Shownotes
Welcome to this week’s episode of Thyroid Strong where I describe five different strategies on how you can lose weight with Hashimoto’s. There are clear essential steps to incorporate into your every day routine that will make a dramatic difference in how you feel and will help you reach your goal weight.
Key Takeaways
What is the best way to lose weight with Hashimoto’s? In working with your functional medicine practitioner, properly managing your thyroid hormones within optimal range, make sure your diet is in a caloric deficit, proper protein intake, reset your circadian rhythm, and your workout regimen should reflect those inside Thyroid Strong program with functional movements, 3-4 days of resistance training a week, and workouts 20-30 minutes in length.
Thyroid Hormones & Adjusting Your Diet to Lose Weight with Hashimoto’s
The most important thing to manage first are your thyroid hormones. They need to be within optimal range, not conventional range. Next, adjust your diet to prioritize 30 grams of protein minimum per meal and write down everything you eat to introduce a 10-20% caloric deficit. There must be a caloric deficit in order to lose weight.
Prioritizing Sleep and How You Workout to Lose Weight with Hashimoto’s
New research suggests rising at the same time every day to reset your circadian rhythm along with six hours of uninterrupted sleep. Sleep and your workout go hand in hand due to your cortisol levels. Make sure to work out during the day to not spike your nightly cortisol levels. During your workout, remember functional movements like a hinge, squat, push, pull, carry, lunge, and anti-rotation, heavier weights, low reps, and longer rest breaks.
In This Episode
Thyroid hormones within optimal range [1:38]
Including a caloric deficit strategy into your diet [4:46]
Prioritizing protein to stimulate muscle protein synthesis [6:26]
Rise at the same time every day and get your work out in during the day [9:38]
Accessories to help you sleep [10:32]
How to workout without burning out with Hashimoto’s [12:12]
Questions to ask yourself if you want to lose weight with Hashimoto’s [15:07]
Quotes
“Thyroid hormones are required for every metabolic process in the body, including maintaining your muscle mass, our digestion, everything.” [2:08]
“So write down everything you're eating, put it into an app, make it really easy.” [6:06]
“Animal protein is a more readily available protein source to be absorbed over plant protein.” [8:56]
“The newer research shows six hours uninterrupted is the key.” [9:22]
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Listen to the episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, or on your favorite podcast platform.
Topics Covered:
- Thyroid hormones within optimal range versus conventional range
- How caloric deficit works to regulate weight loss
- How much protein to include with every meal with Hashimoto’s
- Establishing a great circadian rhythm and accessories to help
- A great workout regimen to follow with Hashimoto’s to reach your goal weight
Link’s mentioned in this episode:
Follow Dr Emily Kiberd:
If you want more information on when the next round of Thyroid Strong workout program goes live, join the waitlist for all the early bird discounts, bonuses, and details.
Links you may want to check out:
If you are struggling with fatigue due to Hashimoto’s: https://www.dremilykiberd.com/fatigue/
If you are wanting to lose weight with Hashimoto’s: https://www.dremilykiberd.com/weight/
Wondering the top 3 mistakes you may be making in your workout with Hashimoto’s: https://www.dremilykiberd.com/strong/
Transcripts
30 grams per meal of protein minimum. And it's important because muscle is our metabolic engine, the more we have of it, the more calories we burn muscle is a very expensive organ, it requires a lot of calories to maintain. Otherwise, we start to lose your muscle mass. What's up lovely lady is Dr. Emily Kiberd here. I get this question multiple times a day. And it comes in different forms. And you probably with Hashimotos also have this question comes in the form of what is the best way to lose weight? How do I work out to lose weight? How do I eat to lose weight, what's the best foods to help me lose weight, so I'm going to go over five strategies to lose weight with Hashimotos. And these were some of the things that I did for myself, especially working with a functional medicine practitioner. And some things that conventional medicine might sometimes skim over, right, a lot of times we go to our doctor and we hear to lose weight, eat less, work out more. And with Hashimotos with an autoimmune condition, that can be a disservice. And I'll give you a couple examples of patients I've seen, you know, and I've seen them from the biomechanical aspect, strength rehab, working on different injuries, joint pain, muscle aches, but they shared their story about having a medication changed. And they did all the things the same, and they gained 40 pounds in two months. So I'll share this story. So let's dive in five strategies on how to lose weight with Hashimotos. So the first one is around your thyroid hormones. If your thyroid hormones are outside optimal range, I'm going to put this out there, this might be triggering, it is near impossible to lose weight, if your thyroid hormones are all over the place, or they are not being managed properly. And that could be with a conventional medicine doctor could be with a functional medicine doctor, but really having your thyroid hormone levels within optimal range. really optimize your body to help lose that weight. As we know thyroid hormone is required for every metabolic process in the body, including maintaining your muscle mass, our digestion, everything. And so just know that there are conventional ranges of lab work. And then there are optimal ranges, the conventional range is much, much broader. And if you listen to the episode with Amy Horniman, earlier in the week, we talked about these ranges and why the conventional range is so much broader. It's including those who are really, really sick. And to feel your best self you want your lab work to be within optimal range. And just also making sure and we talked about this with Amy on Monday's episode that you are getting a full thyroid panel. So TSH, free T three free T for two antibody tests and reverse T three to really give a full picture of how your thyroid is functioning. So I'll give you an example. I saw a patient two weeks ago, and she was on a medication that was a combination of T three and T four she works out. She does resistance training four days a week, sometimes five days a week does all the things have your weight, lower reps long rest breaks, and tracks what she eats, hits her protein and manages your stress. And her doctor took her T three medication down by a lot. And she did all the same things in terms of how she was eating how she was working out her stress, and she gained 40 pounds in two months 40 pounds in two months. And she was extremely fatigued. Like beyond fatigue. I could barely get out of bed but she still did all the things worked out, ate well and gained 40 pounds in two months. And her doctor had taken her T three down because the doctor was concerned about loss of bone, osteopenia, osteoporosis, with being on T three long term as well as any sort of heart conditions with long term T three use. And she basically begged her doctor, the doctor was like you know what, do it for six weeks, see if you can equilibrate. And she's like I don't feel like myself, I'm fatigued. I'm 40 pounds heavier. And I've been doing all the same things and the only thing that changed is my medication. So she begged her doctor to put her back and what she was the same dose of T three T four and went back to losing the weight feeling like herself feeling better. So that's the first strategy that is probably near impossible to lose weight if your thyroid hormones are out of whack and outside the optimal range. Number two you need to be If weight loss is the goal in some caloric deficit. What gets measured gets managed and I'm a busy mom of two kids. I don't write down everything I eat every single day but sometimes it If I feel like I'm doing all the things in packing on the pounds, I do it for one week, I write down everything I eat. I put it in a tracker color tracker, like, chronometer, My Fitness Pal. Another example of the carbon coach app to track the calories. And you've heard the same, you can't out train a bad diet. So if I'm training, and I feel like I'm putting on weight, I go to what am I eating? What am I putting in my mouth? And typically, you know, I did this in the middle of the pandemic, I felt like I was putting on weight. Even though I was training, I was walking, I was doing all the things that I'm going to suggest in this podcast. You know what, for just one week, I know what gets measured gets managed, you're gonna write everything down, and I put it into carbon coach app. And I was eating like 3500 calories a day, you know, when I'm five, six, usually sit around 145. And I usually do well about 1500 to 1800 calories a day, and I was like holy Smokies. This is why I'm packing on the bounce. You know, whatever I was eating, that pattern had become my normal during the pandemic. So write down everything you're eating, put it into an app, make it really easy. chronometer, My Fitness Pal, or carbon coach are three ones that I really love and track and then know that you need to be in probably a 10 to 20% caloric deficit to lose weight. So that's number two. Number three, prioritize your protein. Protein is satiating. It is near impossible to overeat protein, you can try it, you'll probably throw it up 30 grams of protein per meal minimum. And there's a time dose dependent ideal window about 15 to 20 minutes. So don't graze. I'm a grazer. I like to kind of like eat slowly through my day. That is not the ideal in terms of stimulating muscle protein synthesis, which is just muscle maintenance, muscle growth. 30 grams per meal of protein minimum. And it's important because muscle is our metabolic engine, the more we have of it, more calories we burn muscle is a very expensive organ and requires a lot of calories to maintain. Otherwise, we start to lose our muscle mass. Start your day with protein. There's an inverse relationship of glucose and cortisol. So in the morning, think of cortisol, which is a hormone like the sun. It wakes us up and motivates us, it gets us ready for our day. If we eat glucose in the morning, it drives down our cortisol when we want cortisol highest to start your day with protein instead of a big carby breakfast of oatmeal and don't as you know, the typical standard American diet started with protein 30 grams looks like five eggs if five eggs is too much to choke down. To get 30 grams of protein, try three eggs and chicken sausage. Sometimes when we start to eat protein, we'll feel like we have a lump in our tummy like it's harder to digest. So I like to take some digestive enzymes beforehand, about 10 minutes before I eat protein. And then I usually take mastic gum and DGL which is licorice root after to help aid with the digestion helps avoid any sort of constipation. So number three, prioritize your protein. I like animal protein because it has a more complete amino acid profile plant protein. Like if you look at the label, it says 20 grams, even though you will be ingesting 20 grams, that doesn't necessarily mean you will be absorbing 20 grams of protein. Usually you don't absorb as much animal protein as what is on the label. So I like to default to animal protein versus plant protein. Let me say that again. plant protein, the amount that is on the label that you're ingesting is not typically the amount that is getting absorbed. Animal protein is a more readily available protein source to be absorbed over plant protein. Really the most readily available, animal protein source that can be absorbed is whey protein. Sometimes for some of us like myself, when I drink whey protein I blowed up and look like I'm six months pregnant again. So I like to eat my protein versus drinking it. So number three prioritizing protein sleep. Our body's demand for carbohydrates goes up when we are sleep deprived. So if you ever noticed you haven't gotten good night's sleep, if you feel like you want to eat something carby like a croissant, a scone whatever your go to car may be so prioritizing. Sleep is huge when it comes to losing weight. Newer research suggest six hours of uninterrupted sleep. I know you've heard a lot of get eight hours. The newer research shows six hours uninterrupted is the key word there. And a lot of people will say okay, go to bed the same time every day 10 between 10 and 1130 At try to go to bed at the same time. Well, I find that to be very stressful, winding up the night to get to bed at same time every night can feel very stressful. And the newer research really supports rising at the same time every day to get your eyes on the horizon sun on the face the first 30 minutes of the day to reset your circadian rhythm if it's off, right if you're feeling like you have insomnia, or you're waking up multiple times in the middle of the night, so trying to wake at the same time every day, no matter what time you went to bed, try and get that six hours uninterrupted. Some of the things I use to help get uninterrupted sleep earplugs and eyemask. I really love the sleep crown they're out of Austin or the manta eyemask and you put on the manta there is no light getting through that sucker. I also use an Uhler chilli pad and I'll drop that link in the show notes. It's basically a pad you put on top of your mattress, and it will flow water through that pad. So it's basically above the mattress and under the sheet. And you can set it to whatever temperature you want. You can even heat it up if it's really cold, but I like to put mine down to about 65. And it just it's just like the perfect temperature. I just got a deeper sleep with it. So check out the cooler chili pad. The link will be in the show notes if you're feeling tired. But wired, which is a really common complaint with us Hashi ladies is we're tired, tired all day. And then we go horizontal and finally get to lay down when we feel wired like being eyes open and can't get to sleep. So there are some sleep recommendations on the blog, go to Dr. Emily khyber.com forward slash blog, you will find different supplements and sleep recommendations on there. I think the last piece about sleep which is number four is if you're working out later in the day, it could be throwing off your cortisol right because when you're working out, there's a spike in your cortisol, that motivation hormone. And I noticed for myself, if I work out past 4pm I am like rip rolling ready to go until 2am. I'm just totally awake. So I like to get my workout in before 2pm In my day. So moving on to number five working out which is one of my favorite topics, just like you can't out train a bad diet like a number two, you can't no train clean eating a good diet. Right. So if you're more on the sedentary side, in the bed in the couch with Hashimotos because your fatigue, this is where I would start, I would start to hit 10,000 steps a day. Right getting a cardiovascular component in and then I'd start to work up to resistance training, working up to three times a week. 20 minutes a session, which I know for some Hashimotos ladies who don't have their thyroid hormones under control can feel like a lot or have their thyroid hormones managed by a doctor. The opposite end of that spectrum. If you are the type a Hachi lady who's going to CrossFit are doing ultra marathon training six days a week and you're gaining weight, you're probably overtraining. So maybe you need to dial it down to resistance training three to four days a week 20 to 30 minutes, functional movements. And I call these functional movements the essential seven, so a hinge like a deadlift. That's number one. Number two is a squat, a push a pull, that's three, four a carry, like you're carrying your groceries, some sort of anti rotation, like a single arm kettlebell swing, or a side plank with some movement, and a lunch. The lunch is the last one which is actually probably the hardest one for my body. And for a lot of Hashi ladies, just because of knee pain, discomfort, but we'll talk about that one in another episode. So those are the seven movements. Hinge squat, push, pull, carry anti rotate lunge. And this is where thyroid strong comes in. Right my program for ladies with Hashimotos. To learn how to work out without burnout. We use heavier weights, we use kettlebells because they are more forgiving when you're first learning forms and a dumbbell which clunks along the legs or barbell. And it's really great for stimulating those neurological centers in the body that helped create integration of the joints. We'll talk about that another episode. So heavier weight, low reps, we typically don't do anything over six reps and direct strong and then long rest breaks. A long rest break could be up to three to five minutes. And then last piece, which I mentioned is 10,000 steps in your day to get that cardiovascular aspect of your health. So thyroid strong. The components are functional movements, three days a week 20 to 30 minutes and your 20 to 25 minutes of resistance training, functional movements, heavy weights, low reps, long rest breaks. So those are my five strategies on how to lose weight with Hashimotos Just ask yourself, I'd like to ask it in question form versus Oh, I'm not doing this or am I doing this? It's like, this is how I asked it. These are the five questions. Are my thyroid hormones within optimal range? If they're not go grab your lab work check. I have a blog about what are the conventional ranges versus the optimal ranges? Am I in a caloric deficit? am I tracking? Am I prioritizing my protein getting 30 grams per meal, especially in the morning? Am I doing everything I can to get six hours of uninterrupted sleep and am I resistance training three days a week? 20 minutes heavier weights? Those are my five questions I asked myself and if I'm not doing those that I go back to the basics of why I'm not losing weight. So hopefully that helps I get this question every day multiple times a day and my thyroid strong Facebook group. If you're interested in getting on the waitlist of thyroid strong, it's coming out October 1 Get on the waitlist early bird discounts, Early Bird bonuses and all the details. It's going to be super fun group. How many times have you done a challenge a fitness challenge and everyone else is getting the results but you're not you're like, why am I not getting the results like everyone else? Hello, you have an autoimmune condition like I do. So get on the waitlist. It's Dr. Emily khyber.com forward slash T. 's waitlist. Alright ladies, hope to see you on the inside. If you enjoyed this episode, or even learned just one new piece of information to help you on your Hashimotos journey. Would you do me a huge favor, rate and review thyroid strong podcast on iTunes, Spotify or whatever platform you used to listen to this podcast and share what you liked. maybe learn something new. And if you did like it well shoot me a DM on Instagram Dr. Emily hybird I read and respond to every single DM I truly believe all feedback is good feedback. Even the ugly comments if you're interested in joining the thyroid strong course a home workout program using kettlebells and weights where I teach you how to work out without the burnout. Go to Dr. Emily cupboard.com forward slash T 's waitlist. You'll get all the most up to date information on when the course launches and goes live special deals and early access bonuses for myself and my functional medicine doctor friends again Dr. Emily khyber.com forward slash T s weightless hope to see you on the inside ladies