Can someone help me lose weight? (Thyroid)

I have Hashimoto’s and can tell you from personal experience that calories in, calories out is not always the case when hypothyroidism is involved. Sometimes I have long plateaus and when that happens I have to adjust something because it is an indicator that my body has adjusted to that as my new norm—changing either my calorie intake amount (slightly up or down), the foods I am eating, or the amount of exericise usually will shake it up enough to allow weight to come off. Have you looked into Hashimoto/hypothyroid diets? There are certain foods that you should avoid. Another idea would be to consider consulting with a nutritionist and your endocrinologist to figure out what you might need with your thyroid levels. Also, as a side note—having adjusted thyroid levels within the “normal” range (TSH, T3, and T4) doesn’t make it easier to lose weight. I still experience many of the side effects of hypothyroidism on synthroid. Despite being harder to lose weight, you can do it!

I had my thyroid removed in 2014 and had been hypo thyroid years before that. And I am currently sitting at 137 lbs gone, so dont' think its impossible to lose weight when hypothyroid.

Anne has most excellent advice, especially in that thread she linked. There isn't a special diet that can rev your metabolism, there isn't foods to avoid because they reduce your metabolism; the effect of hypothyroid on metabolism is actually not that big at all. Its not that being hypothyroid changes your metabolism that much; its a lot of the time being hypothyroid affects your activity levels and cravings for food - your calories in increases because of cravings and being hungry while your calories out drop because being hypothyroid makes you tired which results in moving less.

I've lost my weight with no special conditions placed on me other than sticking to a reasonable deficit. What I have found for me personally is that my thyroid levels, in addition to affecting how much energy I feel, also seems to control that willpower switch in my brain that controls how well I can stick to my deficit. When my TSH levels are high, I have a very difficult time sticking to my deficit because the drive to eat is killing me. It took a long time for me to catch onto this, though - for the longest time, I couldn't figure out what was flipping that switch on and off. I plateaued all of 2018 and half of 2019 and couldn't understand why I was unable to stick to my deficit and was slowly regaining again. What had been working before suddenly wasn't working. Then I got bloodwork done and found that my TSH had risen to 8, which is badly hypothyroid. My endocrinologist increased my meds and as my TSH dropped, I started finding myself being able to stick to my deficit much easier.

Right now, I'm technically down in the hyperthyroid range - I'm actually below 1 - and for me personally, I think that is the sweet spot I need on how I feel. That's not saying that is the level everyone should be; if you read Anne's link you'll see that especially when ti comes to thyroid levels, everyone is different on the value they need to feel their best; it took a very long time before I came near that level for myself.


In your case, my thoughts would be to evaluate your settings in light of the fact that you are trying to get to the right levels for you. Back off on how aggressively you are pursuing this and work on consistency while getting those levels under control; 1 lb/wk will get you there just as well as 2 lbs/wk; it just may be a little slower. But if setting yourself to 1 lb/wk helps keep you from binging or feeling starved or miserable and you can sustain that loss rate, isn't it better than trying to lose it quickly, getting burned out, then quitting?

Cheat Meals beget Cheat Days turning into Cheat Months resulting in another permission slip to overshoot the pot. Lo and behold, giant month hunks of cheating time passes by and we're right back where we started.

Other members with thyroid issues have found success by staying the course. The food scale is one of the secret keys and tickets to releasing weight. Edge your way down slowly. Let the food scale be your friend because it will always tell you the truth. Buy a portable one for your work and one for home. Moderate portions of the foods you actually enjoy. Just set your boundaries and with every passing day you will absolutely get there.

What others have said: food won't reverse it, the effect on metabolism is small. What's important is that your medication is spot on so that you feel normal and don't feel hungry or tired all the time. If this is not the case speak to your gp. There's no reason to feel miserable with this condition.