Thyroid Weight Gain

Thyroid is a small butterfly shaped gland situated at the center of the body’s hormonal system. The hormones and the thyroid which it releases manage most of the metabolism of the body. When the thyroid beings to break down or if some disease affects its processes, the metabolism of the body can seriously get affected.

One of the major changes that can take place as a result of a thyroid problem is weight loss or weight gain. Once you gain weight because of thyroid problems then later on you will find it difficult to lose that weight.

A decrease in thyroid function leads to reduction in the consumption of energy and therefore more energy is available to be stored. Weight gain is, therefore, a characteristic of an underactive thyroid.

The main cause responsible for weight gain, however, is yet not known. It has been valued for a very long time that there is a complicated relationship between thyroid disease, metabolism and body weight. Thyroid hormone controls metabolism in both humans and animals.

Metabolism is determined by computing the amount of oxygen utilized by the body over a specific period of time. If the measurement is made at break, it is known as BMR i.e. Basal Metabolic Rate. In reality, measurement of the BMR was one of the earliest tests which were used to evaluate a patient’s status of thyroid. Patients whose thyroid glands were not functioning properly were found to possess low BMRs and those with overactive thyroid glands possesses high BMRs.

Since the basal metabolic rate in the patient with hypothyroidism is declined, an underactive thyroid is usually related with some weight gain. The weight gain is often seen in those people who have more severe hypothyroidism. However, the decline in BMR because of hypothyroidism is generally much less dramatic as compared to the marked increase noticed in hyperthyroidism, causing more modest changes in weight because of the underactive thyroid.

The cause of weight gain in individuals with hypothyroid is also complicated, and not always associated to excess fat accumulation. Most of the additional weight gained in hypothyroid individuals is because of excess accumulation of water and salt. Massive weight gain is not often related with hypothyroidism. Generally, 5-10 pounds of body weight can be attributed to the thyroid depending upon the severity of the hypothyroidism.

Finally, if the weight gain is the only sign of the hypothyroidism which is present, then there are fewer chances that the weight gain is exclusively because of the thyroid.