Just been told I am pre-diabetic. I also have hypothyroidism (an under active thyroid). Wondered if anyone with underactive thyroid and taking levothryoxin has tried this diet? Interested to hear how it is going/went? many thanks

Hiya

I started with an overactive thyroid 25 years ago after my last pregnancy and after 2 lots of radio active iodine it’s been underactive and I’ve been on Levo for several years now. Been on the 800 diet since last Monday and until I read your post I hadn’t given this aspect of it a thought. All I can say is that the thyroid is a strange beast, and my gp didn’t say anything about it when she had a little go at suggesting I lose weight. I’m thinking that everything will be better for losing weight, reducing cholesterol, reversing diabetes and all the other benefits of eating this way. I’m less achy, tired, bloated, puffy, miserable etc already. Doubt people like us could come off Levo though – don’t think I could because most of my thyroid was annihilated! I shall watch this space with interest, so thank you for raising it.

Hi I have an under active thyroid been on 150 of thyroxine for 32 years . Been on this diet for 9 days and lost 9lb .I’m sure as my weight goes down I will have to reduce my dose .

Thanks people. I agree any loss of weight can only help. Don’t expect to be able to ever come off meds for thyroid issues but would just be nice to be able to lose some weight as pretty much everything I have tried has had limited success and been slow progress. I shop tomorrow and start the diet on Tuesday !!!

Hi, I’ve got a slightly underactive thyroid – on minimum dose. I have just started week 6 and have lost 16.6 pounds. The last couple of weeks have been very small losses sonic am going to need to do some exercise :).

Good luck! It’s easier than you think. If you feel hungry drink some water, and you might want to have a hot water with slice of lemon, or mint before breakfast. Jackie

Hi, I read the book ten days ago and started the diet last Wednesday. I have had an under active Thyroid for more than twenty years. I have always struggled to shed weight. I have lost a pound a day despite having a dinner party on Saturday night. I know they said wait until you have a clear two months to throw yourself into but for me that was never going to happen. Can’t believe the difference and I am not hungry.

My doctor is watching my thyroid. i take Nature-Throid. He said that limited calories can negatively affect the thyroid, but so far it hasn’t. That’s one of the reasons that he doesn’t want me to continue the 800 calorie ‘bootcamp’ after the 8 weeks. but wants me on the 5/2. I’m into week 6.

Hi everyone, do you have an update on your progress, as I’ve been on the shakes for just over 2 weeks and lost 13lb and going to start this diet tomorrow, and I’ve had an underactive thyroid all my life, and my weight has always been up and down so I would like something that I can stick to, thanks x

I am on thyroid. We did a thyroid test at the end of the 7th week. It had gone from high normal to lowest normal. Something predicted by my doc. He told me that calorie restriction can cause the thyroid to decrease (metabolism to decrease). So, at the end of the 8 weeks, I’ll go to regular Mediterranean for 5 days and 2 days of 800 calories. That will start this Sunday.

I think diet is such an individual thing. It just so happens that if i followed as close as possible to what Dr. Mosley suggested, I did fine.

I’m not sure how the doc is going to handle the lowered thyroid. I see him next week. My guess is wait and see if the introduction of calories after a while corrects it. I understand that it takes about 2 months for a new thyroid test to be accurate. So, i’m going to guess we’ll wait for a second test and then decide whether to increase my dosage.

Hope this helps. Good luck, you sound like you’ve got a good start! Congratulations!

My thyroid has been under-active for ten years now. Although I cant blame my excess weight on its effects, I am sure it doesn’t help.

Would be really interesting to know if other sufferers have succeeded on the BSD and if their weight loss stacks up against those who don’t?

Good luck everyone. I am only on day two but this site and the book is very inspirational.

Tracy

27 pounds down- week 7, day 3. I’m on thyroid.

The last time i lost a lot of weight my thyroid went into a burn mode and my thyroxine levels had to be reduced. Reading your post I am wondering if it was coincidental. I have an appointment on the 18th to discuss this with my gp. I only had my annual blood test 4 months ago but I definitely want it rechecking. 🙂

I google thyroid and calorie restriction and came up with the info below. My doc told me that with 800 calories for 8 weeks, my thyroid would likely go down and it did. He said that once I am on the 5/2 plan it should re-establish itself.

http://cathe.com/how-low-calorie-diets-affect-thyroid-function

Your thyroid gland actually produces much more T4 than it does T3, but T3 is the most active form of thyroid hormone. Once your thyroid makes T4, it’s converted to active T3 when it reaches tissues in your body. It’s T3 that binds to receptors on cells to regulate your metabolism.

So, how does dieting and calorie restriction throw things off? When you drop your calorie intake too low or place your body under stress in other ways, through injury or illness, less T4 is converted to T3. Instead more is made into something called reverse T3.

The problem with reverse T3 is it isn’t active. What it does do is bind to the same receptors that T3 does and makes it difficult for T3 to bind. With reverse T3 keeping active T3 out of the picture, you burn less fat and carbohydrates and your metabolism, along with everything else, slows down. If you’re trying to lose body fat, this makes it quite a bit harder to achieve your objective. This type of thyroid dysfunction can be challenging to pick up on standard thyroid function blood tests unless your doctor measures reverse T3 levels.

Thyroid Hormones 101 – from Holtorfmed

Thyroid hormone plays an important role in metabolic function. While many patients are familiar with the thyroid stimulating hormone, or TSH, most are not aware that there are a number of thyroid hormones. TSH, created by the pituitary gland, tells the thyroid to make thyroxine. Thyroxine, or T4, is an inactive thyroid hormone that must be converted before it has an effect on the body. T4 can be converted to triiodothyronine (T3), the active hormone that has a metabolic effect on the body, or it can be converted to reverse T3, an inactive form of T3 that actually blocks the cell receptors for thyroid hormones, thus blocking the effect of T3. If a patient has too much RT3 in comparison to T3, that patient will be hypothyroid at the cellular level, with a reduced metabolic rate. Or, explained more simply, that patient will have difficulty losing weight and keeping weight off.

Studies Find Dieting Reduces Metabolism by as much as 25%

A study published in the American Journal of Physiology, Endocrinology and Metabolism found that a mere 25 days of calorie restriction resulted in a significant reduction in T4 to T3 conversion, with a 50 percent reduction in T3. And, as importantly, this study found that patients who experienced reduced T3 as a result of this calorie restriction actually saw a decrease in TSH, indicating an increase in thyroid hormone levels, when the opposite was actually true. The period of calorie restriction caused a clinically significant reduction of T3, which could potentially cause a person to be unable to lose weight or to regain weight already lost.

In a second study, published in the journal Metabolism, patients who had lost weight in the past had a significantly lower metabolism than other patients who were the same weight and had not gained or lost significant weight in the past year. The weight-loss patients had a metabolism that was 25 percent less that the comparable equal-weight person, with a metabolic rate that was more appropriate for someone who weighed 60 percent less than the weight-loss patient. Additionally, this reduction in metabolic rate was still present years later

A 25 percent reduction in metabolism is equivalent to an approximate deficit of 500 to 600 calories per day. Imagine reducing your caloric intake by 500 to 600 calories each day and not losing any weight. This is the effect that acute or chronic dieting can have on a person’s metabolism. And, looking at the effect from a different angle, a person who is experiencing a 25 percent reduction in metabolism not only would have difficulty losing weight, but actually would have to reduce their calorie intake even further just to keep from gaining a pound of weight each week.

Thank you very much for posting this information, I am going to have to print it off and read it several times but it does help enormously. I’m thinking my gp needs to consider these points.

I can’t do the 800 calorie diet, I have tried but it just didn’t seem to make weight loss happen in the way it’s supposed to. I may try again, I liked the food, was never hungry and loved discovering new foods. As I’m not diabetic or pre-diabetic I’m focusing on what’s called ‘clean eating’ and the Med diet and the 5:2 diet and whilst I’ve not lost any weight for 10 days I haven’t put any on and other health issues I’m hoping will improve – complicated by high cholesterol – I don’t digest fat too well so I suspect I can’t burn fat? (Gall stone ruptured bile duct decades ago). Goodness knows.

Vegetarian and lactose intolerant from birth… we mostly have complex and very different health issues on the forum but the message about cutting out sugar and avoiding the sugar laden fat free/low fat options still applies to everyone and it seems those of us with thyroid issues will have to educate the medics much as diabetic people have/will have to. My sympathy for those with both.

I swallowed radioactive iodine twice to get like this, comfort ate and got fat on wholefood veggie diet. Off now to chomp on homemade humous and flat breads. It means a lot to be in the company of people travelling a similar path.

Thanks gateofheaven I will print that of. Doesn’t explain what happened to me when I lost weight on 5:2. The burn up of my thyroid must have happened coincidentally with weight loss. Apparently it is rare and even GP has said peculiar things seem to happen to me. My dose was dropped from 125 to 50! Then. Over a year or so it needed to be increased bit by bit.

It is amazing how differently peoples bodies react – thinking of weight loss rates, drops in blood sugar readings etc.

I’m. Going to take the info you have supplied to my GP. I don’t want a cheap test doing after reading your info. 🙂

Gateofheaven thank-you for sharing. That there is the story of my life long weight loss battle. I too will be printing it off and taking to the hospital.

Thanks