Your Thyroid and Weight Loss
|
The Connection Between
Your Thyroid and Weight Loss
 It is a fact that your thyroid dictates much of your metabolism. Therefore, any malfunction or
disease afflicting this area may cause you to have problems in
many areas of health, including your metabolism. This can
then lead to a drastic problem with your weight - ironically, you may
either gain weight, lose weight, or may find that managing weight
is harder than usual.
Most diets simply do not take into consideration how the thyroid, and
its affect on metabolism, may affect their weight loss program.
Unfortunately, many so-called experts, and also the media, pitch in and
recommend that the best way to lose weight
is cut calories.
HYPERTHYROIDISM
Those with a condition called hyperthyroidism
suffer from an overactive
thyroid leading to a person
having his or her metabolism skyrocket. If this
is your case, then you will probably lose weight fast. This is a nice
proposition for some who wish to lose weight.
However, this is actually
hazardous to your health.
Aside from the medical difficulties related to such a condition, one
will
also notice weight problems as a result. These people have trouble
maintaining a healthy weight and may notice weakness and bulging of the
eyes. This
disease will often need special treatment from doctors.
HYPOTHYTOIDISM
Hypothyroidism
on the other hand works in an opposite direction from hyperthyroidism.
Hypothyroidism causes a slowing of the metabolism,
causing the body to gain weight at an
incredible rate. Like hyperthyroidism, hypothyroidism causes a general
weakness in the body. It too may need special treatment and may cause
serious health problems if left unattended.
Cutting calories in hopes of losing weight can be very hard for most
people. While some seem to be involved in life and death
struggles at
the supermarket regarding whether to buy that extra box of sweets, some
have exactly the opposite problem.
Instead of eating too much calories – which is a problem in
itself, they eat too little calories instead.
Problem? What Problem
Well, the problem with some is that they really believe that, since the
experts say
that they have to cut calories, cutting calories deeply will result in
a great loss of weight.
Unfortunately, it doesn’t
quite work that way.
While cutting calories, when done reasonably and with an understanding
of nutrition, can help with weight loss,, consuming too few
calories can actually push the body into a "calorie hoarding" mode.
In this state, the body’s
metabolism slows to adapt to its perception of there being a famine, or
at least a lesser amount of available energy.
Once your body enters this mode, your body will work at such a slow
metabolic rate that losing weight becomes impossible. The
technique then should be to reduce calories without the body slowing
its metabolism. Only then can losing weight through dieting become
easier.
Another problem that can arise from a decreased metabolism is that,
when
your metabolism slows due to a drastic reduction in calories, and
then you suddenly eat a good, hearty, calorie-filled meal, you are
bound to gain more weight owing to the increased surplus of calories,
which is now combined with a metablism which has learned to hoard
calories anyway!.
This is why trying to effectively lose weight through fad diets is
highly discouraged among those who really know how weight loss works.
The sudden loss and increase of calories will
cause an imbalance in one’s energy consumption directly
affecting fat deposit.
Since the thyroid controls the metabolism, and many other factors
dealing with weight gain and loss, you can see why maitaining a healthy thyroid
is important.
HOW MANY CALORIES?
Here is a simple computation to help you figure out the right amount of
calories you will need per day so that you get your nutrients in the
right balance.
First of all, multiply your weight in kilograms by 30.
If you only know
your weight in pounds, divide it by 2.2 to get to its metric
equivalent. We divide this number by 30 because that is the number of
calories you need to maintain your weight per pound of weight.
For example if your weight in pounds is 150, divide it by 2.2. That
will give you a figure of 68.18. This is your weight in kilograms.
Multiply this by 30 and you will arrive at the amount of calories you
will need per day to maintain 150 lbs.
You may consult a nutritionist to help you come lose weight. In the end
it all comes down to math. If you consume more calories than your body
needs, it
stores it as fat.
Now is probably a good time to start studying the back of those food packages in the grocery store!
As a rule of thumb, you should try to keep your diet at a 40% protein,
25% fat, and 35% carbohydrate
ratio. Keep meals around 300 calories per meal. Spread out
these meals in a day to get the best results.
While it may be simple computation to get at numbers, do not forget the
earlier mentioned fact that the body adapts to its condition. Expose it
to extreme ones and you may find yourself getting results you never
wanted. Consult a nutritionist for more advice.
Donovan Baldwin
is a 68-year-old exercise and fitness fan, freelance writer, and certified optician
currently living near Dallas, Texas. A University Of West Florida
alumnus (1973) with a BA in accounting, he has been a Program
Accountant for the Florida State Department of Education, the Business
Manager of a community mental health center, and a multi-county Fiscal
Consultant for an educational field office. He has also been a trainer
for a major international corporation, and has managed various small
businesses, including his own. After retiring from the U. S. Army in
1995, with 21 years of service, he became interested in Internet
marketing and developed various online businesses. He has been writing
poetry, articles, and essays for over 40 years, and now frequently
publishes original articles on his own websites and for use by other
webmasters. He blogs regularly on senior health and fitness
at http://fitness-after-40.ws.
=======================
Did you like this article?
You have permission to post this article on your website,
on your blog, or in your ezine as long as you post it entirely
as written, including the About the Author section and all
links.
P. S. If you want to learn about why Diets
Don't Work,
please click here.
If you want to learn how to burn fat,
a great book to read is Burn the Fat, Feed the Muscle
by Tom Venuto
|
|
