Looking for any advice/guidance

[RottenWillow]

Hi all! First post for me as I usually just browse and read.

Recently, I have been dabbling in the world of heavy lifting. I found out last year that the only thing in the gym that I was actually enjoying was challenging myself with heavy weights. I have always hated cardio and never could get addicted to it, no matter how hard I tried.

I am a young one, 26 ,but with a few set backs with my body. I am hypothyroid (diagnosed Dec 2010) and being treated with 120mg (4 grains - if you want older terms) daily - I will not touch Synthroid with a ten foot pole.... Also, I dislocated my knee cap in 05' while side lunging and had lateral release surgery. That led to a 20 pound gain due to being laid out for about 2 weeks. Needless to say, that 20 pounds, loves me too much and doesn't want to leave.

Shortening this: I am 5'6", 160 lbs and body fat of 26%. Extremely sedentary desk job as an Account Exec for a background check company.

Tried Clen last fall with a rebound effect as I didn't supplement properly with Taurine (I am going to be honest, I obviously did a hack job at the research). Would try again, but with further research, I am seeing it might not be wise for me with my hypothyroid. Of course, I am on Armour, but I am not sure if that would compensate enough?! I searched all over forums, but I would get conflicting responses, so I am taking the safe route and not running the clen cycle.

I eat pretty low carb as my body seems to not tolerate an amount over 150 grams well. I get insane bloating with a high carb intake and all that comes with it. My macro ratio is usually 40/30/30 and some days I move to 50/25/25.

This is where the problem lies. I have done quite a number on my metabolism as I was struggling to lose this "weight" and didn't know about the hypothyroid situation, I just thought I was not doing something right. Now, please be kind, for I was about the total instant gratification and didn't seek the healthy alternatives.
I have done the "hCG diet"... with the 500 calorie intake for 21 days last year.. Gained it all back of course (and no, it was not because of poor eating, it was just that my body had simply adjusted to that caloric intake and naturally bringing it up, caused the sluggish metabolic rate to hold on to everything it could). I, again, did this before my hypothyroid dx and I am sure that I can attribute a portion of my hypothyroid to the SOB of a diet. Lesson learned.

I recently tried phentermine, but then saw that I was losing weight because I my appetite was reduced to 900 cals a day (and that was force feeding) and I quickly stopped due to knowing that my weight loss was catabolic and I didn't want to reach a homeostasis of 900 calories. Not doing that again to my poor body. What am I doing now? Calorie cycling... anywhere from 1200 - 2000. Varies almost every day. Higher on weight training days and lower for the HIIT days (just started implementing the HIIT - was strictly weights up until last week). I am still tweaking this system, but I am not losing fat, I am completely maintaining.. which is not what I would like.

Diet looks like this and doesn't vary too much from day to day. (I track on Livestrong daily).

Morning 7am: 1/3 cup old fashioned oatmeal with 1/4 scoop Jay Robb whey
3 Egg whites with 1 TBSP of reduced fat Sargento cheese

Mid-morning snack (10:30 am) : Fage 0% Greek Yogurt - 1 cup w/ 1/4 scoop whey
2 Tbsp LoveGrown Simply Oats Granola

Lunch (1:30pm): 3.5 oz chicken breast with fresh green beans

Afternoon snack (4:00pm): Low-fat cottage cheese with 12 raw almonds

----Workout 5:30pm - 6:45pm -----

Dinner (7:15pm): lean lamb chop 3oz with steamed broccoli

Evening treat (8:30pm): Either Fage with Jay Robb (6 oz of the yog and 1/4 scoop of whey) OR an Asian pear with a tbsp all natural - just peanuts, peanut butter. I usually have a piece of fruit 2x a week...

Supplements:
chromium
l-tyrosine
l-lysine
l-carnitine
l-glutamine
CLA 5,000 through the day
6 gels of Fish Oil
magnesium citrate
B12
B-complex
Vitamin D (deficient) 5,000
taurine
potassium


I am looking to cut my body fat and I am turning my back the scale. This is a huge thing for me as I had always known to be so reliant on that damn number, but now, I am using a tape measurer as my gage.


I tried my first ECA (sans the debated aspirin) this morning. I am thinking, I might need to work up to the full 25mg eph dosage.. I think maybe the 12.5mg per dose for now..

Purpose for posting this version of War and Peace?

-Answer-: Would love to hear any advice on how I could better any of this routine I have here. Any hypothyroids out there? ECA stack a horrid idea for me? Any diet adjustments you see? Dairy a horrible idea for what my goal is (even if my body tolerates it just fine?!)? Any other supplements you might recommend?

It's nice to see someone who has evidently already done her legwork regarding diet and training before posting.

Regarding the use of nutraceuticals (as opposed to pharmaceuticals) for fat loss, inositol, choline, and methionine might help but are more likely to be effective taken on an empty stomach. Parenteral (IV or IM) is very likely to be the most effective route though. You can buy it ready made to inject at low cost. Injectible phoshaditalcholine is supposedly quite powerful for lipolysis. Cyanocolabamin (B-12) is cheap and can be effective too in higher dosages. (oral B-12 is very poorly absorbed, don't bother) Just be sure to get it along with folic acid to improve it's bioactivity.

As for diet, you might also consider Intermittant Fasting. Run a search in this forum on my old thread.

 

[Asuaries]

It's nice to see someone who has evidently already done her legwork regarding diet and training before posting.

Regarding the use of nutraceuticals (as opposed to pharmaceuticals) for fat loss, inositol, choline, and methionine might help but are more likely to be effective taken on an empty stomach. Parenteral (IV or IM) is very likely to be the most effective route though. You can buy it ready made to inject at low cost. Injectible phoshaditalcholine is supposedly quite powerful for lipolysis. Cyanocolabamin (B-12) is cheap and can be effective too in higher dosages. (oral B-12 is very poorly absorbed, don't bother) Just be sure to get it along with folic acid to improve it's bioactivity.

As for diet, you might also consider Intermittant Fasting. Run a search in this forum on my old thread.

Ah! I guess you say my knowledge of this stems from pure obsession. I know my condition and by my standards, I must know how to deal with it. Like the carbohydrate play - my system and thryoid doesn't tolerate much. Of course, I am sure I semi-induced my condition with the starvation diets and the rest is due to genetics, but regardless, I am here - this is where I am at, and I have to get as much knowledge as I can.


I haven't research lipo injections but would definitely be willing to research this. I also should invest in B-12 injections because, as you stated, I understand it being poor absorped.

You know a book that really taught me about nutrition and correct supplementation was... "The Diet Cure".. I get a good laugh every time I pick up the book to refer to something due to the horrendous 90's graphic design. I might have lost my eyesight by the terrible use of colors and fonts, but I did learn a lot about correct supp intake.

Thanks for the help on this. I am onto further research with your suggestions.

 

[RottenWillow]

Ah! I guess you say my knowledge of this stems from pure obsession. I know my condition and by my standards, I must know how to deal with it. Like the carbohydrate play - my system and thryoid doesn't tolerate much. Of course, I am sure I semi-induced my condition with the starvation diets and the rest is due to genetics, but regardless, I am here - this is where I am at, and I have to get as much knowledge as I can.


I haven't research lipo injections but would definitely be willing to research this. I also should invest in B-12 injections because, as you stated, I understand it being poor absorped.

You know a book that really taught me about nutrition and correct supplementation was... "The Diet Cure".. I get a good laugh every time I pick up the book to refer to something due to the horrendous 90's graphic design. I might have lost my eyesight by the terrible use of colors and fonts, but I did learn a lot about correct supp intake.

Thanks for the help on this. I am onto further research with your suggestions.

This place is a good resource for injectable B's.

Buy Vitamin B12 Shots - Your Vitamin B12 Injectables Store

You can also check out Pure Bulk for pharma grade nutraceutical powders. $50 for a milligram scale, some filters, sterile vials, pins, Bac Water and/or benzyl alcohol and you're set.

 

[Asuaries]

Ordered me some B-12. I really should of done that many moons ago when the thought entered my mind originally.. I am looking into the MIC combination and places to purchase. From what I am seeing, there are very few. I don't understand why there wouldn't be more places offering this as these are just amino acid/co-enzyme mix. Pffft. Google is my friend.

Pure Bulk = candy store.

 

[RottenWillow]

Ordered me some B-12. I really should of done that many moons ago when the thought entered my mind originally.. I am looking into the MIC combination and places to purchase. From what I am seeing, there are very few. I don't understand why there wouldn't be more places offering this as these are just amino acid/co-enzyme mix. Pffft. Google is my friend.

Pure Bulk = candy store.

After the initial investment needed in supplies and equipment, it's way cheaper to make your own injectable nutraceuticals.

check your karma