Struggling to Lose Weight Despite Diet & Exercise? Expert Advice

Question
Dr
I am at my wits end. I am 53, 5'8", and have always had a slow metabolism. I have no idea why-I go for physicals every year and my Doc says all my thyroid is fine, as is my cholesterol. He says my blood pressure is borderline high, and I have 'metabolic syndrome' but not diabetes. Strange-I dont like sweets and eat low carb.He says  to eat less and exercise more BUT I eat less than 1000 calories a day, spend 45 minutes  thre times a week on my elliptical, and the scale wont budge from 250. I have been told I am not eating enough and my body is in starvation mode. Last summer I raised my intake to 2000 calories a day, didnt execise except for golf, and I gained 15 pounds! I am only now getting back to 250, which my body seems to want to stay at.
Have you ever heard of this? A friend says I should see a specialist, possibly an endocrinologist. The nearest one is a 7 hour drive away with a long waiting list.
I can handle the extra weight, but the worst part is my huge belly. It is getting difficult to turn the steering wheel in my compact car.The rest of me is not bad-thanks to the exercise, but the belly makes me ware size XL clothes. If it was smaller I could prob wear L. I have tried lots of supplements, 'HIIT' workouts, low carb, low fat, vegetarian. Nothing works. I realise it could be genetic, but I have no family picture or info to go on.
Help!

Answer
There are some tests that can be done to measure your metabolic activity but they are expensive......   there are some home "cheat tests" you can do to figure out what breakpoint you have for going from a breakeven to losing weight that is quicker than stepping on a scale.

Check your urine for ketones through dipsticks... if you have ketones, you are burning fat for energy.   

Now, if you don't eat for a day, you may not have ketones... it may take you 2-3 days to rev up your fat burning system and start burning fat for energy, ie, making ketones, but if you cheat in between, you shut it down and have to wait a few more days... that is why people who diet during the week and cheat on weekends never get anywhere.   

Make sure that you are not miscounting or not counting some calorie intake... you should lose weight at 1000 cal/day.... Also, I would make sure you had thyroid tests and your thyroid is behaving normally.  

So, count calories, start back at 1000/day, and you should see ketones in 3 days, if not, go down to 800 calories and look again, etc.   Good luck with it.