5 Things that Did Not Work for Me to Lose Weight with Hypothyroid/PCOS

 I have been suffering and dealing with Hypothyroid/PCOS for about a decade now. Weight gain is one of the main problems of people struggling with these two chronic illnesses. I have tried a lot of things to reduce weight and over the years I have been through many trials and tribulations and made many mistakes in the process of trying to lose weight. 

The following tips come from my experience and these are mistakes you might want to avoid if weight loss is your goal with Hypothyroid/PCOS.

Counting calories: Like many others, I bought into the belief that by counting calories and limiting my calorie intake I would be able to lose weight. But this is a very bad way to start because it gives you the idea that you can eat anything and everything as long as you are limiting your calorie intake. And since most foods like junk, and ready-made foods that you buy at the supermarket come with a lot of calories, I used to overall eat very less, not get enough nutrition, starve myself, and then go on a cycle of binge eating. This obviously led to more weight gain. And since I was only concentrating on calories I was not making healthy food choices which created nutritional deficiency. So for many reasons, this did not work and I don't think it would work for most people like me.

Exercising too much: Most gyms you go to, exercise videos you watch, or fitness blogs you read will try to sell you the fact that exercise is the way to lose weight. They do this in order to make you buy their gym subscription/membership, or their CDs, merch, etc. But from my personal experience and having fallen for all of these lies I can tell you that over-exercising does the opposite of making you lose weight. Because your body gets tired, you feel hungry and you end up eating more than you normally eat, and that in turn leads to more weight gain. Whether it is HIIT, Yoga, Pilates, Spinning, Cardio, or whatever other new things they come out with, exercise at its core is just for strengthening/toning your body and increasing your stamina. It is not the way to go if you want to lose weight. Even if you do see some reduction on the scale initially it will not be permanent because you will slowly lose interest, you will be tired/hungry all the time (which will make you gravitate towards easily available food options), or you will want to skip going to the gym because it is not helping and you don't enjoy it anymore. Being active and moving around is important but overdoing it can cause more damage than help in the long run.

Depending on your doctor: Your doctor can only prescribe you pills. They are educated in diagnosing diseases and prescribing medication for them. Do not expect anything more. I tried discussing it several times with my doctors about why I don't feel better even after taking medication, why I am not losing weight, why my periods are still irregular etc. but most of the time they just prescribe more pills, tell me that they don't know, or they will advise me to eat less and exercise more. Eating less and exercising more did not help me lose weight. Taking birth control pills to regulate periods made me gain more weight. So overall this kind of help is useless and always made me feel hopeless/depressed. Instead what they should be advising is to go see a dietician/nutritionist, or a functional medicine doctor who specializes in helping patients with your particular illness. Such specialists can give you more specific and useful advice compared to doctors.

Going on crazy diets: There's so much misinformation online and there are a lot of quacks recommending crazy diets. And the problem with most of these diets is that they eliminate important food groups. Some examples are: Eating a plant-based diet eliminating meat and animal products, going fat-free, eating zero carbs, etc. The problem with most of these diets is they don't fit easily into the daily lifestyle which we are used to, they can be expensive, difficult to keep doing continuously, and can sometimes also make us sicker. Also over time elimination of certain foods can cause nutritional deficiency. A healthy, nutritionally balanced, and anti-inflammatory diet is the best way to stay healthy and can help gradually to lose those kilos/pounds.

Taking weight loss supplements: If you just buy into the fad that taking a few supplements is going to solve your problem then you are mistaken. Supplements are just the tip of the iceberg that is your health issues. Without addressing the root cause of your health issues if you try to lose weight with just pills and powders it is not going to work. Green tea extract, guar gum, slimming herbal teas, weight loss shakes, ginseng pills, protein bars/powders, vitamins/minerals, fiber, etc. are some examples of things that are advertised to help burn fat, build muscle, and increase energy so that you can lose weight. Even if you try these and do see some weight loss initially you will gain it back later if you don't start living a healthy lifestyle overall. In some people, these supplements can also cause side effects so you have to tread with caution. Not to mention, they can get expensive too. I would highly recommend talking to a doctor before buying any kind of supplement in general because they can interfere with your prescription medication as well.

In conclusion, I want to say that living a healthy lifestyle by eating a well-balanced nutritious meal, getting enough sleep, being active, and doing things to reduce stress is what will ultimately improve your health and allow your body to shed those kilos/pounds. Being healthy should be your priority, and weight loss will follow.