HealthMedAid

   Why Can Hashimoto’s Make Weight Loss Feel So Difficult? For many women with Hashimoto’s thyroiditis, weight loss can feel fundamentally different from what it seems to be for other people. The same calorie deficit that once produced predictable results may appear to work more slowly. Fatigue can make regular exercise harder. Changes in thyroid hormone levels can affect energy expenditure, fluid balance, bowel function, mood, and appetite. At the same time, years of dieting can make it difficult to distinguish the effects of Hashimoto’s from the normal physiological challenges of losing weight. Hashimoto’s disease is an autoimmune condition in which the immune system attacks the thyroid gland. Over time, this can impair thyroid hormone production and lead to hypothyroidism. Thyroid hormones influence many aspects of metabolism, so untreated or inadequately treated hypothyroidism can contribute to weight gain and make weight loss more challenging. But there is an important d...