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.

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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

Page Updated 9:25 AM Friday 2/23/2018