Health

Go straight to workout info

I am a Hashimoto's patient. Went through both of my pregnancies undiagnosed and untreated. Two C-sections. UGH! Much of that would have been completely different if SOMEONE would have recognized symptoms and just run a simple blood test. Now, both of my children are more likely to develop this.

Finally got the hypothyroidism diagnosed in August of 2005 and the Hashimoto's was diagnosed in 2007. It's been a pretty long journey - I've done a LOT of research, which I am happy to share in a PDF document here.

The anemia and Hashi/hypo had ravaged my body. I had no muscles left at all. I was finally euthyroid by January '08. My ferritin was over 20 by then, too! I hit the ground running. I started getting on the stationery bike and lifting weights. The chronic joint pain that I suffered from for so many years is dissipating. The more muscle I get back on my body, the less pain I have. It DOES help to have a workout buddy or to use DVDs. Watching someone do the workout while I do it helps me get through it. I used to be a gym rat, but those days are behind me. I think that with all I have to keep my mind on these days - kids, homeschooling, etc., I NEED someone else to keep track of the workout! I'm going to list a bunch of workout DVDs that I have either tried or use regularly below.

Another good thing for the hypothyroid patient to do is to keep track of what you eat and when as well as write down what kind of work out you've done. I have a page that I've created in word and turned into a PDF here. It's pretty simple. If you'd rather, you can keep track of what you're doing online at sparkpeople.com - if you join, please list me as your referrer. My user is Julee_D. I've been keeping track on Spark for a while now, but I still write my calories in and what I did for a workout on a monthly calendar that I keep with my journal. The website is community-heavy, has LOTS of useful information and motivation and I enjoy the points. Shiny things.... LOL

OK, now for the workouts. You can't build muscle without lifting weights. Working out with weights also helps you build bone mass which is extremely important - especially when you're older. The hypothyroid patient NEEDS muscle to help the metabolism. When you hit a plateau in your muscle building - meaning you're still working out, but you're not seeing great progress any more - you need to change it up a little to create muscle confusion (i.e., do a different DVD for a while). When you raise your weights and work REALLY hard for two or three weeks, you need to take a week where you don't lift, but you still exercise lightly. On those weeks, I do pilates or stretching - something that gets you some exercise and stretches those muscle groups without being a full weighted workout.

My favorite workouts right now are:

Cathe Friedrich - Low Max, Basic Step + Body Fusion, Low Impact Step, Pyramid Upper + Lower - have gotten the High Step and DVDs from Cathe's website. Click Here

Have preordered her STS series. Can't wait.

Jari Love - I have her most recent 4 DVDs (No, I did not spend $50 on them! Try eBay & Amazon & save some money). These are pretty intense circuit-style + cardio workouts. Even after working with much higher weights on some workouts, doing Get Ripped with 5lb dumbbells makes me sore the next day.

The Firm - I have Body Sculpting system, and Super Sculpting. Getting ready to sell these on Ebay or Amazon.

I REALLY want to get muscled up again. I have a full weight bench in my studio, but I've also gotten a step and high step for some of these workouts. I have three sets of ankle weights - 3lb, 5lb and 10lb. The 5 and 10 sets are adjustable - the 5lb set has little 1lb bags of sand that you can take out and the 10lb set has 2lb bags of sand. Instead of buying 2lb and 3lb dumbbells to start with, I took some of those little sand bags out and taped them together with painters tape so it would be easy to remove when I was no longer using them as hand weights. I also have a full olympic set of weights. Because my joint pain was so great, I started with my 2lb bags and just did all three sets of pyramid work with that for two whole weeks. Then, for the next week I did 2lbs for the first set and 3lb for the next 2 sets. Then I did full pyramids with 2, 3 and 5 lb weights. I worked up really kind of slow because I had very little muscle there to start with. Pretty sad, but I'm so happy to report that I'm making quick progress now. Have actually picked up my olympic bar a few times just for fun.

If you do decide to try lifting weights, check with your doctor first. One resource that is indispensable when first starting out is a used sporting goods store like Play it Again Sports. You can get iron for cents on the dollar most of the time and used equipment works just as well as new! Many times, you can also find steps and high steps in various configurations as well. Buying used DVDs on eBay and Amazon is great for saving some moolah. Cathe DVDs and The Firm DVDs are not easy to find used - people obviously rat hole their DVDs and truthfully, after doing some of them, I see why. They are very high quality workouts - you are taught correct form to begin with and reminded to maintain correct form during movements.

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