Your thyroid has a large impact on how your metabolism functions, so it’s likely that your weight would be impacted by any thyroid issues. This means that if you’ve noticed any unusual changes in your weight or you’re finding it harder to lose or gain weight, your thyroid may be to blame.
Those that plan diets often don’t consider how their thyroid and metabolism can affect their weight loss progress. Most experts and media sources recommend that the best way to lose weight is to cut calories.
What Your Symptoms Mean
Those with a condition called hyperthyroidism suffer from an overactive thyroid, which leads one to have a lightning fast metabolism. If this is the case, then you will probably lose weight fast. While this may sound nice to those wanting to lose weight, weight loss due to thyroid issues can actually be hazardous to your health.
Hypothyroidism on the other hand works in the other direction- slowing metabolism until the body gains weight at an incredible rate. Like hyperthyroidism, hypothyroidism causes general weakness in the body. It too may need special treatment and may cause serious health problems if left untreated.
While cutting calories in itself can be very hard for most people, many have the exact opposite problem. When dieting, it is extremely common to find people eating far too little calories nowadays due to misinformation and sheer ignorance.
More Isn’t Always Better
Since experts say cutting calories is good for weight loss, many wrongly assume that the more calories cut the more weight will be lost. While this is somewhat true for the short term, long-term low calorie diets can do more harm than good. If done for long enough, they can even stall weight loss and deplete your body of the nutrients it needs to properly function. Consuming too little calories forces the body to extreme measures, with your metabolism slowing down to adapt to the lesser amounts of energy available. In essence, eating less food forces your body to adapt to burning less food. This effect over time causes you to lose less weight at a much slower rate.
The underpinnings of all diets require only one thing – a caloric deficit. Only a slight reduction of food intake is required for most. Pair that with exercise and you are well on your way to losing weight.
Another problem that comes with a decreased metabolism is that the inevitable cheat day will end up setting you even further back. When your metabolism slows due to a drastic reduction in calories and you suddenly eat a calorie-filled meal, your body is much more prone to store those extra calories as fat.
But for those with possible thyroid complications, the process of weight loss is somewhat complicated. If you do find you have been cutting calories and either not losing or even gaining weight, it is very possible that your thyroid could be causing the issue. If you suspect you may have one of these thyroid issues, the first step is to get yourself tested by your doctor and see where to go from there.