Dieting and Still Not Losing Weight? (find out why)

Weight loss often begins with momentum, but it can taper off. This is known as a plateau, and it happens to plenty of people. So don’t feel bad if you are struggling with a few unwanted, stubborn pounds. For some, there is never that initial slimming result, even when calorie intake is greatly reduced. While a healthy diet and regular exercise often leads to long-term weight loss success, some people simply can’t lose weight – no matter how hard they work in the gym, or what they eat. Issues with the thyroid gland could be the reason.

Meet Your Thyroid Gland

This butterfly-shaped gland is a part of the endocrine system that helps to maintain homeostasis of your bodily systems.

These glands are used in the body to produce a variety of hormones that regulate everything from mood to sleep-wake cycles.

The thyroid gland produces three hormones: calcitonin, triiodothyronine (T3) and thyroxine (T4). Each has a significant impact on the body. Used in the conversion of foods into energy, oxygen metabolism, heat production, growth and fertility, these hormones are essential to maintaining a healthy weight.

When the thyroid does not produce enough of these hormones, a condition called hypothyroidism can occur. Specifically, a lack of thyroxine (T4) can cause body systems to slow, leading to unwanted weight gain and an inability to successfully lose weight.

How Does My Thyroid Affect My Weight Loss?

The relationship between your weight and a properly functioning thyroid gland is well established. Because this gland is needed to produce hormones that regulate metabolism, it becomes essential to your ability to burn fat.

When you work out, your body is able to burn fat and calories faster that it does when it’s at rest. However, your resting metabolism, or basal metabolic rate (BMR), is a good indicator of your capacity to lose weight or maintain your ideal weight over time. Those with a sluggish thyroid often have lower BMRs than those with properly functioning thyroid glands. In fact, BMR measurement was one of the ways doctors used to test a patient’s thyroid health as oftentimes, low thyroid hormone levels were associated with low BMRs, and vice versa.¹

How Do I Know If I Have Hypothyroidism?

If your thyroid isn’t producing enough hormones it could be any number of causes including genetics, age, and stress or it could be that you are suffering from hypothyroidism – a condition that affects an estimated 20 million Americans.²

Symptoms of hypothyroidism include:

Fatigue	Thinning hair	Facial puffiness	Muscle aches, tenderness, and stiffness
Sensitivity to cold	Slowed heart rate	Hoarseness	Pain, stiffness, or swelling in the joints
Constipation	Depression	Muscle weakness	Irregular menstrual periods
Dry skin	Unwanted weight gain	Elevated blood cholesterol level	Brain fog

Usually, the symptoms of hypothyroidism worsen gradually and can become severe if left untreated. If you notice any of these symptoms, call your doctor.

How To Do an At-Home Test

If you are suffering from an underactive thyroid, or are concerned that you may have hypothyroidism, try this simple at-home test in order to ease your mind, while you wait to talk to your doctor.

If you are concerned about the healthy function of your thyroid gland, here is a simple at-home test you can do.

Locate your thyroid gland with your index and forefinger in your neck just below the Adam’s apple, and to the side.
Holding your fingers there, apply a small amount of pressure and swallow. If this area is large, or you notice any bulges, you may have a thyroid problem. Check with your doctor for a more accurate test if you feel it’s necessary.

What Can I Do To Improve the Health of My Thyroid?

One of the most common causes of hypothyroidism is a deficiency in vital nutrients needed to produce thyroid hormones including protein, magnesium, selenium, vitamin A, vitamin B-2, B-12, vitamin C, vitamin D, iodine, and zinc.

While hypothyroidism is often a permanent condition, your doctor may have a variety of suggestions for treatment including synthetic hormone replacement. However, if you simply are suffering from a sluggish thyroid gland, there are many foods that you can eat to support the healthy function of your thyroid, to restore low levels of essential hormones.

Here are just a few of the BEST foods for a healthy thyroid:

Apples	Chicken	Lentils	Plain yogurt (full fat)
Avocado	Chocolate	Olive oil	Salmon
Brazil nuts	Cranberries	Organic Potatoes	Strawberries
Broccoli	Garlic	Oysters	Whole grains
Cayenne peppers	Green tea, Rooibos tea	Pasture-raised eggs	Sea vegetables (kelp, arame, hiziki, and kombu)

If you have noticed unwanted weight gain, and suspect it could be due to an underactive thyroid, remove any foods from your diet that produce thiocyanates – compounds that hinder nutrient absorption into the thyroid.

Foods to AVOID while on a thyroid diet:

Arugula	Cabbage	Collard greens	Mustard greens, Turnips
Bok choy	Corn	Flax	Radishes
Bamboo shoots	Canola	Horseradish	Sweet potato
Broccoli	Cauliflower	Kale	Wasabi
Brussels sprouts	Choy sum	Lima beans	Watercress

Am I At Risk for Hypothyroidism?

Understanding your risk factors is essential to know if your unwanted weight gain could be caused by a dysfunction of your thyroid gland.

The best way to know is to address your risk factors. Here are the most common factors known to increase the risk of hyperthyroidism (an overactive thyroid) or hypothyroidism (an underactive thyroid).

Thyroid Weight Loss

Clearly, thyroid and weight gain are closely associated — an underactive thyroid gland can make it extremely difficult to keep extra pounds off.

But it’s important to keep in mind that a thyroid problem can also make it difficult to keep pounds on. This condition is known as “hyperthyroidism” and it occurs when the thyroid is overactive. People with hyperthyroidism have a much faster basal metabolic rate (BMR), and so they burn calories quickly — even at rest.³ It might seem like a stroke of good luck to burn calories so easily, but unfortunately, an overactive thyroid gland can cause quite a bit of discomfort. Here are a few symptoms associated with hyperthyroidism:

- - Sudden unintentional weight loss
  - Rapid heartbeat
  - Increased appetite
  - Feelings of nervousness
  - Tremor
  - Sweating
  - Changes in menstrual patterns
  - Sensitivity to heat
  - Changes in bowel patterns
  - Fatigue and muscle weakness
  - Sleep trouble
  - Thin, brittle hair
  - Thinning skin

The most common cause of hyperthyroidism is something called Grave’s Disease, which is an overproduction of the thyroid hormone. Other causes of hyperthyroidism include nodules on the thyroid, or inflammation of the thyroid gland.⁵

As always, it’s important to check in with your doctor if you’re concerned about any of these symptoms.

Article updated: April 6, 2018

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Sources
1.http://www.thyroid.org/thyroid-and-weight
2.http://www.thyroid.org/media-main/about-hypothyroidism/
3.https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4044302/
5.https://www.thyroid.org/hyperthyroidism/

About the Author

Dr. Amy Lee

Dr. Amy Lee has board certifications in internal medicine, physician nutrition and obesity medicine specialty. She practices internal medicine with a heavy emphasis on nutrition, wellness and weight management. Her Clinical nutrition fellowship training at UCLA has allowed her to incorporate realistic lifestyle modification in all her medicine patients.