I’ve read that leaving 16 hours in between eating or drinking anything other than water is an effective way for the body to burn its fat stores. Then during the 8 hour window that you do have food, you make sure you are consuming all the beneficial vitamins, minerals, protein, etc. and sufficient calories of a good diet.
But I’m wondering if this daily way of eating may mess with T4/T3 conversion while on Levothyroxine?
Has anyone any insights they can give me about this please?
Are you sure that you are not undermedicated?
If T3 is low metabolic function slows down making weight loss more difficult
Suggest you test FT4 and FT3
Low calorie or restricted diet can impair T4 to T3 conversion
Important to optimise vitD, vit B12, folate and ferritin to support thyroid function
PS....just looked at your previous post.....your T3 is abysmally low so metabolism will be slow.
FT4 is too high....that can raise other problems
Intermittent fasting won't resolve that....you need to see an endo re a trial of T3
See recent replies from greygoose re conversion
Thankyou for replying DippyDame. I do have a private appointment with an Endocrinologist booked for 8th May, and I really would like him to prescribe me a trial of T3, but I am worried that, worst case scenario, he may look at my T3 results and at the range, and then tell me that I am easily within the range so I don’t need it. But I am hoping he has the knowledge to agree 🤞
I did post a few days ago asking for members experiences with being prescribed T3 because I’d like to know what starting dose, regime and brand others have found to work best. ie, what the Endo prescribes for me is good to start with.
I do need to increase my Folate and Ferritin levels. I have an iron panel via Medichecks being taken this Wednesday and after that will be taking igennous b vitamins.
I understand that my Ferritin needs to be higher before I start taking T3, and will wait for this before taking the first tablet, but I’m wondering, could it be the case that if my Ferritin and Folate levels were optimal then I may not need T3 because my conversion of Levothyroxine would improve enough?
In which case, maybe I’m rushing ahead of myself by asking for T3? I don’t know, it’s all very confusing. 🙇♀️
It’s very tempting to rush ahead isn’t it because all you want is for your body to be back “working properly” again asap. And not being able to lose weight is very depressing.
"The Vit D Council, the Vit D Society and Grassroots Health all recommend a level of 100-150nmol/L (40-60ng/ml), with a recent blog post on Grassroots Health mentioning a study which recommends over 125nmol/L (50ng/ml).
B12: 300pmol/L (145-569) = 406.5pg/ml
According to an extract from the book, "Could it be B12?" by Sally M. Pacholok:
"We believe that the 'normal' serum B12 threshold needs to be raised from 200 pg/ml to at least 450 pg/ml because deficiencies begin to appear in the cerebrospinal fluid below 550".
"For brain and nervous system health and prevention of disease in older adults, serum B12 levels should be maintained near or above 1000 pg/ml."
Folate:
Folate is recommended to be at least half way through range so you're looking at 35 plus with that range.
Ferritin
Optimal ferritin level for thyroid function is 90-110ug/L"
Your FT3 is only 29.73% through the ref range so by anyone's standards that is too low....we aim for approaching 75%
Optimising ferritin might help but it has a lot of increasing to do!
I think, however, you are going to need some exogenous T3 to adequately raise your FT3....maybe just a slightly smaller dose
Having this upcoming appointment I wouldn't miss the opportunity to discuss a trial of T3
Hope this endo is clued up on T3!
Thankyou for the information DippyDame. Will post my iron panel figures as soon as I have them, I would like to be able to take iron tablets to get my ferritin levels up cos it’s hard to increase iron that much just by eating foods when you’re vegetarian. (I would take those recommended heme capsules from the US even though i couldn’t eat actual meat or fish).
Hopefully my folate will increase quickly with Iggenus B vitamins. Or is Thorne better for Folate?
My vitamin B12 is 883 pg/ml
My Vitamin D is 200 nmol/L. (Have been taking supplement containing 4000 per day for years - maybe this is a bit too much?)
Yes, I am very keen to get T3 prescribed so will keep the appointment. Fingers crossed he knows his Thyroid stuff! 😊
Are you sure it's fat stores you're dealing with and not water retention? Water retention is the usual culprit when hypo, and intermitant fasting won't do anything to help that.
Sadly it looks like fat. I think my metabolism has been effected. It would be great if I can try some T3 to see if that works for me.
Try the pinch test ....
pinch an area of flesh between thumb and fore finger...
if the pinched skin wobbles/ moves and you can push thumb and finger close together then it is fat ..
if the pinched skin feels solid then it's water soaked mucin and a hypothyroid issue.
can't remember where I learned this but it makes sense to me!⁸
I agree with greygoose....
if its water retention dieting will have little impact....it's a thyroid hormone problem/hypothyroidism!
I don't think intermittent fasting is a factor.
I frequently don't eat between 6 or 7 pm and 9 or 10am....it's a habit we've adopted since retiring and I haven't noticed either any good, or harm, as a result.
Well I’ve just done the pinch test and now I’m not so sure….. some parts of me are indeed solid and unpinchable but other parts are not, so I think I have a combination of the two!
Whilst some people (young people more so) can have mucin (a combination of water logging infiltrated with types of sugar and fats) clearly around the belly, which is more solid. Mostly its shoulders, upper arms and thighs appear to be the common solid areas of mucin/water retention. Lower legs (I have found) it’s more likely water retention but this is an area where Graves patients can collect a lot of mucin - not so good. You will be a combination of both mucin/water retention and maybe fat. I like DippyDame explanation.p of working out which is which.
Both mucin areas and purely water logged areas have tension which is difficult to pinch. Fat not so much.
That’s really interesting, until last night I was convinced I didn’t have ‘water weight’.
Crumbs, I’m learning so much about Hypothyroidism from you all!
Thank you so much for sharing x
Or, you could try this pinch test:
youtube.com/watch?v=oI9yurd...
😱😱 yep, I just tried this with my partner and his is fine while mine is just like the hypothyroid woman in the video.
HM. How to get rid of this water retention weight?!
Well, when you find out, let me know. Because I'm damned if I know! I have managed to get rid of some in the past by taking very high doses of T3 but it always comes back. Various people have suggested various things to try, but they never work for me. I just wish I knew!
You’ll be the first to know if I ever figure it out too.
Thank you. 
That was a helpful video greygoose, now I’m not so sure! It’s depressing to hear that this water type weight doesn’t go even with correcting your T3 levels and dieting doesn’t help either 😔
Well, I can only speak for myself, but no, it didn't all go when I optimised by T3. But then I'm not a usual sort of case because it tooke me nearly 50 years to get someone to test my thyroid and give me a diagnosis of Hashi's/hypo. And it could be that the longer you're un-treated hypo, the more firmly it becomes installed, and the harder it is to get rid of. I don't know. But being untreated hypo that long did have other effects that have not improved with treatment. So, it's possible.
Sorry to hear that greygoose, I can imagine being untreated for so long would have impacted your body terribly! I will trial some T3 soon, hopefully, after my Endo appointment…… should I hope to come away with a prescription for 5mcg lio to be split into twice a day as a starting dose? With an immediate reduction in my Levo from 75 to 50 per day?
One can always hope. But I really wouldn't split 5 mcg in two. it's such a small dose.
Actually, from what I've seen on here - I have no personel experience - endos tend to start with 20 mcg - which, of course is much too high (one wonders if they do it deliberately!). But if that's the case, just cut the pill in four and start with 5 mcg anyway.
As for reducing your levo, the always want to do that - and I'm not convinced they know why! lol But if your FT4 isn't very high, it might be a bad idea, because taking T3 is going to reduce the FT4 anyway. You'll just have to play it by ear, I'm afraid.
many thanks for your advice re lio starting dose.
My FT4 is quite high at 20.50 (range 12 - 22) and FT3 is 4.2 (range 3.1 - 6.8) TSH : 0.311 (range 0.27 - 4.20). So given this, should I keep my current Levo dose at 75 when starting on 5mcg Lio do you think? Or should I post this as a new question ?
Thank you GreyGoose for your input.
Honestly GG IF does seem to help with the water retention/bloating too. Whilst I don’t think my scales which allegedly tell me what fat proportion I am to with any great accuracy, I seem to be losing an equal amount of fat to water at the moment. My varicose veins will vouch for that! They are now standing very proud now that some of the ‘water tension’ around them has been removed.
I did it for years whilst living on my own - a good 20 years. Last meal of the day around 6 pm, breakfast around 9 or 10 am. It never helped with anything. Not the water-retention nor any other symptoms. As I said above, I can only speak from my own experience but it honestly didn't help me in any way.
It’s very definitely like everything else thyroid it seems. Individual. So far it’s the first thing that has moved anything along for me re:thyroid. It virtually happened by accident almost. All the waiting around for testing times. Feeling ill all the time. Feeling like many things going into reverse etc. It’s something to be ‘mindful’ about when nothing else seems to be controllable. It’s not helped or hindered my conversion etc. However it might not be a forever thing, I remind myself. Hypothyroidism takes its own journey through our system and not at our behest.
I've been an 'intermittent faster' for almost all of my adult life, long before it was ever 'a thing', and long before I was diagnosed hypo and started taking thyroid medication. Typically, last meal of the day by 7pm, then nothing to eat until around mid-day next day. Obviously there are those exceptions when out for evening meal etc. And on holiday, I might indulge in breakfast if I'm tempted 😀 To my knowledge, fasting has little to no relevance to my T4-T3 conversion.
Thats said, perhaps because it's always been my way of life, my body is used to it. Whereas adopting this approach later down the road might have a different effect. Plus, we're all individual and what's relevant for one may not be for another. Worth a try I'd say, but keep a watchful eye on your thyroid levels by doing regular self testing.
That’s really good to know RedApple, Thankyou for replying!
Hi Alternatively I am much like RedApple and with exceptions, I have pretty pouch eating like this for years without intention.
Fasting has been shown to be good for you including for rebuilding your nerves. There much more to learn conclusively of course.
It’s worth a try.
Thanks HealthStarDust, I had read it was good for the body in other ways as well as helping to burn off fat.
I am testing this right now. I have been doing it for about 3 months. I must say I like the discipline of it. It’s a bit testing to start and then it becomes ‘mindful’.
I have no idea about helping my thyroid treatment as I raised my Levo by 6.25 mcg at around the same time. No worse no better on that front. I have been stuck on 100 mcgs for a long time and still have all the classic signs and symptoms but a bit less severe and not necessarily affected by Intermittent Fasting.
My success has been in weight loss, which has benefits of its own. After developing Type 2 Diabetes and being on the cusp for years (brief time on T3 then pushed me into Type 2apparently) I am no longer in the bracket. Dropped right out.
My conversion remains very poor indeed but not at all influenced by this way of eating that I can say I have noticed. Good quality nutrient dense food and as little rubbish as you can manage.
Thankyou for your insights atTistapple, good to hear how intermittent fasting is going for you, and great that you have had weight loss, even with poor conversion. I’m pleased you no longer have type 2 diabetes but it’s a shame you can’t take T3. I am always hungry when I wake up and so it’s pretty hard to wait until midday but I just drink water until then to fill up my tummy! I can honestly say the food I eat every day is good quality and nutrient dense with no empty calories ….. and a bit dull….. but needs must! Just have to see if I too can lose a few pounds, I only need to lose a few but that would make me very happy!
Ooh I have a good breakfast at breakfast time. I could not function without something to eat when I am ready for it. It’s important to follow your body’s signals. Dr. Myhill (I don’t get on with everything she says but I try as much as I can from her advice) I am sure she also says a protein breakfast is necessary. I know from other reading that breakfast (protein based) kicks off the immune system as well as what metabolism you have going for you, for the day. It’s vital! Waiting till lunch time to wait out your IF period is, I would say, a definite No No!
Oh I see. Id be really interested to know your hours of IF arTistapple if you don’t mind sharing that with me?
Breakfast is a moveable feast but usually around 9am. Lunch is often later than ‘lunchtime’ maybe even 2 or even 3pm, if I am having a good day and ‘getting things done’. However I am pretty tired after that and may not even be able to eat, far less produce an evening meal. I think I said my cut off for eating is a strict 6pm (as I say, if able) because I take my levo around 10pm.
On days when I am hungrier (listening to body) an evening meal will be ‘light’ or very light. My body has changed so much from when I was stuffing it with food thinking that energy came from food and unaware that I was hypothyroid and my metabolism just was not working.
That does sound a more gentle way of doing it for sure. 👍🏼
Be careful with fasting when hypothyroid: Total T3 decreases and reverse triiodothyronine (rT3) increases with fasting (21,22). During caloric restriction, T3 concentrations decrease along with a slight increase in T4 possibly as a compensatory mechanism to maintain energy stores in a setting of increased EE or decreased food intake (21,23,24).
ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articl....
Thankyou for the warning Forest Garden …. maybe in that case I’ll wait until my T3 and T4 are in the correct percentage.
Diet
Ketogenic
Why do people gain weight on levo?
