The Best Weight Loss Supplements For Thyroid Patients

Having a thyroid problem is going to make it difficult to lose weight, but certainly not impossible.

One thing that can make your life a lot easier is using the right supplements.

Supplements can help support the function of your thyroid, help you suppress your appetite, and help you build more muscle mass.

And guess what happens when you do all of these things?

You lose weight and you lose it quickly.

If you like the idea of faster-than-normal thyroid weight loss, here are the supplements you should be using:

#1. Glucomannan. 

Glucomannan is actually a dietary fiber which may seem weird until you understand how it works. 

It’s unique among most dietary fibers because it expands when it’s introduced to water. 

This has several benefits for you as someone trying to lose weight: 

The first is that it puts pressure on the stomach, which sends signals to your brain that your stomach is full. 

This helps curb your appetite, which means you can use it strategically to help reduce how much food you are eating. 

The second is that it acts as a glue-like material which slows down the absorption of food. 

As a result, you will see a less aggressive rise in blood sugar and a more muted insulin response. 

And finally, because glucomannan is a dietary fiber, it also has a positive impact on your microbiome (1). 

By acting as a food source for healthy bacteria, it can help your gut, which can help you lose weight. 

For thyroid patients, this is perfect because your thyroid condition will cause food cravings, it will negatively impact your gut, and it will make you more likely to lose weight.

It’s also unique in that it has a mechanism of action which is different from many of the other supplements we will soon discuss.

This all sounds good, but what do the studies show?

You’ll get mixed results, as with any natural treatment, but there are several studies that do show that it can help you lose up to about 5 pounds of weight in an 8-week period (2). 

It’s not spectacular but it’s pretty darn good, especially for thyroid patients who often struggle to lose any weight.

My personal opinion is to use glucomannan as a way to manage your appetite while fasting.

Fasting is hands down the best form of calorie restriction for thyroid patients because it doesn’t cause a rise in reverse T3 compared to other forms.

It’s also generally well tolerated, but it shouldn’t be used in people who have undergone bariatric surgeries or in those with esophageal problems.

You may notice some bloating if you take it, especially at high doses, but this tends to subside within about 5-10 days.

The ideal dose of glucomannan for thyroid weight loss is 3,000 mg taken 15-20 minutes before your biggest meal of the day with two large glasses of water.

And for even better results, combine your glucomannan with l-glutamine and extra virgin olive oil.

#2. Berberine. 

Berberine is one of my all time favorite weight loss supplements for thyroid patients for several reasons:

The first is that it’s a weak activator of the AMPK enzyme, which is the same enzyme that gets activated during exercise (3). 

While berberine won’t take the place of exercise by any stretch of the imagination, you can sort of think about it in that way to get a better idea of how it’s working. 

Think about all of the benefits that you get while exercising, now just distill that down to a small fraction and you can imagine how berberine helps. 

But in addition to this, it also helps:

• Increase mitochondrial density in lean muscle mass. 
• Help suppress appetite. 
• Increase the population of healthy bacteria in the gut. 
• And assist in the burning of adipose tissue directly. 

All of these are important to thyroid patients, but special attention should be paid to its benefits on muscle mass.

The more muscle mass you have, the more active your thyroid will be and the higher your metabolism will be as well.

This is probably why studies show that it’s effective for many things, including weight loss:

One meta-analysis of over 12 studies showed that daily berberine use resulted in a decrease in BMI, waist circumference, and CRP levels (4). 

Overall it’s a very solid option for weight loss, especially if you have insulin resistance, diabetes, or blood sugar issues. 

If you’re going to use berberine, make sure you combine it with exercise, as this is how it really starts to shine. 

Up until recently, the best option for berberine was berberine HCL but now you have another option: dihydroberberine.

Dihydroberberine is a downstream derivative of berberine which has been shown to be roughly 5x more bioavailable than standard berberine.

The more bioavailable something is, the more likely it gets absorbed and utilized by the body.

Using dihydroberberine allows you to get more cellular activation without experiencing the unpleasant gastrointestinal side effects that some people get when taking higher doses of berberine HCL.

For thyroid weight loss, aim to use at least a dose of around 200 mg of dihydroberberine or around 1,000 mg of berberine HCL per day.

I think even higher doses are better if you can tolerate them, which is why I think using dihydroberberine is the best option here.

#3. Black seed oil. 

I’ve talked about the benefits of black seed oil in treating Hashimoto’s thyroiditis, but it also happens to have benefits on weight as well.

Here’s what I mean:

A meta-analysis of over 13 randomized controlled trials showed that taking nigella sativa had a significant effect on body weight and body mass index in adults. 

The average weight loss in these studies was around 4.5 pounds over 8 weeks, putting it in line with glucomannan (5). 

Even though these studies weren’t done specifically on thyroid patients, I can tell you from experience that thyroid patients experience similar results.

And beyond these studies, we know for sure that black seed oil is a very powerful anti-inflammatory agent which is often at the heart of thyroid-related weight gain.

This means it’s great for those with weight gain related hashimoto’s thyroiditis, insulin resistance, leptin resistance, and autoimmune disease (all of which are more common in thyroid patients).

Just so that you aren’t confused if you try to purchase this ingredient, you may find it labeled as nigella sativa, black seed oil, or thymoquinone. 

Nigella Sativa is the plant that produces black seeds which are then used to create black seed oil. 

And thymoquinone is the active ingredient found in black seed oil. 

So you will find supplements and studies which use these different names, but they are all pretty similar in their effects. 

By far the biggest downside to using black seed oil is the taste.

I’m fine with putting something in my body that doesn’t taste very good if I know it’s healthy, but if you are someone who doesn’t like potent flavors, then this one may not be ideal for you. 

Other than the flavor, it’s pretty well tolerated. 

Given that black seed oil has documented benefits for patients with thyroid conditions (such as Hashimoto’s), it really should be a go-to for any thyroid patient looking to lose weight.

Even if it doesn’t help you directly lose weight, it’s still very likely to provide some benefit to your thyroid which, at the very least, will make your weight loss efforts more effective.

For weight loss, aim to use a total dose of 1,000 mg each day split into two 500 mg doses (morning and night).

#4. Yohimbine. 

Yohimbine is a plant-based compound that can help you burn more fat with less effort.

And it does this by increasing fat breakdown through its influence on alpha-adrenergic receptors.

The easiest way to understand how it works is by visualizing its effects as taking the breaks off of your body’s ability to burn fat.

For best results when using yohimbine, make sure to combine it with exercise (6). 

You should be doing this anyway as a thyroid patient because this is another easy way to boost thyroid function, but I know there are plenty of people out there reading this who want to only take a supplement.

If that’s you then yohimbine is not your best option. 

If you’re already exercising and you want to enhance the fat-burning potential of your exercise routine, then yohimbine is a great option. 

#5. Probiotics. 

Probiotics aren’t really thought of as a weight loss supplement but they absolutely can help. 

One meta-analysis looked at over 27 different studies on probiotics and found that 23 (7) of them showed that taking probiotics had a positive impact on body weight. 

Those are pretty impressive numbers considering most people don’t even think about using probiotics for weight management. 

The mechanism by which probiotics help with weight is not completely understood, but it definitely has to do with the impact that they have on your gut microbiome. 

The composition of the trillions of bacteria in your gut have a profound impact on your circulating T3 levels.

And, as you probably know, T3 is by far the most powerful thyroid hormone.

So as you improve your gut health, you are also improving your thyroid function through your T3 status.

And the healthier your thyroid is, the more energy you will experience, and the easier it will be to work out and lose weight.

Based on my experience, if you’re a thyroid patient and you only take a probiotic and do nothing else, then it’s probably not going to have a big impact on your weight.

But this starts to change as you combine probiotics with other treatments such as prebiotics, a whole food diet, and regular exercise.

For thyroid weight loss, look for a high diversity of probiotic species as well as a high dose.

Here’s an example of one that fits all of that criteria.

Your Next Steps For Weight Loss:

Here’s what I would do if I was a thyroid patient looking to lose weight:

Find 2-3 different supplements on the list above and start taking them together.

Combine those supplements with my 4x 100 thyroid weight loss formula and stay the course.

As you do so, you will see your fat mass drop and your muscle mass climb.

By the way, if you’re a thyroid patient trying to lose weight then make sure you are measuring your weight loss accurately.

You can learn why you shouldn’t be using a scale to do this here.