Recently in the past year my diet has been decent, I’m in good shape. 37 male. Was a former pro athlete. Always workout. Lately I can’t lose weight and stomach is always bloated and distended. I did some blood work on thyroid and cortisol AM. Also testosterone and estrogen. Do you see any issues with the following and my symptoms?
Cortisol Am 13.7ug/dL
Tsh 1.310 uil/ml
T4 8.9
Triiodothyronine free serum 4.2
T4 free 1.57
They are all within range but some are close. Like I said I have about 10 pounds of excess gain which seems like hormones. I have been under some stress with work the past year.
Test was 660 and estrogen I believe was 30 or so 6 months ago. Any help or anymore blood work I might need? Thanks for any help
Clinical hypothyroidism rarely causes more than a few percent of total body weight in terms of weight gain. You're nowhere close to that. thyroid "optimization" is a whole different story, and a grey area in medical and nutritional research still. (Not a criticism of the proponents of tighter TSH control, as I advocate for it myself, just a statement of fact).
"Unexpected" weight gain is an exceedingly complex discussion. If this seems to be correlated with the bloating, then that's anther layer of complexity. Of those two things have occurred temporary disjointed enough that you think they're likely separate issues, my go to with abdominal bloating is dietary. Healthy food does not mean well tolerated food. As such, strict food logging is a great first step for most people.
A great start for looking into the unexpected weight gain would be to detail the following, starting from several months prior to the beginning of the weight gain:
- dietary changes
- exercise changes
- work changes (this is a yes to at least some degree)
- other lifestyle changes
- environmental changes
- accompanying symptoms
- recent travel
- major illnesses
- antibiotic usage
- and more. Basically anything you can think of.
The top three to four on that list are the most likely to contain changes that explain the differences for most people. You say that you've had work changes, and in all likelihood you're doing something different along with it. Persistently elevated cortisol levels could potentially drive changes in body habitus, but more often than not I see people who are more stressed working out less, snacking more, eating more convenience foods, etc. And, at a minimum, that conflates the issue.
In the meantime, many people with similar symptoms benefit from probiotics and fiber.
