stomach weight gain

Question
I am female 49 yrs I have 3 grown children and have always been very active still am exercising least 2hrs a day 6to 7 days a week. I follow low carb no dairy or verylittle no red meat hardly anything but salad grilled chicken tuna  the odd sweet or slice of veggie pizza no cheese every other weekend. But lately my stomach is growing and hanging out I do weights crunches pilates aerobics walking running and my lower half is growing I feel my clothes not fitting the same . I have just stopped taking hrt in the last 2weeks I was on them for a year it didn't affect me at first but the last six months was hell! Please tell me what to do I take Applecider vinegar tablets carb blockers CLA and multivitamin and calcium just started taking b12 under the tongue all I think about is my weight I have low self esteam I feel like I am trying so hard I am 5ft10 and weigh about 160 I am disgusted in my weight people tell me I am thin all i see is my gut!! I will not eat to try and make it go away i never eat before then everything I look at I am scared to eat! then I have salad at dinner plenty of water and low or no cal dressing.  Yet my stomach is growing. Is it unbalanced hormones ? I feel awful.  Bloated like I need to be popped! watered down. I drink only water and herb tea! I will take anything to help I lost 20lbs 4 yrs ago managed to stay the same weight by starving most of the time but now nothing is working my whole life evolves around my weight and how bloated I am I use waterpills on occasion too. please help if you can doctors just say live with it be lucky your not bigger you are 49 . Do I have to settle fort a growing waistline? I refuse I keep starving and using diet products I have just started using Miracleburn to soon to see if it works! Help  thank you in advance

Answer
Hello Sylvia,
I can hear the frustration in your writing!  I too know what it feels like to be trying so hard, giving so much time and mental as well as physical energy, only to see the body getting fatter and less toned.  I do have some advice that I believe will help.

First, stop all the over the counter diet aids.  They are not a solution for long term weight loss.  I have studied them all, and each of them causes a rebound weight gain when you stop taking them - water pills included.  What is even more disturbing is that 75% of the products on the market don't even work.  It is the person's behaviors that cause the weight gain.  When a person begins taking a weight loss aid they also take their dieting and exercise more seriously.  It is the nutrition and exercise that causes the weight loss in most cases.  As for the products that do cause weight loss... well, when you stop taking them (and you will stop eventually) the body responds by rebounding the weight back up again.

What I think is really giving you trouble right now is your hormones.  The weight is around the midsection, and you are feeling puffy, or full of water.  These are both signs of hormone imbalance.

My first recommendation is to find a doctor who is either anti-aging, or a more forward thinking endocrinologist.  If you see a typical-traditional- endocrinologist he/she will tell you that you do not have a disease and to live with it.  Google anti-aging and either endocrinologist or internal medicine along with your city and see what doctors come up.

Hormone replacement is a multiple level approach.  You may need a testosterone cream, a thyroid pill, or a progesterone suppository.  The first step is to find a doctor and get some baseline blood work.  Then begin bringing the levels of thyroid, testosterone, estrogen, and progesterone into optimal ranges.  Until then please try not to be too hard on yourself, as all the exercise and dieting cannot make up for poor hormone levels.

Please do not settle for a growing waistline.  I can hear the discipline and desire in your writing.  You can achieve any physique you want, as long as you work with the body to get it.  Once you get the blood work done and the hormones in the optimal ranges, your diet and exercise efforts will produce the results you desire.

Finding a qualified hormone replacement doctor can be difficult.  Please let me know if I can help in any way.  I want to see you succeed!

Dr. Bret
doctoremery.com

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