Something is wrong. I need advice.

If someone knows what is happening, please let me know.

Me: 40, medium build, 240 lb. but very active vegetarian. For example. I ride my bike 10-15 miles 6 days a week or spend 1 hour on the elyptical bike a day. I also just built a house, just a friend and myself, over the last two years.

This is my problem. I cannot stop gaining weight even though I have given up eating out, sweats, and I have cut down significantly on fried foods (maybe 1 serving of anything fried once a week).  I snack on broccoli, low fat/low cal homemade veggie soups, carrots, apples, homemade fat-free ranch, high fiber cereals ( kashi, etc).

Yet, I cannot stop gaining weight!!!! I am so frustrated that how can I gain weight? I even got my doctor to test my thyroid which she was willing to do (though I still have not received the results). I am angry because I feel that I cannot even sit down to a regular meal or I will gain weight.

I have gone from a 33 waist to a 36 and I am scared that I cannot eat any less without being unhealthy nor can I live my life on a treadmill or bike.  

I really believe that something medically wrong. Even my friends cannot believe this since I have always been the most athletic with biking and running marathons.

 any ideas will be appreciated, especially if you have seen something where very active people still gain weight.

First you need to give us the basics.  How many cals per day are you consuming?  How many are you burning (have you used the CC tools to calculate BMR etc.?)?

Have you recently begun taking any new medication?  Even if it wasn't prescribed by a physician, perhaps by a friend for a backache from building the house or other rigorous activity?  Anything that is out of the ordinary that you are doing now that you didn't before.

How long has this been going on?  Days, a week, a month or more?

Did you actually see your doctor or just have your thyroid drawn?  If so, what did she say regarding the unexplained weight gain?

About Calories. I'm sure that I eat between 2000 to 3000 a day. I know that that is a large range. I just take Vaseretic (combo diuretic/ACE inhibitor) for high blood pressure.  The HB is caused by a genetic kidney issue on my father's side. I had an echocardiogram 2 years ago and my heart was fine. Vaseretic is not indicated for weight gain. I will take an aspirin maybe once or twice a month.

I have really notice the weight gain about a year ago. I did see my doctor before blood was drawn. She has been wonderful and said that she is not worried about my health at all since cholesterol is normal, liver, etc. I have been going to her for 12 years so she knows how active I am.

As a sidenote, I would be suprised that it isn't a hypothyroid since I have noticed so many symptoms - a body temp of 96.7, a resting hart rate of around 50, I cannot stand the cold, and I have dry skin.

Thank you for the reply. It is really appreciated.

Your caloric intake is not a large range at all considering how active you seem to be (although I'm not aware of your height-but a 33-36 waist is very fit).

The cause of your increased weight gain may simply be a lack of calories for the amount of calories you are expending during the day. 

Take some time to look over the site while you wait for your tests to return.  Should your thyroid come back normal, you can do an in depth analysis of your overall diet.

All the best and good luck.

*Drink enough water for those kidneys!

That is funny that you mention too few calories. By the way. I am 6'1". I have been a vegetarian for 10 years, but I have noticed that it can be hard to get enough calories. A friend of my the other day also mentioned something about getting enough calories.  Can eating too few calories actually cause weight gain?

Absolutely!  In layman's terms it's called 'starvation mode'.  Your body needs energy from calories to operate efficiently.  When someone starts to 'diet', traditionally the thought process is to drastically cut calories.  This works for a while but in actuality the weight loss is not fat but muscle and water due to the lack of nutrients and low caloric diet.

Eventually the body reacts by holding on to each ounce of food the 'dieter' puts into his/her mouth to store because it-the body-believes there is a famine (very similar to the caveman days when it was probable to go 2 weeks w/o food).

Once the dieter increases his/her caloric intake, only by a small amount, he/she will more that likely gain weight very easily.  Whereas prior to dieting, 2500 cals per day was maintenance, now 1200-1300(just throwing that out there) is barely maintaining.

Chronic dieters refer to this as the yo-yo syndrom. 

Thank you for your reply. It just seems hard to eat that many calories. So, should I see a nutritionist or should I just start eating 3000 calories a day and let the body just start adjusting naturally?

What I would do to make it easier, as the first poster mentioned, is go to the tool portion of the site and plug in your stats to find out actually how many calories you need to eat in a given day.  That way you're not pulling a number out of thin air.

Next, because you're a veggie, go for the nutrient dense items that don't fill you up like lots of nuts, avocado, olive oil (yes! good fats!!!).  Although I am a true to form carnivore, there is a great vegetarian site here with lots of info on getting the right number of cals with the proper nutrients.

I hit 40 in August so hang in there with us!!!

Past my bedtime!  Have a great evening morning!

happy Birthday. Leo?

I also don't want you to think that getting 40 means doom and gloom. Surprisingly, I feel good about most parts on my body but the waist.  If I had to say the one thing that has helped me get older  it is being active and open to new things.

I still see some friends from high school and some of them seem to have never got past 1984. They go to work, pick up a burger and fries on the way home after work, sit in from the TV and drink a beer. And I'm not exaggerating!!! Truly, I have friends that do this. Some already have serious health problems and they seem old not just physically but mentally.

Good luck as well and thinks for the advice.

Virgo, Baby!

The only thing I still love about the 80's is the music!

I have no fear about turning 40-I have never been in better shape!  No doom and gloom here!  Bring it on-no Botox or plastic lifts of any kind needed!

What do you mean your waist?  You're 6'1", 240 with a 36" waist?  Not too shabby.  Don't overly obsess.  That can be fixed rather quickly, no worries.

Did you calculate your burn meter and your eat meter?  What did it come out to?

Let me know.

I'd suggest also really taking a good look at your condiments - even home made fat free ranch dressing can be a whollup of calories. Maybe try hummus instead as a dip for veggies. Also, really look at the types of foods you're eating - make sure breads, pastas, and rices are whole wheat or whole grain and that you have healty fats in your diet from a little olive oil and/or nut butters. It might take a few weeks or even a month for your body to recognize that it will be fed enough if you've not been having enough calories - if you're eating the right number of calories but your body isn't getting the nutrients it needs it will still slow your metabolism and hang on to every morsle you eat. Also, even though it's a pain in the butt, track all your foods and exercise and ensure that your deficit is on average only about 500 calories with the max being around 1000 every once in a while.

Good luck :)

i would say 3000 cals is a huge amount, but some might jump in and say eat 5000 when you bike or something, have seen this happen here before:) i would get an advice from a Dr if i were you

The analysis says  that I can have 3400 calories a day.

You are one active guy!  Start buying stock in nuts, avocados, beans, etc.!

Happy noshing!!!

Wow!  Were you even getting close to that before?

I am in a similar situation, but I am a gal, so people always write it off to child bearing, premenopause, etc. First and foremost, as a few others have said, go to the doctor and have your thyroid checked. And/or, get an evaluation by an endocrinologist--frankly, it sounds glandular if everything you say is true. Secondly, as we age, our caloric needs go down, so just keep that in mind--you cannot keep eating what you did in late20s/early 30s. Hope that helps.

Just curious about your running.  You said that you have run marathons but you did not mention running as part of your schedule now.

If you were running a lot more in the past I am sure your body got very efficient with the calories you were eating.  Although biking and the elliptical trainer is good exercise but running is a more of a weight bearing exercise and it burns more calories.  If your running has slacked off and your caloric intake remained the same you could see a rise in the pant size.  It happened to me about 3 years ago even though I remained active and even increased weight lifting.

Just something to think about.

If you've been a vegetarian for a long time, I'd also go through a typical day's diet, and check you are getting enough iron, calcium, vitamin D, vitamin B12, protein etc.

You can have a healthy and balanced diet as a vegetarian, of course, but check out all the micronutrients you need. As you are very active, your requirements will probably be elevated, so the RDA for a given vitamin/mineral may not be enough for you.

If you are logging you food here, on the analysis page, you get your fat/carb/protein pie chart. If you drag the mouse over the date below the pie chart, you get a list of certain nutrients, such as iron and calcium, vitA and vitC, and how much of each you've had. I don't think the numbers are entirely accurate (not all foods will have their vitamin and mineral content listed on CC), but it might give you some idea of what your intake is.

I got some additional information on a website called the Nutrition Analysis Tool:

http://www.nat.uiuc.edu/mainnat.html

Not as user friendly as CC, as I recall.

Good luck!