Losing weight with an under active thyroid

[Trilby12]

Can anyone give me advice on how to loose weight with an under active thyroid please.

First thing is to make sure your medication is optimal. Have you had recent blood tests? It's such a fine balancing act but I do have to keep my TSH at nearly zero just to make sure I don't put on more weight. It hasn't enabled me to lose weight, so despite my GP's hesitance to leave it at that level, I'm clearly not over-medicated at that level!

I'll be honest, I've given up even trying to lose weight, but I do have a friend who's had success with the injections despite struggling with thyroid weight gain for years.

I've read that thyroid patients can benefit from cutting gluten, or going low carb. It's certainly the only way I've ever been able to lose significant weight, but its hard to sustain, especially as I work in the food industry so I'm surrounded by delicious food!

I've also lost a lot of weight via stress, when getting divorced or splitting from a long term partner, so I'm sure there's a much more hormonal issue at play, it's definitely not just a case of "eat less, move more".

I hope other people have more first hand experience with successful weight loss. Good luck.

I agree with the above, I have hashimoto and underactive thyroid and take 200mcg daily.

Keeping your tsh levels lower helps, advocate for yourself, not all doctors are totally helpful when it comes to thyroid and try to drop and change your meds when your tsh is lower.. which it should be. Because your taking synthetic hormones, your body is not asking your thyroid to create as much, keep track of your levels so you can see any changes happening, I recently saw a trend of high tsh and t4 dropping over the year, so had my LT upped, I take 25mcg every other day.

Cutting gluten was a massive help for me too.

Make sure you take your meds first thing in the morning on an empty stomach with a small bit of water and do not have anything else for atleast 30 mins, not even a tea, to maximise your consumption - you'll be surprised how many people are not told this when starting the meds.

I have recently started taking mounjaro, and lost 3 stone since Jan, but please discuss this with your doctor or endocrine and there is an added risk to people with thyroid issues.

DH has hashimoto’s, and also atrial fibrillation which means he has to keep his TSH nearer the top end of the normal range rather than really low.
He’s also got a familial history of t2 diabetes and almost certainly has some degree of insulin resistance.
But he’s being successful at losing weight - he’s scrupulously logging food in nutracheck, which integrates with his Apple Watch. He’s finding the calorie deficit thus recorded is correlating well with his weight loss.
We’re eating lots of veg, pulses (lots of fibre), lower carbs and no sugary/white carbs. This isn’t just lower calorie, it’s also about better management of sugar highs and lows - he sometimes uses a CGM, they can be quite revealing as to how you respond to food, effect of eating at different times of day etc.

Thank you for the replies. I’ve had my bloods done whenever requested, I’m due to have them again next Thursday. I’m currently on 125 mg of levothyroxine daily. I’m always tired yet I don’t sleep well either. I make sure I walk at least 10000 steps a day, I stick to 1700 calories a day & I drink a lot of water yet I can’t shift the weight. I was 10st 2lb in 2022 when I was diagnosed, I’m currently 22st and I don’t recognise myself.

I have been on a long weight loss journey. I haven’t used any weight loss drugs. What is working for me is low carbing, intermittent fasting, tracking food, not calories, and daily weighing. I’m a vegetarian.
I haven’t used any weight loss drugs and have found other ways of getting a dopamine hit, primarily zero calorie hot drinks.
i spend around 20 hours a week at the gym.
I found Dr K super helpful. So far I have lost 40kg.

That’s brilliant well done ☺️ I don’t know where I’m going wrong, I can loose 5lb 1 week but put 6lb on the week after yet I’ve done nothing different from the week before.

For me I have to eat low carb to lose or keep any weight off. I tend do make my normal tea for the family but with a huge side salad or veggies and just have a smaller amount.
if you’ve gained 10stone OP I would perhaps consider more drastic options though such as the oxen pic/mounjaro if your GP Says it’s safe to do so.

Sadly OP in very similar circumstances to you I’ve found my daily calorie usage has dropped significantly so I would now gain weight on 1700 - I think my maintenance level is about 1500 so I need to eat less than that to drop weight (or substantially increase exercise which is hard to do with poor sleep and low energy). It’s difficult but worth trying some of the suggestions on this thread that will get you down to lower calorie intake

Is there an added risk? I don’t know that. Could you tell me why? Also I have been taking thyroxine for 30
years and never knew I had to take it on an empty stomach .

Once you’re on the correct dosage of thyroxine (noting this can be trial and error to start with) your thyroid issues should no longer stop you losing weight, as your thyroid will be as well regulated as anyone else’s, albeit synthetically.

@Trilby12 I'm sorry to hear your struggles.

I have had an underactive thyroid since 1990. I used to take 100mcg and now take 112.5mcg. I keep my TSH at the lower end.

Whenever I have eaten more or had a glass or two of wine in the evening I have put on weight. I have to be rigorous about diet: plain Yoghurt and fruit fkr breakfast, salad for lunch, small meal in the evening (meat, fish, veg). No refined carbs, very little wheat, no trans fats. That keeps me at about 11 stone.

When I put on weight, I thought I was eating less than I was. It might be an idea to keep a food diary and write down everything. There are apps for calories and carbs.

Have you spoken to yiur Dr or a dietician about your weight gain?

I was very slim in my 20s (8 to 9 stone). I was much more active and unbeknown to me at the time, had rampant graves. I ate like a horse in my late 20s to maintain weight. I think it made me struggle, once the graves was dealt with, with portion size, hence the weight gain.

I'm struggling with this too, especially now I am older so peri is in the mix. I can happily live on 1500 calories a day but really struggle to eat less than, which I clearly need to, to lose.

I don't have an underactive thyroid, but I'm watching lots of nutrition videos on YouTube at the moment, and my sister has Hashimotos.
They all seem to mention eating low carb high protein, eating clean, and cutting out seed oils if you do have an underactive thyroid.

I’m the same. I take levo for my thyroid but I also have the added complication of PBC for which I have to take 1250mg of Urso every day. One of the side effects of Urso is weight gain, so I’m on a hiding to nothing.

I only use red top milk, I don’t use sugar, I don’t fry anything, I don’t eat sweets, cakes, biscuits, crisps, or anything laden with fat. I eat loads of low fat yogurts, fresh fruit and veg, oh and I don’t drink either. To say my eating life is miserable is an understatement. Nothing seems help me lose weight. I walk between 5000 to 10000 a day.

Every time I see my liver doctor he tells me to lose weight. Easier said than done.

A lot of people are mentioning low carb, I’ll try that. I’ve been to the doctors about my weight & was referred to a weight management program for 12 weeks, I lost 11lb by week 4 but had gained it back and more by the end of the program. I’d understand if I over ate or ate junk but I don’t nor do I drink or smoke. It’s so disheartening. It’s a miracle I don’t have diabetes, high blood pressure or anything like that with all this weight gain.

I used to see a brilliant thyroid specialist. When I got as big as you he told me to get weight loss surgery. He was right but it took me years to get there. Wish I'd done it sooner. He basically said a thyroid issue was not to blame for being so enormous.
I was nearly 23 stone and have maintained at around 11 and a half for almost six years now.

@GenerousGardenerwhat are you eating? Those low fat yogurts are full of ultra processed crap. Nothing wrong with eating fat or frying in lard or butter or olive oil.

I have Graves too and bloody loved it when it was out of control - could eat what I wanted and lost tons of weight, had tons of energy and felt amazing (until I was really poorly....🙄).

2 x lots of radioactive iodine later and I have no thyroid function, so am on thyroxine for life and also have PCOS (and am coeliac) and piled the weight on.

I started on Mounjaro in January and it's a total game changer so far. I feel back in balance, can control my eating and have lost 2 stone in 2 months (6 to go!). I have gone off carbs completely, so am eating protein and veg quite happily and my body is very grateful!

I don’t want any surgery. I’m terrified of going under the knife. Im unsure about weight loss jabs as it’s been in the news that people have died using them and in all honesty I’d probably have risked that if I didn’t have children and grandchildren.

What is to blame if it’s not my thyroid?

@Trilby12i don’t think there’s anything bad in no fat unsweetened Greek yogurt. It’s the only one I buy.

@Trilby12 I think it's clinically factual that if a person eats less than the energy they require they lose weight and if they eat more, they gain weight. The weight has to come from somewhere and it can't just be water gain.

Can you tell us what you eat every day for a week and in what quantities then we might be able to help.

Try WLI’s because at 22 stone if you are still gaining/maintaining on only 1700 calories you need drastic help and soon. How tall are you?

I have hashimotos and have lost 3 stone on Mounjaro in 4 months. When I don’t strictly calorie count and exercise I don’t lose.

I realised now that my calorie counting before Monjaro was completely flawed.

Weight loss surgery is very low risk surgery and much lower risk for your health than being morbidly overweight.

I would recommend Why We Eat Too Much the book. It's not just about how many calories you're eating - it's about the type, the fact you've put weight on already etc etc. for me it was a lifetime of going up and down in weight and altering my set point.

I haven’t mentioned anything about Greek yogurt that was another poster.

I’m 5ft 8