Briana Adesso lives an active lifestyle with a healthy diet, so when she strangely began to gain weight, it simply made no sense.
The 31-year-old primary school special education teacher had earned around £40 between the second half of 2022 and early 2023 in six months.
Regular gym people and healthy eaters also began to suffer from brain fog, fatigue, lack of energy, and the tips of her fingers.
The New Yorker told dailymail.com: I work in serving.
‘[But] I was embarrassed that my clothes didn’t fit or that I didn’t like how I looked. I still attend social gatherings, but I wasn’t as confident as usual. ”
After tolerating the symptoms for several months, she decided to visit her primary care doctor and was told to have a blood test to rule out cancer and other serious health issues.
Luckily they were negative, but it left Adesso, who was still rushing for the answer.
Briana Adesso, 31, primary school special education teacher drawn here before the diagnosis of hypothyroidism in August 2022
She had earned around 40 pounds in six months between late 2022 and early 2023. It is depicted here in April 2023, one month before the diagnosis.
Her doctor took it Ultrasound in her thyroid – butterfly shaped glands that produce hormones that regulate metabolism, growth and development.
It revealed multiple benign growths of the glands themselves, which are interfering with hormone production.
She was diagnosed with hypothyroidism, or an active thyroid – which caused her metabolism to crash.
Metabolism is the body’s ability to convert food and drink into energy.
Having a slow metabolism means your body burns calories at rest, making it difficult to gain weight and lose it.
This condition is also known to affect appetite, and people may experience increased food cravings and calorie intake.
It can also cause muscle weakness, thin hair, dry skin, memory dysfunction, low mood, and changes in blood pressure.
About 5% of the US experience people over the age of 12.
“Hyroidism from any cause leads to a decrease in energy metabolism or basal metabolic rate,” said Dr. Eve Bloomgarden, an endocrinologist at Northwest Medicine.
“Participants often have less weight gain before diagnosis because of this slowing metabolism.”
Dr. Kimberly Bethel of Trotwood Physician Center in Ohio added: “The function of the thyroid gland is to regulate the body’s metabolism.
“It affects everything from the top of the head to the toes. And we know that it affects a person’s weight. If you are a fast metabolic agent, you burn more calories, or if you are a slow metabolic agent, you will gain weight.
Hypothyroidism can be caused by a number of reasons, including iodine deficiency, pituitary disorders such as non-cancerous tumors, and thyroiditis (viral diseases and inflammation of the thyroid that occurs after pregnancy).
In addition to thyroid problems, Adesso also found to have insulin resistance — which can lead to less responsiveness to insulin, leading to weight gain.
After her diagnosis in 2023, she was prescribed Semaglutide, the active ingredient in weight loss drugs with drugs that are regularly used to treat hypothyroidism.
Ms Adesso said she’s 50 pounds this month. She is depicted here in March 2025
She also maintained a healthy lifestyle by continuing to exercise and eating healthy.
The treatment combination was working, but her insurance stopped paying for semaglutide.
While her insurance first covered it, she was ultimately forced to pay out of her pocket – a monthly supply of semaglutide usually cost $1,350.
She explained: On top of the medication, I maintain a healthy, balanced diet and continue to be extremely active.
Since launching the regimen, Ms Adesso told the website she was able to lose 50 pounds.
She said: “I am very grateful for semaglutide. There is such a stigma to taking this medication, but it really helped me so much.
‘Having both hypothyroidism and insulin resistance made it almost impossible to lose weight regardless of how many times I did or how much exercise I did.
“Unfortunately, my insurance stopped covering this drug and I was paying from my pocket for months, and that was a key component of my success in losing weight.”
