Underactive thyroid AND professional dancer, is this the end

Guest · Guest

Hi there, I am 22 years old, and I was diagonosed with an underactive-thyroid in January last year..since then I have felt slightly lighter than before however I have been gaining weight and losing weight like any normal teen over the years, and in my early 20s have stayed between 10 n 1/2 stone to 11 1/2 stone up and down throughout the past two years, I have been training all my life to be a dancer, and when I turned 20 I graduated as a Professional Dancer and started off my career in Holiday Camps, being hypothyroid has been a struggle the past year as being young and full of life, to being weak and feeling sick and over-weight is not good for a full-time dancer, now I am out auditioning for a new dance job and I am worried that I'm not getting anywhere because I am slightly over-weight for a dancer and most jobs look for a small size 6-12 and i am a big size 12.

I guess I'm looking for advice on how I can keep strong, I feel I blame my dancing career not getting very far on my thyroid, I just dont know if I will ever lose the extra weight and therefore be toned enough to get a good job, I live with hope that maybe somewhere along the year I will have a spurt of losing weight with the excercise and good diet I have conditioned myself to, however I cant help but feel like I'm not getting anywhere.

I read articles and i only seem to find people in their 40s with this condition, I am only young and only starting out in the world being a qualified dancer is what I've always lived/trained for and as I've only had medication for a year I'm not very experienced in the effects it has on me and my weight control except for only losing around 6lbs the past year.

Can anyone help me as I am desperate to lose weight before I get even bigger and completely lose all hope in becoming a successful dancer?

I know I have talent, but as well as being overweight I am only 5"4 and most companies look for 5"7 girls and above, therefore it is very important that I lose the weight if I'm ever going to have the career I've worked so hard for.

Please help me

Guest · Guest

I just came across your post. I don't know if you will ever see this, but I am your height. I now weigh about 116 pounds - it took me 2 years after being diagnosed with hypothyroidism to come back down to this weight. I had put on about 20 pounds.

It did force me to quit a sport that had weight classes (taekwondo), as I could in no way compete with a height disadvantage in a higher weight class - ESPECIALLY feeling as slow, sluggish, and horrible as I felt. And no matter how hard I worked out (and I am used to training hard), I could not make the weight come off easily. It was just a matter of time, medication (I am taking Armour Thyroid), and determination that have made the pounds come off. Some of the periods where I gave up altogether kickstarted weight loss. So throw some patience in there too, if you can afford it.

Everyone's body is different, I can't guarantee it will or will not take you this long to get back to your normal weight. Some people never entirely lose the weight at all. Best of luck.

Underactive thyroid AND professional dancer, is this the end

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