How I’m FINALLY Losing Weight With Hashimoto’s

Hi friends!

Hashi girls know that losing weight can be tougher than climbing Mount Everest! Weight gain and lack of weight loss is a very common problem for us.

Today I’m going to share how I’m finally starting to lose weight with the Autoimmune Protocol (AIP) diet.

Since being diagnosed in 2016, I have only been on the up and up with my weight.  

I tried standard paleo but could not lose weight on it.

Did Whole 30, lost a little. Quickly gained it back after.

I counted macros, didn’t work.

I counted calories, didn’t work either.

I did keto for three solid months and only lost ½ inch in belly and hips. Keto wasn’t as effective as I had hoped.  

The Missing Link

With all the above diets, my main purpose was to lose weight.  But what I hadn’t considered was that some foods I ate regularly are known to cause inflammation in your body creating a cycle of hypothyroid flare ups which makes it harder to lose weight.

When I was on Paleo I felt good, but I could not lose weight!  Probably because I was over eating nuts and dried fruits to compensate for the goodies I could no longer have (dairy ice cream, milk chocolate, Oreos etc).   

When I counted macros, I wasn’t focused on nutrient density, but on getting the numbers calibrated to the perfect ratio.  Because the goal is to hit said ratios I would enjoy eating junk foods as long as it fit in. I remember feeling super hypo at the time.

When I did keto, I leaned towards cheeses and keto sweet treats to kill my carb cravings. My eczema was really flared up at the time, probably due to the amount of dairy I was consuming.

When I calorie counted, I felt hungry all the time and frustrated.  I would frequently get light-headed because of hypoglycemia.

So WHAT finally worked? 

Thankfully, AIP kept popping up everywhere I turned.  For years I had heard about it, but thought it was only for people who have severe autoimmune diseases or for people who like to torture themselves with all the diet restrictions involved. 

But I’d had enough feeling crappy and overweight for three years.  Woke up one day, decided today was the day and haven’t looked back!   

So what is AIP?

“The Autoimmune Protocol, or AIP, is a specialized version of the Paleo diet, with an even greater focus on nutrient density and even stricter guidelines for which foods should be eliminated. Foods can be viewed as having two kinds of constituents within them: those that promote health (like nutrients!) and those that undermine health (like inflammatory compounds).” From Sara Ballantyne over at the Paleo Mom blog. 

AIP Eliminates

• Gluten
• Refined sugar
• Soy
• Dairy
• Grains
• Legumes
• Nightshades
• Eggs
• Cocoa and coffee
• Nuts
• Seeds

AIP Includes

• Quality meats
• Offal
• Vegetables and Fruits (except nightshades)
• Quality fats such as avocado, coconut oil, coconut milk, coconut butter, avocado oil
• Seafood
• Sea veggies
• Fermented foods such as sauerkraut, kombucha, kefir etc
• Bone broths
• Nutritive sweeteners in moderation such as honey, maple syrup, black strap molasses

There are two phases to the AIP diet:

1- Elimination phase is when you remove all the trigger foods for a period of time.  The amount of time depends on how fast you start seeing an improvement in your symptoms.

2- The reintroduction phase is when you begin to add back foods on the do not eat list.  You will do this one food at a time and take note of how you feel when you eat a new food.  If you feel horrible, then you know that you can’t eat this food in the future.

The goal is to try one food at a time to see what you’re body can tolerate.  After this part is completed, you will have your own AIP template to eat from.  

I’m currently in the elimination phase and plan to reintroduce foods in May. Boy, I sure pray I can have nuts, dairy, chocolate and coffee again one day!

If you are interested in looking into AIP, here are some helpful resources to start with:

1. https://www.thepaleomom.com
2. https://autoimmunewellness.com

There’s a ton more of resources out there, but I mainly use the above because they are easy to understand and have exceptional AIP recipes.

About the Weight Loss

I know AIP seems pretty restrictive.  When I initially saw this list, I was like no way!

But through God’s power and strength I have been able to have discipline and self-control.  

Knowing how food impacts my body helps me to say no to foods not on the AIP list.  

Because turns out, my body must have been having immune responses to something I was formerly eating in my diet.  Since starting AIP, I have felt so much better!

And a HUGE plus has been the steady weight loss!!!

In fact, the first month I lost 10 pounds.

Second month, 5 pounds.

Third month, 5 pounds!

I’m in the fourth month and still losing weight, praise the Lord!

To date, I have lost about 23 pounds…  

For those of you who struggle just as much as I do with weight loss, you know how sweet the victory of even 1 pound lost can be 🙂

Here are some before and after pictures.

Conclusion

Ya’ll, there is no way I’m doing this all on my own. Seriously.  All praise and glory be to God. He has given me the will power and self-control to be very diligent and not fall off the “bandwagon” yet.  

My faith in God has opened my eyes that losing weight is just as much a spiritual matter (perhaps a future blog post) as it is a health or food problem.  Losing weight as well as getting healthy requires self-control which can only be maintained long term through the fruit of the spirit (Gal 5:22)

I hope this has encouraged someone out there to seek the Lord in prayer and rely on Him to help you lose weight and get healthier. AIP is what is working for my body right now and what The Lord has led me to try. But by no means am I saying this is the only way to lose weight healthily.

Pray about it! He will direct you and give you a custom tailored plan, because he knows your body better than you do.  

Agape xoxo,

Miri