People often blame the thyroid when they put on weight. Is it usually to blame?
That’s one of things that our society overplays. In truth, the weight gain associated with untreated hypothyroidism is generally just a few pounds — we’re not talking 50 or 60. Your thyroid doesn’t make you crave food; it’s more of a slowing of metabolism that makes it harder to burn calories.
This Endo’s attitude is the very reason I can’t get Doctors to understand my weight gain doesn’t have as much to do with my eating habits as much as it does with my lack of thyroid… What is this food craving stuff these doctors keep babbling about ? I don’t crave anything …. Just irks me!
Written by
Batty1
To view profiles and participate in discussions please or .
Absolutely the same. I hardly have any appetite but have put on weight. I hsve never been overweight but that's whst started happening when I was diagnosed with hypothyroidism. It stresses me out so much. I am in a great deal of pain with sciatic pain that I get in both my legs and mow found I probably need a hip replacement. The weight does not help anyone disabled or not x
I feel exactly the same but I they look at you like you must eat all the time and it's down to what you put in your mouth. It couldn't possibly be that your master switch (thyroid) is making your metabolism almost come to a full stop x
I have had this hypo prob for more than 20 years and have researched it thoroughly and know from experience that even though your blood result says you are normal you are stilll hypo cos the blood tests aren't accurate enough. A book I read called Why do I still have thyroid symptoms when my lab tests are normal by Datis Kharrazian explains. You may be on 100mg say but might not be absorbing that amount. It was only when I got to see the endocrinologist that she agreed and prescribed Liothyronine but due to other factors it did not agree with me but I can tell you being listened to for the first time after all these years did me a power of good. But don't believe me, do your research and take it to your GP or ask to be referred. Good luck!!
I will read that book thank you. I have had this for I would say 2010 although wasn't diagnosed until 2015. I started gradually putting weight on from there. I can't take Levothyroxine but I'm on 20mcg T3 3 times a day but still feel ill. They are worried to increase my T3 despite being in range not over. I sometimes feel like this is my life now and it makes me feel down. Thank you very much x
It's a common belief among doctors that you should only put on a couple of pounds, not 60. But they aren't event taking into consideration the water retention that is so common with hypo. And that has absolutely nothing to do with what you eat!
Exactly … Im currently feeling like Im sloshing as I move around …. Ive been eating gluten free oats and Im thinking these have been not a good choice for me to eat.
Hi greygoose, perhaps you could explain to Batty why not eating again till dinner time could make things worse longterm. I know that insufficient calories can cause big problems but I’m unsure of how/why that impacts conversion/uptake or whatever the mechanism is
Well, it's simply because we need calories to convert. Calories aren't just nasty little things that make you fat, they are units of energy and we need them for everything we do - even thinking! So, what with everything else that's going on in the body: breathing, digesting, heart beating and blood flowing... If we don't have enough energy for all that then conversion suffers. And if we are on levo mono-therapy, we are entirely dependand on conversion of T4 for our T3, and we no-longer have the small amount of conversion that went on in the thyroid itself. So, unless you are eating enough oats to cover that deficit in calories, you conversion will be slowed down making you more hypo. 🤔
Did you know that with hypothyroidism, if we don’t get enough calories it can really play havoc with weight. Ask greygoose because she has a better understanding of it than I
I believe I get plenty of calories …My Oatmeal alone is pretty high in calories and leaves me satisfied for hours so I tend to not eat during the day because Im just not hungry. Im also riddle with arthritis that makes moving around like a human almost impossible so eating excessive calories are definitely something I shouldn’t be doing.
You’re right, excessive calorie intake is no no for all of us, not just hypos. What we’re talking about here is sufficient calories from a variety of foods throughout the day so that conversion can take place continuously, from morning to night. Fewer calories from white foods is talked about a lot but I would quite happily eat a white diet, maybe porridge or toast for breakfast, jacket potato with cheese for, pasta for dinner but since being hypo I’ve had to cut it out and stick to eggs, meat and three veg, fish and occasionally brown rice. Haven’t lost much weight but belly is flatter
Even before this dreaded hypo I never was much of a pasta, potato or bread eater heck just me eating oatmeal is some kind of miracle …. Ever since I had covid in 2023 I can’t eat eggs or chicken because they taste so bad now …. I definitely need to do better eating wise but gosh its a struggle and to look at me one would think eating came easy..;(
I know, we still have so much to learn about this disease and its intricacies. Before all this, when obese people would bemoan being overweight I just imagined they were big eaters of the wrong kinds of food. How wrong I was
I wonder what can be done about certain foods tasting bad. Will it improve in time?
its been a year and still eggs and chicken taste awful (like burnt oil) eww and doesn’t seem to be anyway to fix this …. At least now I can eat small doses of sour cream as long as its breakstone any other kind is a big no maybe chicken will come back 🤷♀️
I’ve read so many articles about oats and how they were introduced for human consumption as it was cheap to manufacture, thus making companies huge profits. Have no benifits whatsoever in my mind
I think another thing doctors ignore is that many hypos are diagnosed during middle age, when metabolism is already slowing down and menopause weight gain is rearing its ugly head, so its a triple whammy really.
People who've never struggled with their weight just dont get it. Mind you I've seen plenty of porky medics 🐷in my time so clearly its not as easy as they make out. If it was we'd all be thin 😒
Add to that the fourth whammy of stopping smoking after 35 years of a 20-a-day habit and that added another stone in weight for me! My appetite is at zero because I developed nasal polyps that stopped me from being able to smell or taste anything too and any doctor suggesting I should try a diet gets very short shrift!
what a load of cozwallop they talk bunch of thickos really! I can’t eat due to nausea 24/7 I have to force feed my self am never ever hungry and yet I put on weight . Gotta laugh at the ignorance Of people we are supposed to put trust in …Swear some of them are raving lunatics 🫤🫢 😂
As with so many things it can vary so much from individual to individual. I happen to have four friends who all suffer from hypothyroidism: two put on weight, two did not.
I put on over 4st when grossly under medicated. I was on levothyroxine T4 only but actually really needed combination treatment T4 plus T3. After a battle I was prescribed T3 also. Within 9 months I lost over 4st without even trying. My metabolic rate started to work properly and importantly I then had energy to exercise again. I got my youth back aged 59. Each day I get younger now (65 now) and feel very well indeed. So weight gain for hashimoto’s people is real unless you are correctly medicated. I feel younger in my 60’s then I ever did suffering in my 50’s
Thank you for this!!! I'm gonna get my GP to refer me to endo. My metabolism doesn't exist and my PT thinks I'm lying about food intake. It's so frustrating 😡
Yes and request bloods for thyroid. TSH, t4 and importantly T3. If they won’t do the t3 then try on line with Monitor My Health. They can turn round a blood test very quickly.
I've had them all done. And also with monitor my health! Given advice by mmh. Took results to GP. Not referred. My ferritin levels always very high but GP not bothered!
I had to spend some time yesterday in hospital. I found myself watching medical staff male and female (but especially female nurses) waddling around. Some obviously in dire straits, the way they were walking. I live in an area of the UK where a very influential endocrinologist works openly and publicly against hypo patients well-being. It seems even staff are not treated properly. Off course I don’t know for sure these people are hypothyroid but you do get to know the look and recognise the gait.
Everytime I've sat in a hospital I've been struck by how unhealthy many of the staff look. My sons worked in the NHS, one still does, my younger son was a HCA for several years and it wrecked his health, long 12 hour shifts, nights, weekends, it totally messed with his body clock. He always struggled to sleep in the day after a night shift.
Despite the fact staff were entitled to breaks the reality was they rarely got one. So even if they'd take a healthy meal with them they didnt get a chance to eat it. So to keep up energy levels it would be trips to the vending machine, buying high sugar, high fat treats, and lots of coffee. That was several years ago and I suspect its got worse since then. Plus staff were so tired exercise was out of the question.
I find it ironic that the NHS has such an unhealthy work environment. I really feel for them, but on the other hand they shouldnt be lecturing patients about weight when the staff themselves are no example.
Yes I think so too. AND there is a whole sluggishness about the whole ‘works’ of just about anything NHS - in the public’s view. Its wonderful conception is no longer appreciated by staff or public. I complain all the time about it but deep down I have great respect for its inception. However there are such deep flaws in it now. I could tear it apart in one sitting but I’d rather see some strong person at the tiller with strong leadership and ……
On reception yesterday there was a very fat woman who never raised her eyes from whatever she was doing on her computer to give me the barest piece of information. In the end a volunteer oldie came over and sorted me out.
They could at least get a receptionist, receiving people under the big sign that says RECEPTION. That would be a start.
Presumably it’s not the HR department at fault here. It’s always much further up the tree who, lets face it, sets the tone/scene.
Ironic too the food that gets given to patients. For goodness sake, they’re there to get well. If there was a place that a healthy, nutritious meal ought to be served you’d expect it to be a hospital
I honestly don’t understand the mindset of the educated people in that environment not questioning it
We can't make patients eat something they don't like or what we want them to eat! You any idea how hard it is to get someone to change established lifestyles? NHS staff are not magicians! It's comes down to taking responsibility for your own health! Not everyone grasps this! Probably too lucrative to be immobile and overweight for some!
There’s a lot of obesity amongst NHS staff and we often see them at nurses stations munching sweets or chocolates relatives have brought in. They’re in an environment where they see first hand and understand the harm that’s done by diseases related to obesity, so yes, I do have an idea of how hard it is for established lifestyles to be changed. Some of the staff within it are a fine example of how difficult it is
We can't make patients eat something they don't like
Give them something they like then or wherever possible or appropriate, approach a relative to bring in something.
When a person is sick the last thing they want is an unedifying looking meal or a dry sandwich. And what is that thing that’s done where the food is left at the end of the bed out of reach of an elderly and frail person, only for it to be whisked away half an hour later by someone saying: not hungry today Mrs Jones?
It's comes down to taking responsibility for your own health!
I agree and I do and I like to think that many of us do. Hopefully most of us but I’m not that naive. However, irrespective of whether or not a person is ill because of lifestyle choices, as hard a pill (pun intended) as it may be to swallow, when they land in hospital and are perhaps incapacitated, what are the staff paid for if not to get that person as well as possible
I appreciate the hospital environment is understaffed and that most staff are doing their best, I honestly do. It needs to be better managed and a radical overhaul and re-think about how and where money is spent. It’s no good keep saying it needs more, it needs more. There is no more at the moment, so let it be spent more carefully. Stop giving contracts to caterers who spend as little as possible producing cheap revolting food that patients don’t like and won’t eat. What a waste
Wendyrmn66. I could see you were likely staff from your earlier replies. I totally understand your frustration. I think we probably all understand that. Just because you work for the NHS does not make it in any way your fault that it is in a mess or, that it is your responsibility to make people lead more healthy lifestyles. You sound like just the kind of person who tried your best whenever you had the power. However to empower real change was way above your pay grade, unless you are the CEO. In that case can we have a word?
However just as an aside, I did all the training stuff, spent a blooming fortune etc etc for about twenty years, “to help me stand up straight”. To no avail. Don’t waste your money and more importantly you might even be making yourself worse, using up precious good quality calories which you need to get yourself well.
Occasionally I give out this advice and it’s over ruled by virtually 100% of people with this mindset (I had it too) because they think they know best. All media support this exercise stuff. Hypo works by a quite different set of rules.
P.S. it’s three years since I stopped training and I still stand up straight and make an effort to walk without a certain gait. Just as I did before and during all the exercise. Admittedly it’s still in slow motion.
Hi there thanks for your reply and empathy!I couldn't give up weight training I've done it all my adult life (the covid break from gym didn't help and hypothyroidism kicked in then).
My muscles are stronger but I can't increase weights. I'm fine with that though. I can get out of bed easily now thank God!
It's just this awful fat I'm carrying! I've known nothing like it 😭
I'm going to get to the bottom of this! Darn right I am! I just need the right key!
I found I was no better and no worse when I stopped and saved myself a fortune. I did think for a long time though that it must work. Nope in the whole picture of things no actual change in ability. Everything at best stood still. Oddly it was only after stopping the weight training my shoulders and top of my arms let go some of the mucin which had been rock hard. I knew no better at the time and foolishly thought it was muscle. I feel my muscles now move better because they are not bound up in the gluey mucin. They slide over each other after many years of being unable to do that. No more frozen shoulders etc. Nothing could now entice me back to any of it - although I did love it before all the muscles started seizing up due to hypo.
P.S. some of it at least won’t be fat. It will be fluid or the dreaded mucin.
A cousin who did nights for 15 years gave up nursing due to obesity, ill health and hypothyroidism. It took her over a year to get back to a night time sleeping pattern but once she did she shed some weight. With her new found confidence she got herself a personal trainer who came twice a week and put her through her paces with mainly weights. Guess what, her weightloss stalled. After six months she stopped the training and 3 weeks later she’d lost 8lbs and continues to lose it at roughly 3lbs/fortnight. At the moment the only exercise she does is a daily gentle walk of about half a mile but plans to start the couch to 5k challenge once she’s lost 2st more. So far she’s lost almost 3
It’s a long-known phenomenon that night workers can suffer with obesity and poor health. We really can’t mess with nature and circadian rhythms without paying a price
Wishing you all the best in your quest for good health and thank you for your 20 years dedication to the NHS
Content on HealthUnlocked does not replace the relationship between you and doctors or other healthcare professionals nor the advice you receive from them.
Never delay seeking advice or dialling emergency services because of something that you have read on HealthUnlocked.
Weight gain and depression
Mounjaro for weight gain after thyroidectomy
Thyroxine and weight gain
Weight gain 
NDT and weight gain?
