If you’ve been struggling to lose weight with Hashimoto’s, you’re not alone. Traditional weight loss advice—cutting calories and doing more cardio—doesn’t work when you have an underactive thyroid. In this episode of Thyroid Strong, I’m sharing the 5 things I’d focus on in 2025 to lose weight without burnout, extreme fatigue, or metabolic slowdowns. These are the strategies that actually move the needle when it comes to fat loss, muscle gain, and boosting thyroid health.

From dialing in protein intake to reducing environmental toxins that sabotage your metabolism, this episode is packed with actionable steps to help you lose weight, increase energy, and feel strong in your body.

Tune in to Learn:

✅ Why protein intake is the #1 change I’m making in 2025 for fat loss and muscle retention

✅ The workout strategy that works best for Hashimoto’s (hint: it’s not endless cardio)

✅ How to track macros the right way without triggering adrenal fatigue

✅ The gut-thyroid connection and how inflammation could be stalling your progress

✅ The hidden environmental toxins that make you hold onto weight and how to detox safely

✅ The hidden environmental toxins that make you hold onto weight and how to detox safely

✅ My take on GLP-1's

If you’re tired of guessing what works for weight loss with Hashimoto’s, this episode will give you the roadmap you need.

Resources & Links Mentioned:

🔹 💪 Join Thyroid Strong – My Signature Strength Program for Women with Hashimoto’s

🔹 🔥 Get Personalized Support with Thyroid Strong Elite (my group coaching program)

🔹 🩺 Work With Me 1:1 – Functional Medicine Health Coaching

🔹 🩺 Hashimoto's Health Audit

🔹 My Go-To Air & Water Filters for Reducing Toxin Exposure

🔹 Follow Me on Instagram for More Hashimoto’s Tips

Connect With Me:

📲 Instagram: @DrEmilyKiberd

📩 Get My Weekly Hashimoto’s Newsletter: Sign Up Here

🌎 Website: www.dremilykiberd.com

💡 Loved this episode? Leave a review on Apple Podcasts or share it on Instagram and tag me!

What's up beautiful ladies, Dr.

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Emily Kiberd here.

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I'm a chiropractor, mama of two,

and someone who loves to talk about

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helping women with Hashimoto's feel

like themselves again, but better.

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Today we're going to talk about the

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to lose weight with Hashimoto's.

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I work with hundreds of

ladies with Hashimoto's.

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The number one complaint is

The weight loss has plateaued.

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I can't lose weight.

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I'm actually gaining weight.

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I'm gaining weight at a rapid weight.

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No matter what I do, no matter how

little I eat or how hard I work

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out, I just can't lose the weight.

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And so I want to talk about before we

jump into the five things that I would

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do in 2025 is why is weight loss so much

trickier or feels like you're pushing

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a boulder up a hill with Hashimoto's.

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So not only do we have to consider

our thyroid gland, which is a very

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sensitive gland, big fluctuations in

caloric intake and the amount of food

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we're taking in, in activity levels can

really put load or stress on the thyroid.

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We have to consider, are our

thyroid hormones optimized?

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To lose weight are we pushing hypothyroid?

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Is our TSH driving up causing us to not be

able to lose weight no matter what we do?

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I would argue that it is near

impossible to lose weight if you

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are pushing very hypothyroid.

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We also have to consider our adrenal

glands, the thyroid and the adrenals.

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are very integral.

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and work with our thyroid gland.

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when I was first diagnosed with

Hashimoto's, I would eat one meal a

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day, I'd eat two, I'd wake up, I'd

have coffee and croissant, I'd work a

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12 hour day, I'd come home, I'd eat a

little bit of skirt steak and broccoli.

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I was not eating enough calories,

but I was also not losing weight.

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I was stressing myself out, from

working long days, having a newborn, not

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sleeping, but then also not eating enough.

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So when we're talking about late weight

loss with Hashimoto's, it is different.

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It is not simply move more, eat less.

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That is one piece of the puzzle,

but we also have to look at, what

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your thyroid hormones look like?

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What is your stress look like?

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What is your sleep look like?

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What is your gut health look like?

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Is there environmental load?

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I cannot tell you how many women

I work with one on one who are

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living in mold exposure and cannot

lose the weight no matter what.

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let's dive in a little bit, insight into

my personal journey is I was diagnosed

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with Hashimoto's in 2016 after the birth

of my firstborn baby Elvis, he's nine

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now and really went through five doctors.

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primary care endocrinologist and actually

three functional medicine doctors

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before I found one who actually tested

a complete comprehensive thyroid panel

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and she was like, do you have Hashimoto's

and inflammation is high cortisol is

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high and We're gonna start to chip away

at this I went into remission a year

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later I do not take thyroid meds now.

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My labs have been good

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now I help women do the same.

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some of the things we're

going to talk about today.

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are things I did to lose the 20 pounds,

25 pounds of baby weight that was not

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coming off despite under eating, despite

moving my body all day as a chiropractor,

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adjusting people, and then doing a

90 minute soul cycle class at night.

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these are the things that

I did to lose that weight.

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When I 140.

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I'm five foot six.

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Each of my pregnancies, my weight

bumped up to 190, 195, so I've gained

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like 50 to 55 pounds and then The

weight would come down to about 160,

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but then losing that last 20 pounds

clung on Like a little leech, like a

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little new baby that was like mommy.

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Don't let me go no matter what I did

So let's dive in I'm going to share

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some of the things I did, but I'm

also going to give five things I do in

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2025 to lose weight with Hashimoto's.

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Number one, prioritize protein at every

meal, a non negotiable, especially

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in the morning and at dinner, when

we wake up, we are coming off a fast.

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Hence we break our fast with breakfast.

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And so you really want to get minimum

30 grams of protein in that first meal.

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I would say 30 to 50.

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We don't eat protein to

just eat the protein.

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We eat protein for the amino

acids, specifically leucine.

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30 grams of protein will give us about

two to three grams of leucine, which will

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then trigger muscle protein synthesis,

which is keeping our muscle on the bone.

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So important.

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And I tell you, when I work with

women in my functional medicine

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practice, we literally start with.

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adding more protein in, starting the

day with protein, Baby steps, because

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we don't want to create overwhelm.

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And I can't tell you how many women

within a week to 10 days were like,

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Oh my God, I have so much more energy.

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I didn't even do anything else.

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All I changed was increasing my protein.

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eating protein will Help us keep muscle

on the bone will help us maintain our

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muscle mass will stoke our metabolism

because to break down protein it Actually

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requires more energy than breaking down

a carb or fat Protein keeps us satiated.

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if you've ever put yourself in a

caloric deficit like oh, I'm gonna

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move more eat less I'm gonna eat less.

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I'm gonna eat less.

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three days later, you're like,

Oh my God, I want to eat every

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single potato chip in the pantry.

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if you eat protein, it will

keep you satiated longer.

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It is near impossible to overeat protein.

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You will probably throw up

before you overeat protein.

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You can overeat carbs,

you can overeat fat.

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but there is this protein threshold

that our body hits until we hit 30

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grams of protein, we will keep eating.

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Our body is searching for

food to hit that threshold.

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if you've ever eaten a lot of

carbs and then like an hour later,

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feel snacky and want more carbs.

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It's because you haven't

hit your protein threshold.

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to create satiety.

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So protein, super satiating,

near impossible to overeat.

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I really love protein that

comes from whole foods, animal

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based, complete protein.

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If I'm trying to up my protein, sometimes

I will integrate a protein shake as

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a snack, but that's only if I can't

physically get it in, in my meal.

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Eggs, chicken sausage for breakfast.

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I always start with my protein,

then my, fiber and vegetables,

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and then if there's room, carbs.

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Processed carbs.

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like a piece of gluten free bread.

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For lunch, it will be some

sort of protein and veg.

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Same thing for dinner.

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If I have lifted heavy that day, I will

Eat a starch resistant carb for dinner.

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A starch resistant carb is a

carb, like a potato, that is

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cooked in a fat and eaten cooled.

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it just helps minimize our glucose

spike and I eat it at dinner because

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carbs help with muscle recovery.

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So if I've lifted really heavy

or early in the day, I want my

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muscles to recover properly.

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So I will eat a starch

resistant carb for dinner.

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prioritize protein every meal.

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My girl, Alison Morris, Food by

Morris will say, start savory.

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So start the morning with

protein, which I always do.

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And I noticed when I switched from

caffeine and croissants to starting my

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day with protein, huge shift in energy,

huge shift in not crashing at 2 p.

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m.

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and huge shift in my cognitive ability.

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Just energy and brain function

and having conversations were

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just steadier throughout the day.

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Number two, lift weights and train smart.

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I have women train thyroid strong

style, which is my signature

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kettlebell program, lifting weights.

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Some people use dumbbells.

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And why do we do this?

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You could lose weight and not lift

weights just by decreasing your calories,

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but you're going to look skinny fat.

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like a little soft and squishy.

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No one wants to look soft and squishy.

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We want to look toned, defined,

like we have muscle tissue.

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And the only way to do

that is to lift weights.

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Just like you can't out train a bad

diet, you cannot no train a good diet.

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training is essential.

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For weight loss, the more muscle you

have, the more calories you burn at rest.

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When you do cardio, you are only burning

calories while you're doing cardio.

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When you lift weights, you

put on more muscle tissue, you

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are challenging the muscles.

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And the more muscle tissue you have, it

is a very metabolically expensive organ.

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So you will burn more calories at rest.

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The more muscle tissue you have.

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I love thyroid strong.

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It is a little bit on the heavier side,

lower reps and long rest breaks so

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that you do not take out your energy.

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I think every single woman

with Hashimoto's should

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be doing thyroid strong.

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It is a non negotiable.

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Even women with flatline stage 3

cortisol, flatline cortisol, you guys

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call this stage 3 adrenal fatigue,

adrenal dysfunction, they still lift

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weights and they get their energy

back and they put on more muscle.

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So I would adjust your workouts if

you're only doing Pilates or yoga

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or walking or F45 or Orange Theory.

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I would switch to a thyroid

strong style of working out.

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I will put the link in the show

notes if you want to check it out.

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It is so affordable.

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It is amazing.

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Hundreds of hundreds of hundreds of women.

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I think 600 women have gone through

the program and had amazing results.

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It is also important when

you're lifting to increase.

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the weight, the reps, the sets,

or the time under tension or

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load while you're lifting.

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So if you've been doing deadlifts

at 65 pounds for a year, you're not

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going to lose weight because you're

not challenging yourself over time.

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The muscles will adapt,

your metabolism will adapt.

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You need to start to create

progressive overload, which

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is increased volume over time.

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Volume can look like instead

of three sets, it's four sets.

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It can be instead of 8 reps is 10 reps.

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It can be picking up a heavier weight or

it can be just more time under tension.

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So instead of holding the weight for 15

seconds, you're holding it for 20 seconds,

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but it needs to increase over time.

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Number three, you need to dial

in your calories and macros.

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It is a non negotiable.

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Extreme caloric deficits.

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Only work for so long with Hashimoto's

once you start eating back at maintenance

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calories again, maintenance calories

are where you are not gaining weight

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or losing weight, but calories that

help you sustain your weight, you might

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see from going into a extreme caloric

deficit that the weight packs on really

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quick a caloric deficit is necessary to

lose weight, but You're not supposed to

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be at a caloric deficit all the time.

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Even bodybuilders, they cycle.

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probably 20 percent of the year

they are in a caloric deficit.

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right before they go into competition.

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The rest of the year they're at

maintenance and they're training hard

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and they're putting on more muscle or in

a surplus eating more calories so they

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can really beef up the muscle and then

they go into a competition, in a cut.

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know That those people who look

like they have six packs on stage,

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do not have six packs forever.

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It is not sustainable.

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It will tank your, hormones,

your sex hormones, your thyroid

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hormones, your adrenals.

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working with a great provider, I do this

with women inside my thyroid strong elite,

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which is a step up from thyroid strong.

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It's my group programming where we

not only personalize the workouts.

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to your goals and I check on you every

single week and we do calls every

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single week, but also calculating,

okay, based on your goal right now,

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what are the calories you need?

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How do we set your macros so that

you're hitting your protein goals?

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We're hitting your carbohydrate goals

so that you're recovering properly.

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And then what's left over fats.

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I had recently, her name's Sylvia.

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She is late fifties.

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So in, menopause, postmenopausal.

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She's like, yeah, I just had this like

little muffin top that's like lingering.

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I go, great.

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Let's put you on a workout program.

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Thyroid Strong Elite.

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her goal was to get down to 53 kilos.

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she did the workouts and followed.

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Our cycling of maintenance to

caloric deficit and back to

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maintenance and she lost the weight.

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So if you ever hear, Oh, I'm

old, I can't lose the weight,

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my metabolism slowed down.

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Don't believe it.

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Every day is a new day to start.

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I will drop the link into

Thyroid Strong Elite below.

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So number one.

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1.

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Prioritize protein every meal.

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2.

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Lift those heavy weights,

thyroid strong style.

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3.

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Dial in your macros and your calories.

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We do this inside Thyroid Strong Elite.

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4.

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Get strategic on potential

root causes that could be

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making you hold on to weight.

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One of them would be gut.

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Right?

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So hitting gut infections like H.

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pylori, SIBO can contribute to

your inability to lose weight.

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I've seen women just address an H.

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pylori infection in the stomach or SIBO,

which is small intestinal bacterial

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overgrowth and lose like 10 pounds.

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Nothing else changed.

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Calories, macros, workouts did not change.

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So gut is an integral piece when

you are looking at weight loss.

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And sometimes we have a little belly

and it's actually bloat, and we

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think it's adipose or fat tissue.

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if you address the underlying

root cause of a gut infection,

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the weight can come off.

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I do this in my one on one functional

medicine health coaching with

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people, where we are not only doing

a workout, calories and macros.

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Now, we're looking also at

the functional medicine tools.

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What does your blood work look like?

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Is your thyroid optimized?

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How do your adrenals look?

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Are there inflammatory markers?

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Using gut testing like a GI map

to see are there any underlying

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or hidden gut infections?

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And then we start to move

on to environmental load.

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When you address gut infections, you

will see shifts in your thyroid markers.

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I've seen women.

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TSH comes down, antibodies come

down, and all we addressed was H.

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pylori infection.

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H.

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pylori is a bacterial infection

in the stomach that decreases

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your production of stomach acid.

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You need stomach acid

to break down your food.

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If you don't have stomach acid,

you're not breaking down your food.

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Food is moving through your digestion

in bigger chunks, putting more load

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on the system to break it down.

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if you have leaky gut and then passes

those chunks of food from the gut through

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the gut lining into the bloodstream,

causing low grade inflammation

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because the body's like, there's

chunks of food in your bloodstream.

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That's not normal.

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Let's attack.

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this is where we start to see

thyroid antibodies drive up.

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So that's number four is if

I was going to lose weight.

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In 2025, I would be looking at gut health

with a functional provider like myself.

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Number five, are, there environmental

root causes contributing to

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weight gain outside of gut?

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These would be pesticide exposure.

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There's been a lot of research

around pesticides and pesticides

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being held in adipose tissue and

make you hold on to weight like

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having actually more adipocytes, more

fat cells in the body when you're

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exposed to pesticides, parasites.

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If you go to my website and you go to

testimonials, you will meet Barbara.

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Barbara had a parasite.

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She picked up from South Africa.

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She went to South Africa

four times over 10 years.

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I looked at her blood work.

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I think you have a parasite.

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We ran a GI map and another parasite test.

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sure enough, she had

hookworm, roundworm, whipworm.

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we addressed those she lost 30 pounds.

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And the woman is in her sixties,

lost 30 pounds, 35 pounds.

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We didn't change anything else,

She was doing rehab exercises.

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She was eating protein.

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all we did was address the parasites.

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Lost 30 pounds in those 90 days.

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Another one is mold exposure.

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Mold loves fat.

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It is lipophilic, it loves fat.

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I see a lot of women eating well, eating

clean, hitting their protein, doing

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workouts, lifting weights, thyroid labs

swinging around you look at mold, you

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address the mold and the weight comes off.

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So number five would be looking

at underlying environmental load.

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That is loving fat and hanging out in the

fat tissue I'm gonna do a little bonus

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because we have a couple more minutes.

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I'm trying to keep these episodes to

20 minutes little bonus and I wouldn't

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start here, but this would be part of

the full picture puzzle is looking into

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a glp 1 like trizepatide or semaglutide

I think you have to earn your GLP 1s.

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It is great for inflammation.

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It is great for cognitive function.

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It is great for weight loss because

it basically suppresses your appetite.

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But if you are not lifting the weights

and eating the protein, I would

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not yet recommend going on a GLP 1.

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I would have a Consistent workout

routine of lifting weights three days

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a week, eating protein, 30 grams per

meal minimum, and then explore GLP 1.

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I've seen a lot of people go into

GLP 1, they lose a lot of weight

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because it suppresses your appetite

and then they get off of it.

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And they've lost some muscle mass, even

though a lot of research supports not

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losing muscle mass, I've seen it where

if those foundational habits of protein

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and lifting weights are not in place,

people will start to look like skinny fat.

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And so as a bonus 2025,

looking into GOP ones.

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I would microdose it.

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I'd start with the lowest dose

because there can be reactions.

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I have found it to be great for

inflammation, great for brain fog, great

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for joint pain, and great for weight loss.

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That's a wrap.

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If you love this episode, go on

iTunes or Spotify, write a review,

335

tell the world how much you love it.

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I will put all the links.

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In the show notes, if you've never

lifted weights, you need to learn

338

how to lift weights with Hashimoto's.

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If you are now lifting weights, but you're

like, eh, my calories and my macros aren't

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really dialed in, this is where Thyroid

Strong Elite comes in, where you get

341

personalized eyeballs, my eyeballs, on

your calories, macros, and your workouts.

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if you're doing the workouts, eating

the food, hitting the protein, but I

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feel bloated and I feel super brain

foggy and no one else can figure it out.

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And I already have a naturopath

or a functional medicine doctor.

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I have, can't tell you how many

women I've worked with who have

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mold exposure or parasites that

some other providers not pick up.

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And we address that and

the weight comes off.

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through my one on one functional

medicine health coaching program.

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I will drop those links to those

three programs in the show notes.

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I hope this was super helpful.

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Just take note of what you are doing.

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Maybe you take a little piece

of paper, draw a line down

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the middle and be like, okay.

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I am doing the protein.

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I'm starting my day with protein.

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I'm lifting the weights.

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I am not tracking my calories.

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So maybe on the other side of

the paper, you're like, okay,

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what are things I need to do?

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I'm going to start tracking

my calories for 10 days.

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See how many calories I'm eating.

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I might be eating in a caloric

surplus, which would totally make

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sense if you're gaining weight.

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Am I looking into gut health?

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If you're not, put it on that side

of the paper of like, okay, what

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are steps I could take to optimize?

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I'm a big test don't guess girl.

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I like to get the data first before I

start addressing things versus just being

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like, I'm going to take a probiotic.

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Do I need a probiotic?

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Why don't I look at the gut

markers on my gut tests and see

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if I actually need a probiotic?

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So I would listen to this

episode and write down, okay,

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what am I currently doing?

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What could I optimize?

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What could I do better?

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Last thing, if you're like, I don't know

my own gaps, I don't even know, I'm doing

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some things, I'm not doing some things,

I'm so brain foggy and fatigued, I have

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this thing called a Hashimoto's Health

Audit, where I help you identify your own

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gaps, I help you fill out my intake form,

and then I send you a video, usually 20

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minutes, and I help you identify the gaps

of where you're missing the mark, where we

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need to optimize, what you need to do, And

it might be like, Hey, you need to lift

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weights or, Hey, I noticed your breakfast

looks like a coffee and croissant.

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Let's start with protein, but it's always

nice to get a second set of eyes on what

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you're doing to help you feel like your

best self and not only your best self,

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but feel like you again, but better.

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So that is the Hashimoto's health audit.

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It's $97.

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It's amazing.

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I'll throw them in the show notes as well.

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All right, ladies have an amazing

week and I'll see you next week.