Intermittent fasting and long term effects on your thyroid

Have you ever noticed after a stressful year, you put on some weight and seem to be carrying it around the mid section? There are multiple reasons for this but I want to talk about the Thyroid Hormone rT3 or Reverse T3. To put it simply, reverseT3 is responsible for protecting us in times of crisis. It’s the hormone that says “I’m not getting enough food, I better store this food as fat since I don’t know when I’ll be fed next.” Again, this is our body’s safety mechanism that protects us when we need it, and it’s something we should be thankful for. However, it’s hard to be thankful when we’re dealing with fatigue, weight gain and the inability to LOSE weight. When it comes to intermittent fasting, this can increase rT3 levels because your body is technically in “crisis mode”. So, while you’re cutting calories, and losing weight because you’re in a caloric deficit, you’re increasing the amount of rT3, in turn restricting your body’s ability to truly burn fat. You may lose weight, but it won’t be fat 🤦‍♀️ No matter how hard you work out or how many calories you cut, the internal mechanisms that make your body BURN fat, do not work properly. This is extremely frustrating for clients to experience and can even send them into more of a stressed out state because their body is physically and mentally exhausted. Check out some of the science about rT3 and why doctors don’t seem to look at it when it comes to weight loss. https://www.verywellhealth.com/reverse-t3-thyroid-hormone-overview-3233184