Having an underactive thyroid with hypothyroidism can also lead to weight problems. This condition affects your metabolism by slowing it down and reducing your energy level, two things that can make it a lot of harder to lose weight. However, while it is a little more difficult, it is not impossible.
Tips For Losing Weight With An Underactive Thyroid
Get More Exercise
One of the best things you can do for yourself when you have hypothyroidism and want to manage your weight is to get moving. The more calories you burn, the more weight you are going to lose. One of the biggest problems with having an underactive thyroid is that your metabolism moves at a snail’s pace. This makes it to where it is hard to burn off the food you eat. This means you have to work harder to burn those calories, which requires a combination of cardio and weight lifting workouts. Get your body moving and try to exercise at least a few days a week.
Follow a Healthy, Well-Balanced Diet
You also want to decrease the bad foods and make sure the calories you eat are all from nutritious food sources. Look up a list of the foods you should have when you have hypothyroidism as your grocery list. Try to stick to these foods, or make a list with healthy meals that contain a lot of lean protein, fruits, and veggies. You can have whole grains as well, but keep them minimal as gluten isn’t recommended either. Instead of rice, try switching to quinoa since it is gluten-free.
For more help with this, get my FREE “Eat Right for Your Thyroid Crash Course” download here. I provide you with 5 days of recipes, meal plans, and a guide to help you reverse your thyroid symptoms.
Drink as Much Water as You Can
To get the food moving better through your system and avoid dehydration, you can increase your water intake. Instead of just aiming for 8 glasses of water a day, use your body weight as a way to determine how much you need. Try to drink half your body weight in ounces of water each day. If you weigh 200 pounds, drink 100 ounces of water. If you weigh 150 pounds, 75 ounces of water a day should suffice.
Consult Your Doctor For Dietary Tips
Your doctor can tell you exactly how much you should eat to get a proper amount of nutritious, but also to not overdo it on the fat and calories. This is an important balance to find out since it helps you to avoid malnutrition, but lets you reduce your calorie intake as a result of the slower metabolism.
If you are having difficulty losing weight, I recommend you get your leptin checked. Leptin is a hormone that controls fat metabolism. If your leptin is above 12 you will commonly see low T3 (the most metabolically active thyroid hormone) and elevated reverse T3. This is not good for those trying to lose weight. The thyroid medication Synthroid (Levothyroxine) is aT4 medication and should be used with some level of caution when high leptin levels are seen. The take away from this thyroid connection is the fact that reverse T3 means T4 is not being effectively converted into the metabolic workhorse hormone, T3. Read more about leptin and thyroid conditions here.
For a full thyroid and leptin workup, I recommend consulting with a Functional Medicine practitioner, such as, myself. We keep up with the latest research and use Functional Medicine laboratories, which help to get to the root cause of the problems. I offer a For 30-Minute Thyroid Strategy session. You can book that here.
Remember to download my FREE “Eat Right for Your Thyroid Crash Course” here. I provide you with 5 days of recipes, meal plans, and a guide to help you reverse your thyroid symptoms. You can join my free Facebook group, where I help answer all of your questions related to diet and thyroid issues.
