Unexplained weight gain

[Autumndreamsx]

I’ve somehow gained 58lb since February this year and I’m genuinely baffled as to how.

At first I figured I was just overeating so in May time I started cutting my portions back and increasing my exercise. This didn’t help and I was still putting weight on steadily over a couple of months. The last 6 weeks I’ve been religiously logging everything I eat and drink into my fitness pal to see where I’m going wrong and I was consistently eating around 1400 calories a day, going to the gym 5 days a week yet still gaining weight. I’ve tried cutting my calories down to 1200 the last few weeks but that’s not helping either and I’m sure there must be something else going on. About a fortnight ago I had a pretty nasty sickness bug and didn’t eat for a good 4 days and somehow put 2lb on!

I’ve spoken to my doctor who just rolls their eyes and says I must be eating more than I’m recording but I’m genuinely not. I eventually got them to do a full blood work up and everything has came back totally normal- the only thing that had changed since my blood work the year before was my TSH level had went up from 0.7 to 3.9 but even that is within normal range.

I’m starting to feel like I’m going crazy. Im going to try cutting out carbs now and seeing if that makes a difference but if anyone has any ideas of things I could try or any suggestions of anything medical that could be causing this I would be very appreciative!

That's 4 stone in a really short amount of time, I imagine the GP would have suggested something if it could be medical, surely?

I'd put money on your thyroid being the issue.

Sadly, your GP has not checked your thyroid hormones FT4 and FT3 and will probably tell you that he canŷ because of local protocols. Lots of advice on the ThyroidUK forum on www.healthunlocked.com.

I put on 3 stone in two years for no apparent reason. Turned out that my TSH was well within range, but my actual thyroid hormones were very low. Treatment has been life changing.

Or could it be linked to menopause ?

Are you on any medication?

@MrsPelligrinoPetrichor I’d like to think so but to be honest the doctor didn’t really take me seriously, I think they thought I was lying about my diet (I wasn’t!)

@Herecomesdehotstepper that’s interesting to know, thanks for that link I’ll check that out and see if I can get further blood tests done somehow. I’d be willing to pay for them privately at this point if my GP wouldn’t do them to get an answer.

@nutmegnook I’m only 31 so don’t think so on the menopause front (hopefully not anyway!)

@Nets888 no medication other than a salbutamol inhaler for asthma which is used pretty infrequently and generally well controlled

Pay privately for a full thyroid test with the, t4, ft3. Medichecks is a good one. Wait until they have an offer on. Then present it to Dr and say you would like to try thyroxine treatment to see if it makes a difference. When I first started having an underactive thyroid my results were borderline so they just tried me on the lowest dose 25mcg, it got worse over the years until I was taking 200mcg a day.

@MrsPelligrinoPetrichor I’d like to think so but to be honest the doctor didn’t really take me seriously, I think they thought I was lying about my diet (I wasn’t!)

Doesn't surprise me, I was equally as dismissed over something medical recently. Thyroid really seems a possibility.

Google cushings. Ask for a cortisol test.

Get a second opinion? Try a different GP?

26kg in 7 months is spectacular. I'd be very surprised if it's thyroid, as you're still going to the gym. If your thyroid had completely conked out, you'd be having to drag yourself to your front door.

I'm also surprised your GP doesn't seem concerned. That's not a typo? You've gained 58lbs?

What pattern has the expansion taken? Is it mostly in your legs, for example, all over, or on your tummy?

The most obvious cause would be oedema - fluid retention in pocket-like cells. Also called cellulitis. Google some pictures: if you have it, there'll be an orange-peel consistency to the skin and, if you press a swollen part, it will squish down as if you were pressing into fresh bread or cake. It's a symptom of various things, and it's serious.

Diabetes and other hormonal disorders can also cause rapid weight gain but rarely of this magnitude. I think you need to speak to a different GP, being very explicit about your symptom.

@GG1986 I’ll have a look on medichecks now, thank you!

@Xrays thanks, I’ll look that up and see if I can get that test privately too.

@Hottoffeesauce I’m going to try and ring them today to see if I can get a consultation with someone different. My practice are very funny about seeing your registered GP though

@GarlicGrace Yes, 58lb. I got the impression from my GP that she just thinks I’ve been over eating which is probably why she’s not concerned. I showed her my fitness pal but she just said I could have put anything on that. I’d say the weight gain is predominantly around my tummy/chest area. I don’t think it looks oedema but I could go wrong. I’ll mention it to the doctor again when I go back. I had a glucose test in my recent bloods which was normal so I think that rules out diabetes. If there’s no medical cause for it I’ll be absolutely baffled because there’s no way it can be diet related!

Your doctor sounds awful!

I'm not at all surprised that a GP has dismissed you out of hand. But there must be something going on. That's an extraordinary amount to gain.

I don't want to speculate because I really don't have any medical training, but the first thing that came to my head was a cyst.

Could be a multitude of conditions, go to your dr and demand blood tests!
My mum put on weight, tummy swelled, was feeling generally unwell. Was fobbed off by her dr, told to diet, said she had a hernia every visit said there was nothing that a change in diet wouldn’t solve!
Her dr was off, she saw a locum, he immediately sent her to hospital for blood tests, came back she had ovarian cancer.
you know your body best.

What treatment did you get if you don't mind me asking? I am in exactly this position

It can’t be thyroid, even with extreme hypothyroidism it would be max ten pounds of salt and water and you’d certainly not be going to the gym.

it’s not humanly possible to gain that amount of weight without actually consuming the calories to do so.

I’d say the weight gain is predominantly around my tummy/chest area. - Then cortisol's a likely culprit.

A lot of things can cause elevated cortisol, and a single blood test is only a dipstick because we all go through peaks and troughs. Getting a test may help guide your talks with your doctor, though.

Her comment about your MFP record is awful! Some doctors simply can't look past 'fat' and, in your shoes, I'd be persistent about seeing someone else.

You would have to have consumed around 1,000 excess calories EVERY DAY for 7 months to gain the weight you have with normal metabolism and fluid dissipation. Something's wrong, and it could be serious.

It is, when the weight comes from fluid retention. Diseases like Cushing's cause fluid accumulation in the tissues. Cushing's also prompts to body to convert food intake to visceral fat, hence the swollen belly appearance.

Plenty of other diseases have this kind of effect as well. Many are serious in their own right; all put strain on the venous system and organs like the liver & heart.

Just a thought ,you say you're using fitness pal/ gym. You not trading off calories burned at the gym for food, are you? They're usually unreliable and you end up burning off far fewer calories than stated then can end up over eating.

This could only happen if the op had other symptoms. Swelling, pain, vision changes, fever, difficulty breathing etc when the gain is as much as this amount.

it simply isn’t humanly possible to gain this much with absolutely no other symptoms and still doing gym 5 days a week. The op is also clear it doesn’t look like edema.

op. How much have you gained in the last 6 weeks since you started logging?

TSH level had went up from 0.7 to 3.9 but even that is within normal range.

It doesn't matter that its in the normal range - its gone from over active - under 1 to borderline underachieve 4

So your body has changed considerable regardless of what parameters doctors and endocrinologists think over active and under active results are. This parameters were done and test on 20 young fit healthy male medical students 6 decades ago and have never been revised.

Well, this past week has been a good test for hypothyroidism (if in the UK). Have you been cold while the sun's blazing away?

Happened to me in June. Told GP, he agreed to double my levothyroxine. Am feeling appropriately warm now!

@MrsPelligrinoPetrichor No I’m eating the same amount of calories on the days I do train and don’t train (currently 1200 which is 700 less than what my fitness pal suggests for my height and weight)

@Janieforever 15.5lb In the last 6 weeks. I have been feeling more run down lately- tired, more breathless, achy joints and some skin problems but I suppose these are all just typical of carrying more weight than I should be

@GarlicGrace I have actually but I’ve always felt the cold more than other people even before the weight gain started

I’ve phoned the surgery and got a telephone consultation with a different GP in 2 weeks time so fingers crossed I get somewhere with that!

Oh, good! Hope all goes well this time 🤞🏻

Goodness that’s a lot op. Good luck at your appt. Don’t be fobbed off, if you really are only eating and drinking what you say and putting on so much weight, then something is very wrong and needs further investigation.