Thyroid Thursday Episode 42: Why You Can’t Lose Weight When Hypothyroid
An inability to lose weight when you are hypothyroid is really a major problem for so many people who consult with me.
They have so many problems; fatigue, hair loss, dry skin, depression, but weight is by far one of the biggest concerns when we get right down to it.
So why can’t you lose weight?
Ultimately, regardless of TSH and T4, if you’re not able to lose excess body weight, your cellular metabolism is being slowed for a reason.
The primary reason for reduced cellular metabolism is something I’ve talked about many times stress activation of the “Cell Danger Response”.
Stress, whether it is physical, chemical, emotional, or microbial induces a cellular response that reduces your metabolism.
With slowed metabolism comes weight gain if calorie load, especially carbohydrates and sugar intake, stays the same.
Why does this happen?
When stress increases to a level greater than the body can adapt to, then Cell Danger Response kicks in. There is change in cellular physiology that moves us away from using fuel for growth and development and towards “fight or flight”.
When this happens – stress hormones rise:
- Cortisol increases blocking thyroid hormone transport.
- Catecholamines rise increasing anxiety and irritability.
- Tryptophan is diverted away from making serotonin and melatonin to make neurotoxins that cause brain fog, fatigue, promote insulin resistance, decrease glucose into muscles, and increase glucose being stored as fat.
- Sleep is disrupted which compounds problem.
- Your healthy digestion is literally shut down because more food is not what your body wants to deal with, it’s trying to survive.
- Thyroid hormone which drives metabolism is converted into inactive forms everywhere except your pituitary gland. Your pituitary must have thyroid hormone to drive the fight or flight response.
- Your hormones become dysregulated because sex and pregnancy are not part of the survival mechanism.
Gaining weight is not the problem. Weight gain is the symptom. It’s the stressors driving weight gain that are the problem.
So what can you do?
You’ve got to address the stressors by yourself or with a health professional.
Here are some key things you can do:
- Look at your life and find out what are your biggest stressors.
- Clean up your diet. Eat a real food diet. Stop eating all the carbs, sugars, grains, soda, and alcohol.
- Work on your breathing. So many people are chronic mouth breathers. This creates a significant amount of stress. It creates even more stress at night. Buteyko breathing is a great resource.
- Improve your sleep habits. Sleep is critical to health and well-being. Quality sleep goes hand in hand with breathing.
- Deal with your emotional baggage. This stuff will kill you. You may think you have it under control but most do not. Whether it is work, money, or relationships, you have to either deal with them or let them go. Otherwise all that noise just plays in the background like static on a poorly tuned radio station.
Why might you still not feel better if you’ve done all this?
Because many people have had chronic “Cell Danger Response” for years and it has disrupted body chemistry to such a level that just diet and lifestyle alone won’t do it.
If you’ve tried all these without success, you need to find a coach. Find someone like me who can sift through all your “stuff” and help you fix what’s making you sick. It’s okay if you need help.
I promise you this, your solution to improved health will not be found in prescription medications!
Dr Balcavage
