I wanted to share my experience in case it might help others. In 2016 I was losing weight by logging my meals, doing weekly step challenges, going to the gym, etc. In 2017, though, the weight loss stopped. At first I thought it was just because I wasn't exercising as much in the cold weather. I watched what I ate even more closely, cut out any treats, and exercised almost every day. I couldn't lose anything, though. For the entire year, I don't think I lost more than 2-3 pounds.
Then in Feb. I got some routine blood work done for a doctor. When I looked at my test results I was shocked to see that my kidneys weren't functioning well and I was anemic. To make a long story short, I have kidney disease and I'm already at Stage 4, not far from end stage. Part of my illness is that I retain a lot of water. I'm guessing that is at least part of the reason why I couldn't lose any weight last year. We were able to see that whatever caused the problem happened in 2017, the year when I couldn't lose no matter what. So all of the time that I was beating myself up thinking that I wasn't doing something "good enough", I was actually ill.
Kidney disease symptoms are so common that you often think it's due to other things. Also in many cases (like mine) there aren't any noticeable symptoms until you're in Stage 4 or 5. By that time it's usually too late to fix what's wrong (kidneys have a limited ability to repair themselves). If this can happen with kidney disease I'm sure it can happen with other illnesses. So if you can't lose no matter what, go see your doctor and get blood work done!
F, 53, 5'9", PA
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