Tyrosine to Boost T3 for Fat Loss?

Your understanding of the thyroid and different hormones is unreal and the timing of this article is perfect. The wife and I were just talking about her hashimoto’s this morning because her doc is taking the cook book approach of just prescribing more t4…which she is already taking big doses of now. She sees him this morning but he always orders the same basic 3 labs TSH, Free t3 and Free t4…nothing more… But she told me this morning that in the past she has had issues with her liver function panel and from what little I understand is where the body converts most of the t4 to t3. Currently trying to find a better endocrinologist to dig more into all of that.

Anyway, trying to make a long story short and give enough info. She has never really ever gained weight except when pregnant and now that we aren’t having any more children wants to try and drop the weight. She is struggling and it does seem that lately it’s much easier for her to gain weight. She first tried a crazy calorie deficit which just made her lethargic we are switching this up. She used to train with local female bodybuilders when she was younger so she is not untrained. She may be 20lbs over weight so its not too drastic, but she is spinning her wheels. I recommended adding back in carbs specifically along with the total cals, glycine at night and Elite Pro minerals for the Mag and Selenium and Zinc. Question is from what little I understand is that tyrosine is a no no for folks with possible cortisol issues, which she may have. But I also have read that tyrosine along with iodine ups the t4 produced in the body. Her fatigue could also be from the fairly low amount of t3 she produces, possibly? Would it be worth her trying tyrosine in the morning to help with her low t3 once we get her fatigue in check? Also she is already on 200mcg of levothyroxine. I think the max dosage is 300. Sorry for the novel…really appreciate your help. Love how you take the time to respond to all these questions. Thanks in advance Coach.

Update:
She’s been taking 1.5g of Tyrosine in the morning 3/4 days a week and continuing her 3g Glycine every night. She’s been taking the Tyrosine now for about a week. She says she feels like she has much more energy so far. Weight loss not sure on yet. I can tell from her mood that she is feeling better. Sleep seems to be fine she says definitely no worse than normal. Her endocrinologist was absolutely no help at her appointment but upped her t4 levothyroxine, not t3 sorry, prescription which was just a bit more than the least he could do.

I’ll try to get back to the whole post if I have time.

But just FYI, while tyrosine is a great supplement to boost mood and energy (by increasing dopamine), if you use it everyday it can actually decrease serotonin, which you really don’t want.

Furthermore, unless her protein intake is very low, supplementing tyrosine will likely not increase thyroid hormone production. Iodine deficiency is more often the cause of low thyroid production.

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Thanks coach. Her doc told her that her labs and the ultrasound indicate Hashimotos thyroiditis. He didn’t say to specifically stay away from iodine but everything I’ve read said that if you do have Hashimotos its a good idea to stay away from excess iodine. We eat really clean. Pretty much zero processed foods but she does take a One A Day multivitamin that contains Potassium Iodide at 150 mcg. So we have a good idea of how much iodine she gets in a day. She doesn’t take tyrosine daily usually just the 3 or 4 days she works out a week.

The stuff I read on this is confusing as hell (tons of contradictory advice on this…and of course folks selling specific thyroid supps), and with her having Hashimotos, it only makes it that much more confusing. Just feel bad for her because she seems constantly wore out. This past week was better for sure.