Expert: Joanne - 1/23/2009

Question
hi i cant stop losing weight i have not been trying to lose any. i stopped drinking 3 years ago an lost a stone and a half then since September last year i have lost around another stone and a half then since Christmas i have lost another half a stone so i am now 6st 9 an i am 5ft 2 i have been to my gp who keeps saying they will get round to doing a blood test but im getting worried please help.   PS i eat healthy as i have kids and im trying to set a good example with food

Answer
Sara

Firstly, I would start keeping a food diary.  Make sure that you write down absolutely everything you eat in a day, and try your best to work out how many calories you are eating on a daily basis.  This should be around about 2000 calories, slightly more if you are very active.  You need to make sure that you are eating enough everyday and that the 'energy in is matching the energy out', so to speak!

You need to pester your GP to make sure that there is no reason for your weight loss.  Take your food diary with you when you next see him/her so that they can check that everything there is fine, and if not possibly refer you to a dietician, and if your diet is fine, it is absolutely essential that this is investigated further.

As your weight loss is not intentional, they need to make sure that there isn't a reason for this weight loss.

Demand that they do blood tests the next time you are there as this is quite a lot of weight to lose, especially since you weren't obese or anything to start with.  Weight loss should not be this quick unless you are making an extreme effort to do so.

You mention drinking, were you a heavy drinker before?  Sometimes if you were to have drunk a lot, you would have been consuming a lot of calories, and if you have not replaced these calories with food calories, then there is a chance that you have simply lost the weight because you are not consuming what you were before, but to me that still seems a long shot and this really needs to be looked in to further.

Weight loss can indicate a number of health problems and should be investigated by a health care professional!

Joanne