Title: Why Levothyroxine Causes Weight Gain and How to Prevent it
Headings: Why Levothyroxine Causes Weight Gain and How to Prevent it
Why Levothyroxine Causes Weight Gain and How to Prevent it
T4 to T3 Conversion Matters... A lot
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Foods to Avoid if you have Thyroid Problems:
The Complete List of Thyroid Lab Tests:
​Levothyroxine and Synthroid are Both T4 only Medications
​How Levothyroxine Causes weight gain
What to do if you think Levothyroxine is Causing Weight Gain
Step #1: ​Check your Basal Body Temperature Each Morning
​Step #2: Check your Resting Pulse or Resting Heart Rate
Step #3: Check a Complete Thyroid Panel​
​How to Finally Lose Weight with Hypothyroidism
Does Levothyroxine ever Cause Weight Loss?
5 Steps YOU can Take Today to Lose Weight and Boost Thyroid Function
1. ​Optimize T4 to T3 Conversion
2. Optimize your Adrenal Function and Cortisol Levels
3. Add in High-Intensity Exercise
4. Reduce Inflammation
5. Balance Insulin and Leptin levels
Real Patients and Real Results
​ More Resources and Links showing why T4 only medications don't work for everyone:
The Effects of Levothyroxine substitution on body composition . (17)
Differences in hypothalamic type 2 deiodinase ubiquitination explain localized sensitivity to thyroxine . (18)
References (Click to Expand)
About Dr. Westin Childs

Content: Most patients not only prefer to take Natural desiccated thyroid (medication that includes T3 hormone) but this medication also results in more weight loss and an improved quality of life. ​One of the biggest problems with T4 only medication is that your body may NOT be converting it to the active T3 thyroid hormone. In many patients, your body may actually convert it to reverse T3 thereby slowing your metabolism, and actually making your condition and symptoms WORSE. But here is another important note side note: Natural Desiccated Thyroid still contains T4 (in fact the majority is still T4). ​
That means that sometimes NDT can actually make hypothyroid symptoms worse as well by increasing reverse T3. People with this problem need pure T3 medications like Liothyronine to improve symptoms and lose weight. You can read more about case studies using NDT with T3 medications here. ​
What to do if you think Levothyroxine is Causing Weight Gain
If you have constantly gained weight (or even if you just aren't losing weight) there are several steps you can take to figure out if the dose of thyroid medication you are taking is working in your body. You can find a guide on how to properly dose Levothyroxine here.