pittmanclan545 wrote: »

I am 48 years old 5ft 2 inches and in July 2016 I weighed 105lbs. I was the perfect weight for my size. I am a runner and felt in the best shape of my life. Weight started to creep on me even though my diet and exercise had not changed. By December I was 115 bs with no explanation! In January I hired a personal trainer and hit the gym in addition to my 5 days a week of running. She said I wasn't eating enough so I tried to increase my diet. It made me feel sick and bloated to eat so much food so I cut back down to my normal intake. Finally in April I started to lose a little weight and by May 20th I had dropped down to 110 lbs in time for my vacation. One week away and the weight came right back on and since then I've been hovering between 113-117. Nothing I do will work. I run 5x a week in the mornings between 3-4 miles a day at a 9:15 min pace. In the evenings I either do 25 minutes on the stair climber or 20 min intervals on the treadmill or I go for a 4 mile walk at home. If I hit the gym to do the stair climber or intervals I also do some weight training and ab exercises. So I am running 5 mornings a week and hitting the gym 3 evenings a week. My fit bit shows a daily average steps of 17000 and calories burned over 2000. I don't know what else to do to get my metabolism moving or to get my weight back down under 110. I would love to hear some suggestions. Additionally.. my diet is pretty basic. I have hard boiled eggs, fruit, veges, chicken as my staples... very rarely do I eat junk food. Once a week I allow starbucks for coconut milk lattes.

I'm 5'2" but older and for most of my life was in the 90s. In my 50s my weight started to go over 100 on a regular basis. 10 pounds is a lot to gain over 5 months. There must be an explanation, either in terms of calorie consumption, activity, or a medical problem. Even pre-menopause and menopause don't usually put the pounds on that quickly if everything else is exactly the same and you are highly active.

Not all trainers are qualified. A trainer who tells a petite woman to eat more without reason doesn't know what she's doing.

See a doctor. See a nutritionist. Weigh and log all your food. Weigh yourself every day. Try eating low carb for a while (you may have to switch to an activity other than running for a while). Ignore calorie burn estimates on fitness equipment and certainly, do not eat more merely in response to them. OBSERVE. If something doesn't work after three weeks or a month try something else. But if your weight is seriously headed in the wrong direction after a week, stop.

pittmanclan545 wrote: »

I am 48 years old 5ft 2 inches and in July 2016 I weighed 105lbs. I was the perfect weight for my size. I am a runner and felt in the best shape of my life. Weight started to creep on me even though my diet and exercise had not changed. By December I was 115 bs with no explanation! In January I hired a personal trainer and hit the gym in addition to my 5 days a week of running. She said I wasn't eating enough so I tried to increase my diet. It made me feel sick and bloated to eat so much food so I cut back down to my normal intake. Finally in April I started to lose a little weight and by May 20th I had dropped down to 110 lbs in time for my vacation. One week away and the weight came right back on and since then I've been hovering between 113-117. Nothing I do will work. I run 5x a week in the mornings between 3-4 miles a day at a 9:15 min pace. In the evenings I either do 25 minutes on the stair climber or 20 min intervals on the treadmill or I go for a 4 mile walk at home. If I hit the gym to do the stair climber or intervals I also do some weight training and ab exercises. So I am running 5 mornings a week and hitting the gym 3 evenings a week. My fit bit shows a daily average steps of 17000 and calories burned over 2000. I don't know what else to do to get my metabolism moving or to get my weight back down under 110. I would love to hear some suggestions. Additionally.. my diet is pretty basic. I have hard boiled eggs, fruit, veges, chicken as my staples... very rarely do I eat junk food. Once a week I allow starbucks for coconut milk lattes.

Sounds like you're going through hormonal imbalance or even premenopausal weight gain. Also seems like your cortisol level is too high. Stop running. That raises cortisol! Start doing yoga and Pilates to destress yourself. Go for walks. Do high intensity interval training two to three times a week. You sound like a cardio bunny. Do 2 weight training sessions instead. If nothing else works go on an exercise holiday where you do no workout sessions for the entire week. This will balance your hormones out. Also try to increase your calories just slightly up to maintainance. So eat 1500 calories for a whole week. Then slowly add the workouts back in and focus on breathing. Yoga works with the breath, and in our busy lives we forget to do deep breathing. This will help to lower the cortisol.

I have really loved getting older. I must say that I was pretty much a self-absorbed b*tch before the age of 40. What I haven't loved is that my body is constantly challenging me to rethink what worked before. Yikes, I'm getting older and I have to think more!

May I suggest:

1) Eat more frequently. There's nothing that isn't debated, but when I read about fitness professionals they eat frequently. Usually 3 meals and 2 snacks.

2) Eat some veggies. This may be me, but veggies are like spark plugs for my body. They seem to get everything moving..it may be because of the high water content, but they seem to act like a diuretic.

3) Do some weight training. I like free weights, but I think free weights are best when you start with a trainer, but that isn't something for everyone. Do Nautilus. Build some muscle. Muscle is more metabolically active.

4) Do HIT: high intensity intervals. All out for x amount of time, usually pace for y amount of time.

5) Are you sleeping? Another thing which is under debate, but people who sleep less then to weigh more (this may be part of a cluster of bad health habits, I don't know but I find if I get 8 hours my body shifts into a better gear.)

6) When was your last physical? How is your thyroid and your hormone levels? After our son was born in my 40s, my thyroid began to drop and dropped every 3 years or so. If you at the low end of the normal range, get a thyroid "boost" of synthetic thyroid. I can function at the low end of normal, but my body holds onto every calorie and I'm cranky...so a boost is worth the occasional debate with my doctor. And, hormone levels. You may be inching towards menopause. It isn't the hell that we read about, but I found that when I started inching towards menopause I had to rexamine my habits.

Take care!