Thyroid Weight Loss
The thyroid is a small, butterfly shaped gland in the throat. It is smaller than most coins in size, and yet, it has what some would call complete control over your weight loss or lack thereof! If you have a basically healthy thyroid, you will never see the consequences or difference. No matter what you do to your thyroid or for your thyroid, you will never see a difference in weight loss because of it. There are some supplements out there that focus on the use of iodine, and they say that iodine will help you to lose weight. But while iodine can optimize the function of a basically healthy thyroid, it cannot do anything for a defective thyroid. And within normal constraints, the thyroid does not seriously impact weight loss efforts.
So what if you have a thyroid disorder? You are one of a select few. There are some cases of those who have mild thyroid disorders. Most of the time, they still have to be controlled with a doctor’s help. But mild thyroid disorders are unlikely at best to serious impact one’s weight or weight control efforts. You are more likely to feel the difference in the speed of your heart rate, natural body temperature, hair loss, etc.
If you have a severe enough thyroid disorder to actually impact weight, there are two types. You can have Graves disease or Hashimoto’s disease. Graves disease is an extreme form of an overactive thyroid. If you have Graves disease, it is an extreme auto immune disorder. You will experience a racing heart rate that could even be mistaken for a panic attack or heart attack, protrusion of the eyes, lumpy, reddish skin on the lower legs, large goiters on the neck, palpitations, left ventricular hypertrophy, atrial fibrilliation, hair loss, congestive heart failure over time, extreme weight loss or inability to gain weight, myocardial infarctions, extreme fatigue, increased appetite, muscle degeneration, heat intolerance, high body temperature, chronic sinus infections, brittle nails, abnormal breast enlargement in men, and even evidence of severe liver disease in some.
On the opposite side of the spectrum is Hashimoto’s disease. This is what is usually described when diet pills talk about optimizing the thyroid to lose weight. Some have gained as much as 80-100 pounds in 1 year space of time with this disease. It causes extreme weight gain in some individuals, an abnormally cold body temperature, depression, fatigue, sluggishness, constipation, pale, dry skin, a puffy face, hoarse voice, elevated blood cholesterol levels, muscle aches, tenderness, stiffness, and excessive or prolonged menstrual bleeding in women. Again, this is an extremely rare disorder at best! It cannot and should not be used to explain most case of weight gain. It accounts for less than 1% of the population. But this is just one of those hyped up methods of selling a diet pill.
If you happen to have any kind of thyroid disorder, especially if its Graves disease or Hashimoto’s disease, the first thing to do is to consult your doctor! Your doctor is the one most qualified to assess your treatment options and help you to recover or control the disease should you have it. But again, most do not have it.