News, Recipes & Workouts — fats
The New Way To Lose Weight If You Have Hypothyroidism
It's estimated that 11 million adults and children have hypothyroidism. Two out of every three people with hypothyroidism (under-active thyroid gland) may not know they have the disease.
Why are so many people getting the disease? This is something the medical community can't agree, but lots of people who struggle with weight loss think that if they simply take a thyroid pill they will lose weight. This couldn't be further from the truth. The fact is that as we age, most of us will experience our thyroids slowing down simply because of age.
Combine this thyroid-slowing issue with the fact that we lose muscle every year (which is estimated at 1–2 percent per year after age 50) and that we eat more and exercise less due to fatigue, and you've got the perfect weight gain storm. There are very simple effortless steps anyone can do to lose weight, even if you have hypothyroidism.
The fact is if you want to lose weight you're going to have to do things differently after you turn 40. If you're willing to make a few adjustments, you're sure to succeed at losing weight.
The Facts:
Taking prescribed thyroid medication will treat the symptoms but it doesn’t cure hypothyroidism. There isn’t a cure, but you’ll feel some relief from the medications help. Taking prescribed thyroid medication will improve health but it won’t necessarily help you lose weight or make it any easier. Until you understand how your metabolism works, you might not ever lose that weight. Diet is 90 percent of your weight loss success. Not just any diet will do when it comes to losing weight when you have a sluggish thyroid. In fact, the wrong diet can make you gain weight.
Unfortunately, an underactive thyroid almost always means constipation and weight gain. Being constipated masks your weight loss and makes you feel bloated and uncomfortable. This usually causes you to eat for comfort, which is counterproductive when it comes to losing weight. To combat this, it’s critical that you eat thermogenic vegetables that not only promote weight loss and regularity but boost your metabolism — exactly what we hypothyroid gals need.
Limit your intake of “goitrogens”, which are compounds found naturally in some foods that make it difficult for the thyroid gland to create hormones. Foods that are high in goitrogens include cruciferous vegetables such as broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, and products made with soy.
High in metabolic boosting proteins, but low in high-fat proteins? The solution is to eat more white fish. Eat with this in mind if you’re trying to lose weight: ”The lighter and whiter the fish the faster your metabolism will be."
While proteins from chicken, or better yet turkey breast, serve as important building blocks for our hormones, they can also be higher in fat than our hypothyroid metabolisms can handle. When trying to lose weight choose proteins that boost weight loss versus block it. Try to eat more white fish such as scrod, cod, halibut, and flounder versus higher fat fish that are higher in mercury. Fish is also higher in iodine, which is great for the metabolism. Often, iodine deficiency can be what brings on the hypothyroidism in the first place. Don’t like fish? Try tuna burgers. Even fish haters love them.
Spot on when it comes to healthy fats. If you eat too much, you’ll gain weight. Healthy fats are often found in plant oils and certain seeds, but if your metabolism is slow, you may want to eat these foods with caution. Fat is also high in calories, and it’s the excess calories that cause us to gain weight, not the fact that our thyroid is low.
That being said, healthy fats in the right amounts can help promote and protect thyroid gland function. You’ll want to keep your fat grams to 15–20 grams per day, and choose from good sources such as salmon that’s rich in Omega 3, and a small amount of olive oil.
It’s better to add a Pure Omega 3 Supplement to your diet instead of trying to get your needs met through diet. Often, we overeat on these fats (avocado is a fat, but it’s also one of the worst foods when it comes to weight loss) so supplementing tends to be a better choice when it comes to losing weight with hypothyroidism.
High in vitamin D, but not from dairy. Supplements are a better source. Studies have shown that vitamin D deficiency is associated with the severity of hypothyroidism. If you’re not losing weight, your vitamin D levels may be to blame. To ease the symptoms of hypothyroidism, increase your intake of vitamin D through supplements such as LynFit D3 Boost and make sure to include sources such as salmon or other fatty fish.
Selenium-rich — LynFit Daily Power Shot. Increased selenium intake has also shown promise when it comes to the synthesis of thyroid hormones according to recent studies. Some good sources of selenium, are Brazil nuts (be careful they pack a high-calorie and high-fat punch) and various fish such as tuna, or halibut. Supplements are also a great way to guarantee your body gets the selenium it needs to keep your metabolism and thyroid running at optimal levels. You can find the right amount (100mcg of selenium that is 143 percent of your recommended daily allowance in the LynFit Daily Power Shot) in a colloidal liquid making it easier for your body to absorb.
Pumped up with prebiotics. The only thing that’s better than probiotics is prebiotics. Probiotics are important for keeping your gut bacteria at healthy levels (low gut bacteria affects every aspect of your health, including hypothyroidism). The one thing that’s even better is prebiotics. They help control blood sugar and have been known to affect our ability to burn fat and make it harder to store fat, something we hypothyroid girls need more of.
Normal levels of bacteria protect our bodies against invaders, undigested food, toxins, and parasites. When good and bad bacteria get out of balance, you may experience fluctuations in your thyroid activity and your immune system. LynFit Lean Bars are a great source of prebiotic fiber. So is LynFit's new Chocolate Sauce. Both are sweetened with prebiotic fiber. They sure beat kefir or sauerkraut or worse, kombucha tea.
What about your workout you ask? Or How should you work out if you have hypothyroidism? If you’re hypothyroid, and you’re trying to lose weight, your workout needs to have specific requirements just like your diet does to be successful. If you have been trying to lose weight and have hypothyroidism, your workout needs to address these issues without hurting your current condition. Not all workouts are created equal when it comes to losing weight. Iin fact, most of them are the opposite of what you need.
In order for you to lose weight your hypothyroidism workout plan needs to be daily cardio workouts. By walking or doing more cardio workouts, you’ll help boost your serotonin levels, which are typically low in people with under-active thyroids. That is why we struggle with depression. Serotonin is a brain chemical that affects your mood, appetite, and your sleep cycle. I suggest “core walking," which is a good form of walking that includes your core. You get a whole body workout, and you don’t need tons of energy to get it done. As you know hypothyroid types tend to be exhausted all the time, so high energy aerobic workouts almost always get blown off. Walk daily for 30–45 minutes at a moderate pace.
Boost your metabolism with the right kind of strength training workout. It’s important to build muscle and strength (don’t worry you won’t get bulky) when trying to lose weight. After all, it’s the muscle that helps you burn fat and lose weight easier due to its metabolic boosting effects. But not all workouts are created equal when it comes to weight loss. Metabolic booting workouts are “the best” if you’re trying to lose weight, especially if you have hypothyroidism. Want to transform your body fast? Swap out your current routine and start doing metabolic boosting workouts three times weekly. You’ll see results within the first week.
Sleeping lean should be a part of your workout routine. Hypothyroidism takes a toll on your energy levels, so nothing is more important than establishing a regular sleep routine. To recharge your body so you can perform your workouts and stick to your hypothyroid diet, you’ll need to aim for 7–9 hours of sleep every day. If you’re having trouble sleeping, and most of us woman over 40 do, consider using LynFit Lean Sleep to help you fall asleep and stay asleep. LynFit Lean Sleep contains melatonin rather than the harmful metabolism slowing sleep aids.
For more information on thermogenic eating for hypothyroidism, refer to The Metabolism Solution by Lisa Lynn.
Why Abdominal Fat Is Dangerous
Belly fat is very different than fat covering the hips and thighs. Fat stored around the middle produces substances that can create serious health risks, one of those being breast cancer. That's why if you have excess belly fat covering your stomach, it can make losing weight practically impossible. Women over 40 years of age, who store fat around their midsection or have been treated for breast cancer, require an entirely different approach when it comes to losing weight. The typical weight loss plan will not work. If you’re reading this, I’m sure you’ve figured that out by now.
It doesn’t matter what your body shape is, excess fat isn’t good for your health. The fat that covers your belly is much worse than saddlebags and thunder thighs. When it comes to body fat, location counts more than you might think. The fat that’s covering your abs is deep, meaning there is more there than you can pinch with your fingers.
Belly fat has a secret life of its own and creates a health and weight loss nightmare called metabolic syndrome. This is the name for a set of risk factors that occur together, increasing the risk of coronary artery disease, stroke, and Type 2 diabetes. This kind of fat is made up of living cells that spit out hormones such as estrogen, which make it even harder to lose belly fat. Metabolic syndrome may also cause intense cravings for foods such as sugars and carbs. The exact foods that we shouldn’t be eating if we are trying to melt off this harmful stuff.
People who develop this syndrome are carrying most of their weight in their stomach and almost always overweight. You rarely see this in a thin person, unless they are daily drinkers (see "It's Wine or Your Waistline" in The Metabolism Solution).
Fat cells have two purposes:
- Storing energy for later use
- Secreting hormones that regulate appetite and blood sugar levels
We all have fat cells, but lean people have smaller fat cells. These so-called small fat cells secrete a helpful hormone called adiponectin, which helps the body use insulin more efficiently. This makes losing weight and melting fat easier. The heavier you are the harder it is to lose weight and the leaner you are, the easier it is.
If you’re overweight, your fat cells are larger and tend to shut off the production of this helpful hormone. That’s why you always feel hungry. It makes it harder for insulin to do its job — called insulin resistance. Anyone can lose weight if they can control the insulin resistance, also known as lowering your blood sugar. This is exactly what makes the LynFit Metabolic Boosting System so efficient — allowing you to lose 1 pound per day.
Your goal should be to lose weight and melt fat as quickly as possible before these hormones get more out of whack. That’s what makes the use of smart supplements so important vs. not using them. The LynFit Metabolic Boosting System combines all of the best nutrients, in exactly the amount needed to lower blood sugar, so you melt off harmful belly fat and stop the vicious weight gain cycle. Essentially, it flips the weight gain switches off and turns on the weight loss switch.
If you store fat around your belly, there is more fat underneath the skin called subcutaneous fat. There is also fat inside the belly and underneath the muscles. These hidden fats stored around your kidneys, liver and intestines are known as visceral fat. This type of fat is much more harmful than the subcutaneous fat because it hampers insulin's effectiveness. These fat cells produce other hormones and proteins that are dangerous because they are located next to vital organs.
These visceral fat cells secrete a protein that contributes to inflammation, which creates clogged arteries (atherosclerosis), setting the stage for a heart attack. They also secrete a protein that constricts blood vessels, causing high blood pressure. Because this fat is so close to the liver, they drain right into that organ through a vein raising LDL cholesterol as well. Visceral fat is also linked with breast cancer, colon cancer, and may also contribute to dementia as well.
Belly fat is no joke. It’s much more important that a hot sexy body. It requires a specific approach to not only lose weight but to get this monster of a fat to melt off. It's no easy feat, and that’s why it takes a serious boost to get rid of it. Add hypothyroidism to the mix and you have a weight gain disaster on your hands.
I'm praying the next time you decide to cheat because you feel like it, or indulge in a glass of wine, you think twice. Your life may depend on it. Living a healthy lifestyle not only helps you lose weight, but it also keeps it off as well. Remember, whatever you do to take the weight off is also how you’ll keep it off. Be consistent in your habits and you’ll never have to worry.
The LynFit Lose 1 Pound Per Day Kit was formulated for exactly this reason, and if you don’t struggle with the issues above you’ll lose weight even faster. Start now — Your family needs you here and healthy!
