Do You Have Hypothyroidism and Excess Weight? This is The Way To Lose It

Health

Hypothyroidism or an underactive thyroid gland is a condition that has many health repercussions. Unfortunately it’s a very common condition that affects millions of people worldwide and is known to be accompanied with an inability to lose weight. If you’ve noticed that you have a difficulty losing weight or you’re gaining weight uncontrollably you might have an underactive thyroid gland.

The prescribed course of treatment for this condition is taking drugs to stimulate the function of the thyroid but in many cases even these drugs can’t help you shed the extra pounds you’ve gained as a result of your condition. This can be very frustrating, especially if you’re trying your best and the results are still absent. What can you do in such a situation?

The first thing you need to do is understand why hypothyroidism makes it difficult for people to lose weight and from there you can address the issue much better.

PEOPLE WITH AN UNDERACTIVE THYROID GLAND NEED TO UNDERSTAND THE FOLLOWING 5 FACTORS THAT MAKE IT DIFFICULT FOR THEM TO LOSE WEIGHT:

Poor thyroid treatment
T3 need
a change in the metabolism
Leptin and insulin resistance
Stress caused brain chemistry changes

Now we’ll go over every one of these factors and explain how you can deal with each one.

POOR THYROID TREATMENT

The most common goal for almost every endocrinologist when treating hypothyroidism is to restore the TSH levels back to normal, within the TSH reference range, and when they achieve this they consider that the thyroid function is restored. However, many studies have shown that if the patient’s TSH levels are at the upper line of the reference range this leads to weight gain, higher BMI index and higher risk of obesity. Having this in mind, many doctors now try to maintain the TSH level somewhere in the middle or lower, to prevent weight gain.

T3 NEED

Hypothyroidism is usually treated with a synthetic form of the T4 hormone, levothyroxine. However, there have been some studies that suggest some patients that have a unique combination of factors, like nutritional deficiencies or some genetic diseases have a bigger need of the T3 hormone. Under these circumstances, these patients have shown better results and a significant weight loss when treated with a combination of T4 and T3 drugs.

Change in the metabolism

Our metabolism is a marvel of nature, it’s designed to ensure we don’t die of starvation and makes sure we keep our energy within what’s known as a reference point, similar to our body temperature. That’s why if you start ingesting more calories than usual or your metabolic function is slowed down you’ll most certainly gain a few pounds. But if the metabolic function runs smoothly it will be accelerated to burn the extra calories and your body weight will be back to normal.

However, when suffering from hypothyroidism your metabolism is slower and when you take more calories your body sets a new reference point and tries to maintain it. And that’s where all the weight gain problems start.

Brain chemistry changes

Everything in our body is linked to our brain and its chemistry. Consequently, things like feeling hungry, feeling full, fat storing and fat burning are also very much connected to your brain chemistry and the thousands of neurotransmitters and hormones. We have neurotransmitters that tell us we’re hungry and what to eat and those that tell us that we’ve had enough and we shouldn’t eat any more. Then we have hormones that instruct our body when to burn fat and when to store in in our cells, so when all of this is disrupted we start to notice appetite changes and weight gain.

Source: organicsolutionsportal