Graves Disease and Gain

Medical Q&A [Moderated]
1

Hello Austin and Jordan,

I am reaching out on behalf of my mother who is having difficulty losing weight. Her is her current health condition:

50 years / 5’3 / 179lbs

She started menopause at 34 years old (which she was told was very early), she was diagnosed with Graves disease in July 2017 via thyroid uptake scan where she was told her T3 and T4 levels were out of range and she is taking is 2.5mg of methimazole. Along with these sudden health issues she was dealing with stressful family situations where she went to food for comfort, now that all of that is settled she is struggling to lose weight since December of 2020.

Since December, she has made some adjustment to her nutrition where she tries and consume protein with every meal, fruit with breakfast/snacks and veggies with lunch and dinner. Her current exercise does not include any resistance training and only consists of walking 2-3 miles 2-4 times per week because her doctor told her to not get her heart rate too elevated because of heart palpitations with Graves disease.

I appreciate you guys taking the time, please let me know if need any more information.

2

ZT,

I can’t get into the specifics of Grave’s and your mom, but she would likely benefit from a consult with our team or other physician who knows about this stuff.

In general, t’s fairly common for individuals with hyperthyroidism to gain weight when they begin treatment for the condition. That said, your mom would likely benefit from meeting the current physical activity guidelines, which includes resistance training and aerobic exercise. Most Grave’s disease patients are on a beta blocker in addition to the thionamide family of drugs (e.g. methimazole) to reduce symptoms of Grave’s, notably palpitations, though heart rate and palpitation risk likely isn’t too high with RT compared to strenuous AT.

Diet wise, improving her food and eating environment in order to make it easier to attain and sustain and energy deficit would be the goal. Individuals with Grave’s disease do not require special diets.

-Jordan