Hello everyone, I just found this forum and I am hoping someone can help me with a problem that has just arisen. I have been doing lc for 7 years. I started out at 233lbs and got to my target weight of 165. Each year I gain about a lb, I figured no big deal. But suddenly and for no reason about a mo th ago I had jumped up 8lb. Since I haven't changed how I eat or what I do I don't know why this happened in the first place, and even more troublesome is that I haven't been able to lose it, not a single lb. I usually eat 3 times a day and very lc, about, 30 carbs per day. Everyone keeps telling me it's my age, I'm 41, but I don't buy that. I have searched and searched and have not been able to find an answer. If anyone has any insight it would be greatly appreciated. Thanx!

Our bodies do change. No decade is the same as the previous.

Dr Fung addresses fasting for postmenopausal women. He provides great detail at his website IDM program.

Also look to DietDoctor.com

You might consider two meals a couple days a week.

Do you exercise?? Maintaining muscle mass is important as we age. Loss of a little muscle year over year adds up. Muscle is a big burner of energy and well worth maintaining.

Hormones start to fluctuate about this age. I rather like hormone replacement therapy myself.

Im sure others will offer other suggestions or more detail.

I don't think it's your age unless you are in early menopause. Think about stress and sleep first. I think three meals a day might be catching up with you, too. How is your job/kids/relationships? Have you been sick?

Hi there and welcome to the forum.

I note you haven't actually read any low carb books, nor do you follow any particular plan.
So my first suggestion would be that you actually follow a set plan for at least a couple of months and see if that helps.

I know you say you are eating LC , but a lot of things can call themselves "LC" while not really being so. I'm talking about things such as the bars and allegedly low carb pasta and so on. Here we recommend whole fresh foods.
Having said that, how about giving us a run down of an average days eating - what and how much you eat

And I absolutely do not buy the ageing business. I am 69, almost 70 in fact, and I reached my goal weight of 135, 5 years ago now and have had no real problems maintaining.
As for fasting, I am fairly strongly against it, since when I tried even intermittent fasting, it tended to slow my metabolism down too much.

Just for clarity... fasting doesnot have the same effect as IF. Fung presents the studies. Fasting saves the BMR from dropping.

Took a great deal of investigating to change my original position to pro fasting.I like a one day fast myself.

I hate to be the voice of dissent, but buy it, my friend. Everyone I know in our age bracket (I'm 45) has had this problem, no matter what their diet is. Fluctuating hormones will mess you up. Ask anyone who's ever taken birth control pills or the shot... or has gotten pregnant, for that matter.

In my 40s, things started getting strange with my cycle and I ballooned up. The Change can start creeping up on you well before your 50s. I currently haven't had a period in 2 months. Over the last 5 years, my body shape has changed a lot. I've got 'batwings', abdominal fat, and my bra size is about to go up for the 3rd time.

I've been eating LC since 2002. I easily maintained a weight 10-20 lbs lighter than I am now with sloppy LC. I drank Labatt Sterling (LC beer) like it was going out of style. I baked with gluten flour and didn't give much of a hoot about frankenfoods. Now, I've had to clean up, go gluten-free (for reasons other than weight) which includes giving up beer, and I'm down to 1 or 2 meals a day just to maintain a weight that's barely under the "overweight" BMI of 25.

Have you been to a doctor lately, and is there anything else going on? Keep in mind that there are a myriad of medications - even OTC meds - that can cause weight gain. Get copies of your lab results so you can refer to them in the future. I get mine as soon as they're done, and I can just download a pdf. It's handy.

I second Roz's suggestion of posting a few days worth of menus, and/or starting a journal.

Best of luck; stick around and keep us posted.

Thank you all for the replies and insights. I typically eat eggs for breakfast. Some sort of chicken for lunch and whatever protein we are having for dinner with a salad. I don't snack and I don't even like food as a general rule. When I say nothing has changed in 7 years, it's literally nothing lol. I don't currently have insurance so I have not been to a Dr, but I feel fine, I sleep well, and no unreasonable stress to speak of

Wait for a couple months and see if the slight weight gain (1 gallon water = ~8lbs) resolves itself, stays the same or you continue to increase in weight. You might have also collected more data and observations during this time.

Wait Do nothing, maintain your current course. If you have been maintaining for 7 years you are probably the one that should be dispensing advice here, not the other way around

Happy Holidays and welcome!

Haha thanx, I feel like a freshman right about now. I thought maybe perhaps it was water, I don't even see how it would be possible to gain that much weight in a week's time.

you're right, it's likely impossible to gain that as fat unless you eat like I do sometimes. I my weight can fluctuate OVER 8 lbs in 24 hrs (I think my record is 9 but I'd have to go check) That's due to recovering inflammation from over exercise followed by probably not much drinking water that evening. Also after over-carbing for for 3 days after strict low carb the weight can go up then back down 10 lbs - but i'm starting at higher weights then you.

Wait and see. Works.

Fact check me here, this is my continuous data collection for about the last 4 years:

http://downhaul.com/lowcarb/daily.txt

I agree. I was fine until an incompetent doctor (Standard of Care doesn't mean it WORKS) screwed up my endometriosis treatment and I had to have emergency surgery. I kept my wits about me and only lost one ovary, but it was enough to dump me into years of health-hell I'm only now climbing out of.

It gave me a VERY stark look at how hormones work -- or not -- and the appalling valley of ignorance most doctors dwell in. Because, and there are studies to support this, medicine is based on a MALE model, and women are afterthoughts.

In my case, I had to go Very Low Carb and eliminate most of the plant kingdom. But the benefits have been incredible.

Not saying you should: just outlining how deep this rabbit hole can go Here's some thoughts to consider:

• Often, something called "estrogen dominance" is at work as we age.
• The juggling of hormones as we move out of our child-bearing years can affect every system, not just the sex hormones, ALL of them.
• Thyroid dysfunction is rampant among all women, and can exist in a subclinical form that is difficult to test. As I know from experience, you have to be dying for some issues to show up on a test, and even then help might not be forthcoming.
• I had to IGNORE ALL ARTIFICIAL HORMONES. These are the dangerous ones they like to scare you with. Go bio-identical or go home.
• Progesterone is a hormone every woman in mid-life could use some more of, and it's available OTC or mail-order. Can balance what is going on.

I like this doctor:

https://www.drnorthrup.com/estrogen-dominance/

See if anything she says applies to you. You might be focused on the puzzling weight gain and missing other clues.