Atkins and thyroid problems
 

Any one doing atkins and have a thyroid problem ? I lost weight doing Atkins 3 years ago , but now I found I have a thyroid problem and I just cannot get this induction to work for me. I do not feel well eating carbs so I wanted to give Atkins another try . I am trying an herbal route instead of medicine . Just wondering if others have had a harder time with thyroid . Will this still work or is it harmful in some way?

It hasn't hurt me any, but then, I was already hypothyroid for almost 30 years, before I ever switched to lc.

I think you'll not be really happy until you get on some thyroid replacement medication.

I am hypothyroid and low carbing is the only way I can lose weight. Granted, my meds are working perfectly at the moment so that probably helps. I have to stay very low carb though or I start gaining weight.

i have hypo even though i am not doing atkins am doing very low carb works well for me as long as i watch certain veggies. i tend to eat mostly eggs and meat. but i have my thyroid tested every month while i am losing to keep my meds regulated.

my weight does not come off easily at all now...and likely would go up if not for low carb. When I was younger...it seemed to fall off! And I'm really not that old...in my mid 30's (but post 2 children and hypothyroid). I started out doing Atkins, but found I really have to watch dairy..if I eat too much it literally causes months-long stalls. I try to avoid it, but damn, I love butter on anything, and HWC in my coffee. Cheese...I love but could do without :) Now, I kinda lean toward paleo, but do indulge in the dairy once in a while.

It has taken me over two years to lose 80 lbs and I've been stalled almost nine months. It's very frustrating. Especially since ideally, I'd like to be under 200.

The most important thing, I think, is to avoid gluten for a while and see if you get results. Many people who are hypothyroid are gluten intolerant and cannot lose weight AT ALL even if they consume very small amounts of wheat or gluten. I've also cut out canola and soy which are goitrogenic...and limit eating some of the raw cruciferous veggies that can also effect the thyroid.

YMMV, of course, my these are my own observations based on about two years of trial and error. Not that I'm losing weight all that fast, but I'm not GAINING either, which is a huge victory for me!

My son is gluten intolerant so that is a thought for me as well. I don't get the stomach distress if I eat gluten/wheat, like he does, but I do get really tired, like I took a sleeping pill or something. I'm doing atkins induction very strictly like I did before , but so far no weight loss . But the alternative is to feel tired all the time and feel bloated. I'm not doing meds yet, I do want to try the herbal route first. If it doesn't work in the 3 months I was told to try , then I will do the meds.
Sometimes I wonder if the Atkins diet caused the Thyroid problem, because I did great on it the first time , 3 years ago, and now I can't get the weight to budge. Is it possible too much protein, can create a thyroid problem?
I'm not eating any artificial sweeteners , just stevia, proteins and veggies. Drinking alot of water also . Seems like a healthy diet to me...minus the pork rinds. Fried foods are bad. I don't eat those things.
I'll just keep plugging away at it.

Atkins won't cause a thyroid problem, thyroid problems are due to autoimmune diseases (usually), or iodine deficiency, which are most likely due to a lifetime of eating bad stuff and/or genetics.

What Atkins, and any low calorie diet, will do is cause the amount of RT3 your body makes to go up. People who do calorie restricted diets as well as low carbers get this effect. It's simply the body's way of making sure you don't starve to death. It is temporary and should stop when you stop dieting.

There have been some information posted that as little as 50g of carbs is needed to avoid that in Atkins, but that assumes you're not low calorie too.

I can't lose on 50g of carbs. In fact, I can't even maintain my weight on that much carb. So I stick with lower carbs than that.

A lot of thyroid patients have found that the hCG diet works well for us. I posted something here not too long ago bout that.

My Mom has a thyroid problem as well. So it is probably genetics. I just want to be sure Atkins is right for me and you're right I need to stay very low carb. Sometimes during my TOM I crave salt and crunchy things. That is what caused me to slip off of atkins in the first place...cheetos!
So what is RT3? T3 and T4? All of this is really new to me.
Thanks for the info.

Hi.

When I was preg, OB discovered a large nodule in on the side of my neck. A surgeon remove a huge tumer 5cm long. I could feel it my self it was so big. OB said that tyroid issue are VERY common for preg and post preg women. So depending on you pregnancy history, that could be driving the thyroid problems and perhaps not the Atkin's diet. Just FYI.

I did LC 8 years ago with great success - lost 60#'s - this was pre-hypothyroidism...since then, it's been a struggle!

I'm losing weight ok with LC, but find I don't feel well on VLC - I typically keep carbs right around 30 net with some fruits and lots of veggies. About 2 months in and I am down 15 #'s - so about 2 #'s per week.

I lost many years ago with Atkins but found with hypothyroidism I just don't feel well living on Atkins, I get sleep issues, anxiety, mood swings, and no matter how much potassium I add to diet I feel fatigue...it was awful. I have more success living on South Beach and Power Protein.

I eat about 75-100 carbs a day and can still lose IF my meds are right and I am careful about portion control of carbs. I just listen to my body now; when I am full I STOP eating, even if its all zero carbs foods. When I do eat some carbs its only fruits or a serving of grains a day, usually whole grain. And when I say serving I mean a real serving...(usually less than 200 calories). I always eat it with protein and fat (so it does not spite blood sugar), and usually it is only in ONE meal a day (CAD principals). Some examples: 3/4 cup of brown rice with my sushi, half a whole wheat pita (or less) when I go out for Mediterranean food, a cup of fruit with my breakfast, ONE serving of low carb tortilla chips with Mexican food and so on...I never do grains more than once a day...and if I have had fruit that day I try to avoid grains all together...

I have found that for my thyroid meds to work right I need to eat SOME carbs...but NOT much...

If you are hypothyroid and not at a TSH of about 1 you ARE going to have trouble losing weight regardless of the diet you use, even low carb (but low carb is the best).

Your metabolism has slowed so you have to adjust your thinking to that issue. You will have to exercise and you will have to take meds to lose weight. You will stall otherwise...I finally got under 200 lbs and stalled for weeks until I got a new blood test and had the doc adjust my meds (I now take both t4 and t3), and I started to exercise. I also added some more fat to my diet as well. Amazingly it helped ALOT. Saturated fat has helped me lose weight...go figure (Atkins was spot on this issue!)

So long story short, get on thyroid meds, its cheap and it will help you lose weight. Yes you will need to figure out which med is best for you, but diet alone with NOT fix a thyroid issue.

I strongly encourage you to read books by Mary Shomon. The thyroid diet she has had most success with looks almost identical to a South Beach diet.

Very interesting post!!!

amanda

When taking meds for hypothyroid, do any of you find that you begin to lose a little better?

Only when my meds were optimized did I start to feel better and losing weight was easier-it took about 5 months for this to happen for me.