How do you lose weight if you have thyroid problems?  It can be tricky right?  You’ve probably been to your doctor or endocrinologist and they simply told you, “Mary it’s calories in verses calories out.”  Yet you eat like a pigeon and workout like Arnold Schwarzenegger and the weight is slow to come off.  Worse yet, you have to maintain your strict diet and disciplined workout, because the moment you even think about a donut, you put on 10 pounds.  So frustrating!  We’ll here’s the deal.

There are 6 hormones in your body that will cause you to burn fat and your thyroid gland helps to create a precursor to one of them.  A precursor is a hormone that doesn’t work well and needs to get made into a better version of itself to work optimally in your body. The name of this partially inactive, lazy precursor hormone is T4 or thyroxin.  The issue here is thyroxin doesn’t do much.  It needs to travel to the liver to be converted to the super fat burner T3–Triiodothyronine.  But what if your liver is a toxic mess from all the “not so great things” that you did in your past.  You know?

The junk food, the occasional drinks, the desserts, medications, antibiotics, steroids and really just living in our toxic millennial world is enough to stress the liver.  Well, if the liver is stressed it may have trouble converting the fairly inactive T4 to it’s super fat burning counterpart hormone T3.  In addition, your liver helps to control other hormones that have a huge impact on our weight such as, cortisol and estrogen.  Interestingly enough, both cortisol and estrogen can greatly interfere with thyroid function and weight loss.

Accordingly, part of any thyroid weight loss program should be a holistic investigation into the liver and I don’t mean get your liver enzymes checked.  There have been studies indicating that even in some cases of liver cirrhosis the liver enzymes will be normal.  Organic acid testing, stool testing or biofeedback reactivity tests are the ones that I like to gain a better understanding of the liver.  In addition, a liver enhancing eating regime could be benefical for the thyroid case.  You can watch the below video for more information about the liver and T4-T3 conversions problems.

Continue reading below to learn more about the amount of calories you need per day and what type of calories you need to intake for the thyroid body.

Here at the basics!

1. The thyroid gland is operating sluggishly so the body’s fat burning is also operating sluggishly.  We can’t then load the thyroid body up with calories.  Later on in the person’s program they can increase their calories, however, initially, we need a lower calorie consumption.
   1. Here’s how to figure out total calorie intake for the first 30 days.  Take your body weight and multiple by 7.5.  Then take your body weight and multiply by 9. (For men it’s 8 and 9.5) Your total daily calories should land somewhere between the 7.5 and 9 calculation.  There are many technical things that we do in the office to help determine exactly what is right for you.  For example, the average person with thyroid problems will be on 4 different eating programs throughout their time in the clinic.  Each eating program is designed to help support their body during a phase of weight loss and any hormone healing that the body may create.
   2. Here’s how to figure out breakdown of macronutrients: carbs, proteins and fats.  The thyroid hormone controls the size and number of all the mitochondria in the body.  Every cell has a mitochondria and these little powerhouses help to burn fat and make energy.  However, in the thyroid body if you put too much sugar in the diet you’ll jam up the mitochondria and cause weight gain.  So here’s the breakdown: 40% protein, 40% fat and 20% carbs.  However, about 1/2 of the carbs should be from non-goitrogenic vegetables.  Too many cruciferous aka, goitrogenic vegetables can be problematic for the thyroid body and worsen this condition.   There are definite exceptions to this rule but that is determined on a case by case basis when a persons customized thyroid weight loss program is put together.  I cover more about the thyroid eating program in the below video.
2. How about exercise.  Here’s what I’ve found from my 20+ years of experience.  Exercise only makes up for about 20% of the weight loss effect in the thyroid case.  Furthermore, many thyroid cases also have unknown adrenal issues.  If you exercise too intensely with adrenal issues it’s going to be an even bigger struggle losing weight and could possibly make you gain weight.  That’s right!  The wrong type of exercise with adrenal issues can cause a person to actually gain weight.  Crazy I know!
   1.  Providing that there are no adrenal issues present then intense exercise is best for the thyroid.  If possible, getting in a brisk morning walk on an empty stomach is great.  If it’s warm enough let the sun hit your skin and breath deeply.  The sunlight hitting your skin actually stimulates your metabolism and wakes up your thyroid and adrenal glands, as well as, suppresses melatonin–the sleep hormone.  Please do not start or stop any nutritional supplements, medications or exercise programs with out the approval from your licensed medical doctor.
3. Creating A Customized Program. 
   1. Filling out the Free Online Weight Loss & Health Evaluation (takes 2 minutes-used for more difficult weight loss cases that have tried a lot) or Thyroid Cause Quiz (takes 2 minutes-used for moderate to easy weight loss cases) is typically the first step for anyone that is interested in having us create a customized weight loss and health program.  The above online evaluations are great tools that help us understand the possibly underlying cause to thyroid problems and weight gain.
   2. Next we typically call a person to set up a Free Phone or In-Office Consultation to review the results of your online evaluation and explain more about how we can help.

If you are interested in having us help you lose weight and get healthy then please start by filling out our Free Online Weight Loss & Health Evaluation  or Thyroid Cause Quiz and we’ll contact you ASAP to review your results.

Currently we are having many Start The Year Off Healthy Specials to help make care even more affordable.  So if you are interested now is the time to contact us!

Please feel free to call us directly at (770)304-1500 to make an appointment.  Our call center is always open until midnight.

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