If this is not the right sub to share, apologies.
I've had hypothyroidism since 2006, and have taken medication for it off and on since then (mostly off, since I haven't been good at going to the doctor regularly). Early last year my doctor ran several tests and found that my hypothyroidism hadn't gone away and now I also had high cholesterol.
This was surprising to me, as I eat mostly vegetarian and thought my diet was pretty healthy since I usually cook at home and eat plenty of veggies. My doctor told me that I needed to go on medication to treat both conditions, and I needed to lose weight (I was around 198 lbs at the time). I filled my prescription, but decided to wait to take the meds and see if an increase in exercise would help. I know, stupid, but bear with me.
It took me about six months to get started, but I eventually began doing the Starting Strength program at my local gym (three times a week), with thirty minutes of cardio two or three times a week. My diet stayed mostly the same, but I'd try to avoid the occasional slice of cheesecake when eating out. Within the last month, I changed my weight program from Starting Strength to a PPL program (six days a week), with very rare cardio (30 minutes, once a week).
After six months of consistent weight lifting and eating slightly healthier, I had my annual checkup this week. I've only lost about eight pounds (not a shocker, given my diet stayed about the same), but my bloodwork was perfect. Normal cholesterol and thyroid levels. I don't have hypothyroidism for the first time in ten years.
Obviously, I'm super excited and needed to share. I plan to keep weight lifting because at this point I really love weight lifting, and now I'm also going to get serious about my weight loss. I am using MFP, and trying to throw in a couple low carb days a week.
I thought it might be helpful to share my experience, as I honestly didn't expect this experiment to work as well as it did. This experience also taught me that weight lifting is so much fun, and I can't believe it took me this long to figure it out.
Disclaimer: I'm not a doctor, I'm not a nutritionist, I totally went against doctor's orders and I shouldn't have, so don't do what I did.
Tl;dr: Had hypothyroidism and high cholesterol for years. Started weight lifting. Six months later, my cholesterol and thyroid levels are normal. Magic?
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