Crazy weight gain - any hints in these results?

[BrassicaBabe]

I've piled weight on in the last 14 months - about a stone and a half. It's been "easy on, SLOW off" for a while. But now it's at crazy level.

A good example….Last week I had a run of pre-Christmas indulgence stuff - friends round for dinner on Saturday (meal including pudding and plenty of wine), Sunday a curry out (rice, naan etc), Tuesday a pub meal out (not much wine, but chips, pudding etc). I PUT ON SEVEN POUNDS!

Some folks might say water weight etc. But those 7 lbs are still there! I don't care
if it's water or moon dust. It weighs more, it won't go, my clothes don't fit!

I'm 50 and I've been on HRT for a couple of years. I'm active - running 3 times a
week plus 2 x weight lifting. Eating wise, I have a mix of healthy eating and a bit of over indulgence. I expect to put on weight when I overeat. But the gain is immediate and getting rid of it is like pulling teeth.

I had some private blood tests done (Medichecks) which I repeated recently. Nothing crazy flagged up. But can I share them here to see if anyone can spot a problem? I’m surprised by the high cholesterol as I think I’m eating healthier than that. But nothing raised any real red flags.

Pretty desperate for some insight.

April 23
HbA1c 32 mMol/Mol (Range: 20 - 41.999)
Total Cholesterol X 5.5 mmol/L (Range: < 5)
LDL Cholesterol X 3.2 mmol/L (Range: < 3)
Non HDL Cholesterol 3.77 mmol/L (Range: < 4)
HDL Cholesterol 1.73 mmol/L (Range: > 1.2)
Total Cholesterol : HDL 3.18 Ratio (Range: < 6)
Triglycerides 1.17 mmol/L (Range: < 2.3)
Iron 29 umol/L (Range: 10 - 30)
TIBC 64 umol/L (Range: 45 - 81)
UIBC 34.6 umol/L (Range: 13 - 56)
Transferrin Saturation 45 % (Range: 25 - 45)
Ferritin X 155 ug/L (Range: 30 - 150)
Folate - Serum 9.8 nmol/L (Range: 8.83 - 60.8)
Vitamin B12 - Active 86 pmol/L
TSH 1.23 mIU/L (Range: 0.27 - 4.2)
Free T3 5 pmol/L (Range: 3.1 - 6.8)
Free Thyroxine 20.8 pmol/L (Range: 12 - 22)

October 23
HbA1c 34 mmol/mol
Total Cholesterol X 5.66 mmol/L (Range: 0 - 5)
LDL Cholesterol X 3.59 mmol/L (Range: < 3)
Non HDL Cholesterol X 4.07 mmol/L (Range: < 4)
HDL Cholesterol 1.59 mmol/L (Range: > 1.2)
Total Cholesterol : HDL 3.56 ratio (Range: < 4)
Triglycerides 1.05 mmol/L (Range: < 1.7)
Iron 30.6 umol/L (Range: 5.8 - 34.5)
TIBC 52.7 umol/L (Range: 45 - 81)
UIBC X 22.1 umol/L (Range: 24.2 - 70.1)
Transferrin Saturation X 58.0 % (Range: 20 - 50)
Ferritin X 182.0 ug/L (Range: 13 - 150)
Folate - Serum 7.83 ug/L (Range: > 3.89)
Vitamin B12 - Active 101.0 pmol/L (Range: 37.5 - 150)
Vitamin D 79 nmol/L
TSH 1.22 mU/L (Range: 0.27 - 4.2)
Free T3 4.49 pmol/L (Range: 3.1 - 6.8)
Free Thyroxine 19.5 pmol/L (Range: 12 - 22)

Tbf that pre Christmas indulgence is crazy calorie wise. You’ve only got to over eat by 100 calories a day for a year to put nearly a stone on. 100 calories is a slice of bread.
There are over 500 calories in a bottle of dry white, way more in a full bodied red. Excess weight and alcohol all contribute to cholesterol levels. Add in puddings, calorific curries, naan, and the fact that calorie requirements are drastically reduced as we get a bit older, and weight really is easy to go on. A naan bread could have over 600 calories in before you even add the rice, curry and alcohol.
My Maintenance calories are only 1790 per day. A curry with alcohol would be a couple of days worth of my calorie requirements so I would have to drastically cut back for the other days of the week in order to be able to eat that and not put weight on.

Your blood test results all look fine.

Thank you. The gains just feel hugely reactionary And once it's on have to work excessively hard to shift it something I can't put my finger on has shifted in the last 14 months I've put on nearly 20 lbs. I only put on 28 up to 35 weeks pregnant with TWINS 🤣🤣🤷‍♀️

I wouldn't be too worried about that amount of weight yet. (The 7 pounds). It's when it's part of a consistent trend. (Which you seem to also be experiencing). With me for eg if I go on holiday or relax food wise at Christmas the "damage" during that time might be 7 pounds say, but after a couple of weeks of resumed "normal" eating would level out to 2 - 3 pounds. Which isn't brilliant but less insurmountable.

Does that make sense?

I realise the above doesn't necessarily address the overall weight gain in the last 14 months but hopefully could alleviate your immediate panic.

"I'm 50 and I've been on HRT for a couple of years. I'm active - running 3 times a
week plus 2 x weight lifting. Eating wise, I have a mix of healthy eating and a bit of over indulgence. I expect to put on weight when I overeat. But the gain is immediate and getting rid of it is like pulling teeth."

Sorry reading that again makes me suggest asking the menopause thread. I'm 55 and has a partial hysterectomy and have to assume I'm post menopause. But I've never taken hrt so don't know how that affects things first hand.

I suspect this is just age and therefore having a slower metabolism. As previous poster says an extra 209 calories per day would add up to almost 2 stone gain over a year.
You just need to fill in a food diary to recalibrate you expectations.