Saturday, October 27, 2007

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.






3 comments:

Anonymous said...

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Shirley Donalds said...

I was diagnosed with hypothyroidism when i was 5 years old. My symptoms included hair loss, fatigue and anxiety. 5 years ago I tried natural porcine thyroid and I felt so blessed that it has lessened the symptoms.

Papillon said...

Jesus wept ! Are you people mad ??? Pills ? Suppressing appetite ? Most hypos don't even have an appetite ! What they need is proper thyroid care, something that very few doctors are capable of giving (didn't you even read the article above ?). They need a doctor who knows that numbers just being 'in range' is light years away from being optimal. And if they wish to lose weight, their numbers have to be optimal. Nothing else will do. Giving hypos advice on which are the best diet pills to take (as if such a thing existed) is a recipe for disaster. Do some research and learn what you're talking about before shooting off your mouths !