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Doctor here... there are a couple of issues and that consumer level BS you quoted doesn't fully explain it.
Firstly, patients who are severely hypothyroid lose in the 5-10% of dry weight, but they also can lose a substantial amount of chronic water retention from myxedema. Together these aren't going to cause a loss of 100lbs, however...
I have definitely seen patients lose far more than just the amount from fixing their metabolism and losing the myxedema. Generally this is because in addition to the weight, you also have energy back. People who want to be active but can't because of the profound lethargy that severe hypothyroidism brings all of a sudden are a bit lighter and now have the energy to go out and do things. So all other things equal the weight loss directly attributed to the thyroid replacement may be smaller, people sometimes in clinical practice lose a lot more.
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[–] FuckBucket 3 points 11 points 14 points (+14|-3) ago
The American Thyroid Association states that thyroid associated weight gain is usually no more than 5-10 lbs. See here
[–] bayesianqueer 2 points 7 points 9 points (+9|-2) ago
Doctor here... there are a couple of issues and that consumer level BS you quoted doesn't fully explain it.
Firstly, patients who are severely hypothyroid lose in the 5-10% of dry weight, but they also can lose a substantial amount of chronic water retention from myxedema. Together these aren't going to cause a loss of 100lbs, however...
I have definitely seen patients lose far more than just the amount from fixing their metabolism and losing the myxedema. Generally this is because in addition to the weight, you also have energy back. People who want to be active but can't because of the profound lethargy that severe hypothyroidism brings all of a sudden are a bit lighter and now have the energy to go out and do things. So all other things equal the weight loss directly attributed to the thyroid replacement may be smaller, people sometimes in clinical practice lose a lot more.
[–] Eggplant 2 points 0 points 2 points (+2|-2) ago
Yeah, and it usually affects women, not men. I'm a weird case.