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Week 7

Welcome to the seventh week of the BTF weight loss and wellbeing programme.

To read the advice, tips and suggestions from our experts please follow the links to this week’s articles below. The other resources you can use are:

  • Expert advice - learn more about thyroid disease and weight management from our medical experts
  • Patient stories – find out about how other thyroid patients have managed to successfully lose weight and improve their wellbeing
  • Community - share your weight loss journey with other people who are taking part in this programme by joining our closed Facebook group

Triggers

Last week, we discussed how the environment around us will include factors, within and outside our control, and barriers that can make it harder for us to make changes to our health. It is also important to think about triggers, both internal and external. Think of a trigger as an event, situation, thought or feeling that causes something to start. Here are some examples below:

EXTERNAL INTERNAL
Environmental factors (see week 6 article) Boredom
Visibility – seeing food close to hand Anger
Smell - walking past the takeaway Sadness
Sound – hearing a conversation about food Tiredness
Cultural events and holidays – weddings, Eid, all-inclusive holidays etc. Feelings (cravings) of thirst/hunger

Triggers are subjective which is why it is important to be aware of what yours are. Take time to identify your own examples of EXTERNAL and INTERNAL triggers? It may be helpful to write them down.

So, let us explore how we encounter potential triggers. The following example is based on patients’ experiences:

"Walking home from work I pass a fish and chip shop. Mmm... that smells delicious! I feel tired, it’s Friday and I finished work late. I’m not sure what I have at home in the fridge (or I just don’t fancy what I had planned). I have worked hard this week and it’s the weekend tomorrow, so I want a treat. I go in and buy a portion of fish and chips and opt for the large meal as it makes sense financially."

Can you identify the trigger? Was it external or internal? Were there more than one? In this example, the triggers could be smell, environmental, visibility, feelings, tiredness. One or more of these might be triggers. Sometimes it can be a chain of events or triggers which can make it harder to identify the main trigger and do something about it.

So what about solutions?

You can’t move the fish and chip shop, so do you walk another route home? Changing route can be seen as avoidance which is not a good thing but to begin with if this helps you it’s a good place to start.

What if this is not convenient? Like overcoming your barriers, try to find another solution. At times we will feel tired and that’s okay. If you know this is a potential trigger, do you bring some water or a snack with you just in case you feel tired? If you’ve been keeping a food diary perhaps you have identified that you often feel tired on Friday nights, and this is when you are most likely to lapse.

When looking at triggers the focus is usually on ones that have negative connotations which is natural as these are not helping us to make changes. However, there can be positive ones too and it’s important to be aware of these as well so we can acknowledge what we are doing well.

Tricky situations are potential events, occasions or places where we find it harder to stick to our lifestyle changes. Here are a few below:

  • holidays
  • weddings, parties and celebrations
  • all you can eat buffet
  • oven not working
  • visiting relatives/friends

Take some time for yourself and reflect on the following: What is a tricky situation you face?

Using your knowledge of barriers, the environment and triggers, what could you do to help manage this situation when it happens?

These tricky situations, triggers, feelings and emotions mean we often eat for reasons other than physical hunger. Being aware of these can be helpful when you are trying to change your eating habits.

Walking, why bother? Is it really all it’s cracked up to be?

Walking is something many of us do as part of our daily lives. Whilst walking is often an activity that we rarely, consciously think about, we often underestimate the health benefits of this form of physical activity. Those of us who walk less frequently tend to underestimate the benefits of walking more than those of us who walk as a hobby. In this article we discuss the health benefits of walking, particularly to those of us living with thyroid disease.

Walking is a cardiovascular exercise as it increases the heart rate, lung function and blood flow around the arteries and veins. These increases in physical function happen as the body adjusts to the energy demands of this physical activity. The body’s muscles, including the heart, use more oxygen during activity and consequently we will need to expel more carbon dioxide as a waste product. At the same time, the body needs more nutrients for energy. Blood pressure also rises as the body’s demand for fuel (through blood flow) increases. These are perfectly normal short-term responses to activity.

So what effect will increasing the amount of walking we do have on physical and mental health in the long-term? After the initial responses, the body will ‘evolve’ so it can cope with the demands of physical activity much more efficiently in the future. The heart will grow stronger, muscles will develop a greater blood supply, arteries will relax, and the blood will carry more oxygen to muscles and organs. These changes will increase the amount of blood your heart pumps per beat and help to reduce blood pressure around the body. Cholesterol, blood sugar and will also reduce. In turn, this makes you better able to cope with the physical demands of day-to-day life.

Benefits of walking for your wellbeing

The benefits of walking don’t stop with physical gains. Recent research has shown that both our mental and emotional health can benefit from walking, whether in urban or rural areas. Walking in green spaces also brings further benefits: getting out into nature and away from the stresses of life are proven to reduce depression, anxiety and stress; all of which are symptoms that can particularly affect those of us living with thyroid conditions.

Although walking may sometimes be a challenge for people who have been diagnosed with a thyroid condition, we can always build from an amount we feel comfortable with. Even five minutes of walking to start with would be an excellent foundation.

So why not make it your goal to walk a few times each week for a set time? Whether that is 5, 10, 15 or even 30 minutes of walking, it will help you to eventually reach that all important 150 minutes per week which is recommended to improve our health.

Watch

Jonathan Hayes, stresses the importance of setting realistic goals which are individual to you, including:

  • Work out your motivation: what aspect of your life will improve if you lose weight?
  • What’s the best diet? Evidence points to it being a healthy balanced diet as that will benefit health not just bring weight loss
  • How to start: work out what you’re doing already?
  • Motivation and keeping on track
  • How to choose a diet: one size does not fit all
  • Choose something that will be sustainable
Week 6 info Week 8 info