Greenville SC Thyroid Clinic Shares – The Connection Between Weight Gain and Low Thyroid
Weight gain or an inability to lose weight despite eating a healthy diet and exercising is a common low thyroid symptom. Low thyroid results in a sluggish metabolism, which makes it easier to gain weight and tougher to shed excess pounds. This is the simple, straightforward connection between weight gain and hypothyroidism.
Low thyroid is rarely a simple or straightforward condition, however. Thyroid symptoms like weight gain reflect their complexity if you look a little deeper at their causes. In the case of weight gain, one factor that deserves closer attention is chronic stress.
You may know you’re chronically stressed or you may be unaware of it, but either way it has a very big impact on your body, including thyroid function. Chronic stress involves the release of hormones. Over time, stress hormones interfere with thyroid function. The more thyroid function is compromised, the more difficult it can be to lose weight.
We tend to think of ‘stress’ as the everyday things that cause us frustration. An argument with our spouse, an especially challenging workload, heavy traffic—these are the types of conditions that cause a stress response we can recognize and feel. We may feel our shoulders tense, develop a headache, or start snapping at co-workers in response to this type of stress if we don’t manage it properly.
Stress also happens within the body in ways we can’t see or easily identify. Blood sugar swings, inflammation, gut disorders, and autoimmune attacks are some examples of this type of stress. It can trigger the release of stress hormones just like the traffic jam, including the stress hormone cortisol. This results in a sluggish thyroid—and weight gain.
Stress management is a very important part of therapeutic support for low thyroid, and it can help facilitate the ability to lose weight. A practitioner who is trained in functional wellness can develop a customized plan of care for your thyroid condition that addresses stress and other factors that are likely contributing to your symptoms.
The most effective way to lose weight and feel better if you have a thyroid problem is to work with a practitioner who focuses on causes. This means he or she will test extensively to determine exactly what is behind your condition and your symptoms. When it’s clear why you cannot lose weight, it’s possible to take steps to correct the problem. It’s likely a combination of factors will need to be addressed and resolved.
If you cannot lose weight no matter how much you diet and exercise, low thyroid may be the problem—even if you’ve been tested and told your thyroid is fine. A comprehensive evaluation that includes multiple in-depth tests can determine the root cause of your weight problem and other symptoms. A functional wellness practitioner is an excellent choice for the proper evaluation you need.
