Training a client with hyperthyroidism

[Jay Maly]

Hey!

I have recently taken on an obese client with hyperthyroidism.. which makes is very difficult for her to lose weight even on an aggressive deficit for her weight. Are you aware of any techniques of protocols to follow?

I have her very active throughout the week due to her low metabolism and have her doing 3 full body dumbell strength circuit style sessions a week.

Thanks!

[Anonymous]

You said hyperthrydoism which is the opposite, ie. faster metabolism.

Now if you meant the other one here’s what I think. I personally think that this approach of just constantly adding in more activity is a poor idea and will eventually burn out almost anyone. I think it should all start from the diet. Eating less is not fun and neither is sweating hours and hours on an exercise bike. And even that isn’t nearly as effective as many people think and many of these calorie counters on those machines are way off. The good thing about the diet though is that it offers plenty of ways to manipulate it so that it makes day to day life less painful and miserable.

Hope this provided some insight to the topic in hand.

[Joe]

Jay Maly wrote:

Hey!

I have recently taken on an obese client with hyperthyroidism.. which makes is very difficult for her to lose weight even on an aggressive deficit for her weight. Are you aware of any techniques of protocols to follow?

I have her very active throughout the week due to her low metabolism and have her doing 3 full body dumbell strength circuit style sessions a week.

Thanks!

Make sure to speak/work directly with her doctor. Make sure she’s getting it checked/medication monitored frequently. Aside from that, same as any weight loss client. Even in the cases of actual diagnosed hypothyroidism, most of the time is actually a case of poor adherence and underreporting that is actually preventing weight loss

[Jay Maly]

Ok thanks a lot. The reason for the increased activity (which is literally treadmill walks on non training days) is just to provoke more calories burnt over the week.

As obviously the metabolism is extremely low and even on an aggressive deficit makes it difficult to lose fat as fast as others would.

Thanks for the advice about working closely with the doctor. I work in the UK so patients don’t get that much opportunity to get in regular contact like In the US but will try anyway!

Wondering if you also had any insight into how to manipulate/use carbs with a client like this also?

Thanks

[Author]

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