Cardio and Thyroids!

I love racquetball. It's great. I'm so happy to be back playing again and I can't wait until John and I start playing. I'm hoping I'll be playing twice a week soon, once with Dad and once with John. Then I'll actually be doing cardio like a real person! Plus, racquetball isn't just cardio. It counts as high intensity cardio. Not quite HIIT (high intensity interval training), but still relatively high intensity.

Within 8-10 minutes I'm winded - not that it takes much. I may evolve in to being a "cardio person" instead of:

I finally understand what people mean by pick an exercise you love. Don't get me wrong, I love to lift, but I'm not longer quite as pumped about it as I was before I injured myself. I'm not great at taking it easy.

In other news, I finally got my thyroid results back. I'm totally normal, yay!

Awaiting Results and Photos

While my photographer sleeps (seriously, this guy sleeps way too late), I thought I'd take a minutes to talk about my thyroid test. I actually got it done  the other day, and I'm currently waiting to hear from my doctor (hopefully by Friday). I'm a little anxious about it.

On the one hand, it'd be convenient (that sounds bad) if there were something wrong. That'd explain why I've been having such a hard time losing weight.On the other hand, if there is something wrong, what if I need medication? What about side effects? It'd be nice if there were just some magic pill that would make all my exercise and healthy eating work infinitely better and I become a fat burning machine, but I'm concerned about side effects. Plus, if the medication simply doesn't work for me, or the easiest solution is going off birth control...nope. That's not happening. Fat is almost always a better option than pregnant.

Measurement Monday Follow Up and an Article

My measurements are about a quarter inch down across the board and I'm down two pounds.

 In other news, I read an article that has me a little worried. For those of you not able to read the article (I know mobile can be a pain), it basically says that progesterone based birth control can cause weight gain. I found this PDF of a study on birth control and weight gain. Basically, low estrogen and high progesterone stimulates acylation-stimulating protein which is a hormone that stores fat even when insulin is low. The study found that women on progesterone based birth control were twice as likely to become obese over three years even after accounting for diet and exercise. I've been on progesterone or low estrogen birth control for about six years now - which coincides with when I started to really put on weight.

Looking back, I've been trying to lose weight passively since last September. In January I (along with everyone else in the U.S.) decided to rededicate to my diet and joined a gym and focused on high protein and healthy eating. In April I started keto, and still, at the end of all of this: I weight 10 pounds more than I did when I started. Plus, August was when I got this birth control. Ugh.

Today I'm going to call my doctor and schedule an appointment to get my thyroid and blood work done. Given that I haven't had my blood work done in a few years, I'm probably due anyway. If my doc tests my thyroid and it's nothing, then I'm going to keep with this high protein IIFYM diet, and up my exercise, and re-evaluate the calories I should be eating and what, if any, supplements I should take. On the other hand, if I find out something is going on, hopefully it'll help my efforts and I'll start seeing some real progress with my diet and exercise.

If you're concerned about your thyroid, the above mentioned article suggests to ask specifically for a test called "Free T3 Reverse T3" because hormones in birth control can mess with other thyroid tests. Supposedly there is a medication that can be prescribed to help get you down to pre-contraception weight. I'm not sure the side effects of that, given that the article didn't specify what the medication would be. That's something I'll research if the thyroid test shows anything abnormal.