how to lose weight with hypothyroidism naturally: 6 steps
How can I lose weight fast with hypothyroidism? The first and foremost advice from endocrinologists regarding weight loss methods for a condition such as hypothyroidism is that no diet is a temporary measure.
A diet only helps you lose weight and maintain the result if it is perceived as a permanent diet, a habit, a discipline for yourself, and a benefit to the body.
Of course, maintaining a healthy diet is not always easy outside of hypothyroidism, and with this diagnosis, restoring metabolic balance is considerably more difficult.
Hypothyroidism impairs the metabolism of almost every substance in the body
- Fats (lipids)
- Proteins
- Carbohydrates
- Minerals
- Water-salt, etc.
Slow and incomplete digestion and recycling of substrates into energy and building materials for the body are one of the main factors that prevent weight loss and cause abnormal weight gain.
Thyroid weight correction in the hypothyroid phase is done exclusively within the medical parameters of the height-to-weight ratio. This BMI (body mass index) is calculated based on many parameters.
The standard calculation is quite simple and necessary to identify the risk of obesity but does not take into account many critical individual parameters.
More complex formulas are based on information about the patient's age, sex, muscle mass, and other indicators.
For hypothyroidism, doctors often recommend losing weight, but only within the normal weight/height/age ratio limits.
If the result of the formula corresponds to the average index, it is not worth pursuing some conventional ideal of body proportions, since both underweight and overweight, equally impair the quality of metabolism, affecting the state of health.
In both cases, the endocrine system is affected, and the reverse of hypothyroidism - thyroid hyperfunction - can develop.
- Why it is difficult to lose weight in hypothyroidism
- Thyroid. medications and weight loss.
- Thyroid hormones.
- Vitamins for weight loss if hypothyroidism.
- Diet for hypothyroidism.
- Weight loss is hypothyroidism during pregnancy.
Why it is difficult to lose weight in hypothyroidism
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Weight Loss Tips for Hypothyroidism
Losing Weight With an Underactive Thyroid In this dysfunction, regardless of the cause, the thyroid ceases to produce the necessary amount of hormones that affect metabolic processes, and in the most severe forms of the disease affects.
The function of the pituitary gland produces the hormone TSH (thyroid stimulating hormone). It controls the thyroid gland by regulating the production and synthesis of thyroxine (T4) and triiodothyronine (T3), the thyroid hormones.
In turn, it is these thyroid hormones that perform a large number of important functions in the body:
- Actively participates in protein synthesis, controlling its synthesis and recycling.
- Influences the rate of breakdown of fatty compounds from food.
- Reduce blood cholesterol (LDL, or low-density lipoprotein) levels.
- Accelerate the breakdown of glycogen (material for glucose production, the body's "reserve" carbohydrates).
- Participate in water-electrolyte metabolism.
- Influences the growth of organ tissues, and bone formation.
- Helps complete delivery of nutrients and oxygen to body cells.
It is the lack of thyroid hormones in hypothyroidism, the imbalance of all these metabolic functions in general, and prevents the maintenance of healthy proportions of weight and growth.
Restore the quality of metabolism help synthetic analogs of thyroid hormones, taking these drugs the necessary amount of thyroxine and triiodothyronine in the body.
Sufficient concentrations of thyroid hormones, combined with a return to a healthy diet and regimen, have a direct impact on weight loss in hypothyroidism.
Thyroid medication and weight loss
Does Treatment of hypothyroidism Lead to Weight?
Note that any form of hypothyroidism requires a visit to an endocrinologist, accurate diagnosis, and laboratory tests.
Only then can the specialist determine the stage of the disease and choose a treatment appropriate to the symptoms. Without knowing your exact hormone levels, you may only be worsening your health.
Excess thyroid substances can cause extremely undesirable and dangerous conditions.
Does Treatment of hypothyroidism Lead to Weight Loss?
- Arrhythmia and tachycardia,
- blood pressure.
- swings.
- Tremors, etc
If the diagnosis is confirmed and weight correction is necessary, weight loss can be initiated only after the compensatory stage of hypothyroidism has been reached or at least as close as possible to healthy hormone concentrations.
If the thyroid has been removed (in whole or in part), weight loss should also be initiated after replacement therapy and the first satisfactory results of synthetic analog absorption.
With hypothyroidism in any form, it is not advisable to lose excess weight quickly, as the body does not need the extra effort associated with restructuring metabolic processes.
Additionally, aesthetic factors should be taken into mind.
The properties of the skin allow you to lose weight and maintain its elasticity in the range of 4-5 kg per month. At a faster rate, the quality of the skin is negatively affected, and the desire to lose weight quickly always results in stretch marks, sagging, and other unwanted problems.
Hormones, vitamin and mineral supplements, and a complete review of the diet, which should then be adhered to permanently and not just as a temporary measure, can help you lose weight with hypothyroidism.
Thyroid hormones
Hormone: What It Is & Function
The choice of medication depends on the form of the disease and its stage. The mainstay of treatment of hypothyroidism, including clinical and complicated forms, is the hormone thyroxine, a synthetic analog of the thyroid's own production.
All names' effects are identical:
- Reconstitution of the thyroid's own T4 hormone.
- Which is produced in insufficient quantities.
Only levothyroxine sodium is sold in pharmacies under the following names:
- Levothyroxine.
- L-thyroxine.
- Thyrox-4.
- Euthyrox (sometimes called Jutirox).
- L-Tyrox.
- Bagotirox.
How and when to take levothyroxine
Dosage and strength
An important player in the metabolism of proteins, carbohydrates, and fats, the formation of cellular immunity, and has a positive effect on muscle tone, including smooth muscle (the walls of internal organs, including the thyroid).
One of the regulators of the central nervous system and cardiovascular exercise benefits. It is prescribed for thyroxine deficiency from birth and is approved during pregnancy and lactation, provided that the doctor's dosage is observed.
How Levothyroxine Sodium Works
How to take levothyroxine
Euthyrox offers maximum convenience in choosing the amount consumed;
- It is available in 9 different dosage variants from 25 to 150 mcg.
- In addition to mono preparations, combinations of two forms of the hormone, thyroxine, and triiodothyronine, may be prescribed for significant and/or irreversible thyroid disorders.
- The use of such formulations is not recommended unless necessary, these funds are effective in severe dysfunction - when the thyroid gland or one of its lobes has been removed, after aggressive treatment with radioactive iodine.
- Chemotherapy medications (in the treatment of cancer).
Combination formulations of levothyroxine (T4), liothyronine (T3), and/or potassium iodide are available in pharmacies as Thyreotome and Novothiral;
- liothyronine exists separately under the name Thriiodothyronine (50 and 100 mcg dosage). Iodine-enhanced formulations are Thyreocomb, Iodocomb, and Iodothyrox.
- There is a popular, but unjustified and clinically unproven, belief that weight loss processes outside of any thyroid pathology can be accelerated by taking thyroxine and/or triiodothyronine products.
This belief is common among all those who are engaged in sports:
Professionally or in the gym to maintain physical fitness. Alas, taking additional hormones produced by the thyroid gland does not produce sustainable results.
Metabolic processes by synthetic hormones
What is the role of hormones in the metabolic process?
Hyperstimulation of metabolic processes by synthetic hormones from the thyroid gland, accompanied by a sufficient volume of the organ's own production, has only a temporary effect - for the duration of supplementation.
Marked results of weight correction in the absence of hypothyroidism and sufficient own production of the endocrine gland can be achieved only with the intake of high doses.
At low concentrations, neither thyroxine nor triiodothyronine has a significant effect on the rate of metabolic processes and has no anabolic or catabolic effect.
Excessive dosages always have extremely negative effects, especially on the thyroid and pituitary gland, since liothyronine suppresses thyroid hormone production (TSH).
Thyroid hormone production
This is the main regulator that commands the thyroid gland to increase or decrease thyroid hormone production. The sudden withdrawal of hormones is a big stress on the body.
Possible consequences are allergies, increased swelling, lipid disorders (fat metabolism), gastrointestinal disorders, thyroid enlargement, euthyroid goiter, hyperthyroidism, and neoplasms, including malignant forms of tumors (cancer).
Self-treatment is highly undesirable, and only a specialist should examine the thyroid gland and its function.
At the same time, taking hormones without diagnosed hypothyroidism will help to lose weight only in rare cases, but not more than 5-7 kg per month, which is guaranteed to return after the cancellation of the drug.
When it comes to the desire and/or need to lose weight in hypothyroidism, there is an equally popular misconception among patients that increasing doses of hormones will help them shed excess weight faster.
This is inconsistent with the clinical results of professional treatment increasing the number of hormones taken only leads to an overproduction of hormones produced by the endocrine gland.
The primary goal of therapy in hypothyroidism is to normalize the body's hormone production and to achieve a restoration of the natural volume of hormones in the body.
This normalizes the synthesis, metabolism, and digestibility of substances, and restores the body's ability to independently process incoming substances into energy and useful compounds.
Weight loss correction with compensated hypothyroidism.
Lean Body Changes After Hypothyroidism is Corrected.
Weight correction with compensated hypothyroidism will take less time, and the efforts made will be adequately effective. The main purpose of therapy in hypothyroidism is to normalize the body's own production of hormones and restore their natural volume in the body.
What vitamins should not be taken with hypothyroidism?
What vitamin deficiency is associated with hypothyroidism?
Vitamins and micronutrients for weight loss in hypothyroidism are not enough to just stimulate the thyroid to produce thyroxine and triiodothyronine, it is also necessary to achieve high uptake of these hormones and delivery of products to the cells.
- This is the main reason for recommending vitamins and micronutrients as support for a basic treatment plan for hypothyroidism and concomitant weight correction.
- You should not disregard your doctor's advice and make sure to add vitamin and mineral complexes to your daily treatment plan
- This is especially important in the case of replacement therapy when constant hormone intake is required due to surgical procedures or after aggressive treatment.
- Vitamin-mineral complexes should be taken on a certain schedule, with breaks between courses, and periodic changes in composition are also welcome.
- Choosing vitamins for hypothyroidism is also quite convenient since treatment standards require systematic blood tests for levels of various substances.
- Only certain micronutrients, vitamins, and amino acids are prioritized, and it's worth paying attention to them when choosing a complex.
Micronutrients
Micronutrients for plants
- Iron - promotes the acquisition and absorption of organic iodine from food.
- Zinc - accelerates the conversion of thyroxine into triiodothyronine in the active form, it is necessary for the prevention of hypothyroidism.
- Iodine - stimulates the production of T3 and T4, it is appointed only in the background of iodine deficiency forms of the disease.
- Copper - controls the production of thyroxine, "signaling" the thyroid of its insufficiency at the first symptoms and encourages the body to produce the hormone.
- Amino Acids
- Tyrosine - is an essential amino acid in the body's self-regulatory processes, it is from it forms the basis for future hormones T3 and T4, the prevention of hypothyroidism.
- Omega-3 - a complex of useful fatty acids, a conductor of triiodothyronine (T3) to the cells of the body, reduces the level of low-density lipoproteins ("bad" cholesterol), an antioxidant.
What are vitamins and their types?
Vitamins
- Group B - a kind of courier for iodine, they ensure its delivery to thyroid tissues.
- A and D - contribute to the conversion of thyroxine to triiodothyronine, delivering it to the body's cells.
- E - improves the condition of the organ tissue, and reduces the risk of relapse in compensated hypothyroidism.
- C - a major player in the body's complete transport system, ensures that no compounds, including hormones, are lost in the delivery of any compound to cells.
Which vitamin is good for hypothyroidism?
Vitamin complexes for hypothyroidism
Examples of Vitamin complexes for hypothyroidism are Doppler Activ Iodine plus Iron, Doppelgerz Activ A to Zn, Complicit-Selenium, Astrum Thyroid Aid, Alpha D3, Centrum A to Zn, Fish Oil, Selenium Active, Complicit Multivitamins+Iodine.
Before taking iodine-containing complexes, you should consult a specialist who is monitoring your hypothyroidism - in some cases, taking additional iodine can only worsen the quality of treatment.
Diet for hypothyroidism
It cannot be argued that a special diet is necessary for insufficient hormone production - correction of the diet plan in any case, without a diagnosed disease or as part of the treatment of hypothyroidism focuses on the reduction or elimination of certain foods.
The following foods should be avoided or greatly reduced if you want to lose weight and at the same time not do harm to your body.
Carbohydrates
So-called "fast" carbohydrates are those that are easily broken down and almost instantly absorbed by the body, but do not provide enough nutrients and only reduce hunger for a short time.
What to include in a dietary menu with hypothyroidism.
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Diet to Follow for Hypothyroidism What to Eat and What to Avoid
Protein - is preferred for patients with insufficient hormone production. A complete protein (contains all amino acids) - a food of animal origin.
Eggs, chicken, turkey, lean pork, beef, milk and dairy products, lean fish (for example, humpback or turbot), some types of cheese, and even low-fat.
Processed protein products made from meat with spices should be avoided: canned foods, sausages, smoked, dried, and salted foods.
Incomplete protein (only part of the amino acids are present) - plant foods usually contain a high percentage of slow-processing carbohydrates (beneficial to the body).
Beans, corn, brown rice, oats, peanuts, wheat, buckwheat, peas, and rye products.Vegetables - kohlrabi sprouts, broccoli, asparagus, artichokes, green peas, spinach, cucumbers, etc.
Fruits, nuts, and mushrooms should be added to the diet with caution, due to their high fat or sugar content.
In addition, foods containing iodine should not be abused, unless hypothyroidism is in the form of iodine deficiency.
Food fractions food groups
A fractionated diet
Up to 6-7 small meals a day - is most effective with hypothyroidism. Foods that contain carbohydrates are only.
Helpful in the morning
- In the afternoon and evening, you should focus on fiber and protein.
- A drastic reduction in total calories is undesirable since the lack of nutrients will be perceived by the body as stress and a signal to restructure metabolic processes.
- For thyroid disease, this should be avoided; the goal of treatment is to compensate for the pathology.
High physical activity is not recommended
Can too much physical activity be harmful?
High physical activity is not recommended, especially during the usual morning routine, when the body must consume its reserves of glycogen - this is how you get weight loss outside the disease.
In the presence of abnormalities in the endocrine system, the depletion of glycogen is undesirable, since the compound is the basis of hormone production.
Exercise and its intensity should be discussed with the doctor, especially in the case of complicated hypothyroidism patients with cardiovascular abnormalities, on a background of severe edema.
Why it is difficult to lose weight in hypothyroidism
Losing weight is hypothyroidism during pregnancy
Weight gain and thyroid tests during pregnancy Cancellation of synthetic hormones during maternity are not necessary, the drugs do not have a toxic effect, the compounds do not penetrate the placenta, and do not harm the baby.
On the contrary, the deficiency of thyroxine and triiodothyronine can cause irreparable damage to the fetus:
- With insufficient and irreversible development of the respiratory and central nervous systems, there is a threat of miscarriage, and fetal death is possible.
- The need to get rid of excess weight is not always valuable for the body of the expectant mother and the baby.
- During pregnancy, a weight gain of up to 12-15 kg, depending on the term, is the absolute norm and does not require any correction.
In addition, excess weight is affected by many factors that are not related to the increase in body fat:
- The uterus increases in size - about 1.5 kg.
- The placenta and amniotic fluid grow - together for up to 2-3 kg.
- Breasts enlarge - up to 40-50% of the original volume.
- Inevitably, the swelling of tissues increases - up to 3-4 liters.
- The fetus itself grows - up to 3-4 kg.
If, after excluding these factors, the calculation of the proportions of weight and height is unsatisfactory and out of the norm, you can discuss.
The possibilities of correction with your doctor, especially if the obvious excesses have a negative impact on the cardiovascular system (high cholesterol, atherosclerotic plaques, etc.).
Weight reductions should be extremely careful, gentle, and only with compensated or well-controlled hypothyroidism.
In other situations, you should wait until the birth of the child, in some cases the cessation of breastfeeding, and only after the body has completed the hormonal restructuring, begin to lose weight.
If you are pregnant, you should focus on how to stop weight gain beyond medical advice. In the process of carrying a baby, it is possible and highly recommended to review eating habits.
How weight gain can be stopped by excluding foods
Can You Lose Weight on an Elimination Diet?
To some extent, inappropriate weight gain can be stopped by excluding foods that do not have priority value for the body, such as "fast" carbohydrates.
In any situation, it is worth discussing all aspects of weight management with the pregnancy specialist.
- Refined sugar and oil, starchy foods, and all convenience foods can always be replaced, for example, by sweet potatoes, vegetable fiber, brown rice, and whole wheat bread.
- In addition to proper digestion by the body, such products have a good effect on intestinal peristalsis and normalize stool, which in turn indirectly, but still affects weight loss.
- Foods rich in protein are great for stimulating metabolism and are one of the sources of materials for the production of hormones.
- Protein food has practically no carbohydrates, which makes weight correction easier.
It is the best building material for muscle and connective tissue, and protein products have a positive effect on the digestive system.
Practical advantages - they are quick and easy to prepare, combine well with fats, and are rich in useful trace elements.
Conclusion
In addition, these foods contain a lot of tyrosine and selenium, which are essential in cases of hypothyroidism.
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