Most thyroid patients believe that they will never be able to lose weight.
Yet I’ve helped thousands of thyroid patients lose weight over the last 9 years through some simple lifestyle and diet tweaks.
Here’s what works for thyroid weight loss (and why):
#1. Use fasting to reduce calories (not daily caloric restriction).
Yes, you will need to keep an eye on your calories if you want to lose weight; there’s no getting around that.
But how you cut those calories matters.
Daily calorie restriction (cutting back on your daily calorie intake) is a recipe for producing metabolic damage through a process called metabolic adaptation.
This type of calorie restriction causes your metabolism and your thyroid function to slow down, making long-term weight loss almost impossible.
But this is where fasting steps in:
Through intermittent calorie restriction (fasting once a week), you can cut those calories while keeping your metabolism and thyroid healthy.
DON’T restrict calories daily. DO fast for 24 hours once a week.
Source: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33677461/
#2. Use zone 2 training as your primary form of exercise.
The intensity at which you exercise impacts your thyroid function and research shows that zone 2 provides the biggest boost.
Not only does it rev up your thyroid, it’s also the intensity at which fat burning is greatest.
When you train in zone 2, you also put less strain on your thyroid and adrenals, making your workouts far more sustainable in the long term.
Use exercise as a way to burn calories and improve your thyroid. Not as a way to make up for an unhealthy lifestyle.
The magic number here is 100 minutes each week.
Source: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/16380698/
#3. Eat enough carbohydrates (don’t restrict).
Restricting carbohydrates is one of the worst things you can do for your thyroid.
No, carbohydrates are not “essential”, but they are necessary for thyroid function.
But don’t take this as a green light to start pounding down refined or processed sugars.
Instead, get 100 grams of quality carbohydrates each day from real, whole food sources like fruits and vegetables.
This 100-gram recommendation happens to align with the recommended 4-5 servings of fruit you should be eating anyway.
Source: https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC9165850/
#4. Eat enough protein (building muscle mass is your goal).
If there’s one macronutrient you aren’t getting enough of, it’s protein.
Your muscle represents a huge percentage of your total body composition and happens to be a major site of thyroid hormone activity.
By building more muscle, you are increasing thyroid hormone activity.
That means more calories burned at rest, more energy production, more heat production, and more weight loss.
Source: https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC4037849/
For thyroid health, eat 100 grams of quality protein with a complete amino acid profile each and every day. Use a protein powder to get up there if you find it difficult to eat real, whole foods.
Do these four things, and you won’t have to use a GLP-1 agonist or spend thousands of dollars on wasted treatments.
