I use to be around 170lb with a 30-31 inche waist. I got the FLU in April - May of 2002. I missed the gym for nearly 2-3 months (normally workout 4-5 days a week). Between the time I got better and Oct of 2002, I had gained a good 30 lb, increasing my waist to a 34. November of 2002, I was diagnoised HIV+ (was HIV- when I had the flu). Can being HIV+ make a person gain weight. All my weight is from my stomach to my thighs. While I was sick with the flu, I dropped to at least 160. I use to be fat and lost all my weight approx 15 yrs ago just by starvation. I know now that that is not the way to go being HIV+, although if I were HIV-, you can bet I would starve myself again. I have eaten healthier than ever since being diagnoised as HIV+, yet the weight is not leaving. Seems that I am still gaining, slowly. I realize this may be a silly question but I swore I would never get heavy again and it happened overnight, it seems. What can I do to loose this weight? I take excellent multi-vitamins and workout 4-5 days a week. I am only doing about 30 minutes of cardio a day, yet I am increasing that. Thanks for the help.

The first thing I would recommend is to make an appointment with your dietitian to go over your food intake and to estimate a healthy level to accomplish your goals. In this case, it is more likely to be an issue of calories than multivitamin supplementation. However, starving yourself is not a good idea under any circumstances.

Also, you may want to have your body composition evaluated to see what type of weight you regained. If you plan to lose weight, it is important to know if you have a buffer of lean tissue you can afford to lose in the process.

In losing 30 pounds a number of changes can occur. One potential change is a reduction in testosterone levels. It is worth having your levels checked to see if a low level is contributing to the problem.

Keep up the exercise and best wishes!