Thyroid Power – fat loss but at what cost?

One of your biggest foes as a bodybuilder is your own body! Yes as ironic as it sounds the person closest to you is fighting you every step of the way when it comes to perfecting your physique. The problem you see is that the human body just loves to store fat and is not keen on helping you with any type of fat loss.

Despite the bad publicity that fat continues to receive, it does play a vital role if health. Everything from protection and insulation, to hormone production and energy, is dependent on fat. And perhaps most important, we use it as a source of fuel when food resources run low. Now even though this is highly unlikely in Western countries, your body doesn't know the difference. It still has these storage mechanisms that have been developed over the past couple of millions of years, and any amount of excess calories will quickly be stored as fat for future use.

Now as a bodybuilder you can see how this presents a problem. You want to turn up on contest day as fat-free as possible. All things being equal, the bodybuilder with the lowest bodyfat percentage will probably win the weight division; and the only way to do this by turning off these fat-storing mechanisms. Years ago, extra cardio and strict dieting were more than enough to achieve the desired results. But with each passing year the judges started awarding first place to the bodybuilders who were the most ripped. It wasn’t long before those 10-percent champions became replaced by today’s ultra-ripped two and three percenters. Such extreme degrees of vascularity can only be achieved by the most genetically gifted or in most cases, pharmacologically enhanced.

It was this new direction in shreddedness that pushed many bodybuilders to start adding fat-burning drugs to their cycles. After all if you can use drugs to build muscle mass, why not use other drugs for fat loss. The drugs of choice for most competitive bodybuilders are thyroid medications. It has been known for decades that the thyroid gland, a small gland located just behind the Adams Apple in the neck, controls the body’s metabolism including body fat storage. For example when people develop thyroid problems one of the first things that happens is that they gain weight (in the case of an overactive thyroid they’ll lose weight). The easiest way to treat thyroid problems is by modifying or replacing the thyroid’s two hormones, T3 and T4.

As expected when bodybuilders first heard about the tremendous fat-burning properties of thyroid drugs, they immediately added them to their precontest training stacks. Thyroid drugs literally convert a bodybuilder’s body into a fat burning furnace. How effective are the drugs? There are reports that many pro bodybuilders can eat junk food right up to contest day!

Risk-free fat loss?

As with most so-called “wonder drugs”, thyroid compounds sound great in theory. But as expected there is a serious downside. As soon as you introduce an outside drug that mimics one of the body’s natural hormones, the body often responds by shutting off its own production. After all why keep manufacturing something if you don’t need to? The problem is not what happens while you are on the drug but what happens after you come off the drug. It may take the body weeks if not months to bring natural hormone levels back to normal. In many cases full production never occurs. There are numerous reports of bodybuilders and fitness contestants who are now dependant on thyroid drugs for life because of their long-term thyroid abuse.

If the previous is not enough to stop you from using thyroid drugs, how about some of the other potential side effects:

Hand tremors
irregular heartbeat
shortness of breath
excessive sweating
diarrhea
weight loss
nausea
severe headaches

We could go on about the dangers of thyroid medications but hopefully you are starting to see the big picture. Instead why not check out a fantastic new product that the science of supplementation has just created. They are called legal steroid alternatives and besides building muscle mass seem to stimulate fat loss just as effectively as thyroid drugs. Bodybuilders are reporting that most of these steroid alternatives will produce fat burning effects that are similar to thyroid drugs; but without the risks of damaging your thyroid gland. If maximum shreddedness is your goal, read more on these revolutionary new products today!