I am 32, 5'3" tall, 128 lbs. I've been feeling light-headed and nauseated lately and have been suffering from constipation. I have a bowel movement maybe every three days, and that's with encouragement from prunes or an herbal laxative tea. I also have a very slow metabolism - I consume on the order of 1500-1800 calories a day (I keep a food diary for 2 weeks about every 6 months to make sure I'm on track), but I work out 10-15 hours a week. Hard. Here's my history:
I have hypothyroidism and am on synthroid (50 ug). I'm a Manager/Scientist during the day, but I teach fitness classes as a second job. I exercise quite a bit: I teach kickboxing, sports conditioning, and weighlifting. I'm starting up a bootcamp (once a week) next month. I also race triathlons, so I swim (2500 yds 3 times a week on average), run (6-10 miles 2 times a week on average) and bike (40-60 miles in the Spring-Fall 1.5 times a week; Spin 1+ hours 3 times a week in the Winter). My diet is very healthy. I make most of my meals at home. On a typical day, I eat a hard boiled egg and an orange for breakfast. I have hot organic apple cider with apple cider vinegar (a naturopathic treatment for hypothyroidism) in the morning. I'll have a cup of coffee or a cup of tea later in the day, maybe a second but not usually. I have a yogurt (Activia), usually as a mid-morning snack. Lunch is usually a vegetable - today I had 2 cups of cabbage sauteed in cajun seasoning and coconut oil (another naturopathic remedy for hypothyroidism). I have a piece of fruit in the afternoon, usually an apple. I keep nuts, dried fruit and lean beef jerkey in my cabinet in case I get hungry during the day. I usually do. Dinner is usually 4 oz of protein (fish, chicken or lean beef), at least 2 cups of vegetables, and some fruit for dessert. I cook all of my food in coconut oil. I make my own sugar-free dark chocolate with nuts or organic almond butter, and I'll have one of those for dessert. Some nights, I'll add a spoonful (or two) of almond or cashew butter. Sometimes I'll sneak in a cookie or some nuts. I'm not much of a drinker, maybe 2-3 glasses of wine or beers a week. I drink at least 56 oz of water a day, in addition to the coffee/tea, and what I drink when I work out. I recently lost about 10 lbs on the HCG diet - 10 lbs I'd been trying to lose for the last 10 years. I have a very difficult time maintaining my weight. I thought that the synthroid would solve that, but it hasn't. I don't understand why I'm constipated. The constipation seems to be worse now than ever before. I strain to go, and when I do, it's usually dense, dark, and very hard to pass. Once every three days can't be right. I used to be pretty regular (1x a day). I get a lot of fiber, I exercise, I drink a lot of water. I don't like resorting to the herbal laxative tea. The only other medication I'm on is a very low dose birth control pill, but I've been on oral contraceptives since I was 18, and on this particular one for 2 years. The rest of my medical history is pretty boring - I've had a few athletic injuries and appropriate surgeries, a concussion or two, and I have fibroids that the GYN keeps an eye on. Oh, and I tend to skip menstrual cycles. So what's with the constipation and slow metabolism?
posted on
Fri, 14 Mar 2014

Thu, 27 Sep 2018
Answered on

Fri, 28 Sep 2018
Last reviewed on