Re: Armour-Mama

 Don't forget exercise. The more fat you can get rid of the easier it will be to lower your estrogen since fat cells generate estrogen.

The Amour would get the weight off, then that would help lower the estrogen as you say above.

I'm only ten pounds overweight, but i still need Armour.

If Mama could have got rid of the weight by exercise, i'm sure she would have done that by now. You can't get rid of it however much exercise or healthy food you eat, if you do not have enough thyroid hormone.

Unfortunately weight loss is not as simple as this.  There are many reasons that a person can gain weight, and no one-thing-fits-all solution.  For example a person with Prader-Willi syndrome is not going to be helped from Armour.  The same with people gaining weight from Prednisone use.  Armour is not going to help for weight gain due to diabetes.  Women taking estrogen replacement therapy will only get minor help for their weight gain from Armour........... 

As we can see Armour is not a cure all for weight gain and it does pose problems.  Armour use can shut down the thyroid with long term use creating a dependence on the supplemental hormone. Another issue is that thyroid replacement hormones have been found to create problems with bone loss since they are hard to regulate thyroid hormone levels.  This is not some innocuous  substance that can be played it.  It is a real drug with real side effects and therefore should only be used as a last resort. 

Weight loss should be addressed from different directions as if you are treating any disease.  For example type 2 diabetes is not addressed just through diet.  We need to address insulin sensitivity, beta cell health, the insulin vasoconstriction that leads to most of the damage in diabetes, sugar blocking, carbohydrate blocking, weight control, blood vessel strengthening, etc.

Exercise is one of the most important things to help with weight control.  As we exercise we build muscle.  Muscle burns calories even in a resting state.  Exercise also burns off glucose that can otherwise would be converted in to fat or triglycerides.  Exercise helps with detoxification and eliminating excess water in the system.  Exercise suppresses insulin release, which otherwise stimualtes fat formation.  Heavier, long term exercise also teaches the body to burn fat as its primary fuel source since fat is the most efficient fuel for the body.  And another important reason is that exercise is a great way to reduce stress that otherwise suppresses the thyroid.

And I am not talking about going out and running a marathon.  Any muscle movement will burn glucose.  And you can put on muscle simply by contracting muscles tightly and holding this contraction for 15 to 30 seconds then relaxing then repeating this over and over.  This can be done while sitting at stop lights in the car or even while you are sitting there typing on the computer.  And unlike Armour it is safe and free.  There are also hand weights for low impact exercise, or fill water jugs for variable weight hand weights.  When you go to the store look for a parking spot further away from the door.  Or if the store is close walk instead of drive.  You can make exercise fun by playing with your kids or pets if you have them.  Get creative and get moving.  Just taking Armour to lose weight is as stupid as just starving yourself to death to lose weight.