How did I get so fat

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I have gained 5 stone in a few years. Doctor gave me blood tests and only found low iron and vitamin d. Told me I was simply eating too much and I need to give up cake.

Personally I’m sure I do need to give up cake but the state I’m in is odd as I’ve not changed that much in my diet over the last few years but the weight is continually piling on.

every year I’m up a dress size. The last two years I’ve been on some diet or the other and I never seem to lose anything. Or I might lose a pound in a month. I’ve spent my whole life being underweight so I’m totally stuck as to what is happening to me and I have no idea what to do to diet as I have tried to cut back and nothing changes.

I accept I am older (38) but I see my friends the same age and none of them have put on 5 stone so easily. I feel fatigued all the time. My hair is falling out and I just feel awful. I don’t want to go back to the doctors as he seemed annoyed I thought my weight was anything. Other than my own fault. Especially now the blood tests didn’t really reveal anything worth noting. Can age alone really transform a metabolism this badly? My dh agrees to haven’t changed a lot in my diet so it’s not all in my head. I just keep getting fatter.

Get a private full blood test with a consultation if you can afford it. If what you're saying is true then something will be wrong and the NHS one may not even test for it or you might be in the reference range for certain markers but the very bottom end of it.

Insulin resistance, pcos and hypothyroidism all led me to gain a similar amount in a similar time.
Go speak to your gp and ask them to check your metabolism and hormone profile.

American doctors seem much more switched on about things like PCOS and insulin resistance, and how they impact weight.

There's also the influence of ultra processed food which overrides the body's natural satiety levels and messes with our gut biomes.

I lost 5 stone with a very strict diet. I really was not a greedy pig who stuffed my face all day. My body (like yours) gained weight very easily. Before I lost it, I had put on 3 stone in as many months. I went in hospital for 2 weeks, ate only the 3 meals they provided, and I put on 11 lbs. There was clearly something wrong with my body beyond what I was putting in it.

I'm at a healthy weight now and I avoid UPFs as much as possible. I don't gain as easily now, which (hopefully) means my body has recovered.

So, to sum up my witterings, you aren't alone. It probably isn't entirely your fault you're the weight you are or that you gain weight so easily.

Go on youtube and warch Jason Fung explain weight gain and energy use in the body. If you have the time, read his book, the obesity code.

Was 38 a typo? No this shouldn’t be happening at your age I would go back to the doctor x

Thanks. No I have only just turned 38 a few weeks ago. I feel dreadful. And that is not helping because I am gaining more the more fatigued I get. I showed my doctor I was losing hair and he just scoffed and said that type of hair loss isn’t weight related. I didn’t find out why I’m losing my hair though. I was so intimidated as he kept asking how much I snack and I felt it was in a condescending way.

I asked him to look back over my records and see how much weight I was a couple of years ago on their records to show how I was underweight, he did agree that’s a lot of weight to put on and I had these blood tests done, thyroid came up as normal I almost wanted it to not be(!)

i am happy to go privately. What blood test do i need? I’m so stressed out I feel like an elderly person on the brink of death half the time. I’ve gone from someone who was always told I need to slow down to absolutely no energy. In my head I can still do a million thins but when I attempt to I can’t even spend half a day fully functioning. My dh is being supportive but I’m worried for our relationship as well as im leaning more and more on him. I’m also losing friends as im so ashamed to go out now. I know I shouldn’t be but I don’t want people to see me like this.

I do have a very puffy face. It goes down every now and then and I notice I do swell up a lot then it goes down again. I don’t think I will go back to gp because he’s the only one available most of the time as I live in a small village.

It really sounds like you have something else going in with your other symptoms. The doctor sounds dreadful. Ask for another doctor you are allowed a second opinion. Maybe keep a food diary to show exactly what you are eating and drinking to them.

It's very easy, 200 calories over what you need a day (which you will likely not even notice) can add 20 pounds a year.

Can you get something like MfP or Nutracheck and just keep an honest food diary for two weeks (preferably weighing/measuring calorific foods as you can be way off otherwise) and then work out what your TDEE is and what you need to eat to lose weight?

This is quite a good calculator.

https://tdeecalculator.net/

It's hard to say with the other symptoms- I found extra weight caused unpleasant symptoms, and I had other stuff going on (hormones) which didn't help with the weight.

Even with an extra stone on which puts me at the top end of the overweight range makes everything so much harder day to day for me.

I’ve not changed that much in my diet over the last few years but the weight is continually piling on.

You wouldn't have to. Consistently eating only a small amount over your maintenance calories day in day out would be enough to cause significant weight gain over a period of years.

That's not to say there isn't anything else going on, as it may well be, but in order to rule out overeating I'd first use a TDEE calculator, subtract 250 calories from that number and track your food intake consistently over a period of weeks. You should start to see a slow and steady loss, without needing to diet or overly restrict yourself.

Hair loss and weight gain sounds like maybe a hormonal issue? Find a better doctor, I think this is sadly the common misogynistic, fatphobic thing of any woman who has put on weight just needs to go on a diet, no matter if she is presenting, as you are, with other issues of tiredness and feeling generally awful. This needs investigating.

Could be a wheat intolerance. I lost weight quickly purely by giving up wheat.

I still eat oats and rice, so not low carbing. Apparently there is something about the way wheat has been modified ( and the fact that it's in most ultra high processed food) that causes inflammation.

Go back and ask for your hormones tested, are you having periods?

Would it be a food intolerance? Or maybe you’ve increased portion size and exercised less ? What exactly do you eat/drink in a day/week ?

I ask myself the same question but I can't logically think of an answer other than it being age related/perimenopause. I've been very slim all my life then I hit 36 and having changed nothing in my intake, I'm up to 11st8 and nothing will budge it!
I was diagnosed with telogen effluvium a couple of years ago which thankfully has now ended and my hair is back to normal. Everyone says they think I'm in early menopause from what I describe my symptoms as but GP won't look into it as I'm too young.

I haven't given up wheat but refined wheat products, especially white bread (even or it seems especially if it is hand made!) sometimes go straight through me, my gut doesn't like them at all. Chorleywood process wholemeal bread is fine though. I suspect it's something to do with the gluten and yeast in certain breads.

I mean this kindly but as you asked for advice here goes! Low iron and vit D will make you feel like crap but unless you are losing a lot of blood (periods?), this is going to be partially related to a poor diet. I also felt like crap being 5st overweight, I truly did feel awful and I wished there was something wrong with me that could be fixed by medicine and also had a normal thyroid and was miffed. I did look puffy and tired. Blamed hormones but all bloods normal apart from pre-diabetes!

But you cannot effectively help your doctor work out what the issue is unless you actually know how much you are eating and moving around? If you have no idea how many calories you eat a day or how active you are then it’s going to take longer to get to the bottom of it. If you can present to a doctor that you eat X calories and move X amount and it’s less than your TDEE (total daily expenditure) then clearly something else is going on, but without that it’s going to be a series of guess works - they have done bloods and didn’t find anything worrying so if it were me I would present them with a diary of a month of my food and movement to get a better picture of what’s going on after taking iron and vit D and see if this makes a difference? We just had a few years of COVID lockdowns when people were WFH and less active than before so I think a lot of people gained weight through stress and inactivity.

You have been eating too much consistently, hence consistent weight gain.

Metabolism. I put on weight around 30 . I did give up smoking Also . Apparently smoking speeds up your metabolism and is an appetite suppressant.

They did your thyroid levels, didn't they? When I saw my GP initially about weight gain, exhaustion, and hair loss, she was a bit vague about underactive thyroid symptoms possibly being the cause. It took about 18 months of persistence before she agreed the blood tests showed my thyroid wasn't working properly and put me on a low dose of thyroxine. It has steadily increased over the years. My hair is still thin, eyebrows are only half there now but I have been able to lose the excess weight. Its worth persisting with your GP. They sometimes miss stuff especially if you're borderline.

Similar happened to me around the same age. I was very shocked. Turns out I'm peri menopausal. This disruption in hormones was responsible for my weight gain. I bought a watch and started 10,000 steps a day, along side counting calories. Fitness Pal is a great app. I've lost most of my weight, only have a stone left to go. You can do it too.

See an endocrinologist and ask about Cushing's.

OP may have had full tests, she doesnt say what was tested, only what was identified as a proble,

And low iron and vit d certainly can give some of those symptoms

What exactly did you have tested?

post the print out here so that people can see the numbers, sometimes doctors say something is ok but its on the low side.

If all your results were ok and they tested everything you'll need to concentrate on eating less