Shownotes
Welcome to this week’s episode of Thyroid Strong where I outline why you are burning out during and after your workouts and how to change your lifestyle to maximize your energy levels.
Key Takeaways
All exercise is inflammatory, but it is rest and recovery that is the main benefit of exercise. Today, we learn how to adjust our movements to avoid joint hypermobility and how to feed our muscle tissue appropriately in the recovery process.
Two Ways You Are Burning Out
Most of us Hashi ladies are overdoing our workouts. We are working out 6 to 7 times a week for long periods of time. Let’s dial it back to 3 to 4 days a week. While working out, most of us are only doing cardio. For our bodies, we need to focus on resistance training for 30-40 minutes for each workout.
Protein Intake & Functional Compound Movements
Rest and recovery is the main benefit of exercise, and that includes feeding our body appropriately. We have a 15-20 minute window of eating 30 grams of protein per meal. So chew slower and only eat when it’s time for the next meal. While we are putting more muscle on the bone and feeding ourselves appropriately, we also need to adjust the movements in our workout. Focus on functional compound movements with lower reps to maximize energy.
In This Episode
Feeling fatigue after your workout [0:53]
Overdoing your workout [2:24]
Only doing cardio for your workout [4:28]
How to hit our optimal protein targets to stimulate muscle protein synthesis [6:41]
Joint hypermobility [10:25]
Emily’s workout plan on Thyroid Strong [12:42]
Quotes
“Prioritize something that puts your nervous system into a parasympathetic state where you're focusing on your breathing, and you're not focusing on something that's putting you into that fight or flight state.” [4:01]
“If you're feeling fatigued, time to pick up the animal meat.” [9:47]
“You're the only one that has to live in your body, no one else, so feed it appropriately.” [15:47]
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Listen to the episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, or on your favorite podcast platform.
Topics Covered:
- How to workout without the burnout
- Working out for the best benefit, rest and recovery
- Joint hypermobility, joint laxity, ligament laxity
- Having a workout plan that best suits your needs
- Eating and resting appropriately to feed and recover your muscle tissue
Follow Dr Emily Kiberd:
If you want more information on when the next round of Thyroid Strong workout program goes live, join the waitlist.
If you’re looking to lose weight with Hashimoto’s: https://www.dremilykiberd.com/weight/
If you’re looking to beat the Hashimoto’s fatigue: https://www.dremilykiberd.com/fatigue/
If you want to learn more about 3 things NOT TO DO in your workout if you have Hashimoto’s and WHAT TO DO instead: https://www.dremilykiberd.com/strong
If you want to dive right into Thyroid Strong online workout program: https://www.dremilykiberd.com/thyroid-strong/
Transcripts
If you're struggling with fatigue, especially around your workout, start to switch it up, play Stay curious. You're the only one that has to live in your body, no one else and feed it appropriately resistance training and muscle What's up lovely ladies Dr. Emily hybird. Here with thyroid strong podcast, I am a chiropractor, a mama to Elvis and Brooklyn and I have Hashimotos what is currently in remission. On this podcast, I share simple actionable steps with a little bit of tough love on how to lose that stubborn weight, get your energy, getting your life back and finally learn how to work out without burning out living with Hashimotos. Ladies, we are talking about Hashimotos and fatigue as it relates to working out to getting fit to your exercise routine today. So how many of you have felt this, you finally get the motivation, quote, unquote, motivation to get a cute workout outfit on, go for a run or getting your car or jump on the subway and go to that high intensity interval training class. Only to feel exhausted afterwards. Not just for that day, for that evening, but maybe for multiple days sometimes feeling like we can barely get out of bed even for days, right. And everyone talks about this runner's high this endorphin release is Oh, I feel so good after I work out. And you're wondering, why do I feel anything but okay, so I'm gonna give you four reasons why this happens for us how she ladies and what to do instead, right? Because we do want to feel good in our body, we do want our clothes to fit better. We do want to have more energy, right, and we should, but I think it requires us to workout smarter, not necessarily harder. And there's some key factors in what exercise we choose for our body, what kind of intensity we choose for our body so that we can get results. So we're going to talk about four reasons why your workout may be contributing to fatigue, let's go. So number one, we are over doing it right so maybe you're one of those type a high gogogo perfectionist Hashimotos. Ladies, I know I am one of them. And you're overdoing it, you're working out like five to six days a week, and you got to remember exercise is inflammatory and if we have low grade inflammation in the body, like with having an autoimmune condition, the benefit of the exercise is in the rest and recovery. In between the days we exercise that is what makes exercise and anti inflammatory modality to help heal our body. So rest and recovery is essential, especially with that hypo thyroid that underactive thyroid component of Hashimotos, you absolutely 100% need to rest and recover properly. That means prioritizing your off days, in between the days you workout and prioritizing your sleep we have with that hypothyroid component, slower tendon turnover, it takes us longer for our tissue to regenerate and replenish. So it takes us longer to recover. So if you are that type a perfectionist that is hitting the gym, high intensity, putting on the shoes, going for a run five to six days a week, I encourage you to dial it back to three to four days a week, maybe even just three days a week and in between those workouts. Those days you work out you take a rest and recovery. Does that mean no walking in no moving your body whatsoever? No, that's not what I'm saying. Still go for your walk, try and hit 10,000 steps. Maybe you prioritize something that puts your nervous system into a parasympathetic state where you're focusing on your breathing, you're focusing on breathing down in wide, you're focusing on something that's not putting you into that sympathetic fight or flight state. It could be some sort of movement flow for 15 minutes. It could be a couple of sun salutations, it could be even just focusing on walking. So number one is you're overdoing it. You're working out too many days in a row. Number two, you're only doing cardio. So if you are that Hachi lady that wants to train for a marathon wants to train for a triathlon and ultra marathon I get you because I've been you I've been there only doing cardio breaks down or muscle tissue and with Hashimotos going back to that underactive thyroid, that hypo thyroid component, it is harder to maintain our muscle tissue than someone who does not have Hashimotos. So we need to prioritize feeding our muscle tissue. And how do we do that? It is not with long distance, long steady state cardio, it is with resistance training, picking up something heavy with amazing form and putting it down and doing it again with long rest breaks in between. So long steady state cardio actually can break down the muscle tissue. And if you're doing that five to six days a week, you're not recovering properly, you can see why we could have achy joints, muscle pains and feel totally exhausted and tanked out. Another reason is that lots and lots of cardio can be a stressor on our adrenals leading us to a form of adrenal insufficiency. A lot of people talk about it as adrenal fatigue. That's kind of like a big nono these days, especially in the functional medicine world. But how do you know if there's something going on with your adrenal glands or you are taxing them or stressing them out too much? When you push yourself like I say, you feeling really good one day you push yourself just a little bit I know I used to do this, I immediately afterwards would feel like I was getting sick. Or the next couple of days, I felt like I was getting sick, or getting the flu. And every time I felt like I was trying to push myself just a little bit, I would feel like I was getting sick. And I was like, wow, I guess I'm just that person who gets sick easily. No, actually, was I needed to support my adrenals with doing not so much cardio, more resistance training, and I was on a very specific supplement protocol to help support my adrenal glands. So number two, you're doing only cardio or too much cardio. Number three, why we might be feeling fatigue, especially more fatigued from our workout, we are not feeding our body and our muscle tissue appropriately after we work out and we are not hitting our optimal protein targets to stimulate muscle protein synthesis was muscle protein synthesis, maintenance of our muscle tissue and even growth of our muscle tissue. So what should we be hitting for our protein, there's a couple of ways you could do a minimum 30 grams per meal, knock, raising over an hour, a couple hours snacking, we're talking about sitting down eating your protein within a 15 to 20 minute dose window, minimum 30 grams, maybe up to 50 grams to stimulate muscle protein synthesis. That's one way. And you do that each meal, not just one meal. Another way to measure is the ideal body weight in pounds. Right. So let's say you want to be 150 pounds, you would eat 150 grams of protein broken up through the meals. To stimulate muscle protein synthesis, you need to not graze. I'm a big grazer, I really have to fight it. Where you kind of like slowly are eating like throughout the day, there is a dose dependency on your protein intake. So sit down, eat your protein within 15 to 20 minutes. And then give yourself until lunch. And then go ahead eat your next dose of protein. What does 30 to 50 grams of protein. Let's start with 30 grams, okay, so I don't break out a scale. I have kids, I have very full life, I avoid using the word busy. It's just full. And I don't break out the scale. But I do know how to eyeball 30 grams. And I use an app called Chrono meter to just help track throughout my day. So 30 grams of protein would be five eggs. 30 grams of protein would be three eggs and a 14 grams protein of a chicken link sausage. Sometimes I do that a card deck size of a ribeye steak, a fist size of ground beef or a poem size of a chicken breast. So those are different examples of how to hit 30 grams of protein. And I know back in the day I was vegetarian I was vegan I was raw foodie, I've ended a 40 day juice cleanse, my moods and my blood sugar were all over the place. I lost like five pounds and maybe 10 pounds and it came back within a couple of days once I started eating normal food again, solid food cooked food. But through those phases of not eating meat, I noticed I was really hungry and I would snack and I'd hit more carbs and I never felt satiated. 30 grams of protein is satiating. It is nearly impossible to overeat protein. Try it, it will throw up. It's gross. So protein is super satiating, and it has all the branched chain amino acids to help with muscle recovery that a vegetarian or vegan diet just doesn't have. So if you're feeling fatigued I know when I was a vegetarian I was very fatigued even though I was supplementing time to pick up the animal meat. Alright, so that's number three. In terms of exercise and fatigue, you are just in not feeding your body appropriately, you can definitely eat some carbs after you work out to help with muscle recovery. But I'm gonna guess unless you're working out really, really hard, is not necessary. Lastly, I noticed that there is this clinical observation. This is for me seeing patients in the clinic face to face since 2007, that the autoimmune population has this element. And it's not 100%. But it's a lot of them have joint hypermobility, joint laxity, ligament laxity, not being able to stabilize the joints, especially the knees, the knees will travel back behind the ankles, the elbows will hyperextend. And so what I've noticed is think about trying to stabilize your joints trying to feel grounded and connected in your joints into the earth. And when you don't feel that your energy, I've noticed a lot of the Haji leaders are very anxious, because your energy is very airy. That's exhausting, right? That's exhausting. And I know this is a little bit more Woo, a little bit more on the energetic level. But this is a clinical observation. I've noticed seeing many, many, many women with Hashimotos as well as joint hyper mobility. So how do we address this? There's also another theory, let me put this out there first, there's another theory out there that there's a lack of tissue integrity, not only of the joints and the tissue that surrounds the joints, but also of the tissue that makes up the veins. And so when there's not integrity of the tissue that makes up the veins or is less venous return, there's less blood pumping to the heart, which can lead to a vasovagal response syncope, or pots, right where you like, stand up quickly and you feel faint. That's another kind of theory is that, that fatigue, with the hypermobility with an autoimmune condition could be a lack of integrity of the connective tissue, making up the veins to create good pumping venous return to the heart. So all of this is going to lead to feeling really tired. So how do we address this guy, so I'm going to give you how I work out for my own body. My own body has Hashimotos currently in remission for the last five years, even through a second pregnancy, which I'm very grateful for. But I had to let go of the cardio had to let go of training for marathons and triathlons. I had to let go of kind of just trying out different high intensity interval training or boutique Fitness in New York, I really just had to stick to a plan, a plan of putting more muscle on the bone. Don't worry, it's not bulky. I think a lot of women need to get honest about the bulk. Is it adipose tissue on top of the muscle that makes us look bulky? Or are we actually looking bulky just from building muscle. So I like to work out three to four days a week resistance training, I've worked up to about 30 to 40 minutes, I used to do 15 to 20. And that's where I start my women inside thyroid strong my online program to help women with Hashimotos learn how to work out without the burnout. I'll drop a link in the show notes, you can check it out. And I do functional compound moves. Sometimes I do some biceps and tries but not often. So I call them the essential seven. So there's a hinge like a deadlift, a squat, a lunge, a push move a pull some sort of carry like we're carrying our groceries or heavy carry a Farmer's Walk and then some sort of anti rotation like a pal off press or a single arm swing, kettlebell swing, and I focus on those moves, I do lower reps. So usually don't do more than eight reps. And when I first start my ladies inside divers strong, we're doing three to five reps, then we work up to six to eight, and then we can start to work up to 1012. But usually that's a year and a half journey, right? Because we want to avoid burning out we want to be able to work out but not push yourself into a hashey flare up or burnout. So three to four days resistance training, I hit 10,000 steps a day, I tried to go and heavier and right. So let's say we're going six reps, eight reps, buy those last couple reps on a scale of perceived exertion. I'm trying to hit a seven or eight out of 1010 is no way that weight is going up. The other way to look at it is by the last couple reps, you think, could I do five more could I do 10 More, you want to feel like maybe just maybe you have two more in the tank. And that's it. So that's what I tried to hit that requires you to go heavier, lower reps and less long rest breaks. So in those boutique fitness classes in New York, you don't get a break until the class is over 4550 minutes later. I like between sets a good 60 to 92nd Break gives you time to recover because you're trying to catch your breath. Right because the time under load raises your heart rate and it gives you time to hum saying do some fast and loose right shake out the body before you pick up a weight again humming and singing puts you back into that parasympathetic, that calm state before you pick up the weight again and create a sympathetic state. That's how I work out that's how I train my ladies and say thyroid strong. If you want to know With the exact cues and how I train the ladies, the Haji ladies expecially with hypermobility, right because it's very specific use. Oftentimes I'll see fitness influencers, crank on their back, extend their back, you know as they're standing up like at the top of a kettlebell swing or squats or deadlifts, I guarantee you from my 14 years of practice those people down the road will have spinal stenosis. So I teach in a very specific way, how to get stacked, how to breathe and brace, how to have good form, where to place the bell, where to place your feet, all the things inside the restaurant. So if you're interested, the links in the show notes, check it out. If you're struggling with fatigue, especially around your workout, start to switch it up play stay curious, you're the only one that has to live in your body, no one else and feed it appropriately resistance training and muscle. Alright ladies, if you liked this episode, go to iTunes, subscribe, rate and review. Give an honest review I feel like all feedback is good feedback. Even the not so good feedback, share it with a friend screenshot it throw it up on Instagram. Every little share is so helpful and counts and spreads the word for the hush ladies about how to work out and do it better. Do it smarter not harder and learning how to work out so that you don't burn out. Alright ladies, I hope you enjoyed this episode and I'll see you next week. If you enjoyed this episode, or even learned just one new piece of information to help you on your Hashimotos journey. Would you do me a huge favor. rate and review thyroid strong podcast on iTunes, Spotify or whatever platform you used to listen to this podcast and share what you liked. maybe learn something new. And if you didn't like it, well shoot me a DM on Instagram Dr. Emily hybird I read and respond to every single DM I truly believe all feedback is good feedback. Even the ugly comments if you're interested in joining the thyroid strong course a home workout program using kettlebells and weights where I teach you how to work out without the burnout. Go to Dr. Emily clyburn.com forward slash T s waitlist you'll get all the most up to date information on when the course launches and goes live special deals in Early Access bonuses for myself and my functional medicine doctor friends again Dr. Emily khyber.com forward slash T s weightless hope to see you on the inside ladies