Hypothyroid: Why is Weight Loss So Damn Hard?

If you have been diagnosed with hypothyroidism, you likely have heard the following from your doctor when discussing your weight?

• "Get off the couch and exercise"


• "No more pigging out"

It's easy to pass the buck. Assuming that an overweight person is that way because they are lazy is a mistake.

It is also very easy to give the poor advice of exercise more and eat less. While some need to do just that, for others it will actually make matters worse.

So why is it that someone that is diagnosed with hypothyroidism have such problems losing weight?

A person diagnosed with hypothyroidism (and many more who are not) has a problem with either their thyroid gland or thyroid hormone. Either way the result is symptoms of thyroid problems due to a slowed metabolism. If your metabolism is abnormally low, less calories will be burned at rest. This results in more energy to be stored on your body (AKA fat).

This is not the end of it. There are also contributory factors that can work as either the primary problem, or work synergistically to really mess things up.

Excess estrogen is a perfect example of this. As I explained in a previous post about symptoms of thyroid problems due to excessive estrogen, your body stores estrogen in fat cells. The more fat cells you have, the more estrogen can be bound. Excessive estrogen also binds to thyroid hormone and makes it useless, which further slows down your metabolism, which makes you gain more at cells, which binds more estrogen, which can bind to more thyroid hormone...you get the point.

This process can spiral out of control till it gets to the point where everything seems to fail. Whether a doctor has told you that you have been diagnosed with hypothyroidism or not, you have to address the hypothyroid issue or you will continue to ask yourself, "Why is Weight Loss So Damn Hard?"

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Is High Estrogen Levels Smothering your Thyroid?

Do you know someone that either knows that they have thyroid problems or unknowingly has symptoms of thyroid problems that lives their life similar to this?

1. Currently takes or has taken in the past birth control pills (synthetic estrogen intake)
2. Tries to eat "healthy" by eating soy and drinking bottled water (soy acts like estrogen and has isoflavones that can lower thyroid function and the plastics in bottles have estrogen-like chemicals that are released into the fluid, especially when heated)
3. Eats tons of meat because they are on some diet (the animals are fed things like soy, so they have excessive estrogen like chemicals stored in their tissues)
4. Even with their best effort, they can't seem to lose excess weight (estrogen is stored in fat cells. With extra body fat, that amount can really add up)

Besides #1, this can describe some men as well as females (well I guess some males too). All of the above can lead to excessive exposure to estrogen or estrogen-like chemicals which can cause thyroid problems.

Here's the facts: excess estrogen can increase TBG (thyroid binding globulin). Like the name implies, the thyroid hormone gets bound, changes its shape and can no longer be used by the body.

Translation = estrogen and estrogen-like chemicals can cause symptoms of thyroid problems.

This is just another example of how our world can influence our thyroid and thyroid hormone levels. You may even try to be doing good, but may be following some misguided advice.

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Just TSH and T4? You've Been Shortchanged!

And the verdict is...Kernel Mustard, in the study, with the lead pipe. Ah, one of my favorite games, Clue. The object of the game is to assemble all the pertinent information to know what's going on without using too many turns. Everyone should hope that their doctor played this as a kid. They will be more likely to run enough test to find out what's going on without running up an unnecessary bill. A doctor that just test TSH and T4 for thyroid function may not have played Clue as a child.

TSH and T4 are lab markers that almost every doctor uses to assess the function of the thyroid and its ability to produce thyroid hormone. Unfortunately, this not only does not give you enough information to make an informed decision, it may lead you to believe things that are completely wrong.

TSH (or thyroid stimulating hormone) can be high when low thyroid hormone (T4 and T3) appears in the report. This is your classic hypothyroid presentation. TSH raises in response to the low thyroid hormone so that it can make more to be used by the body.

Here's the catch. There are other things that can affect the overproduction of TSH. Changes in the weather, time of day, type of foods you eat, amount of exercise you do, amount of toxins exposed to, nutrient depletion, etc. all can change the numbers from the lab. Those numbers can end up all over the place, even if they are taken just hours apart. Here's what that means:

1. Abnormal levels may be temporarily abnormal in order to deal with what's going on at that moment. This is called a false positive.
2. Levels that may be abnormal may dip into the "normal" range in order to deal with what's going on at that moment. This is called a false negative.
3. "Normal" levels may be misleading. What's normal for one is not normal for another. Not to mention that "normal" levels change every so often and from lab to lab. "Normal" is a nice place to start, but is not meant to be set in stone.

The TSH and T4 levels need to be compared to other test (free T3, free T4, reverse T3, reverse T4, axillary body temperature, iodine testing, hormone testing, adrenal testing, toxicity testing, detoxification testing, insulin sensitivity, neurotransmitter levels, nutrient concentration, serum ferritin levels, physical exam findings, physical presentation, pertinent history, family history, symptom survey, or anything else that is relevant...but not anyone in particular or all of them either).

Not everyone needs tons of testing, but there are clues to look for that will help you find more clues as to what is going on. You'll never know who did it, with what and where with just the bare minimal testing, or TSH and T4.

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Hypothyroidism: Weight Loss Most Poorly Understood Road Block

Would you like to be shocked? Well, unless you live under a rock you may not really be surprised at all. In America, around 2/3 of us are overweight. It is estimated that around 60% of those people suffer from hypothyroidism. Weight loss for these people is really an
uphill struggle for multiple of reasons. Here are a few:

1. Counting calories to lose weight is the most popular way people are told to diet. Did you know that overly restricting your daily calories actually slows down your metabolism? This goes against a hypothyroidism weight loss program.
2. Long bouts of cardio is the exercise program most people are told to do to lose weight. Burn calories, burn fat...Right? Did you know that excessive cardiovascular exercise causes an increase in cortisol, which in turn slows metabolism and makes your body demand that you create an energy reserve (also known as body fat) around your abdomen? Again, not recommended in a hypothyroidism weight loss program.
3. People don't even know they have hypothyroidism. Their doctors may not be able to properly identify it for them either. Relying solely on TSH and T4, prescribing therapy that does not address the problem and lack of time spent with the patient to properly inform them are major reasons why this problem isn't getting addressed. Unfortunately, you were not given a hypothyroidism weight loss program.

How does all that play out in real life? See if this scenario seems familiar:

It's New Years and you decide after one last night of fun/debauchery, you are going to finally lose those pounds that have all of a sudden crept up on you. Your plan of attack...eat less and work out more.

Now fast forward to June. As you stand on the scale after 6 months of grueling
exercise and a borderline malnourished dieting, you are in complete disbelief
that you have actually gained 8 pounds.

Discouraged and a little worried, you go to see your doctor for help. The doctor runs a thyroid panel on you to see if there is anything wrong. "Your TSH and T4 are within normal limits, so you do not have a thyroid problem."

But what if you did have hypothyroidism missed by your doctor (since testing just TSH and T4 is very incomplete testing)? More than likely, you will not do the things you should to address this problem with your endocrine system.

So you are left to figure this out yourself. Now what? Do you live with it, exercise more or eat less? Maybe you should start skipping breakfast and switch to diet soda.

Or maybe you could stop sabotaging yourself, making matters worse.

While I agree that exercise and reasonable caloric intake are steps to helping, but only if they are applied correctly. They need to be setup in order to address the major road block...the underlying issue of hypothyroidism. Weight loss will not be achieved on a permanent basis until you start a hypothyroidism weight loss program.

My advice: Learn how to address your thyroid problems from a reputable source...then do it.

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