Hello and Welcome, I am so happy you wrote to us to get our opinion. Let me try to help you understand what has happened and try to direct you to a healthier path. Yes, alcohol contributes to weight gain, nutritional deficiencies and empty calories leading to increased weight and intensifying depression. You said you quit alcohol a month ago? Is this something you will need to go to a support group for to keep you on track? My sincere advise is to take the step of avoiding alcohol completely as part of your plan, but you must be ready for that goal. Are you ready? As far as nutrient deficiencies, the ones I am most concerned about (especially since you are of pregnancy age) are all your B vitamins, particularly folacin and thiamin. In fact, alcohol drains quite a few vitamins and adds none. So, in your case you might want to take a high-quality professional multivitamin. Of course eating a good balanced diet would be optimum but lets be real. You are short, require few calories, don t exercise and the chances of you getting all needed nutrients for you on a weight loss plan are not reasonable. Next, I would like to take care of a minor detail about medication administration as so many patients have bouncing hormone levels due to their inconsistency in taking their thyroid med. It is very important that this medication be taken on an empty stomach 20-30 minutes before any food or drink as eating will inhibit absorption of your medication. Next on my list (you wanted to know what contributed to weight gain so I am listing one by one) is the depression you mentioned. Often with women I counsel, aside from hormonal issues, I find deep seated emotional needs that are unconsciously coped with by eating to feel full to feel loved because you feel full although not consciously recognizing this. If you feel some benefit to my suggestion of seeing someone to talk to, this might be the way to go. If the cause of the depression is not uncovered and healed I feel you will continue to wrestle with your weight. Hormones. Are they working? You mentioned striae or dark stretch marks. Has your doctor checked your cortisol level? Despite the normalization of your TSH, what symptoms do you still have? Suggest free T3, auto-antibodies when you speak to your doctor about ordering cortisol if seeing him/her soon. Now, I am short like you. You must exercise to lose that weight and get serious about it, committed to it. It also may help your depression. If you were my patient I would have you on a 30 minutes minimum per day exercise program at least 4 days per week mixing cardio with strength training exercises. I would calculate your exercise zone at 60% maximum heart rate and gradually increase (with doctor s permission). Actually, seeing a fitness specialist to have an exercise plan laid out would be best. In lieu of that, I have both a fitness and women s board up with pictures of exercise routines. Search for Pinterest Kathy Shattler or Pinterest Virtual Nutritional Synergy. Remember that it takes 500 calories deficit to lose (or gain) one measly pound so exercise is the essential quest and commitment for you. It is not safe to go below 1200 calories per day but you won t lose much on that.Your basal metabolic rate using the Mifflin formula is 1340 calories without activity. Try adding green tea without milk or any additives 3-4x per day if no history of kidney stones. As far as diet goes, a Dietitian can help you formulate a 1200 diet of a balanced approach to meal planning. This can be done by telehealth or in person. Nevertheless, learning appropriate serving sizes by visualization will be one of the lesson plans.The most common are 1 teaspoon tsp, 1 tablespoon TB, 1/2 cup, 1/3 cup, 1 cup, 1 ounce, 3 ounces, 6 ounces. In summary, we discussed your hormones, caloric need, relationship of calories, portion size, alcohol and hormones on weight, stretch marks and potential hormone screening for contributing problems internally, multivitamin, alcohol and deficiencies/empty calories, dealing with depression, importance of exercise program and medication administration. If I can be of further help you may reach me at my HealthCare Magic portal at bit.ly/askkathyshattler. Good Luck to you, Kathryn J. Shattler, M.S., RDN