If you have a weight problem but it just won't go away, no matter how many calories you cut or exercise you do, it could be the fault of being hypothyroid.

There are 27 million Americans with thyroid disease and women are 7 times more likely than men to have it. Hypothyroid is the most common thyroid disorder and most widely misdiagnosed by physicians.

Hypothyroid is a condition where the thyroid gland, a small butterfly shaped organ located at the base of the neck, does not produce enough thyroid hormone to function properly.

The thyroid takes in iodine and combines it with tyrosine, an amino acid that then converts it into the hormones T3 and T4. If your thyroid is normal, 80% will be T4 and 20% T3. Both of these hormones travel through the bloodstream, converting calories and oxygen into energy. If this process doesnt work properly, then the calories and oxygen cannot convert the energy properly and you have weight gain or inability to lose weight.

You might be suffering in other parts of your general health and well-being without understanding the connections between these conditions. You might be feeling sluggish and fatigued with a desire to nap all the time, depression and sadness,always feeling cold, especially your hands and feet, hair loss, brittle nails, low sex drive, high cholesterol levels that do not respond to proper diet or medications, heavier than normal and painful menstrual cycles that last longer than normal. These are just some of the symptoms that signal a thyroid disorder.

Unfortunately, these symptoms are also indicative of other conditions. Childbirth can often trigger thyroid disorders but the symptoms are dismissed by doctors as a result of having a new baby. Sometimes thyroid disorders can cause women to begin early menopause but then the thyroid disorder gets lost in the treatment of these other conditions.

If you suspect that you might have thyroid disease, schedule a visit with your doctor and ask to have your TSH (thyroid stimulating hormone) level checked. A normal TSH level for most Americans is .5 to 5.5. If you have a level of 5.6, you are considered hypothyroid.

If you are having trouble losing weight after doing all the right things, be assertive about finding the solution for your problem. Don't give up; weight gain is a sign of a lot of problems besides just not eating right and exercising.