Unwanted Weight Gain
Who It's For
Functional medicine support tailored to uncover the root cause of complex symptoms.
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Serving Denver Metro, Fort Collins, and Colorado Springs.
About This Condition
Unwanted weight gain refers to an increase in body weight—often with disproportionate fat mass—that occurs despite a person’s perception of stable or modest caloric intake and activity, and is experienced as misaligned with their health or body composition goals. It may be gradual or more rapid and can result from a combination of endocrine, metabolic, behavioral, medication-related, and environmental factors.
Patients commonly report that clothes fit more tightly, the number on the scale is trending upward, or body shape is changing, even when they feel their diet or lifestyle has not changed enough to “explain” the gain. Weight gain may cluster around life transitions such as pregnancy, perimenopause, major stress, sleep disruption, or changes in medications or mobility, and it often coexists with fatigue, low mood, cravings, sleep disturbance, or other metabolic symptoms.
Clinically, unwanted weight gain is a non-specific symptom that signals the need to assess for endocrine disorders, cardiometabolic risk, medication effects, fluid retention, and lifestyle patterns, while differentiating between adipose gain, lean mass changes, and edema. Evaluation emphasizes longitudinal weight trends, body composition, metabolic markers, and contributors such as sleep, stress, activity, medications, and nutrition, with the goal of identifying reversible drivers and quantifying overall health impact.
Common Symptoms
- •Gradual or sometimes more rapid increase in body weight over months to years that feels out of proportion to perceived intake or activity
- •Clothing fitting more tightly or needing larger sizes, especially around the waist or hips
- •Increased abdominal or central adiposity, sometimes with relatively stable limb size
- •Associated fatigue, low energy, or reduced exercise tolerance
- •Cravings for highly palatable, sweet, or processed foods, or increased snacking or evening eating
- •Sleep disturbance, snoring, or non-restorative sleep in some individuals
- •Mood changes such as frustration, low mood, or anxiety related to body changes and health concerns
Conventional Treatment Options
Metabolic evaluation
Nutrition strategy
Lifestyle and sleep optimization
Our Functional Medicine Approach
Who It's For
Adults struggling with weight despite effort.
Expected Outcomes
- Healthier body composition
- Improved energy
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