Your thyroid dictates much of your metabolism, any malfunction or disease afflicting this area may cause you to have problems in metabolism leading to a drastic problem with your weight. You may either gain weight, lose weight, or may find that losing weight is harder than usual.

Those that plan diets do not take into consideration how their thyroid and metabolism may affect their weight loss program. Most experts and even the media pitch in and recommend that the best way to lose weight is cut calories.

Those with a condition called hyperthyroidism suffer from an overactive thyroid leading to one having his or her metabolism skyrocket. If this is the case, then you will probably lose weight fast. This is a nice proposition for some who wish to lose weight. However, this is actually hazardous to your health because it can cause a decrease in bone mineral density, and a higher risk of having a stroke, and developing heart failure, if left untreated.

Aside from the medical difficulties such a disease brings, one will also notice weight problems as a result. These people have trouble keeping on weight and may notice weakness and bulging of the eyes. This disease may need special treatment from doctors.

Hypothyroidism on the other hand works in the other direction by slowing your metabolism until the body gains weight at an incredible rate. Like hyperthyroidism, hypothyroidism causes a general weakness in the body. It too may need special treatment and may cause serious health problems if left unattended.

While cutting calories in itself can be very hard for most people to imagine, the people involved in the life and death struggles at the supermarket regarding whether to buy that extra box of sweets, some have exactly the opposite problem.

Instead of eating too many calories which is a problem in itself, they eat too few calories instead. The problem with some is that they believe that since the experts say that they have to cut calories, cutting calories to an inordinate amount will reap greater results. Unfortunately, it does not work that way. While cutting calories will help you lose weight, consuming too little calories pushed the body into a hoard mode, and as a result, your body’s metabolism will become slow to adapt to the lesser amount of available energy.

If your body enters this state, your body will work at such a slow rate that losing weight becomes almost impossible. The technique here should be to reduce calories without the body slowing its metabolism. Only then can losing weight become easier.

Another problem can arise from having a decreased rate at which your body metabolizes food as a result of consuming a drastic reduction in calories. Then you suddenly eat a good, hearty, calorie-filled meal, you are bound to gain more weight due to the increased surplus of energy.

This is why an imbalanced meal is highly discouraged among those that seek to lose weight. The sudden loss and increase of calories will cause an imbalance in one’s energy consumption directly affecting your body’s fat deposits.

Here is a simple computation to help you get to the right amount of calories you will need per day so that you get your nutrients in the right balance:

First of all, multiply your weight in kilograms by 30. If you only know your weight in pounds, divide it by 2.2 to get to its English equivalent. We divide this number by 30 because that is the number of calories you need to maintain your weight per pound of weight.

For example, if your weight in pounds is 150, divide it by 2.2. That will give you a figure of 68.18. This is your weight in kilograms. Multiply this by 30 and you will arrive at the number of calories you will need per day to maintain 150 lbs.

You may also want to consult with a nutritionist to help you lose weight and put you on a proper meal plan. In the end, it all comes down to math. If you consume more than your body needs, it stores it as fat. Now is probably a good time to start studying the back of those grocery cartons and food labels because it will help you lose weight and gain a better understanding of what you are putting into your body.

Try to keep your diet at 40% protein, 25% fat, 35% carbohydrates, and 300 calories per meal. Spread out these meals every 2 to 3 hours per day for optimum results.

While it may be simple computation to get at numbers, do not forget the earlier mentioned fact that the body adapts to its condition. Expose it to extreme ones and you may find yourself getting results you never wanted. Consult a nutritionist for more advice.