can you lose weight if you have thyroid problems?

Sure.

Normally people with hypo -which I have- put random excuses. The truth is that, when you start taking meds and find the right dosage, you are *normal*, this means: you have the adequate amount of levothyroxine (which substitutes thyroxine) inside your body, thus, your thyroid works normally. Everyone with any problem with their thyroid, has it treated and, has it treated RIGHT; has a thyroid that functions correctly. That means, there's no reason to mantain that losing weight is more difficult, or -even less- impossible. If you are not taking the right amount of levothyroxine of course it may be very difficult, your metabolism really slows down, and most of us has gained quite a bit of weight because of that. It's important also to consider that, "directly", hypothyridism just put a few pounds on your body; when you gain a lot of weight is because hypo produces a HUGE metabolism slown down. You consume a lot less calories daily (up to 80% less) so even if you are not eating much, of course you are going to gain a lot of weight. But even in that state, if you ate below the calories your metabolism uses, you'd lose weight - just happens it probably would be too little calories.

In any case the basic line is that, yes, you can lose weight having thyroid problems, it may be harder - if your metabolism is a bit slower compared to others (a thing that happens even in people without thyroid problems, I personally think this is kind of an individual matter, but even it we accept that people with thyroid problems has a slower metabolism in any way that will imply a barrier or impossibility when losing weight. About this you could argue that in a person who has to take meds to regulate their thyroid exists a problem. Your body when healthy regulates the amount of thyroxine you need everyday. It changes everyday based on your needs. We, instead, take the same amount everyday. Will this cause our thyroid to not work optimally? In theory if you take an adequate amount your thyroid won't need "more" than you are already providing, the amount of levothyroxine will cover the range of hormone needed to correctly stabilize your thyroid): if that the case, you just have to eat less and/or increase your caloric daily need by activity. But taking the meds, regulating your thyroid and such, even when little calories may be needed, they will in most cases be a sustainable and admisible amount.

I mean in no way to offend anyone who has experienced hard time when losing weight because of this, it's just that if you understand that your thyroid works normally if you have treated it, you just stop putting excuses and search, learn, and move your *kitten* to change things - it happened to me, I thought I'd never lose the weight until I started reading about metabolism, hypothyrodism, nutrition, weight loss, etc. and realized that I could - and can- do it, there's just simply no reason to not to. Without the meds you can be gaining weight, yes, but in the moment you take them your thyroid will function normally, so, everything related to it -as weight loss- will too. I spoke about hypo, but is the same with everything that can be treated: when you do so, you are regulating your thyroid (and, thus, your metabolism) so everything should work fine, and normal.

Btw, I couldn't lose weight for a lot of time until I read things about isoflavones of soy interacting with my medication. I stopped taking soy (I'm vegetarian, so I took quite a bit) and voilà, started losing 2pound/week. II won't recommend taking soy to anyone with thyroid problems.