My Metabolism Seems Broken, Could It Be My Thyroid?

Today, we are going to talk about our Thyroid, the gland, the hormones, the mystery.

Why?

Because 1 in 8 women will develop a thyroid issue in their lifetime and our thyroid plays a large role in our metabolic health.

So it’s a big deal. And one that’s shrouded in conspiracy over testing and treatment and full of misinformation.

To answer the question, “My metabolism seems broken, could it be my thyroid?”

We need to understand what the thyroid is, what it does, and how it could go wrong.

What is the Thyroid?

Your thyroid is a butterfly shaped gland that sits in your throat. Your thyroid takes the iodine you eat in foods like iodized salt, seafood, and dairy and makes two important hormones called T3 and T4.

We want T3 and T4 to not go too low or get too high in our blood. To help make sure they stay in the perfect range, your hypothalamus and pituitary glands in your brain, sense your blood levels and communicate with your thyroid to maintain perfect T3 and T4 balance.

Your hypothalamus is the master controller of all things like body temperature, heart rate, and metabolic rate. When it wants to speed things up, it tells the pituitary to tell the thyroid to release more T3 & T4 to rev up the engine.

Think of it this way, your hypothalamus is the driver of the car. The pituitary is your foot on the gas pedal and your thyroid is gas pedal to your metabolic engine.

So it goes, message from brain supercomputer, to pituitary middle man to thyroid gland.

The important thing to remember is that your thyroid is like your metabolic throttle and that throttle is controlled by your brain.

What Does the Thyroid Do?

The thyroid hormones regulate the speed with which the cells in your body create energy. For example, T3 and T4 regulate your heart rate and how fast your intestines process food. So if T3 and T4 levels are low, your heart rate may be slower than normal, and you may have constipation or weight gain.

Other symptoms of not having enough thyroid hormones are sluggishness & fatigue, sensitivity to the cold, trouble sleeping, and even dry skin and hair.

So you can see why so many women believe that they are suffering from a thyroid issue, especially as we get older.

We know what the thyroid is: it’s the throttle to most metabolic processes in our body.

Who controls it: the hypothalamus by way of the pituitary gland.

And what is does: it speeds up or slows down most of the our bodily processes.

How Could it Go Wrong?

So why do so many women have problems with it? Well, the most common thyroid problem is hypothyroid, meaning you don’t have enough T3 & T4 in your blood. And this is most commonly caused by an auto-immune response.

An autoimmune response is where your own body actually attacks it’s own thyroid gland.

Or, it’s caused by inflammation of your thyroid.

There can be other issues, like cancer, nodules, and such, but most women will suffer low-thyroid levels due to inflammation and or an autoimmune response.

Ok, let’s circle the wagons and get back to our original question, “My metabolism seems broken, could it be my thyroid?”

The answer is yes, it could be. It’s very common in women with your chances of having it increasing as your age. Low thyroid can cause weight gain and a sluggish metabolism which is what most of us feel like we are suffering from.

So what should you do?

Well, it’s actually very straight forward. You go to your doctor and have your TSH checked.

If if comes back abnormal, your doctor will do more tests to figure out where the breakdown is.

Most cases are fairly straightforward, and if you are in fact, hypothyroid, it is easily corrected by taking T4 replacement medication. T4 turns into the active T3 that your body uses.

I know there is a lot of controversy around thyroid testing. With the internet saying you have to get your T3 and reverse T3 and your antibodies checked, but for all the hoopla, your thyroid is not that complicated. It’s fairly straightforward and usually a TSH and T4 is all you need.

So just start there without all the antibody drama because here’s the thing.

Most women go in, get tested and they are normal. TSH is normal and T4 is normal, but they are still overweight & sluggish.

Listen, it’s not a conspiracy about testing. It’s a not a conspiracy to not give you the magic medication that will make all your problems go away.

It’s more likely that your weight gain, your sluggishness, your dry skin and hair are not due to a thyroid issue.

Your weight gain is probably due to metabolic damage and the hormone insulin, not the thyroid hormones.

There are other hormones that control weight. Other hormones and issues that cause sluggishness.

I have had many clients who thought their issue was a thyroid problem, only to realize their real issue was a broken metabolism.

And when you fix that, with diet and smart eating habits, your weight drops easily, your hair returns to normal, your skin is nice and supple, and you have plenty of energy.

Symptoms of metabolic damage closely mimic that of thyroid problems.

So the straightforward answer to the question “My metabolism seems broken, could it be my thyroid?” is:

Yes, it could be, but the vast majority of the time it’s not.

Get your TSH checked. If it’s low, take the medication to get it back to the right levels. Even if it’s low and you replace it, most women are very disappointed in the lack of weight loss they get even with thyroid replacement.

If it’s normal, you are probably dealing with metabolic damage and need to look at the bigger, more powerful hormone at play and that’s insulin.

And that’s what we do in the Freese Method. We repair your metabolism, rebalance your insulin, and help you restore that hormonal balance so that you can burn fat by changing what and when you eat.

The Freese Method is the medication-free, supplement-free, long term healthy eating fix to stubborn weight gain and low energy.