Reason #1: You are considering a new diet and want to know if you have a hormonal, metabolic, or genetic cause of weight gain.
You want help picking the perfect diet for your metabolism. Ask us or your primary care doctor to consider the following labs to get started.
CBC (complete blood count) to check your blood levels. This can give us a sign if you are lacking in certain vitamins like iron or vitamin B12.
CMP (comprehensive metabolic panel) with magnesium to check your kidney function, liver enzymes, and electrolytes. Elevated liver enzymes could be a sign of fatty liver. Also, some diets cause a natural diuresis (increased urination) which can affect some of your electrolytes. It's important to know your baseline levels before starting a new diet.
Hemoglobin A1c is a measure of your average sugar levels over the last 3 months. An elevated level, even if it's only in the “prediabetes zone“, might be due to poor carbohydrate metabolism which is often genetic.
Fasting insulin levels can increase before the A1c starts to increase. This is also related to poor carbohydrate metabolism.
TSH (thyroid stimulating hormone), T4, and T3 tests for hypothyroidism (low thyroid). Low thyroid causes weight gain, fatigue, dry skin, constipation, and many other symptoms of a low metabolism. Even if TSH is in the “normal” range, many people benefit from supplementation to keep them in the “ideal” range.
Lipids (cholesterol) interpretation can be very complicated. A low HDL (good cholesterol) usually indicates lack of physical activity. A high LDL (bad cholesterol) is mostly genetic but can improve with weight loss. An elevated triglyceride level is often associated with poor carbohydrate metabolism.
Other labs based on your symptoms and history may be helpful. Examples include vitamin testing or specialized hormone testing to check for polycystic ovarian syndrome or cortisol excess.
Reason #2: You are already on a strict diet or you are losing significant weight.
Check a CMP (comprehensive metabolic panel) and magnesium level one month after starting a strict diet. Strict diets include restricted carbohydrate diets (less than 30 grams/day) or full meal replacement diets.
Check CMP, A1c, and TSH for every 30 lbs of weight loss or every 3 months. Weight loss usually improves hypothyroidism, diabetes, and hypertension. You will likely need to reduce your daily medications as you lose weight.
Check your cholesterol every 6 months.
Reason #3: You've hit a plateau.
You've already lost a lot of weight, but you're not quite at your goal. You are continuing your healthier diet and more active lifestyle, but you're starting to get discouraged.
Recheck your labs at this point to look for factors affecting your weight loss efforts. You might also find significant improvement in some of your lab results. Your scale might not reflect your efforts, but seeing your labs improve might keep you motivated to break through the plateau.
pillarMD plan:
Make an appointment today with your primary care physician or weight loss doctor at pillarMD. Start now!
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