The Surprising Reason Behind the Plateau

At 15 and a height of 5’5”, I tipped the scale at 230lbs. I was extremely unhealthy, and made a vow to myself that I would lose the weight and get fit…and I did. By 16, I was 150 pounds. I did it the healthy way, too. I learned to eat right, and how to incorporate fitness into my life. However, this story is not about how to lose weight. This story is about what to do when the weight loss stops for no reason and when a plateau, accompanied by other unpleasant side effects, lasts too long.

Plateaus throughout my weight loss were normal, and would last anywhere from a week to a month, but I had been stuck for 4 months. Along with the stubborn scale, I noticed I was cold all the time. My hands and toes were always icicles. I was having trouble sleeping, I was exhausted all the time, and my mind felt “foggy.” I had trouble thinking clearly, and would often mix up the order of my words in sentences. Determined to make it to my goal weight of 140lbs, I kept pushing forward. Eating less, and moving more, but no amount of exercise or dieting was budging the scale. I began to feel desperate and making bad choices. I passed out one day while visiting a family member in the hospital. I didn’t realize I had eaten so little in the past few days, I just knew that the scale wasn’t budging.

My mother drew the line at passing out, and I knew I was walking a fine line between healthy and obsessive. Shortly after passing out, my mother read an article in a magazine about low thyroid production and the symptoms it can cause.