Hey to both Sandy (i) Lee's!

I am also hypothryroid and had gained 30 pounds after being put on thyroid medication (levoxyl). I really never had weight issues until the thyroid started playing out on me. I had tried the low fat/high exercise approach and only lost 4 pounds in 3 months. I started doing a lot of reading about hypothyroid and weight loss. It seems that a new study suggests that TSH needs to be between 1 and 2. That is what they are finding in populations with no thyroid issues. The "normal" ranges in lab values aren't really all that normal. Also, some of us don't convert the T4 to T3 correctly so that we are T3 deficient. T3 is the hormone that truly affects cellular metabolism.

So, I went armed with information to my doctor and told him I wanted to lower my TSH and talk about adding a T3 suppliment. He agreed to up my medication and suggested a low carb diet, but wanted to hold off on the T3 until we saw what happened with my weight. The combination of upping my meds and the low carb resulted in 8 pounds of weight loss in a month. I am still exercising (that is VITALLY important for hypothyroids!) and am slowly losing the excess poundage. The doctor told me that hypos don't process carbs like normal people-they go directly into fat storage. Mine went all to my butt and stomach. Gotta hate those butt carbs. They really ought to label those.

My cholesterol also dropped like a rock. I went from 211 to 148 in three weeks. My LDL also went from 137 to 87. Even more interestingly, my TSH is now TOO LOW! I had to reduce the medication.

Why don't you think about going to your doctor and discussing lowering your TSH or having your T3 levels checked? Apparently, my metabolism needed the boost. Even with the lowered TSH and the low carb WOE, the doc warned me I wouldn't lose weight at the same speed as other people and I probably would never get over 40-50 g of carbs a day.

Paleo