The Truth About Thyroid Belly Fat—and How to Get Rid of It Fast

Introduction to Thyroid Belly 0:00

Have you been struggling with the stubborn belly fat? And it is not going away. Doesn't matter how hard you exercise or what kind of diet you are doing. Well, it might not be about exercise or diet. It is actually the underlying thyroid issues which is not letting you to lose that belly fat. Today I'm going to uncover the mystery of thyroid belly shape and how you can get rid of it quickly. Stick around because you don't want to miss these life changing tips, which is going to get rid of this thyroid belly for you.

Hello everyone, I am Doctor Anshul Gupta. I am a functional medicine expert who helps people reverse the thyroid conditions by making personalized functional medicine plans. Most people do not know what this thyroid belly shape means, how they got it, and what they need to do to get rid of it. We are going to answer all of these questions for you in today's video. So let's get started. So what is this thyroid belly. So let's define this thyroid belly shape. This term actually refers to the accumulation of fat, especially around your waistline or your abdomen area.

And which is very difficult to get rid of.

What Thyroid Belly Means 1:18

Doesn't matter what kind of exercise or diet you do. This belly fat just doesn't go away. Unlike the regular belly fat, which is caused by eating excess of calories, thyroid belly fat is mainly caused by underlying hormonal imbalances, so it is very important to know what kind of hormonal imbalances is happening and why they are happening, so that you can make a plan to get rid of this thyroid belly. So now let's talk about the causes of this thyroid belly. Why in the first place people with thyroid disorders are getting this thyroid belly. So let's get started.

The number one reason of thyroid belly is abnormal levels of thyroid hormone. Most people who have hypothyroidism, low thyroid or Hashimoto's conditions, their thyroid hormone are not optimized either they have low levels of T4 or T3, or their body cannot utilize these thyroid hormones in the body, and that leads to dysfunctions of the thyroid hormone. And your body is not able to utilize these thyroid hormone. And as you know, the thyroid hormone is a metabolic hormone. And when this thyroid hormone is not able to reach the actual cells, the actual body parts of your body, then it cannot take effect.

And that's the reason this fat accumulates in your abdomen area.

Main Causes of Belly Fat in Thyroid Disorders 2:36

The second reason of this diet belly is underlying inflammation. Inflammation is the body starts damaging your thyroid gland. And that's the reason your thyroid is not able to produce enough thyroid hormone. Inflammation also causes insulin resistance. What happens in your body is that your body is producing adequate amount of insulin. But again, your body's cells are not able to utilize this insulin because your body's cells are becoming resistant to this insulin and cannot utilize it. And when your body is not getting adequate insulin, then it causes accumulation of fat in the body, especially around your liver, around your organs, and also around your belly area.

When the inflammation levels are high, it also causes destruction of the mitochondria. Now mitochondria are the powerhouse of the cell. This is where all the food, all the calories are being burned. And when your mitochondria is not in good shape, again that causes accumulation of excess of fat around your belly area. One of the major functions of mitochondria is burning fat in your body. And when your mitochondria is not functioning again, that causes this accumulation of belly fat. So you see this underlying inflammation by various ways is causing accumulation of this belly fat in thyroid patients.

The third reason of accumulation of belly fat in diet patients is deficiency of several vitamins and minerals, mainly minerals, including zinc, selenium, magnesium are a major reason. It has been shown in several recent studies that people who are deficient in zinc and selenium, they are obese as well as they have high body fat percentage, and especially this body fat is around their waistline or in their abdomen area. The next reason of this thyroid belly is poor gut health. Are you roid hormone and gut health is linked with each other.

Whenever there is leaky gut happening in your gut, when your body is not able to digest and absorb nutrients from the food that you are eating, that's the name. There is high inflammation in the body as well as you are low in different vitamins and minerals, and poor gut health is very common in thyroid patients. The next reason of this thyroid belly is high cortisol levels. Cortisol is a hormone which is secreted by your adrenal glands. Cortisol is a stress hormone. The job of cortisol is to actually protect your body from any kind of emergency that it might be going through.

That's the reason it is called the stress hormone. The job of cortisol is to actually pack all of these excessive calories in your body into fat. And especially this fat is again packed around your abdomen area so your body can burn this fat whenever there is an emergency and you can utilize it. High levels of cortisol are seen in diet patients, and that's a reason, again, that leads to this accumulation of fat around the belly area. And that's the reason you have this thyroid belly. The last reason is slowed metabolism.

You know that the thyroid is a metabolic hormone. It runs your metabolic machinery, especially your basic metabolic rate is controlled by the thyroid hormone. When you have low thyroid hormone then you have a low BMR. This low BMR causes slowed metabolism. And that is again an important reason of packing that extra fat around your abdomen area. So you see it is not about calories in the thyroid patients, which is causing you to accumulate this excessive body fat. There are other underlying things which are happening in your body, which is not letting you to lose that excess of fat.

So now let's talk about things that you can do today that will help you to lose this excessive belly fat easily. So how you can get rid of this belly fat very quickly. Let's talk about that strategy. So the very first strategy is that make sure you are getting complete thyroid testing done. What that means is that majority of people are only getting to such as their blood work. Know you need to get free T3, free T4 as well as you need to get your body checked for inflammation markers

Testing Thyroid Hormones and Antibodies 6:30

which include CRP, ESR, as well as antibodies of Hashimoto's that include thyroid peroxidase antibodies and thyroid globulin antibodies. The reason being you need to know where your numbers are, because if your numbers are low in T3, T4, or your Rd, such is abnormal. You need to rebalance those thyroid hormones. That means your body is not getting enough thyroid hormones. If your antibody levels are high, your body is becoming resistant to these thyroid hormones, and you need to lower these antibodies so that your body can utilize these thyroid hormones, and you need to work on specific steps to lower these antibodies.

So that's the very first thing to know. Your thyroid numbers optimize your thyroid hormone levels, as well as lower your thyroid antibodies so that your body can function better and get rid of this fat. The second thing you need to do is that you need to go on a thyroid anti-inflammatory diet. Diet is very important, but most people who are trying to lose weight are just focused on calories. They are going on a low calorie diet by eating only 900 calories or 1000 calories. And the thing that is going to help them to lose weight.

But most people get defeated, they are not able to lose weight, or they are not able to sustain this diet. We need a sustainable diet so that you can continue to lose weight as you go along in your lifetime. Your thyroid gland can only function if it gets proper vitamins, minerals, amino acids, as well as fatty acids. Without that, your body cannot function. So a low calorie diet doesn't work for thyroid patients, so you need to go on a diet that supports your thyroid gland for that. First of all, you need to remove food which is destroying your thyroid gland.

The most important foods that you need to eliminate over here are fried foods,

Anti-Inflammatory Thyroid Diet 8:13

fast foods, as well as foods which are high in gluten, foods which are dairy, as well as foods which are high, and sugar levels. These are all the foods which are destroying your thyroid gland. So you need to give up those foods. Then you need to include foods which are actually helpful for your thyroid gland. In this very important or antioxidant foods. Antioxidant foods help get rid of inflammation in the body, as well as gives enough vitamins and minerals to your thyroid gland to function well.

In this. Non-starchy vegetables are really very important. You should include non-starchy vegetables of different colors, greens like kale, spinach, or any other local greens you get or include cruciferous vegetables like broccoli, cauliflowers, cabbages, cucumbers, carrots, avocados. All of these things are really great vegetables that you need to include on a regular basis. Good quality protein is very important either to fatty fishes or either to legumes or lentils if you can tolerate them, and good fats, avocados and nuts and seeds is also very important.

All of these foods give you the right nutrients that your thyroid gland needs to function properly. So an anti-inflammatory, thyroid friendly diet is what you need to follow so that you can lose weight properly over here. The second important thing is to give your thyroid gland the right vitamins and minerals that is needed for it to function properly. It is very important to get the right quality and the quantity of selenium, and you need to get a between 100 to 200 micrograms of selenium, and it has to be in selenium methionine form only.

And next is the zinc. Again, zinc is one of those minerals which your thyroid gland needs. Interesting factor is that you need to take both selenium and zinc together. If you do not do that, then they do not work. That's the reason I have made this particular supplement called thyroid balance, which has all the vitamins and minerals including zinc, selenium, a little bit of iodine, L tyrosine and whole bunch of other vitamins and minerals together so that you can take them together and your diet can function properly.

If you want to buy this supplement, the link will be in the description.

Key Supplements for Thyroid Support 10:24

But very important, take these minerals on a regular basis, not just for one day or two days. You have to take them on the regular basis so your thyroid gland is supported and works better. The third thing you need to do is that you need to support your gut health. And this probiotics are really very important. A good probiotic is between 20 to 30 billion strains of probiotics into it. You need to support your gut health. Buy good fibrous food, which is all the non-starchy vegetables that I already told you about, and add a probiotic so that you can support your gut health over there.

The next very important thing is to get rid of inflammation in the body. Unless you get rid of inflammation, you are not going to lose weight. So it is very important to target this inflammation and reduce it by all different angles. And that we already discussed about the anti-inflammatory diet. So include that anti-inflammatory foods that are going to reduce inflammation. One of the most important supplement that is shown in research studies that can help you to lose weight, as well as lower that inflammation in the body, is good quality.

Omega three fatty acids. Yes, good quality omega three fatty acids, which is derived from fish which is free from mercury, is going to lower your inflammation very, very quickly. So very important to pick and choose the right quality of your omega three fatty acid from fish oil, as well as the right quantity. You need a minimum of 1000 to 2000mg of omega three fatty acids on the daily basis. Again, we have sourced the best fish oil, which is out there in the market and which is one of the strongest fish oils out there.

The link will be in the description if you want to check it out.

Gut Health, Cortisol, Sleep, and Exercise 11:54

After tackling your inflammation properly, the next thing you need to work on is reducing these cortisol levels. Yes, cortisol needs to be decreased so that your body doesn't keep on packing that excess calories into that abdominal fat. For you to reduce this cortisol, the easiest way is doing deep breathing exercises or meditation or relaxation exercises. These are the ones which are going to reduce your cortisol very, very quickly. The next thing you need to focus is adequate, good quality sleep.

The reason being sleep is a time when your body is repairing itself. Sleep is also the time when your body is processing all the excess of calories and deciding what to do, whether they make proteins out of it, whether they make muscles out of it, whether they make DNA out of it, or the packet into your belly fat. When you do not have good quality sleep because your body did not get enough time to start all of these excessive calories, they pack all of them into this fat around your belly shape.

So that's the reason very important to have good quality sleep so that your body can actually utilize these calories to make muscle, DNA and other things from these calories. And then the last thing is focusing on exercising. Now over here it is very important to know you do not overtrain. A lot of thyroid patients are doing high intensity and a lot of workouts which do not work for them, because the thyroid patients do very well with low impact exercises. A combination of cardio and strength training is the best way to reach your exercise goal, especially if you have a thyroid disorder.

So now you see I shared with you why you have this thyroid belly. What is causing you not to lose that excessive weight and easy tips that you can do today that is going to help you to lose this weight permanently. I hope you like this video. Please like and subscribe to my channel as well as share this video. Please visit our website. I have a great book which I have written which gives you more information about thyroid. I have several videos and blogs so that again gives you more information about your thyroid and how you can get better.

All right, this is it for now. Thank you. Take care. Bye bye.