weight for 11 years. I will admit at times I am addicted to working out but when I don’t see results, I stop everything. I just started HIIT 5 days a week for 1-2 hours a day. I thought this would be the ticket, the thing that finally solved my weight problem. However 45 days in and I haven’t gone down a single pant size. I felt stronger but was very discouraged with the results. I began to wonder why I was training so hard for so little result. I also noticed my hypo symptoms were coming back….I was tired (who wouldn’t be with all the training), cold, and emotional.
    I decided to get my thyroid levels checked and to my surprise my thyroid is now over producing… Any thoughts?

    • Hi Bridget
      IMHO if you’re doing HIIT for 1-2 hours a day, you’re probably lacking in intensity. HIIT workouts are designed to be about 24-30 mins and really, you should be pretty much exhausted after that.They are not an endurance workout, they’re a short, sharp intensity workout. I’d drop your time and up your intensity.
      Good luck!

      • Thanks Alix. I do know what HIIT is and yes I am exhausted after. They are named ALEET (advanced level explosive endurance training). I don’t think I could put more effort into these classes, they take it all out of me. The class I do before HIIT is a boxing class which is all about endurance.

        • Hi Bridget
          Wow – I haven’t heard of ALEET – will have to check it out!
          Hope you get things sorted.
          cheers
          alix

  12. Love your description of Thyroid – the Dictator ! Our business is thyroid health and your description is so much better than the whole butterfly thing. The thyroid does demand respect. though. We think that all citizens should have a ThyroScore, a TSH test value to use as a baseline and subsequent tests at various life milestones as even minor variations in TSH value reflect on our health as the gland controls the use of oxygen in every body cell. Good article.

  13. I so believe this. I was an overachiever in the workout department nothing for me to exercise 3 to 5 hours a day and run up and down the stairs at the last house in the mean time and after being at WW goal for only a couple of months my weight went up a few pounds. Now I am a 65 min. a day walker and have been at goal for almost 2 years every now and then I go 90 min. about once or twice a month but now I have a total rest day every week. I have a friend that fought her weight for yrs. Even though she was a bike racer & ate less than me. A nutritionist more than doubled her food & most was protein, she hasn’t fought her weight in the last 6 months.

  14. Great article. Though you specified ‘cardio’ as the exercise in point (particularly chronic cardio) I do believe weight training can be helpful and would hate for people to avoid that aspect of exercise. Building lean muscle will give your body the ability to burn more calories even when you’re not ‘exercising’.

  15. A year ago after routine bpllod profile said my thyroid was sluggish my PA suggested a jthyroid prescription that she said would “get me moving again” and since I was exercising 6 mornings a week pretty hard I agreed because I am always a up for more energy. That was my big mistake! The script even the lowest dose made me so hungry that I was ravenous, eating anything…yet by January pushing myself to start a new 3 month exercise program in Jan, with the pill, exercise over last winter I gained 12 #, but was leaner. I was also confused so dropped the pill and went to a holistic thyroid pill found at a health food store. I even talked to the thyroid expert that you Charlotte had suggested, I had a confernce call with her and cut back on the exercise this spring.

    My moral: don’t give into a prescription there are lots of alternatives out there and the confernce call was encouraging and cost me $30 over going to a doctor. She had an expensive plan that I opted out of…the thyroid is not to be ignored and once I got the holistic pills kicking in I am back down in weight and exercise is something I look forward to, but if I miss, live goes on.

  16. I have a friend who I feel is on the verge of an exercise addiction. I worry about her and I tell her to get her thyroid tested but she never does. I suppose that just like with many disorders there’s not much I can do except what I’m doing. Express concern and be there to help when and if she needs it. Right?

  17. Great article. People don’t realize how much we can stress our bodies out with exercise. We see shows like Biggest Loser where they exercise 6 hours a day, but as you pointed out there can be scary consequences and it can become an addiction.

  18. Hi, I just wanted to second the comment about overdoing it with walking too. About 3 years ago, I started training to run a half marathon, after successfully losing 15# & 30 inches all over my body from eating clean and running (short distances). Throughout my training, my weight loss stalled, then I started slowly gaining, despite maintaining a healthy diet. I ended up hurting my knees and took about a year to fully recover. I still don’t run long distances, but for some stupid reason, I still had in mind that I wanted to conquer the marathon…so after steadily and slowly gaining weight over the past three years, a friend and I were doing weight watchers and training together to power walk the 26.2 miles, this past jan-April. After 4 months (training from 2-6 hours per day), we accomplished the distance at a 5 mph pace, & she managed to lose about 65# while I have only gained? FINALLY, I found a doctor to test my hormones (I’d already seen one dr who put me on Prozac, and said my hormones couldn’t really be tested & thyroid was “fine,” worked with a nutritionist & a therapist due to developing an eating disorder, & have spent the majority of the past few years stressed, depressed, & scouring books & the internet trying to “fix” myself!!!) & sure enough, my t3 is extremely low, I had some other deficiencies, & even had my neurotransmitters tested and they are in severely sad shape. They have me on a compounded t3/t4 supplement and some others as well, but this is such a long, slow process. It’s been six months and I’m still wayyyy low on the thyroid. I feel like everything I ever knew about weight loss and nutrition has gone out the window because I don’t even know what to do anymore. It’s so frustrating when you feel like you’re doing everything right and you’re still gaining weight. I’ve put on about 30 pounds in 3 years, and I’d actually been really obese 10 years ago & worked my butt off to lose 100 pounds…healthily, over about a 3 year period. And seeing this weight come back like it has scares me to death, especially since I don’t know how to stop it!!

    Anyway, sorry this was so long…just wanted to share my struggle with the thyroid.

    • There are more people who feel this way than you know!

      • Really?? Because it feels like such an island. I don’t personally know anyone else with thyroid issues and everyone around me, it seems, has lost lots of weight lately, which of course leaves me feeling like a failure and I don’t want people who’d seen me slimmer to even see me now!! And to the lady who mentioned Mary Shomman, yes, she has tons of good info. I get her newsletter and have two of her books. There’s just soooo much conflicting info on the whole ordeal, it’s really hard to know what to/not to do. But thank you Z, for letting me know I’m not alone.

  19. Mary Shomon’s site thyroid.about.com is an excellent source of information about the thyroid. I have been hypothyroid for several years, like my mother. In retrospect I realize that my thyroid started stuttering while I was pregnant. But because it was up and down it took a long time to finally settle low enough to be diagnosed – many years of tiredness.
    This was very interesting, as I didn’t realize exercise had a detrimental effect – not being an exerciser at all (and maybe the thyroid is why).

  20. First time on your blog and this post hit home in so many ways…I’m not to the point of 6 hours a day and doing sprints in a parking lot but I am still religious about doing some kind of workout (high intensity!!) EVERY single day, usually for 1-2 hours. I take a rest day maybe once every few months and it still includes walking or hiking or something low impact. I am certainly tired a lot and do get colds pretty often…I’m not overweight but I’m not skinny either. I’ve always blamed it on not being able to stop eating candy every day but now I wonder if my thyroid is starting to scream at me too. I am SO scared to cut back on exercising though…such a horrible trap to be in. You are inspiring though! Thank you for such an informative post. I may just look into getting my thyroid tested, just in case…

  21. I liked this information on exercising. Including exercise in daily routine is good for health. Thank you for sharing this nice information. Over exercise is dangerous sometimes.

  22. Pingback:10 weeks. 10 pounds. Week four update. + more – my wonderful craziness

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  24. Pingback:I Have a Heart Defect (Well that’s one way to cure an exercise addiction!) | Charlotte Hilton Andersen

  25. So glad you published this. In 1987 I became hypothryroid from over exercising: two workouts a day, consisting of two of the following: run 7 miles, bike 40 miles, swim one hour, teach a high intensity aerobics class. I had stopped menstruating months before, but when I came down with a very strange scratchy throat followed by lethargy, depression and weight gain, I knew something was wrong. I was in med school at the time, and it took months until somebody finally thought to test thyroid function. I figured out the connection to exercise myself, after the fact, and some years later, but it was pretty much unknown back then. I still exercise daily, but am limited now due to end stage osteoarthritis from 40+ years of running. People, learn from our mistakes!! Don’t ruin your body with exercise; do only enough to strengthen it.

  26. Thank you for this interesting article and for sharing your experience! As someone else already mentioned, though, it CAN also happen with “just” walking… in my case for example I thought I was “just walking” but in reality it was 3-5 hours a day at a moderately brisk pace with little sleep (because I had to wake up very early to be able to fit that many hours into my day!) on top of normal daily activities (and more walks). Hair loss, delayed periods, low body temp, dry skin, fatigue, all that jazz. My weight didn’t change much though (but my aim was to maintain anyway). I was “justifying” it by thinking I was eating enough – but maybe it wasn’t enough after all? I have a history of anorexia nervosa and restriction is deeply rooted into my brain, so that I always tend to think calories are the be all and end all. Still trying to heal, taking it super easy and trying HARD to not restrict (our thyroid dictator doesn’t like that either!).
    Much love,
    V

  27. Hi,
    I have a weight problem (260lbs). I have thyroid problems, blood sugar swings, fatigue, some days I cant get out of bed till the afternoon. I have done excercise many times in the past, but I always GAIN at least a POUND A DAY! I have been totally convinced I have to do TONS of excercise to get my blood sugar under control. I already have a very strict, worse than paleo diet. So I keep trying. This past two weeks Ive been jogging 5 miles a day with a stroller. I did that in the past for months on end until I started vomiting constantly when I excercised-still gained weight too! Last year I weighed 25 lbs less before my excercise madness this year. Today I’m worse than I was two weeks ago. Ive gained weight, my hands and feet are cold and I never have the energy to even make food. since i’m on such a strict diet I can’t ever buy premade food. I’m miserable. NEED HELP!

  28. Reply to Sunflower: Have you had your dr check some of your vital vitamin and mineral levels? Here are my suggestions: magnesium, calcium, vitamin D and vitamin B. When I found a doctor who would take my total health into consideration, he tested these areas as well as my thyroid, cholesterol and CBC. When I got on a regular therapy of natural supplements, I lost 10 lbs in 2 weeks. (I was 250) I also found out that I am gluten intolerant and the intestinal damage from gluten adds to the malabsorption of vitamins and minerals from the foods I was eating. That was 6 years ago. Today I exercise moderately a few days a week, I avoid any processed sugar, don’t eat gluten and try to eat raw foods cooked at home as much as possible. I found this article trying to find out if a Hiit workout would be an issue for Hypo’s. Looks like I won’t be ordering that video.

    Thank You Charlotte for writing this article, it’s brilliant! 🙂

  29. Reply to Sunflower: Have you had your dr check some of your vital vitamin and mineral levels? Here are my suggestions: magnesium, calcium, vitamin D and vitamin B. When I found a doctor who would take my total health into consideration, he tested these areas as well as my thyroid, cholesterol and CBC. When I got on a regular therapy of natural supplements, I lost 10 lbs in 2 weeks. (I was 250) I also found out that I am gluten intolerant and the intestinal damage from gluten adds to the malabsorption of vitamins and minerals from the foods I was eating. That was 6 years ago. Today I exercise moderately a few days a week, I avoid any processed sugar, don’t eat gluten and try to eat raw foods cooked at home as much as possible. I found this article trying to find out if a Hiit workout would be an issue for Hypo’s. Looks like I won’t be ordering that video.