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.

I have PCOS and insulin resistance. I used it as an excuse. I was terrible at tracking my calories, I'd add up the main stuff but often forget about the condiments and drinks. I wasn't very active, my TDEE was far lower than I expected. As a PP has said you only need to be a few hundred calories over a week to keep gaining weight.

I know you've mentioned health issues but have you thought that the obesity could be the cause rather than a symptom?

The only way I managed to lose weight was intermittent fasting, properly tracking my calories and getting active. It was difficult at the start but as I lost weight it became easier and the PCOS symptoms decreased.

Yes same here with the PCOS, its a complication but not the cause of my obesity.

There you go OP eat less more more, bet you never thought of that

She probably has thought of it, but didnt accept the answer.

I think it is hard for doctors to help people in this situation when they have no baseline for the doctor to work with! OP and her partner vaguely assuming nothing has changed with her diet is not really a valid reason to send an endocrinology referral with all normal bloods. But if you turns up to a GP and said look here is the work I have done to rule out it’s not diet related then this will trigger further testing

You have symptoms of low thyroid.

Hypothyroid.

look at a book to check, Sympoms include, puffy face; hair loss; low energy and weight gain.
Be prepared for GP ignorance though if he didn't guess already.

@Crushed23 yes I’m in London if you could send me the endocrinologist details I would appreciate it. I’ve also lost most of my eyebrows and it’s my eyebrow lady that pointed out they have been disappearing over time!

Someone else on here pointed out their eyebrows are thinning so I’m wondering if something is actually wrong here. I can’t go back to the GP just made me feel awful. Not even blaming him but I already felt so awful and can’t take any more being fat treatment. I will also take on board those saying I need to count calories etc. I do walk everywhere still but have a lot more stress on than I did a few years ago so I should look at everything really.

All sounds like classic low thyroid to me. Your GP sounds clueless.

Another echo for seeing an endo.
GPs can be bog useless about this stuff.
Get in front of someone who knows about hormone disorders, autoimmune stuff, thyroid etc.
If all comes up clear, then at least you know that there's nothing serious underlying. Then you can examine whether a nutritionist/PT may be useful.