My thyroid has been checked a gazillion times. In fact, I'm currently pending tests for hypothyroidism and diabetes mellitus. Mom and brother take supplemental thyroid hormones, so there is a family history.

My brother, however, is in an entertainment field and has to look good (ie, be slim) for his job. At one point, he was doing two a day workouts--lifting and running up to 10 miles a day and starving himself AND HE WAS STILL about 40 lbs OVERWEIGHT.

At some point, he saw a doctor who told him to stop exercising and dieting, as it was simply training his metabolism to be more stingey with the calories...and he lost weight. Of course, the diet pills and resuming smoking probably helped a whole lot!!! But he looks like a million bucks and looks 10 years younger.

I'm pretty disheartened. Not being able to find tri clothes, for one thing. The ones I have are guys XXL and they are too tight. Getting all the catalogs like Title 9 and Athleta which have all the stuff I like but where a size 12 - 14 is an XL--just frustrates me. I want to write them a dirty letter and tell them to stick those catalogs...

It didn't help when my son said, "Mama, why are you doing all that stuff? It's not helping you any."

...I'm kind of taking a break from working out for now.