I’ve been doing 5:2 since January. I’ve lost one stone (so has my husband). I’ve an underactive thyroid and have been on Thyroxine for years. I’m 63. My dosage was 200mcg in January but since then has gradually decreased to 125mcg! I had another blood test last Tuesday and have just had a ‘phone call to say my doctor wants to see me later today! The receptionist said my levels were still too high. Is this because of 5:2. I’ve never had a reduction in my thyroxine tablets before. Will keep you posted.

Beavergong
So sorry to hear you had thyroid cancer but glad you’ve had no problems since.
I saw my doctor and he has reduced by thyroxine again! I’m now on 100mcg. So since starting the 5:2 diet in January my dosage has now halved! When I was on 200mcg my doctor told me I might have to be referred to a specialist. He’s a bit baffled by what’s going on and wants another blood test in September. I told him my theory – its the 5:2 diet. I also told him he’s not allowed to carry out any experiments on me! ha ha. In all the years I’ve been on thyroxine the dosage has only ever increased! I did tell him there are others on the website who have also had their dosage decreased. Just think of the money we’re all saving the NHS. Thank you Michael Mosley. I do find it strange that you both have also lost the same amount of weight. My weight is now at target so I’m thinking of just doing one day a week. My husband only has 3 or 4 pounds left to lose. I put on an extra stone (yes, 14lbs) when my mum died 3 years ago and this is the only diet I’ve been able to keep to and get the weight off.
Elizabeth

Hi everyone,

I’ve had my lab results back and as expected and hoped, my cholesterol level is down to 162 mg/dl (was 205 mg/dl last year with anything above 190 mg/dl being too high) !

I haven’t had a change in my dose of L-Thyroxine though which is 117 µgr. at the moment. I must say my TSH went down a bit as well but not so much as to lower my dose. It was 0.76 last year and 0.50 now. Since the range here is from 0.3 to 3.0, I’m doing great.

I have to be at the lower side of the range because if my TSH is over 1.0 I already feel miserable.
Cheers, Carla (from Belgium)

Hello All,

Thought I would check in. I also live with hypothyroidism. Mine went undetected for years then I found out my TSH was sky high when being tested for other things in January 2012.

I am lucky to have had a normal BMI (within healthy range) for the past 18 months (I managed to lose 6 stone whilst having an under active thyroid, never knowing why I had gained so much weight in the first place – it had been gradual gain over the years).

To cut a long long story short… in the past 2 months I gradually gained 10lbs whilst eating very much the same (healthy vegan diet) and maintaining activity. I was also experiencing that brain fog and extreme tiredness. So I went to the GP to get my bloods done. Turns out my TSH was right up again so I now have my dosage increased by 50%. I am not sure how long it will take to take effect but I am now trying the 5:2 to see if I can get that weight back down. After years of dieting and food diaries, 5:2 is a dream I can tell you.

I am having my bloods done again in 6 weeks so cross fingers all is back to normal, and my weight is back down again!

I have been receiving treatment for hypothyroidism for nearly four years now. My levothyroxine dose is 225mcg on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays and 200mcg on the other days.

As well as hypothyroidism I’ve had elevated cholesterol levels – first noted in 1992. I’ve never taken medication to lower cholesterol and with a more careful diet have generally kept total cholesterol at about 6.2mmol/l (from a high of 8.4mmol/l).

I’ve been on the 5:2 diet for about 8 weeks now and am finding it very straightforward. In that time I’ve lost one stone two pounds. I am now just under a BMI of 25. I plan to continue 5:2 until I am somehwere near the middle of the healthy weight range for my height. Then I’ll move to 6:1.

I had a check-up with my endocrinologist last week and the blood tests were very interesting indeed.

My Free T4 has shot from 20.2 and 20.0 on the previous blood tests to 25.1. TSH is now undetectable. I’m not displaying signs of hyperthyroidism and it’s a pity that no measure of T3 was taken. In view of the fact that there’s no evidence of hyperthyroidism my levothyroxine dose has been kept at the same level until the next check-up.

Next time I’ll see if I can get T3 measured too. I do have a baseline measurement from a previous test.

My total cholesterol has dropped from 6.2mmol/l to 5.2mmol/l which has been achieved almost entirely by a reduction in LDL (commonly referred to as ‘bad cholesterol’) the Total cholesterol:HDL ratio is now 3.1 (previously 3.4)

My total cholesterol has never been that low no matter what I ate.

Intermittent fasting certainly makes some very interesting changes to the body’s chemistry.

So, yes, the 5:2 diet does seem to have a profound effect on measured thyroxine levels.

Sarah

Started 5:2 last week. Have high cholesterol and hypothyroidism. Forum is encouraging – watch this space!

Bevarergong, thank you for that. I have always taken thyroxine before going to bed. The oft quoted advice to take it before breakfast is something I’ve never followed because there is evidence that taking thyroxine at night before bed time increases the bioavailability;

Effects of evening vs morning thyroxine ingestion on serum thyroid hormone profiles in hypothyroid patients. Bolk N, Visser TJ, Kalsbeek A, van Domburg RT, Berghout A. Clin Endocrinol (Oxf). 2007 Jan;66(1):43-8. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17201800

My suspicion is that while IF increases Free T4 and lowers TSH it may have little effect on T3 which is the active form. That’s why I was disappointed that there was no T3 result in my latest blood test.

There is research which suggests that T3 levels fall rapidly following the initiation of fasting but the fasting described is much more extreme than on the 5:2 diet;

Effects of obesity, total fasting and re-alimentation on L-thyroxine (T4), 3,5,3′-L-triiodothyronine (T3), 3,3′,5′-L-triiodothyronine (rT3), thyroxine binding globulin (TBG), cortisol, thyrotrophin, cortisol binding globulin (CBG), transferrin, alpha 2-haptoglobin and complement C’3 in serum. Scriba PC, Bauer M, Emmert D, Fateh-Moghadam A, Hofmann GG, Horn K, Pickardt CR. Acta Endocrinol (Copenh). 1979 Aug;91(4):629-43. – http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/115194

Next time I’m in Oxford I’ll pull the full article for this second abstract and look at the details.

There is also a study in bulls that suggests that fasting results in a decreased conversion of T4 to T3. This does investigate prolonged fasting and T4 levels decrease too. I would suggest that in intermittent fasting with supplemental T4 as opposed to endogenous, T4 taken orally isn’t converted to T3 which results in an elevated T4 level and a decreased T3 level;

Effect of severe energy restriction and refeeding n thyroid hormones in bulls. J. Jsnan, P. Rudas, T. Bartha , S. Bozo and Gy. Gabor. Acta Veterinaria Hungarian 43 (1), pp. 1 73—1 77 (1995) – http://www.androvet.hu/pdf/effect_of%20serve_energy.pdf

If T4 to T3 conversion is inhibited by fasting, there shouldn’t be a reduction in T4 in hypothyroid patients.

Sarah

HI,
I have a low tsh and a middle range t4 and a low t3 – i wonder if his is why i am not losing weight. maybe the 5:2 is just preventing me from gaining but not making me lose. Infact I feel more blown out than usual today.
Have been doing it 3 months now.

I normally have strawbs and yog for breakfast 123 cals
soup for lunch 76 cals
salad for tea 233 cals
strawbs and a merginue for pud 78

does anythign sound wrong with that.

I increased my levo by 25mgs as my t3 was low end and i had real hip pain. I wonder if i am taking too much levo and it is doing something odd like slowing my thyroid down as despite bloods i a still totally constipated, etc.

what a horrible illness ehy.

Patchwork,

Yes, it is a horrible illness.
If I take to much levo I feel it immediately. The heart is beating and it feels like I have butterflies in my stomach, like I am nervous.

I do not loose much weight with 5:2 but I do not gain any weight either. If you do not have that many pounds to loose that could be the reason of a slow weight loss. Try 4:3 or my extreme version of this diet (“3:4”) which showed results.

For 6 years I did a light fast 4,5 days of the week (cambridge) and I lost 22 pounds and kept the weight loss when I continued with Cambridge, so it is possible for us with this illness to loose weight.
Maybe we have to struggle a bit more.
Ninna

Hi, I am in the UK and when I have my blood work done to test my thyroid levels T3 and T4 measurements are never mentioned. I take 125mcg and 150mcg alternatively, I have been on the 5:2 for 8 weeks and lost around 9 lbs. it seems really slow to me but I am happy to continue as I think it is an easy way change my bad eating habits. What I have discovered is that on my fasting days I have real problems with itching especially in my scalp and eyes, also having palpitations. I have experienced all this before when I was being over medicated and had to reduce thyroxine by 25 mcg every other day. On my fasting days I save all my calories for one meal in the evening, so other than tea with a little milk I do not eat from my evening meal one day, till evening meal the next. Do you think this is ok ? I take my tablets first thing in the morning.

Do you think itchy scalp is a side effect of taking levothyroine? I have been prescribed 75 mcg daily and have intermittent itchy scalp and eyes. Started 5:2 two weeks ago an have lost 8lb. Also live in UK.

wow, just had my blood tests done.
21st June TSH 4.31, T4 15.8.
28th Oct TSH 0.06, T4 25.4

I didn’t have my T3 done in June, but it is 5.5.

this follows what other posters have been saying about their TSH plummeting and T4 shooting up. I have been on 5:2 for 2 months, and lost 12lbs.

I have been on 175mcg of thyroxine, but new doc has suggested i drop this to 125mcg and take some T3. let’s see what happens….

Hi All
I have had some serious thyroid problems over the last couple of years resulting in weight gain that would just not shift, no matter what I tried. I had suffered an over active thyroid many years ago, then it settled, and now it went mad the other way. There was talk of surgery, but I want to avoid that.

I was originally on 175mgs of Levothyroxine, but since starting the 5:2 in January of this year, not only have I lost 35lbs (without much effort…I love this regime…it suits me!), I’ve had my bloods checked every 3 months and now I’m on only 75 mgs. I was informed to take my tablets first thing in the morning at least 30 minutes before having anything to eat or drink.

My GP certainly believes that this diet has helped, my general health is now fantastic. All my friends think I look so much younger and fitter. I do walk every day, 2 miles in 30 minutes. As far as weight loss goes, I seem to have plateaued for a couple of months, but I’m still changing shape. 4:3 is not easy for me, so I will persevere and hope that it will start to shift again.

For anyone thinking of starting this diet, just go for it. I have a cousin who has lost almost 50lbs, also with thyroid problems. The thing to remember, is that thyroid problems are a reason for weight gain, not an excuse!

Hi Hiddledumpling
Glad you’ve discovered the 5:2 diet. My original post was about pancreatic problems as well as thyroid. I don’t do this diet all the time, but in a crisis e.g. if gut won’t work properly despite Creon pills, or if my thyroid levels start to swing, I find that fasting two days a week really does improve things and gets me back to normal faster than trying to see a GP!!

Look after yourself. It can’t do any harm and may do a lot of good.

Fastcat

Hi Galexinda

Whilst your Thyroid level is within “normal” limits for under-active thyroid, you should get your GP to do a specific test for HASHIMOTOS THYROIDITIS. This is an auto-immune thyroid problem and as such your TSH should not have wide swings one way and then the other, and it is more difficult to control. I’ve had it for over twenty five years now and a careless GP two years ago decided to drastically reduce my thyroxine and thus put me into a freefall on the TSH scale. It has taken me a careful two years of monitoring (tests every three months) to get back to the 0.5 to 1.5 TSH range. Now whilst that figure is well below the “normal” range for under-active thyroid, Hashimotos requires you to keep the TSH within this tight range or nothing else seems to work. My last test was a perfect 1.0.

Because Hashimotos is an auto-immune disease, your body is probably making sufficient thyroxin but you also produce antibodies which treat it as an enemy and thus your antibodies gobble it up rather than giving you metabolic energy. You will need to get a specialist test done for antibodies. Your GP should be able to help you although my test was done by a wonderful Professor of endocrinology (sadly retired now) and it was he who spotted what was wrong with me.

Hope that helps. If it is not Hashimotos and is just an under-active thyroid, then at least you will know and what you are doing re: the 5:2 will probably help as you are finding.

Fastcat

Glad to be of help Galexinda. You may wish to ask your Endocrinologist when you next see him/her, whether you have a gene mutation which is making you have these reactions to drugs rather than just a compromised immune system. I’ve had a hellish time all my life with things like anti-emetics and dental injections which have nearly killed me. In 1999 a sample of my blood was used in the Human Genome Project (complicated story of serendipity)but it was found that I had a very rare PAIR of homozygous CYP2D6*4 genes which make me an especially poor metabolizer of certain drugs, especially opiates. i.e. The drug does not change into the required medium because I don’t produce the relevant enzymes in the liver, and thus toxins accumulate in the body leading to anaphylactic shock. I can’t for instance, metabolize morphine which is in a lot of pain relieving drugs. It just makes me more ill. I now wear a medical tag in case I’m ever in an accident. Stick to the 5:2 if nothing else and avoid as many drugs as you possibly can. However, if your consultant is worried about your weight loss, all I can suggest is that you increase your calorie intake on the non-fasting days to compensate.

Fastcat

Just found this site. I’m 55, 2 stone overweight and hypothyroid and have just increased to 150mcg levothyroxine. I’m desperate to lose my excess weight and have been trying various restricted diets (low carb,semi- fasting, smoothies) for over a year with no result, in fact I’ve gained a couple of pounds!. In desperation I typed in ‘ hypothyroid and weight’ this morning and came to this forum/ site, so fingers crossed I’m starting the 5:2 today!!! Here’s hoping……….

I have just read all your posts, and thank you. I am impressed with how many of you have investigated the science – I have done so in the past, but forgotten it all now…
I was first diagnosed as hypo- in about 1991, but my gp did not decide to prescribe anything. About 2-3 yrs later, another gp, another town, was quite anxious that I should be supplemented. So began the next 20+ yrs of yo-yo levels of medication. 3 times over that period I have insisted to gp’s (in different towns – I have moved a lot) that my levels needed to be tested because I couldn’t think, I was overly tired, my skin was dry, I was gaining weight and my hair was falling out in handfuls, only to have them refuse because “doctor knows best”. On each occasion, when they finally decided enough time had passed for me to be tested again, there has been a frantic call from the surgery to come for an appointment and my dose has been increased. To say that I am over medical arrogance is an understatement! So much for the Hippocratic oath – one of them even charged me full price for the consultation he demanded; needless to say the first thing I do is tell new doctors that when I say I need a thyroid blood test if they are not prepared to let me tell them what is happening with my own body then I will find another doctor.
I am 60 now, and my present to myself was to begin following 5:2, just over 3 1/2 months, and lost 9.5kgs, which I am delighted with. I saw the doctor last week for asthma and he said he wants me to have a thyroid test! We didn’t discuss weight loss but I assume he noticed I am thinner. I’m not due for a test for another couple of months (I insist on 6 monthly tests these days as my levels fluctuate wildly over time) so I’ll get to that in the next week or two, and present to him when I’ve been with 5:2 for 4 months. Hopefully by then my blood pressure will have dropped a little too (140/90, which doubles my risk of stroke, so not happy but happy to be able to control it) and if my thyroid medication levels need to be reduced down too, that will also be a good outcome.
In terms of exercise, I have been swimming occasionally with a friend, depending on her & my availability; I have begun walking about 4km in the mornings 1-2 wk with another friend, again depending on availability; but most importantly I have left the 12 hr shift office job for work as a nurse in a aged care facility where I am on my feet and moving all shift! I come home exhausted & sweaty, but I feel that overall my stress levels have plummeted.
My sleep patterns are horrible – a goal for this year.
I think the whole health issue is holistic, and my story certainly feels as if every element has contributed to where I am today. Some lessons learnt, some work still to be done.
So once I’ve been back and followed up my thyroid story, I’ll post again. Good luck to us all – as simcoelov says in another thread “A year from today, you’ll wish you had started today”, and we have, so good on us! Hang in there, we can do this! 🙂

Oops! Just saw I said I’d post again, but didn’t.
I have been diagnosed recently with depression – family issues, and now on prescription anti-depressant & into counselling for cognitive behaviour therapy (I really hope this works quickly as depression is slowing down my life dramatically, due to lack of motivation and I have lots I would like to do).
So my GP didn’t change my thyroid dose at my last visit, but perhaps that was because I have bigger problems at the moment.
I’ve now lost 11.5kg although it has been very slow over the last month or so, because of the depression.
I recently saw that University of Wollongong is conducting holistic research into depression (http://media.uow.edu.au/releases/UOW213344.html). They say “Depression is the leading cause of disability worldwide, with its recent growth being linked to modern dietary changes, stress, loneliness, sleep deprivation and endocrine dysfunction.” As the thyroid gland is part of the endocrine system, it will be interesting to know what they find!

Hang in there everyone – we’re doing the right things by our bodies and brains when we follow 5:2!
Thanks for your stories.
p.s. It’s actually early afternoon here, not very early morning. It’s sunny and very windy. Great drying weather.