I know it sounds a bit strange but I could almost continue to put up with all my symptoms as I’ve suffered for 30 years on Levothyroxine but the weight gain is really depressing me.
I will literally try ANY diet if it would help me lose weight! I have no appetite, eat hardly anything and am still overweight!
I keep fit as best I can too!
Does anyone have any advice on dieting?
Thanks in advance
Yes don't as it makes things worse and makes you put on weight.You need calories and carbs to efficiently convert T4 to T3. If you are on a diet you can affect this conversion and reduce T3 which will make you more hypo.
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Previous posts show you are under medicated and folate deficient
Did you get dose increase in levothyroxine and prescription for folic acid
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That’s true. I am having a Zoom meeting with an Endo on Monday.
Hi there know what you mean I was a size 10/12 weighing 8.5 stones - could eat anything at aged 52 - then the thyroid went down and I went up to 16 stones rapidly - my whole wardrobe was completely ruined - I could not get into anything even nightdresses and underwear. Still overweight but I have heard about a product called Almased which is a meal replacement product - which contains very good amount of vitamins etc. - but is soya - so be careful as this reduces oestrogen and thyroid hormone - but if you take it carefully it would appear to be a good product with good results listed.
Thanks for replying. I will check that product out. It’s bad enough dealing with all the other things but weight is the most depressing thing, I find.I feel like hanging a sign around my neck saying that it’s not overeating that has made me fat!😱
Easiest suggestion is to try and be an active as possible - steps/walking is the easiest one. Too much of a calorie deficit is not suitable - should be aiming for steady at about 10% but you will need to make sure your levels are correct first.
You’re undermedicated and until you aren’t, it won’t matter what you try—reducing calories slightly, going low carb, exercising—none of it will work because your body won’t have what it needs to burn off excess fat. Which is thyroid hormone (in someone who’s undermedicated).
If you don’t have enough thyroid hormone your body will just down regulate. You’ll be tired, have no energy, nor feel like doing much. In other words, it’ll put you in a state of conserving energy because the energy it can muster is required for vital bodily processes, like breathing, blood circulation, brain function etc.
I know it’s horrible being overweight. I’ve been overweight most of my life and it completely sucks because I don’t overeat. However in my case it’s a double whammy of hypothyroidism (for which I’ve just about cracked the right thyroid hormone replacement dosage) and insulin resistance (which I’ve been in denial about for quite some time because I love carbs—but I knew 20 years ago I had it).
If calorie counting worked, no one in the western world would be overweight. It doesn’t work. It just makes you hungry and sooner or later you give in to that hunger. They say the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again in the hope of getting different results. 
I know cutting calories doesn’t work for me (and most likely works for very few people!) but I wanted to believe it and all I’ve done is yo yo for years.
Reducing my carbohydrate intake has been the only thing that ever works properly for me. But I needed to get my thyroid hormone replacement dosage right first. I think you probably do too.
Reducing carbs is a good thing to do - I had a really bad issue with the adrenals and would actually get an odour of carbs I had eaten the night before in my urine. I started to research why - and was astounded to read that the adrenal glands are 'responsible' for the metabolism of carbs - so any of us who are 'adrenally' compromised could have an issue with carbs - especially those with insulin resistance issues that can 'go' with low thyroid issues. Whilst the carbs are kept lower - within sensible reason - the protein intake should be higher - but be careful as the kidneys don't like too much protein.
Thoroughly agree with you, so much better without empty carbs.
Reducing empty carbs worked for me. I had been on thyroxine since 2009 and gluten free since 2012 and didnt feel good, though I have always been overweight my weight had gradually risen by 20kilos since then. In 2017 I changed from Levothyroxine to NDT and started to feel better, I then cut out empty carbs, almost all GF flour products, rice etc. I had already reduced sugar intake almost completely due to fructose malabsorbtion, so my diet was basically meat,fish,eggs and all types of veg. No calorie counting, I ate all I wanted and my weight gradually reduced almost without me noticing. I lost 10k and do not want to lose more, Im 73 and I think thinner wouldnt be good for me. Now I sometimes eat pasta or rice but usually do intermittent fasting the next day as not hungry, I just skip breakfast having a coffee with cream until lunchtime. Lowering my carbs made me feel better apart from losing weight so maybe they interact negatively with being hypo?Once you get used to it this is not a diet its a way of life. Sorry this is so long, difficult to explain in less words
They do connect negatively - the adrenals need to process them !
I weighed almost 17 stone and the only way of eating that worked for me was going low carb latterly with intermittent fasting. With a couple of stalls and fluctuations I lost over 6 stones in about 18 months and am living my best health for years. There’s tons of information online about LC and IF . I eat clean low carb - fresh, mostly organic whole food, gluten free and 90% dairy free. The good thing about it is that you don’t have to massively restrict calories either. Good luck
Wow well done - did u grt lose skin problems
Yes I did and at 63 I don’t have the amount of collagen and elastin needed for it to spring back. I’m saving up to have the loose skin on my arms removed - my grandkids call it my wibble wobble - but I can live with the rest.
Oh, a woman after my own heart! At last! I have never felt well on Levo, but the one thing that I want to change is my weight! I used to be 10 stones 3 lbs every day of the year I had only one sizes of clothes in my wardrobe and I never changed.
Then came menopause and hypothyroid and I soon I never knew what sized underwear I needed each day, never mind what weight I was and I had fat, very fat and even fatter sized jeans! Usually mens jeans!
That was/is the big thing for me, my weight! I could live with the rest if I wasn't getting on for 16 stones. I have been considered shallow and vain for having that opinion, but I can't bear being obese because I never was before hypothyroid came along.
I have had to learn how to treat myself using this Forum, ThyroidUK and a stack of books a mile high. I started getting vitamins up to optimum, then I read about Thyroid testing, how to read results. Etc etc.
I went gluten free, I tried no dairy but that didn't seem to make any difference. I tried all sorts. I also learned to like Dr Steven Gundry, his way of eating seemd to suit me. Gluten free, and he talks a lot of lectins and limited meat/ fish protein. Leaky gut, etc etc You will find him on You Tube, the micro biome is king to Dr Gundry.
Last year I decided to start myself on T3 and T4 combination. I thought I might have learned enough to trial it. I found it online, I bought it and I learned how to use/take it.
I started to take T3 in 1/4 of a 25mcg tablet at a time and I increased it by 1/4 of a tab every few weeks or when I thought it was time for an increase. I also gave myself 3 and then 4 'doses' a day.
I decreased Levo as I was increasing T3. Earlier this year I was feeling very down because I was not seeing any improvement. I was going to try something else, when I suddenly noticed my hair was regrowing!
I hadn't realised how much hair I had lost until I saw it coming back.
I was then on 75 mcg of Tiromel 25mcg in 4 doses a day and 50mcg of Levo. I had been on 125mcg of Levo. ..
I can't tell you to do as I did, I just went for it because I had no reason to worry if I got it wrong. No partner and no dependants. I just had to try something and I learned from everyone here and decided to try something because Levo alone was not for me. I didn't want to live like that any longer, I couldn't live like that.
You could try an Endo, but my GP's have never referred me to an Endo. I had to learn how to treat myself, because the NHS were no help to me. I got brassed off and angry and decided to go for it. And I am so glad that I joined ThyroidUK at the end of 2019.
Good luck with your issues. It seems totally obscene that as thyroid patients in the UK we often have to just rely on ourselves and the Forums online. It should never be, but it is.
That’s so interesting. As I say, I have been on Levothyroxine for 30 years with no real improvement. My GP is no help and just says each year that I’m within normal levels. I’m only 5ft 1 in and small framed and carrying around an extra 2 or 3 stones is massive for me! I try to keep as fit as I can and always choose healthy food but despite eating less and less it makes no difference. I don’t have an appetite and can happily exist on 500 calories per day but I know that’s not right! My body just adjusts to it!Recently my weight has gone up another ten pounds and my clothes don’t fit so that’s when I decided to try and research it myself and found this forum.
I have just paid to see an Endo and he has agreed to trial me on something called ERFA?
I start next week in combination with cutting down on the Levothyroxine so I will report back…..he doesn’t know if it will help my weight though?
Good luck and support to us all. X
You need your vitamin levels up there to begin with. Nothing works right if your vitamins and minerals aren't optimol and mine weren't.
I haven't eaten things like bread, potatoes, cereals - high carbs - for years because I felt better without them. So try to work on your diet and supplements. I would up the calories a bit too, but make every one count.
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