What Causes Difficulty In Loosing Weight When Having Hyphyroidism?

Posted on Fri, 9 Jan 2015

Medically reviewed by Ask A Doctor - 24x7 Medical Review Team

Fri, 9 Jan 2015 Answered on

Sat, 7 Feb 2015 Last reviewed on

Question : I am having Hypothyroid taking Thyroxine 100 mcg every day. I am gaining weight this problem. I am 33 years old, 5' 8" with 76 KG weight. I am on strict diet and workout plan from last 8 months. Everyday I walk for 6 km, cycle for 20 km in week ends. Coming to eating habits, I stopped eating high calorie food, sweets and any thing that causes Hypothyroid like cabbage, cauliflower etc. I am following this diet from last 8 months with above mentioned workout plan. Still I am not losing weight, maintaining same weight of 76 KG. I would like to lose weight to maintain BPM. Can you please help me this regard.

Answered by Dr. Ajish TP (8 hours later)

Brief Answer:
Can try weight loss medications

Detailed Answer:
Hi XXXXXXX

Welcome to HCM. I had gone through your question and understand your concerns.

Please share with us some more details - like duration of thyroid illness, cause of hypothyroidism - is it due to antibodies - Hashimoto's?

If it is long standing hypothyroidism (>2 yrs) and if due to anti thyroid antibodies, there is no need of dietary modifications like restriction of cabbage or cauliflower. These restrictions are needed only for iodine deficiency hypothyroidism.

The limitation of lifestyle modifications (diet and exercise) are they are effective initially, but later the effect get saturated and further weight reduction is very difficult.

There are 3 option s for weight reduction

1. Lifestyle modification - which you have already tried

2. Medications - like orlistat, locaserin, phentermine/topiramate which are approved for weight reduction. Please discuss with the doctor if these can be used in your case

3. Surgical procedures - Usually we suggest surgery for patients who cant meet target weight in 6 months with above 2 measures. Simple procedures like gastric banding or complex like gastric bypass can make desirable weight loss.

Hope I have answered your question. If you have any further questions I will be happy to help.

Regards
Dr Ajish TP
Consultant Endocrinologist

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Prasad