Weight Loss with Hypothyroidism – Read This Now
“My doctor told me I have hypothyroidism. So basically, weight loss is impossible for me now.” If you have ever sat in a clinic or scrolled through an online thyroid support group on weight loss with hypothyroidism, you have probably heard some version of this sentence a thousand times.
And if you are living with an under-active thyroid, then you know it is not just a number on a lab sheet.
You feel it in your bones.
You wake up exhausted after nine hours of sleep.
You feel puffy.
Your joints ache.
And the scale seems to tick upward if you so much as sniff a carb.
It is incredibly easy to feel like your body has turned into a prison. I know this firsthand because I have been diagnosed with hypothyroidism myself. I know the exact flavor of despair that comes when your doctor hands you that diagnosis. It feels like a lifetime sentence to a body you do not want. It is why so many women give up entirely, throwing their hands up and deciding that trying to lose weight is a futile battle against their own endocrine system.
But here is what the internet support groups will not tell you – A thyroid issue is an explanation but it is not a life sentence. Just like I shared in my video about losing weight with hypothyroidism, I have gone through bulking phases, cutting phases, built muscle, and maintained my health with this condition. And in this guide, we are going to talk about how you can achieve weight loss with hypothyroidism.
If you would like to watch the video I made on this exact topic, you can do so using the link below.
Weight Loss with Hypothyroidism.
Since I have lived with hypothyroidism, I figure that we should be brutally honest right out of the gate. Having an under-active thyroid does make the weight loss journey harder. After all, your thyroid hormones are the master controllers of your metabolism and when they dip, your baseline burn takes a hit.
Add in severe fatigue and chronic water retention, and it feels like you are running a marathon through mud. But there is a massive difference between a journey being harder and a journey being impossible. So, in this guide, we are moving away from the medical hopelessness and looking at the exact blueprint that you can use to get your body responding again.
But in order for us to do that, we have to understand the hurdles that we face in our journeys, what the science says, and what we can do to get out of the weight gain cycles.
Why Weight Loss With Hypothyroidism Feels Hard.
When your thyroid is under-active, it slows down your body’s cellular engine. But it is important to understand how this stops weight loss because you do not gain weight out of thin air. Instead, it happens through three very specific levers:
First, it lowers your resting metabolism slightly. Second, it causes your body to hold onto fluid, which makes the scale jump up and makes you look and feel puffy. And third, which is the biggest culprit, it causes crushing fatigue.
Think about it. When you are exhausted down to your cells, you naturally move less.
You do not fidget.
You do not take the stairs.
Your workouts lose their intensity.
And the list goes on. That invisible drop in daily movement reduces your calorie deficit far more than the actual hormone deficit does. However, when you see the scale stall, it is easy to think your fat loss has stopped because of your hypothyroidism. But often, you are just looking at a combination of low daily movement and stubborn water weight.
What Does Science Prove?
I love research and in all my hours of browsing the latest on weight loss with hypothyroidism, I have uncovered quite interesting details. And to sum it all up, here is the truth that diet culture hides behind expensive thyroid-boosting supplements:
Various clinical studies consistently show that women with hypothyroidism can successfully lose body fat. Your body still obeys the laws of thermodynamics. Having hypothyroidism does not mean that your body cannot burn fat for fuel.
It just means that you face more hurdles and are likely operating with a slightly lower calorie budget compared to people who do not have an under-active thyroid. And just like I explained in this guide, even after accounting for conditions such as hypothyroidism, our metabolic rates are not all that different.
Personally, I managed to successfully navigate my own fat loss journey without medication initially purely by radically shifting my lifestyle inputs. Many other women do it with the help of proper thyroid hormone replacement therapy which levels the playing field by bringing your numbers back to baseline.
But whether you are on medication or managing it naturally, weight loss with hypothyroidism requires a shift in strategy. You cannot treat a thyroid-compromised body with a standard, aggressive crash diet because that is the quickest way to crash your energy even further. At the same time, you cannot give up because of the obstacles you face – with some tweaks here and there, you, too, can enjoy weight loss.
How to Enjoy Weight Loss with Hypothyroidism.
If you have hypothyroidism, your body is highly sensitive to stress. That means that if you go into a massive, aggressive calorie deficit, your body perceives that as a crisis. As such, it will dial down your already sluggish metabolism to protect you, leaving you completely burned out and stuck.
To win this battle, you have to take the long road, as boring as that may seem. You need a strategy that protects your energy levels rather than draining them. That means creating a very gentle, moderate deficit. It means incorporating strategic diet breaks where you bring your food back up to maintenance to give your thyroid and metabolic hormones a breathing room signal.
And most importantly, it means prioritizing muscle mass through resistance training to force your baseline metabolism to stay elevated. So, how exactly do you do that?
Well, we rely on the same principles that I teach in my Better in 90 program, which are as follows:
Take the Slow, Gentle Deficit.
Do not drop your aggressively. Instead, aim for a modest deficit that allows you to maintain your energy. If you starve the body, your thyroid symptoms will get worse, further delaying your weight loss. Give your body a safety signal by pacing yourself with a slight to moderate calorie deficit.
Lean on Medical Support.
There is no need to embark on weight loss with hypothyroidism while completely un-medicated. If your body genuinely needs support, you should work with an endocrinologist to get your lab numbers stable. Getting your thyroid hormone levels into the optimal range fixes the biological drag, making your efforts match your results.
Manage Your Stress Levels.
High stress and poor sleep dump cortisol into your system, which actively hinders thyroid function and worsens water retention. Sleep and stress management are not optional for you, or anyone for that matter. Instead, they are non-negotiable medical requirements for your fat loss.
Get Better in 90.
The good news is that your thyroid diagnosis is a chapter in your story but it is not the ending. In fact, once you stop pushing your body with extreme diets and start supporting its recovery, it will cooperate.
If you would like to learn more about how you can lose weight with hypothyroidism and keep it off, I invite you to check out my Better in 90 program which was designed to help women lose weight and keep it off using sustainable approaches.
Read More.
- https://ojs.zu.edu.pk/pjmd/article/view/4224
- https://impactfactor.org/PDF/IJCPR/17/IJCPR,Vol17,Issue3,Article257.pdf
- https://www.btf-thyroid.org/thyroid-and-weight-the-science
107 WEIGHT LOSS LIES THAT KEEP WOMEN STUCK
Did you know that the average woman spends 17 to 21 years of her life on a diet?
And it makes sense. After all, weight loss advice is all over the place. One plan tells you to quit carbs, and the other tells you that they are safe till 6 pm. It is all very confusing, and millions of women find themselves stuck yo-yo dieting, forever frustrated by their never-ending weight loss journeys.
This book is different.
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Start trusting yourself again to make the healthy choice, and
Embrace a fulfilling journey to a healthier you.
Written by Daisy Njeri, a health and wellness coach who spent years trapped in yo-yo dieting before finally finding her way out, this book is not only empathetic but also empowering.
