Hello, any ideas on how to lose weight

[karen0050]

I have underactive thyroid and on 100 mg a day, despite going to WW and using treadmill regularly l find it extremely hard to lose weight, any suggestions or ideas would be most welcome. l have a stone to lose

[Divided]

I've been losing weight by entirely cutting out sugar. I don't just mean added sugar. For the first two weeks I also limited fruit and I've stayed very low carbs too. Once my blood sugar was completely flatlined and I no longer had the peaks and troughs sugar gives you, I added the odd bit of fruit back in. I have a lot of weight to lose and, because I don't want to become disheartened, I'm not getting on the scales, but I've lost a dress size in a month.

[marram]

Divided, it is important not to reduce your carbs TOO much as your body needs carbs to convert T4 into T3. There is a danger if you go too low on carbs that your body will suddenly go into starvation mode and store all your food as fat, in addition you will find that your Levothyroxine become less effective as it will not be converted.

Studies have shown that even healthy people can cause their thyroid to become suppressed by extreme reduction of carbohydrates.

Even so, it is very good to choose more healthy carbohydrates, cutting out sugar is a very good move, and some sugars are worse than others.

If you are hypothyroid, one of the worst sugars is fructose, and in particular high fructose corn syrup, which can be found in many 'healthy' foods. In the short-term it has a low GI but apparently it goes straight to the liver and is stored as fat - so although it does not cause blood sugar peaks, what it DOES do is cause Non-Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease, apparently there is an epidemic of NAFLD in Britain and America, attributable to the use of High Fructose Corn Syrup and other forms of concentrated Fructose in processed foods (including many 'health' foods like yoghurt and cereal bars). And, of course, about one third of our T4 is converted to T3 in the liver, but is impaired if we have NAFLD.

In raw fruit fructose does not seem to have the same effect, because there are other compounds in the fruit which enable the body to process the fructose effectively.

articles.mercola.com/sites/...

I hope you find this interesting and helpful in making further progress in your weightloss.

Of course, the very best way to lose weight if you are hypothyroid is to ensure that your thyroid hormone levels are optimal. I have lost 22lbs in the last 10 months since I have fought to get better thyroid treatment. I have not yet started increasing my exercise because I was so ill I could barely function. Hopefully I shall lose even more once I start a regular exercise programme.

Karen, have you had a blood test recently? It would be interesting to see what your thyroid levels are like. It may be that you are not converting the T4 to T3 and if this is the case, it will continue to be difficult to lose weight.

There is a system which involves very short, intensive bursts of ecercise rather that many hours of endurance exercise, which seems to be more effective, you might find this recent post from CarolynB helpful:

healthunlocked.com/thyroidu...

I do hope you find some inspiration there!

Marie XX

[Jackie]

Hi First make sure you have been tested for TSH, T4 and Free T3. You need a print out of results ( receptionist) , with the ranges, as most differ from different Labs. Often weight is related to Free T3, if it is too low, you may even need less T4, but some T3 that reduces weight normally , and also TSH slightly. Some times GP`s reluctant. if your results show you need it, then ask for a 3 month trial. It depends solely on the results. We usually find best is T4 in top third of the range, only and FT3 near the top, must never go over.

If GP unwilling, tests reasonable, on line, not using a private hospital.

Best wishes,

Jackie