Hypothyroidism and losing weight: they aren't mutually exclusive. Learn more.
If you are like me, you’ve probably thought that hypothyroidism and losing weight were indeed mutually exclusive things. I’m here to tell you that this is not true, and in fact that you can be losing weight with hypothyroidism. I’m living proof: I’ve recently lost 32 inches and 22 pounds (since June 1st of this year) and I have hypothyroidism. Having hypothyroidism and losing weight isn’t EASY, that’s true. It requires extra effort and some sacrifice. But if you are willing to do the work, losing weight with hypothyroidism is within your grasp. After reading this post, you’ll realize that hypothyroidism and losing weight can go hand in hand, if you practice the right diet and are supplementing (I’ll get into all of that below) and addressing your hormones. Let’s not wait any further, let’s get this hypothyroidism and losing weight discussion GOING shall we– that’s what you came here for, right?
What Most Women Don't Know About Hypothyroidism and Weight Loss.
What most women don’t know about hypothyroidism and weight loss is that (and this is strictly my opinion and my experience talking- but backed by my doctor’s experience and opinion backed by her extensive research/data)– your hypothyroidism is far LESS the reason for your inability to lose weight than you think. WAIT, WHAT? read that again. It’s not a typo. So many women think hypothyroidism and weight loss is a perpetual cycle of going nowhere and the reality I discovered is that- -it’s not the hypothyroidism situation that’s the problem. We’ve all been focusing so much on our thyroid and ignoring what we should be focusing on; INSULIN RESISTANCE. Crazy right? I remember my last functional medicine doctor saying something to me like “I don’t know if we’ll EVER be able to truly repair your thyroid….” and I was devastated…..I think that’s because we’ve all read and heard so much about hypothyroidism and that it means you can’t lose weight. So when we find out we are hypothyroid- which MOST OF US ARE– we obsess about fixing that. And we read everything about thyroid and fixing the thyroid– has this been you? Is that what drew you to this post? I get it. I was there for YEARS until this year. Or actually until last October when I hired my new doc and she said “it’s not your thyroid that’s the problem with you losing weight, it’s your insulin“.
Why Insulin Resistance is the REAL problem, not necessarily the thyroid situation.
So, please know as you read this post, I’m coming at you from my own experience– and my own experience, if you are new to this blog is this: for the past decade or so, I have been on the weight loss STRUGGLE BUS. Even though I am a fitness fanatic, love working out and even enjoy eating healthy and dieting – and even though I have constantly been on a diet for the past decade (literally nonstop) and have worked out for 6-7 days a week 1-2 hours a day- I was always 20-25 pounds overweight. A lot of people thought I was “fine” because I was just “curvy girl” but I FELT every pound. I could not lose. Even when I started seeing functional medicine docs and getting on bio-identical hormones, I’d lose 3-4 pounds but gain it back. I had a brief period in 2017 when I did the HCG diet injections where I lost a good amount of inches (not pounds) but I gained it back (my doctor explained when I met her that until I fixed my hormones, that would continue to happen– I’ll be interviewing her on my YouTube channel on these topics so stay tuned, she can explain it better than I can for sure)– I just strugggggglleeedddd!!! And last year the end of the year was the LOW POINT, I clearly had some major ESTROGEN DOMINANCE going on (see before photo below)– MY BOOBS went up a whole size and I just couldn’t fit in anything. I had to go up 2 sizes in jeans and workout pants– it was the worst feeling……BUT when I hired my current functional medicine doctor and did my first consult with her she told me I had to give her 6 more months of working on my hormones — and during that time I was laying off the hard workouts, I was in a REVERSE DIET and I was prepping for the “right” to diet again. You see, I had to take a break from dieting after all those years. But in that consult, my doctor told me my primary issue to focus on was FIXING MY INSULIN. And I later learned that when women enter into perimenopause their bodies essentially automatically become insulin resistant– so all of us should be moving in this direction as we experience hormonal imbalance that comes with aging…..
The Best Diet For Insulin Resistance and Weight Loss (and Hypothyroidism!)
I’ve told you my background. I was truly desperate to get to NORMAL. I was willing to do anything and probably at the point where I thought that nothing would work. I felt like a freak to be honest. I felt broken. I mean, here I was eating organic healthy foods all the time and working out and I was overweight. I could only wear 1/8 of the clothes in my closet. I was not comfortable naked or on a beach. I hated it. When my doctor finally told me in May of this year that I was cleared to diet again I was like SOCK IT TO ME DOC and she emailed me my macros and they were…..keto. KETO??? WTH?? Y’all. I was so not into this you have no idea. I had made fun of keto. I thought it was a joke. I thought it was the diet that people who aren’t serious about being healthy do. But the doc gave me all this data to support why it’s good for women over 40 with insulin/hormone imbalance and so I begrudgingly decided to do it. FAST FORWARD TO TODAY I am 32 inches and 22 pounds lighter. I literally do a double take in the mirror about every day. I look better now than I did in my twenties. I’m 4lbs away from my goal weight. It’s been the easiest “diet” to do– I eat a diverse selection of amazing tasting foods– my husband is NOT keto and we still enjoy cooking together and eating together without having to do ‘his and hers”. I drink alcohol. I haven’t cheated once. I don’t feel the need to “go off” this diet. It’s my lifestyle now and in fact I’m becoming a certified keto coach early in January so I can coach other women with a certification behind me. I’m so passionate about getting the word out because I TRULY BELIEVE THIS IS THE MISSING LINK FOR WOMEN AGED 40+ with hormone imbalance– because you probably have insulin issues and when you go keto– BAM– you solve that problem! EASY PEASY. All those years I spent wasting my time chasing down how to solve thyroid issues when it was all about INSULIN– funny thing is when I FIRST got my first set of bloodwork done it showed I was insulin resistant and I remember that was the one time I did research and cut out corn/potatoes gluten etc and lost 10lbs FAST……and a year or so later I added that all back in. ;-( I forgot about it. I never will again. NOT EVERY WOMAN HAS INSULIN PROBLEMS but– if you are that woman who cannot lose weight— you — I’m telling you- you’d be crazy to not consider RUNNING DOWN THIS PATH. Grab my hand, I’ll run with you and be your guide. I know this can change your life like it did mine. WHAT QUESTIONS DO YOU HAVE ABOUT INSULIN RESISTANCE AND KETO AND SUCH? HOW CAN I HELP?
But Wait, There's MORE!!
