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5 Reasons Armour Thyroid Isn’t Helping You Lose Weight — And What No One Ever Told You

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By A.L. Childers — written in the quiet hour when the counting-house candles burn low, and a woman must take inventory of her health the way merchants tally their fortunes.

🔥

If you have ever sat at the edge of your bed — hands in your hair, heart in your throat — wondering how you can swallow a thyroid pill every morning and still feel heavy, swollen, tired, and trapped in a body that no longer feels like your own… this is for you.

Because Armour Thyroid is not the villain.
And you are not the failure.
The missing truth is simply this: no medication can fix what your doctor never measured.

🌾 An Old-World Tale of Modern Thyroid Trouble

Imagine, for a moment, an 18th-century counting house: tall ledgers, ink-stained fingers, and a clerk bent over columns of numbers, trying desperately to make the sums balance.

This, dear reader, is what managing hypothyroidism often feels like.

You take Armour Thyroid.
You wait.
You hope.
You pray the numbers will finally reconcile — the weight, the fatigue, the fog, the pulse, the mood.

But the ledger refuses to even out.

You are doing everything right… and yet the body behaves as though something is terribly amiss in its bookkeeping.

That is because Armour alone cannot fix the metabolic debts accumulated by inflammation, leptin resistance, reverse T3, under-dosing, or inactive ingredients your body rejects.

Let us now open the ledger and examine the five great discrepancies that steal your progress.

1. You Aren’t Being Dosed Correctly (The Most Common, Least Discussed Problem)

Armour Thyroid contains both T4 (inactive) and T3 (active) hormones.
Your doctor often doses it as if T3 were harmless — but T3 is three times more powerful than T4 at lowering TSH.

This leads to two common mistakes:

Mistake A — You were switched from Levothyroxine to Armour using an outdated conversion chart.

Most charts say:
100 mcg T4 = 1 grain Armour
But in reality:
50 mcg T4 ≈ 1 grain Armour

Which means many patients are silently cut in half.

Mistake B — Your doctor fears T3 and under-doses you.

Because T3 can cause heart palpitations if increased too quickly, many doctors start too low and never titrate up.

Result:
Your body stays hypothyroid no matter what the prescription says.

2. Your Body Needs More T3 Than Armour Provides

Some people — especially women — need much higher levels of T3 to move thyroid hormone into the cells.

This is especially true if you have:

  • High Reverse T3
  • Leptin resistance
  • Insulin resistance
  • Fibromyalgia
  • Low body temperature
  • Chronic fatigue
  • Long-term stress
  • Bipolar or mood disorders in the family

Armour Thyroid has fixed ratios, meaning you can’t increase T3 without also increasing T4 (which may worsen Reverse T3).

Adding a small dose of Liothyronine (T3) or Cytomel can be life-changing.

3. Leptin Resistance Is Blocking Your Weight Loss (This One Hurts… But It’s Real)

Leptin is the “fat thermostat.”
When leptin rises, metabolism should rise.

But when leptin breaks — as it does in hypothyroidism, stress, poor sleep, insulin resistance, and inflammation — the brain never gets the message.

Result:
Your metabolism lowers even while you gain weight.
Your hunger increases even while you diet.
Exercise hardly matters.

Most importantly:
Leptin resistance reduces T4 → T3 conversion.
Meaning:
Even Armour cannot help if leptin is choking the metabolic pathways.

A fasting leptin test > 12 usually confirms it.

4. You Are Reacting to Armour’s Inactive Ingredients (No One Warns You About This)

Not all thyroid medications are created equal — not because of the hormones but because of the fillers.

Armour contains:

  • Methylcellulose (binds the hormone and can delay absorption)
  • Dextrose (sugars some people react to)

If you have low stomach acid, SIBO, Hashimoto’s, IBS, or poor digestion, Armour may absorb poorly — or cause symptoms you mistake for thyroid issues.

Many patients do better on:

  • WP Thyroid (fewest fillers)
  • Nature-Throid
  • Tirosint (gel cap, extremely clean)

If Armour feels like it “stops working,” this is often why.

5. Your Reverse T3 Is Too High (The Silent Thyroid Saboteur)

Reverse T3 is like a broken key fitting into the thyroid receptor — blocking the lock without ever turning it.

High Reverse T3 means you can swallow thyroid medicine all day long… and none of it enters the cell.

Causes include:

  • Stress
  • Inflammation
  • Chronic illness
  • Dieting
  • Birth control
  • Certain medications
  • Insulin resistance
  • Leptin resistance
  • Too much T4 medication
  • Gut inflammation

If your Reverse T3 is high, Armour alone cannot help you lose weight.
You must address the cause and adjust medication.

✨ The Ledger Closes — And a New Chapter for Your Health Begins

Armour Thyroid is a useful tool, but it is not a magic wand.
It will not override metabolic blockages, poor conversion, under-dosing, or hormonal chaos.

If you aren’t losing weight on Armour, check the 5 metabolic “entries” in your ledger:

✔ Dose
✔ T3 needs
✔ Leptin resistance
✔ Inactive ingredient sensitivity
✔ Reverse T3

Only when all five balance out…
Only then does weight loss finally move in your favor.

📚 Recommended Reading by A.L. Childers

These books guide you through diet, inflammation reversal, thyroid support, and the deeper emotional journey of reclaiming your health.

📜 DISCLAIMER

The information in this blog reflects personal research and experience and is for educational and entertainment purposes only. It is not medical, legal, or financial advice. The author is not a medical professional. Always consult a licensed healthcare provider before changing medication, supplements, or treatment plans. The author assumes no responsibility for any outcomes resulting from the use of information in this blog. Your health decisions should be made with a qualified professional. Empower yourself with knowledge — but proceed with care.

👩‍💼 ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Audrey Childers — known online as The Hypothyroidism Chick — is a published author, investigative wellness writer, and thyroid advocate with over a decade of research experience. After reversing her own autoimmune and thyroid struggles, she now writes books, guides, and articles to help women reclaim the health the medical system often overlooks.

Her work includes nutrition, autoimmune healing, thyroid-friendly cooking, and lifestyle transformation rooted in both science and lived experience.

You can find her books on Amazon and connect with her at:
🌿 TheHypothyroidismChick.com


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