high cortisol = 20lb gain!

I started with MFP back in 2008 and started/led a couple battle of the bulge challenges over the years - I started at 180 and got down to 159 and then 2013 it all went down hill!

For the past 3 years I randomly get stomach pains, doc suspects somethings up with my gall bladder, does all kinds of tests (hyda scan, ultrasound) and surprise! Gall bladders fine....BUT my blood work would show low B12 levels...so year 1 she started me on b12 pills (over the counter) - few months later it's all normal followed by a few months later stomach issues and viola - low b12 again.:ohwell: Doc switched me to liquid b12 because, you know, it absorbs better.:happy: ok cool - few months later blood work is fine, then months after....you guessed it...stomach problems.:frown: Switches me to supplantal B12 (you know those little dissolvable pills). This is Jan 2013.

New year new you bla bla bla - so I start working out again regularly at the gym - zumba and kickboxing classes, walking/jogging 1.5 miles nearly every day, eating atkins-esque (veggies, fruits, good sat fats and meats - no processed foods or carbs/grains or sugar).

Over the next couple of months I get random issues: a weekend of restless legs (never felt that in my life - a creepy crawly tingly sensation in my legs), pain in the forearm that wont go away and radiates down to my hand, then in July I have stomach pains, chest pains, don't want to eat anything. Gallbladder suspected AGAIN...all is normal there AGAIN - diagnosed with lung inflammation, it will go away with aleeve.

I stop working out at this point - over the year I keep gaining weight slowly - I finally went to a holistic doc in Dec and they did all kinds of tests and found out (1) I was not absorbing some nutrients properly (my body thought they were "bad" so they would just sit there and the cells wouldn't utilize them) and (2) my cortisol stays high all day when it should be high in the morning and slowly go down throughout the day <--- due to that I cannot do anything that will spike my HR above 130 so no zumba for me - just walks and weights.

I started walking last week but need to up my strength training to try to get this weight off me. I'm up to 191 (I used to be in the 170s). Its frustrating but he said it could take up to 3 months for my cortisol levels to reset and to start losing weight again - if I work out too hard now it will keep releasing cortisol and make everything worse.

Anyone else have this happen? Any recommendations?:huh: