I grew up VERY skinny and even as a young adult at 5 ft. 10 inches and 125 lbs. I was very thin. I gained weight with each of my 5 children and never completely shed the extra lbs. I had gained with the pregnancies. My weight finally settled in at about 160. I still looked pretty good because my weight was stretched out on my tall frame. While in my 30's, I had a lot of dental work done. Unfortunately I had an incompetant military dentist who kept losing the files he was using for my root canal down into my tooth. He gave me multiple xrays to find the file ea. time he would lose one. I got concerned and just didn't go back, but the damage was done--my thyroid was almost completely destroyed from the excessive xrays. I was lucky I didn't get cancer. Anyway, after that I began to feel very sluggish and would be sleepy all day long. I would just pass out and sleep for hours if I was at home. Also, even though my eating habits were the same as always, I began to gain weight and no matter how hard I tried, I could not lose it. Finally I was diagnosed with hypothyroidism. That was the good news (at least I knew what was causing my weight gain). The bad news was I was beginning menopause, which further slowed down my metabolism. A DOUBLE whammy! Being on thryroid medication stopped my weight gain, but it doesn't help me to lose the weight I already gained. My weight had shot up to 260. I was miserable. Then I discovered low carbing. I have lost more than 20 lbs. but its taken 2 years. I am still working on it and losing a little at a time very slowly. But at least I am not gaining. That is MY story.