Weight Gain: A Sign of Iron Overload?

Back in 2016, I noticed I was gaining weight around my mid-section and every time I stepped on the scale, the number went up. Two years later with a diagnosis of Hashimoto’s (autoimmune low thyroid) in hand, I thought my troubles were over when my doctor put me on levothyroxine (aka Synthroid aka T4).

Honestly? I felt a wave of relief. I thought, “Great, we found the missing puzzle piece. My metabolism will turn back on.”

If you’ve been on this medical merry-go-round before, you already know the punchline. It didn’t fix the weight.

Sure, the weight gain slowed down a bit, but I was hungrier than I’d been before. Within a couple of years, I was struggling with weight gain again. And, this time, it was no longer front and center—my health was deteriorating in ways that made the scale the least of my worries.

Chasing Low Thyroid as the Cause of Weight Gain

By the time I finally found a thyroid-literate doctor, I thought the real problem was that I needed T3 added to the thyroid hormone replacement regimen. By that time, my adrenals were shot, too… or if you don’t ascribe to the term "adrenal fatigue," I was at that state where my cortisol was super wobbly and lower than it should have been for much of the day.

It took years to claw back out of that state. Yet, just when I thought I was finally doing well with a physiologic replacement dose of thyroid hormone, the foundation cracked again. I had new symptoms and was once again at a point where I had to buy new clothes.

Once again, I was fresh out of ideas. Ripe to see the light… and this time, the universe shined it back to someone that I used to know.

Re-Discovering "Mr. Mineral"

Morley Robbins has been called lots of things. "Mr. Mineral"’s the one I like best.

If you haven’t heard of Morley, his backstory is fascinating: he’s a retired hospital administrator who has a rare knack for looking at the commonly seen and noticing the commonly unseen.

For Morley, it started with a severe case of frozen shoulder. He sought relief the way most of us do… through modern medicine and standard care approaches. Those failed. So, he went alternative. At some point, he started asking the bigger questions:

• Why do people get sick?

• Why does modern medicine frequently manage symptoms rather than cure them?

• How does the body actually create energy?

That last question hits right at the core of my own hard-won perspective. By the time I re-encountered Morley's work, I had firmly arrived at this belief: Disease states start when the body loses its capacity to meet its own energy needs.

Up until that point, I was convinced the solution to an energy deficit was just giving the body the raw materials to make the hormones that drive metabolism… namely thyroid, insulin, and cortisol. It wasn’t that, or what I was doing would have worked.

But it wasn’t working. So, I stopped looking at hormones and started looking deeper: at minerals and mitochondria. If weight loss were as simple as fueling mitochondria, we probably wouldn’t be having this conversation. You wouldn’t be here reading this because you wouldn’t be struggling.

When Inflammation Disguises Itself as Weight Gain

One of the things that didn’t make any sense to me was why my mid-section looked so bloated and felt so uncomfortable in a tight pair of pants. This wasn’t just a little extra padding. It felt like inflammation.

If that had been my only symptom, I might not have connected the dots. But it wasn’t. I was in a state where it felt like I had low oxygen (hypoxia). My heart rate every morning on dog walks confirmed it… there’s no way I should’ve had a heart rate over 120 beats per minute walking a slight incline in 65-degree weather at sea level.

My heart was working overtime just to move oxygen.

So, when I re-listened to a podcast with Morley, what he was saying didn’t just make sense, I actually saw how it was the missing piece in my own health. In his research, Morley made this connection:

The "Rust" Connection: When the body lacks bioavailable copper, iron cannot properly exit the tissues. It becomes trapped, creating oxidative stress inside the mitochondria—essentially causing the cells to "rust" from the inside out and choking off their ability to turn oxygen into energy.

The Ceruloplasmin Key: The body relies on copper-dependent enzymes like ceruloplasmin (also known as ferroxidase) to safely transport and recycle iron to the bone marrow so it can be made into healthy red blood cells. Without enough copper, this iron recycling loop breaks down, leading to tissue iron toxicity even when your lab results point to iron-deficient anemia.

Here is where most people trip up: It’s not as simple as just running out to buy a copper supplement and some Vitamin A.

In fact, for a highly sensitive, inflamed body, doing that blindly is one of the absolute worst things you could do (something I wish I’d known the first time I tried this years ago). If your drainage pathways aren't open, mobilizing that trapped iron is a recipe for a massive inflammatory flare. The body simply doesn't have the capacity to handle it.

This time, though, I was in a prime position to introduce this again because I had spent years figuring out how to support the body’s ability to generate energy and—just as importantly—how to safely clear cellular waste. Since I had the foundation, I was able to use myself as the ultimate test subject.

The turnaround blew me away. It didn’t take long before my pants started fitting comfortably again. That tight, tender tissue around my mid-section stopped hurting under light pressure. The inflammatory "spare tire" look simply began to evaporate because the cellular rust was clearing, and my cells could finally breathe again.

My heart rate went down on morning dog walks. About a million other symptoms improved, too.

Now, is this the end-all for weight loss? No. In fact, if you’re here solely looking for weight loss support, I’m going to send you to my friend Amy Oldfield. But if the reason why you haven’t booked a call with someone like Amy yet (or why it failed when you did) is because you know there’s something deeper driving this weight gain, I’m willing to bet this is the missing piece.

Let’s Do This Together (Inside the Beta)

I don’t have a wall of polished client testimonials to show you for this specific framework yet. Because up until now, I have been meticulously testing, tweaking, and proving this system on my own highly sensitive body and discovering additional optimization in ongoing work with one-on-one clients (none of whom are seeing me solely for weight).

But the data and the biochemistry are clear. And I am ready to bring this framework to a small group.

I’m launching a small, intimate Reclaim Wellness Intensive Beta Program, and I am looking for women who are ready to stop chasing hormonal symptoms and start fixing their cellular energy capacity.

Because this is a beta group, you are getting three things that will never be offered again:

• The Lowest Investment Ever: A deeply discounted early adopter rate because you are helping me build the case studies of tomorrow.

• Direct, High-Touch Support: You won't be left to figure this out alone in a massive, faceless forum. We meet live during biweekly group calls where you’re able to bring your tracker data, ask your specific questions, and get real-time coaching and course-corrections directly from me.

• A Highly Paced, Methodical Approach: Aggressive protocols backfire on sensitive bodies. I know this from personal experience, and I see it constantly in my practice. We introduce single variables systematically so your system can integrate minerals safely without triggering an inflammatory flare or blowing past your current capacity.

If you are tired of buying new clothes, tired of your mid-section feeling tender and inflamed, and ready to get your mitochondria out of "cell defense mode," you’re invited to join me inside this program.

The early adopter registration closes on May 22, 2026 (use code RECLAIMBETA for $300 off), and our official kickoff call is May 29, 2026.