Trying to lose weight - diet advice for underactive thyroid

[AgentMagenta]

I'm finding conflicting nutritional advice. Some websites saying to stay away from dairy and nuts, and others encouraging them! Can anyone here with an underactive thyroid tell me what foods can help and what to avoid?

I have a few stone to lose and want to get my nutrition plan as good as I can realistically adhere to.

Step one: Make a good plan
Step two: Stick to it!

So, yay or nay on dairy? I do love a fairly milky tea. Should I try seaweed? What about a good quality brown bread, should I avoid gluten or would it be good for fibre? Any advice appreciated, thank you.

The first thing you need to do is to ensure that you are optimally medicated. Without that, weight loss is going to be difficult.

Difficult isn't the word! For years, since having DC2, I could not lose it and that was bad enough but this year it's been piling on .

Test

Have you had a blood test recently? Do you know what your numbers look like?

Hm. I was really overweight and see a great endocrinologist - they simply suggested eating a very low number of calories (sub 800) or getting weight loss surgery. They never suggested cutting out certain foods and told me the thyroid level didn't make a considerable difference to weight loss/gain. Good luck

@Lovelycheese and how did you get on?

My experience is that the right level of thyroid replacement supports weight loss. I lost a stone and a half in my first three months on treatment and then another stone and a half gradually over the next two years.

@DeedIDo I'm now 10 stone lighter than I was at my heaviest.

Looking back there is no correlation between my thyroid levels and weight over the years.

Thank for replies, it can be a difficult one to manoeuvre. I wish I knew what to do. In 2019 I started 'reverse dieting' which meant slowly increasing calories. I got up to 1,600 a day and lost 10lbs over 14 weeks. But then the gyms closed due to COVID and I thought I'd better stop.

In answer to your original question, there is some significant crossover between autoimmune thyroiditis aka Hashimoto's Disease and Coeliac Disease. Even if you are not coeliac, you may find, if your hypothyroidism is autoimmune in origin, that you feel better for being gluten free.

IME... As long as my thyroid medication is doing what it should, it has made no difference in how much weight I lose/gain. Calories and levels of activity is what makes a difference

This is my experience as well.
My thyroid has made a difference in how I feel, and in my fertility, but never in my weight. I’ve lost significant amounts while medicated properly and while completely out of control on no medication, and in both situations it was down to calories eaten.
My endocrinologist did mention the Hashimoto’s/Coeliac link but I don’t find gluten makes that much of an impact on how I feel, either.

Thanks for advice. It seems like different things suit different people. I mean, for people going low carb helps and for others it makes no difference.

If you are being treated properly then it is no different to someone with normal thyroid function.

This. With bells on.

Trying to diet or exercise when your thyroid is not optimally medicated will make you feel more unwell and lower your metabolism further as both dieting and exercise decrease thyroid hormone.

Until then you should try to eat normally (but not too much) and gentle exercise such as walking or swimming only.

Your thyroid also needs carbs to function so don't go low carb - I made myself very very unwell doing that before I knew better!

I would also be cautious about intermittent fasting.

If you are optimally medicated then eating healthily and moderate exercise should help the weight come off. Careful of overdoing it as it lowers thyroid hormone as mentioned above and can have the opposite effect so I'd build up slowly and monitor how you feel.

I wouldn't recommend very low calorie for anyone - my friend gave herself gallstones doing that.

I have hashimotos and the only diet that works for me is very low carb. I follow the "keto clean eating UK community" group on FB and get a lot of good advice from there

I would also be cautious about intermittent fasting

Fully agree with this. Fasting puts a Lot of strain on your already wrecked thyroid. You have to be careful!

I have Hashimotos and various other autoimmune things like eczema and asthma. Also IBS which is a complicating factor. I absolutely agree with other posters that advise against IF. I found my metabolism just shut down and I felt crap. Lots of American websites extol the virtues of keto for Hashimotos but unless you find that an appealing and sustainable way to eat it won't suit you. Calorie counting works if you can cope with the tedium. I feel better if I minimise wheat and dairy. Seaweed makes no difference either way as my thyroid gland is completely kaput. It's such a slog losing weight - you have my sympathy.

Thank you for starting this thread - I'm in the middle of getting the right level of medication for Hashimoto's, plus I have very low iron levels too. I tried researching what I should be eating and avoiding (I've put on weight over the last year and can't really see why), but just found a mass of contradicting advice!

I've come to the conclusion it's essentially a very individual thing and try-and-see, which is annoying and obviously takes forever. Probably the best advice is as PP have stated - get the right level of medication and then eat sensibly. Will be keeping an eye on this thread though in case anyone does come up with a magic solution :D

OP I have X condition which is making Y difficult
All posters have you sorted testing/medication for X which once optimal should resolve Y?
OP no mention of treatment for X but desperate for solutions to Y

OP once your thyroid is properly medicated (which is a rocky road itself) you should be able to lose weight. Without even trying, never mind on faddy diets. Get onto the GP for testing and a medication review. I lost a stone in 3 months once my levels and medication were sorted.

OP starts thread
Random Poster decides the OP isn't responding properly to the thread

But have you sorted your meds op?

I'm hypothyroid and had piled on weight, as soon as I started levo it levelled off, now my results are almost optimal it's coming off.

You have a medical condition that can cause weight gain, and yet despite posting did not respond to pps who have asked how you're managing said health condition, instead repeating requests for info about dieting that will be compromised due to the thyroid issue.

Whilst your thyroid isn't being managed you're likely to be suffering from a few symptoms as well as weight gain.

All but 3 responses to your thread suggest better management of your condition could lead to weight loss (and one of those was on the fence) and to avoid faddy diets.

You do you op, the rest of us will try and keep up with regular blood testing and optimal meds, and we will likely see weight problems decrease. I lost a stone within 3 months of proper medication whilst eating normally. Up to you.

I think the seaweed thing is a red herring, based on the fact that, worldwide, a major cause of thyroid problems is lack of iodine. So seaweed, a good source of iodine, gets promoted by wellness types, but almost certainly makes no difference at all- if you live in the UK the chances of you having an iodine deficiency are tiny- it’s far more likely that your thyroid issue is auto-immune, for which seaweed does nothing at all.

By all means eat seaweed if you like it but it’s unlikely to make a jot of difference to your thyroid, unless you live in the developing world and have an iodine deficiency, in which case go for it.

I've been on thyroxine for over 10 years and never had a problem dieting