Body changes

miratps

Potentially daft question. I am at maintenance (but still have high anxiety about increasing calories) and am pretty sure I am gaining back some weight despite technically eating at a similar level to what I was doing when I was losing weight and daily exercise.

My face (particularly when I wake up) feels/looks puffy and my belly is not as slim as it was even about 2 weeks ago. My question is, did anyone else experience something similar? Is it a case of the foods you eat the night before which can cause changes in body shape? Or am I just being flat out paranoid?

dutchandkiwi

Do you still weigh yourself? So do you actually know if your weight is changing.
Secondly in maintenance did you change your workouts? Stopped doing certian things for instance walking etc

I was in maintenance over my holidaybreak (4.5 weeks) and it included longhaul travel. I noticed differences too happen quickly. But I also know that I was not doing my weight training and that I hold on to fluids on long haul flights. Back two weeks now and all is back to normal, specifically wrt my excercise regime.

Wheelhouse15

Weigh yourself and you might be gaining some water but there is also a good chance you are eating above maintenance. How did you figure out your maintenance? Have you experimented with intake just to see what happens?

ARGriffy

Sooo many variables... but my first question would be how did you increase your cals? Did you go straight from deficit to maintenance or did you gradually increase? Are you male/female - could it be hormonal? It could just be in your mind... (i take pics when i feel great then compare when i feel bloated just to calm myself!) have you eaten more salty stuff? Had more alcohol? As i said... many many variables!

miratps

Male and as for maintenance, I used sedentary (I am not) on multiple calculators online etc. And they all give similar figures (1700) or so but I still actually eat a fair bit less than that 99% of the time as I'm too worried to actually go all the way up. I weigh my food etc so I am not underestimating how much calories I eat, if anything I over estimate and usually always do a 'quick add' of 100/200 a day just in case something didn't log correctly. I would actually still, based on intake and exercise, expect to lose weight but am not.

Does lack of sleep or even feeling well rested have an impact? Eg. Lack of sleep means I look less 'puffy' and well rested I look more 'puffy'/his I perhaps actually should?

cmriverside

Do you drink alcohol? That can cause the face and belly puffiness.

MsRuffBuffNStuff

This happens to me when I eat a lot of sodium. I took a diuretic once and literally lost (peed) 5 pounds overnight...

TavistockToad

Pretty sure as in weighed yourself and have gained scale weight, or.....?

sijomial

You sound so dreadfully anxious!

• You think you have gained but don't know, afraid to weigh yourself perhaps?
• You deliberately set yourself as sedentary when you aren't to get a lower goal.
• You then deliberately eat under that artificially low goal as you are too worried.
• You over estimate.
• You do a "just in case" quick add.

As you used the word then yes, you do sound paranoid. You really do need to fix that.

Stress can mess with your appearance and weight (water retention). Think you should address the stress rather than the symptom.

miratps

sijomial wrote: »

You sound so dreadfully anxious!

• You think you have gained but don't know, afraid to weigh yourself perhaps?
• You deliberately set yourself as sedentary when you aren't to get a lower goal.
• You then deliberately eat under that artificially low goal as you are too worried.
• You over estimate.
• You do a "just in case" quick add.

As you used the word then yes, you do sound paranoid. You really do need to fix that.

Stress can mess with your appearance and weight (water retention). Think you should address the stress rather than the symptom.

You are indeed 100% correct but it is very difficult to change after being in 'weight loss mode' for so long. As for being afraid of the scale it is true, I now am not so keen on stepping on it since I technically (although obviously not actually) started maintenance.

As for alcohol, I had a couple small drinks but that was a couple days ago. The other thing I forgot to mention, while it may not always be 100% accurate, I have used it for a while and I use my fitbit to estimate calories burned that day. Am always less than that and usually quite significantly (700+ calories less)

socioseguro

@miratps
I am on Maintenance and I still weigh myself every morning, out of habit.

I have defined a certain "body weight range" for Maintenance. If my weight goes above the 75% percentile of my defined range, I start eating at a deficit again until I am at 50% percentile.
I use a food scale and logging every day
Good luck in your healthy jouney

nxd10

Puffiness can come from lack of sleep. I look puffy if I eat too much salt, even if I don't change weight.

I looked flabbier in my belly after I lost weight. That moved around for 6 months. I would look blobby every time after a big loss. There's SPACE where there had been fat and the skin and interstitial fat hadn't filled in. Just walking and moving and time and tightening skin brought it all under control.

Panic not!

johnnylakis

It's also possible you have hit a plateau.