For the first time in my life, nothing scientifically is making sense for my weight!
For the last one year, I've been in a weird spot, where my body is not reacting to any of the usual weight loss strategies that I've been doing in the past.
Until 2024, I was easily able to maintain a healthy weight, 63kg at 168cm with some belly fat and beginner muscle. Had been in a yo-yo cycle, where I'll go to my home country at the end of every year, come back a couple of kilos heavier, and then come back to the same weight in a month.
But at the end of 2024, I went on a vacation for a couple of months again, where I gained 3kg of weight, which usually is normal every year before that for the same vacation.
The problem arose, when the whole 2025, due to some lifestyle changes, I couldn't keep up with the gym until late 2025, but did reduce my caloric intake to around 1400kcal per day the time I came back from that vacation. Even with that amount, I slowly started gaining weight throughout the year, and went from 66kg at the end of 2024, to 69kg by May 2025.
As the year went by, I slowly started going to the gym again 3x week, picked up the same routine where I left, reduced my calories to around 1200 - 1400kcal each day, kept up with high protein, but somehow, the weight still climbed up consistently. The initial shock of starting the gym, went from 69kg to 70.5kg in a week due to stress from starting the gym, but the weight never went off, which was new as earlier, my body would follow a whoosh! cycle in the past years. Baffled, because the same routine with way more food used to work when I was 62kg, and was still able to maintain or lose the weight without worrying about food.
Now in 2026, I am much more stronger than I was in 2024, lift 40% more weight, and yet I sit at 72kg with stomach much larger, but also larger muscles. I got diagnosed with hypothyroidism last year, which is now under control, that I suspected could've been an issue, but even now my TSH being around 2.0, the weight doesn't seem to go away, and I feel that I easily gain weight if I eat a little more even on one weekend.
At this time, even my doctor, or me have no idea what's happening in my body, as bloodwork seem to suggest everything else is fine. I am eating less calories than I used to when I was 10kg lighter, have way more muscle, science suggest my BMR should be able to hit my fat reserves, but it's been 8 months going to the gym, and my weight is currently at 72.5kg, and isn't responding to any of the reduction routines that used to work for me a couple of years back.