Where's the beef?

Well, not so much beef...maybe chicken.  I have had a problem with weight gain since my surgery despite exercising and going vegetarian.  It continues to increase and my clothes no longer fit.  And I REFUSE to get bigger clothes again.  My first thought was that the surgery messed with my thyroid and my medication needs to be adjusted.  That's easy to find out and fix.  But until then, I have to do something.  And I'm doing something NOW!

I have a nutritionist that I meet with and I have asked her advice.  We came up with a plan, but unfortunately, I need to eat meat again.  It's obvious that the vegetarian lifestyle was providing all it promised anyway, so I'm not too heart broken.  I have two medical conditions that affect my metabolism and how I handle carbohydrates (PCOS and hypothyroid).  My total protein levels were low and she feels I need more protein and less carbohydrates.  My main protein source has been legumes, which are unfortunately also high in carbohydrates.  I just can't get what I need from all plant sources.  I'm only adding chicken back in and alternating with fish and some high protein veggie dishes that I found using soy.  I want to keep the health benefits of a virtually no cholesterol diet if I can.

Then I was thinking....after my divorce almost 10 years ago, I became anorexic.  I couldn't eat and didn't eat hardly anything for 6 weeks.  Once I could eat, it wasn't very much.  I lost down to 92 pounds, but stayed just over 100lbs for several years.  I think that the severe weight loss and malnutrition totally screwed up my metabolism and I don't think it will ever be fixed.  All the hormones in my body are being regulated with pills and I gain weight very easily.  While I'm afraid obsessing over my food intake will send me back to those behaviors, I don't know what else to do.  I will follow the plan my nutritionist has laid out for me and see what happens.  Only God will be able to help me do what needs to be done without tipping over the edge.