Weight loss when you have hashimoto’s can be a real nightmare!
There are so many faddy diets and weight loss plans out there! It can be hard to decide which diet to follow. Advice is often conflicting – “don’t eat fat, eat low carb, restrict your calories, exercise more, drink this wonder smoothie and watch the weight fall off”
Sound familiar?
Feel like you’ve tried them all and nothing works?
Thats because a lot of them aren’t healthy or sustainable. They’re simply not designed for hashimoto’s sufferers. And can actually lead to weight gain and make your symptoms even worse!
Lets debunk a few myths.
Burn more calories than you eat to lose weight: whilst the idea behind this sounds simple, in the long run it can actually lead to increased hunger and cravings, reduced metabolic activity and increased weight gain. Sure in the short term this will likely help you shed a few pounds. But its not sustainable. Eventually your willpower will no longer be enough to drown out those cravings and you will cave. The end result will be you’ll feel hungry, miserable and like a failure.
Want to know a little more about how calorie restriction can cause problems and why it doesn’t work long term then check out the link below.
https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/calorie-restriction-risks
Eat low fat foods to lose weight: fat is not the cause of weight gain, sugar is! Sugary and refined carbohydrate foods are turned to fat in our bodies when blood sugar levels become too high. And what do most manufacturers replace the fat with in low fat products? You guessed it: Sugar or Sweeteners. So those low fat products are really not helping.
You can eat what you want if you exercise hard enough: Wrong! You cannot out exercise a bad diet. And to make matters worse if you exercise excessively it can cause a huge stress on our body. This can actually lead to weight gain, especially with hashimoto’s.
A calorie is just a calorie: what we eat is far more than just fuel to supply energy. The nutrients we consume are essential for 100’s of different functions in our body and brain. If you don’t supply the body the nutrients it needs for these tasks then it simply can’t do its job effectively or in some cases at all! So if you’re eating foods that contain the calories but not the nutrients then you’re body is going to keep demanding more until it gets what it needs.
So now we’ve addressed the myths lets take a look at factors that affect weight loss when you have hashimoto’s:
- Sub-optimal thyroid levels
- Food sensitivities
- Poor digestive health
- Nutrient deficiencies
- Sluggish liver
- Hormone imbalances
- Poor sleep
- Lack of exercise/movement
- Stress
Fortunately pretty much all of these can be addressed with some diet and lifestyle changes, with the exception of medication of course. But even this can be impacted massively by what you’re eating or not eating and what’s going on your life.
The changes I see in my clients when we address these areas are phenomenal. In just a matter of weeks I hear over and over again that their energy has sky rocketed, the brain fog has disappeared and the weight is finally shifting and it doesn’t even feel like they’re trying to lose weight! They’ve finally got that spark back and you can see it!
Take Gilly, this is what she had to say after just a few weeks of following the bespoke health plan I drew up for her:
“I haven’t felt this well in years!! My diet is great, I don’t feel like I’m being deprived of anything, I no longer have that ‘starving’ feeling, no indigestion or reflux at all, I’m sleeping better and weight has fallen off!! So its brilliant! I cannot thank you enough for taking that time to talk me through a program that definitely works for me!! This really has turned my future around and given me my life back!!”
And she’s not on her own! This is what Kate had to say:
“I’ve been working with Helen for the last 2 months and I’ve been following her suggestions for the past 6 weeks. Not only do I feel better mentally but I’ve lost an amazing 17lbs!!
17lbs in 6 weeks!!! Woohoo! I’ve still got a way to go but I’m confident I’ll be in my bikini this summer (if we are ever allowed back to a beach!!)
Now, you should know that I didn’t sign up to lose weight. I signed up to help with my Hashimotos. My weight loss has been a massive bonus for me. I’ve struggled for years to lose weight due to my medication and a lack of knowledge about Hashimotos and Helen has helped me to understand. She is amazing and I’m very lucky to have found her!”
And it didn’t stop there, at our next appointment Kate had lost another 3lbs so that’s a whopping 20lbs in just 9 weeks!!
There was no crazy dieting involved, no fads or calorie restrictions and certainly no feeling miserable!!
Just a simple, healthy and sustainable roadmap to weight loss and healthy eating.
If you want to shift that hashimoto’s weight and keep it off then check out my weight loss roadmap.
It comes with a 60 minute pre-recorded masterclass on what’s stopping you from losing weight and how to fix it, plus a 14 day meal plan, recipe book and shopping list to get you started. All the hard works done, all you need to do is follow it step by step!
You can find out more HERE!
Leave a comment and let me know what weight loss struggles you’ve been having. Whats worked? What hasn’t? How its made you feel? What help you need?