I had a DEXA scan done! 35F, 5’7”, 176lbs, 30.4% BF

[ajoj]

Edit: I just noticed that I made a mistake in the title!! I weigh 167lbs, not 176. And now I can't change it. Sorry for any confusion!

Hello! Because I know you don't want to search a wall of text to find it, here is my photo album (NSFW).

Now story time: I am a 35 year old woman, mother of two children. After my second child was born, I developed Hashimoto's (autoimmune thyroid condition). I gained a lot of weight in a short period of time. At my heaviest, I was around 215lbs. I was so exhausted I could hardly get off the sofa; exercise of any kind was out of the question. I had always been fairly active, so this was a huge shift from my normal. Couple that with the stresses of having two young children and I became very depressed. It took a few years of doctor shopping, diet experimentation, various med combinations, and a lot of crying but I managed to find a treatment protocol that helped me to feel almost normal again. Over the next two years, through calorie/macro counting, I got myself down to 155lbs.

About a year ago, I decided to stop counting calories so stringently... and eat more intuitively. Well, I put on about 12lbs because I love Ben & Jerry's too much and my "food-intuition" is shit. But I still felt and looked good, so I wasn't too worried about it... I assumed it was mostly muscle. My gym performance and energy levels were improving. Unintentional bulk FTW!

This last summer, I started training BJJ twice a week. My coach approached me recently about possibly competing in a few local tournaments. As I was looking into it more, I noticed that the weight classes for women in these events are SO DUMB. The highest weight class is 155lbs+.... which could potentially put me up against someone 50 or 60 lbs heavier than I am. THAT DOESN'T SOUND FUN TO ME. So then I made it my goal to get back under 155 for the tournament next March (5 months out). My only problem? I'm not sure I have that much fat to lose... and I don't really want to give up my hard-earned muscle for some low-level local BJJ tournament. Enter the DEXA scan!

My body fat came back at 30.4%. I already knew that I was one of the few people overweight by BMI but not overfat... but I honestly thought my BF was going to come in around 26-28%. Good news is that this means my goal of losing 10-15lbs is totally reasonable! I plan to run a small caloric deficit to get there... like between 200-400 calories a day.

Other stuff that I know will be asked:

I currently eat between 2500-3000 calories a day. My diet consists of mostly meat, veggies, ice cream, homemade bread, and way too much LaCroix.

My current workout routine consists of CrossFit 3-5 days per week and BJJ 2-3 days per week. My NEAT (non-exercise activity) is very high. I bike as my main form of transportation; averaging 15-20 miles per day. This is why I eat so damned much.

My current medications for my thyroid are 75mcg synthroid and 6mcg cytomel daily.

Thanks for reading all this! I highly recommend getting a DEXA scan if you can. I learned a lot from it.

 

[ausername]

@ajoj This was a really interesting comparison for me! Before I started training, I got a Dexa done at almost your exact stats. Just under 5'8" and 165 lbs. Except I was 39% BF! Goes to show that height and weight only go so far. You have almost 20 lbs more lean mass than I did. Thanks for sharing.

 

[ajoj]

@ausername Oh how fun! Bodies are so interesting. And numbers are so interesting. Numbers about bodies is doubly interesting to me!

 

[angelatk]

@ajoj You look super healthy and athletic! Ice cream is amazing for assisting with the gym gainz, I have done so many ice cream powered sessions lately =)

 

[ajoj]

@angelatk Thank you! Think we could get sponsored by Ben & Jerry's???

 

[doubledogdare]

@ajoj Totally unrelated but your bedroom is stunning! You gave me serious inspiration for how I want my room to look.

 

[ajoj]

@doubledogdare Thank you so much! I think of it as incomplete so the compliment means that much more. I'm hoping to go back to school for interior design next year.

 

[trinichristiannudist]

@ajoj Hi there, your body is my goal. I am the same height and weight, but I am 34% BF and I look terrible. You look like a goddamn queen. Great work!

 

[notexott]

@ajoj You look fucking fabulous. Well deserved for your efforts! It just goes to show how little numbers represent how someone looks (based on all the comments on the thread)!

On a side note, have you connected with a rheum on the health stuff? I don’t have thyroid stuff - just lots of other autoimmune crap/lupus shit - but rheums are great for navigating the autoimmune, randomly triggered issues. Plus, they keep an eye for other develops (For me, stress has made several conditions manifest in adulthood).

 

[ajoj]

@notexott Thank you so much! I am currently managed by a family physician... and I have a medical background myself so I'm pretty good at advocating for what I need. But I will keep in mind to seek a specialist if anything new pops up (my experience with endos had not been great so a rheumatologist would be my next course of action). I'm so sorry you're dealing with autoimmunity. It feels like such a betrayal doesn't it? Like c'mon body, DON'T ATTACK YOURSELF.

 

[louiedevon]

@ajoj Hey OP, piggybacking onto this thread to ask what was the combination of meds, diet etc. that worked for you in dealing with the weight gain and fatigue from your hypothyroidism?

 

[ajoj]

@louiedevon I wrote a whole long reply and then my phone froze and it disappeared. Take two; this is gonna be long:

When I first started feeling like poo, I was still under the care of my midwife. I asked her to run thyroid labs. They came back with a TSH over 10 and antibodies in the THOUSANDS (they should be zero). Presence of antibodies = Hashimoto's. Since she did not have prescriptive powers in my state, I went to my GP. And there I was told that is obviously just postpartum thyroiditis and only temporary and no meds needed.

Yeah. Sure buddy. I'll just go take care of a toddler and an infant when I can't even hold a normal conversation or stand for longer than five minutes without needing a nap. SOUNDS FINE.

That didn't fly with me. But because of the aforementioned crippling fatigue and small children needing care and a deployed husband... it took me a very long time to seek out another physician.

In the meantime, I spent a lot of hours laying in the sofa reading everything I could get my hands on about my disease. I eliminated all potential autoimmune triggers and followed the Autoimmune Protocol diet (which is basically an elimination diet). After about eight weeks on AIP, my antibody numbers were less than half what they were. I slowly started introducing foods over the course of the next few months. I found that I can tolerate dairy just fine. But gluten is tricky. I do best with long fermented sourdough breads and have to limit my intake of yeast-risen products (hence why I now make my own bread).

It was about this time that we moved cross-country and I finally felt good enough to start working out again. I started counting my calories and macros and started to lose weight. I religiously ate 1700 calories a day.

At this point I was feeling good enough to finally seek out a new doctor. We ran new labs and even though my numbers had improved dramatically, they were still outside of normal range... but just barely. I felt a lot better but still felt not normal. Despite my OBVIOUS hypothyroidism, I still had to go through four or five different doctors before I found one who would treat me with meds. I was told that since my numbers were improving, I should just wait for them to get better on their own (mind you, it had been over a year of me doing just that without any lasting relief). I was told that my numbers weren't bad enough to warrant medication. I was told that since I was working out regularly, my thyroid problem was obviously not as severe as I thought. I was told that I since I was losing weight, I didn't have a problem. I WAS TOLD A LOT OF FUCKING STUPID THINGS. Obviously I'm still salty about it....

Anyways, I finally found a doctor who suggested I try synthroid. I ugly cried in his office. I remember that day so vividly. I felt listened to. I felt validated. It was such a huge weight off my shoulders.

We started low. 25mcg of synthroid per day. I have slowly worked up to 75mcg per day over the last two years or so. It took a while to see improvement, but I have felt a little better with each dosage increase. We recently added a small amount of cytomel (T3) and that has made a DRAMATIC difference in my energy levels and brain function. I finally feel like myself again. I have bad days still (because that's the nature of autoimmunity) but most of my days are good now.

Edit: forgot to mention that at some point along the way, I figured out that I can't tolerate caffeine anymore... so I had to quit it completely. One cup would keep me up all night, even if I drank it early in the morning. Same with alcohol. It really messes with my sleep and poor sleep causes all my symptoms to flare up pretty dramatically.

 

[louiedevon]

@ajoj Thank you so much for replying in spite of your phone spazzing out. I really appreciate you taking the time as this may help me troubleshoot my own thyroid issues. It’s so damn frustrating that as a woman you get lesser medical treatment because it’s all considered to be related to our reproduction or to our “emotions” being the source of our illnesses and not being taken seriously. If we all have the power to make ourselves feel like shit and nonfunctional human beings then imagine what we could really do with all this black magic they think us capable of! LOL. Can you tell I’m super salty too? Anyways, thank you for giving me a little hope today. Keep kicking ass!

 

[syned22]

@ajoj You have abs. I am so jealous. Also I’m much fatter than you so my guess of 26 % bf must be wrong.

 

[ajoj]

@syned22 I haven't always had visible abs. This (NSFW) is an album I made a while back for a progress pics post. The first picture is me at roughly 200lbs. Not an ab to be seen. Some people have visible abs at 30% BF, some not until way lower. Some people don't have visible abs no matter how lean they get. It all depends on how beefy the underlying muscles are. So... if you want abs, you can totally have them! Cut the fat, build some muscle. Tadaa! Abs! It just takes consistent effort over time. You've got this.

 

[syned22]

@ajoj Thanks for the encouragement! Your body looks amazing!

 

[hollywoodb]

@ajoj Wow, you're doing amazing things! I just had a DEXA scan last weekend and am at 36.8% BF, 141lbs, 25.

I knew I wasn't unhealthy, but this helped to confirm my suspicions on where my fat was. It all sits in my thighs and butt haha. I actually believe I was consuming waaaayyy too much protein for the amount I was working out which caused the fat increase.

I've recently decided to start cutting calories too because I'd like to lose 12 lbs.

Your lifestyle and workout routine are bit more active than mine. I do OTF three times a week and spin 1 day a week. But, I sit at a cubicle for 5 days with very little walking during the day.

 

[ajoj]

@hollywoodb Thank you so much! Yeah... It's crazy how much just regular low-key moving can contribute to how much energy you expend. I have made a concerted effort these last few years to up my NEAT (because, to be honest, I really love food).

 

[hollywoodb]

@ajoj I'll have to start walking during my lunch breaks then. I hate being so sedentary.

 

[black01]

@ajoj You look fantastic!