Dr. Westin Childs Podcast: Thyroid | Weight Loss | Hormones

Using a scale is one of the biggest mistakes you can make as a thyroid patient trying to lose weight. Why? Because it doesn’t accurately tell you how much fat you are losing or how much muscle you are gaining. And, for thyroid patients, this is a big problem because you should be trying to preserve muscle mass when you lose weight. How can you accurately measure fat loss? By using these metrics: 1. Body measurements. Because muscle mass is more dense than fat, even if you lose 5 pounds of fat and gain 5 pounds of muscle, your body will start to shrink (even though the scale will stay the same). 2. Weekly progress pictures (and a mirror). If you are losing weight while preserving muscle, your body will not only look slimmer, you will look healthier! When you are losing both muscle mass and fat mass simultaneously, you may take on a sickly-looking appearance. 3. Caliper testing. Caliper testing gives you an idea of how much fat is on your body but testing your skin thickness. 4. Weekly average