More active than ever, gained 30 lbs

NightmarePoon

In college I ate very poorly and spent most of my time writing/playing video games. I maintained 130-140ish. I was anemic at points, sometimes not eating all day and other times +3000 in alcohol and pizza. Senior year I started Lexapro, and I started to slowly gain 150ish.

Since I've graduated I've put on about twenty pounds, despite having a job that puts me on my feet all day and I've been half heartedly counting calories off and on. I eat far more healthy* and I don't binge drink anymore. I switched to wellbutrin from Lexapro in October, so not even the SSRI should be a factor. I've been calorie counting in earnest the past month- not entirely sure how effective it is since I don't have a strong scale.

I don't get it ):

*healthy being that I try to eat at multiple points during the day and not just pizza and soda

cityruss

You've been eating a surplus of calories.

To lose weight you need to eat a deficit of calories.

StealthHealth

cityruss wrote: »

You've been eating a surplus of calories.

To lose weight you need to eat a deficit of calories.

^^Truth.

Too much food for the level of activity = weight gain.

snowflake954

This^^^^^^^^^. Buy yourself a digital scale and weigh everything correctly. Healthy eating means nothing for weight loss.

tinkerbellang83

NightmarePoon wrote: »

Since I've graduated I've put on about twenty pounds, despite having a job that puts me on my feet all day and I've been half heartedly counting calories off and on.

I don't get it ):

Herein lies your problem, half-heartedly doing something isn't doing it properly, log everything accurately, set your activity level correctly (if you're on your feet all day make sure that's accounted for) and stick to your target calories.

TavistockToad

you're eating too much

Jazzykatt

Yes CICO is the rule of thumb but Lexapro is known to help pack on the pounds. I loved being on it cause it made me feel good but then I would get depressed when I saw how much weight I had put on. I'm now on Wellbutrin and the weight came off. I was eating and exercising the same on both meds. Wellbutrin isn't as good but my natural sense of happiness because of the results I see when I exercise and eat better compensates for it.

Note that not everyone responds the same way to medications.

bagge72

NightmarePoon wrote: »

In college I ate very poorly and spent most of my time writing/playing video games. I maintained 130-140ish. I was anemic at points, sometimes not eating all day and other times +3000 in alcohol and pizza. Senior year I started Lexapro, and I started to slowly gain 150ish.

Since I've graduated I've put on about twenty pounds, despite having a job that puts me on my feet all day and I've been half heartedly counting calories off and on. I eat far more healthy* and I don't binge drink anymore. I switched to wellbutrin from Lexapro in October, so not even the SSRI should be a factor. I've been calorie counting in earnest the past month- not entirely sure how effective it is since I don't have a strong scale.

I don't get it ):

*healthy being that I try to eat at multiple points during the day and not just pizza and soda

This is your problem

Unknown

This content has been removed.

ndj1979

NightmarePoon wrote: »

In college I ate very poorly and spent most of my time writing/playing video games. I maintained 130-140ish. I was anemic at points, sometimes not eating all day and other times +3000 in alcohol and pizza. Senior year I started Lexapro, and I started to slowly gain 150ish.

Since I've graduated I've put on about twenty pounds, despite having a job that puts me on my feet all day and I've been half heartedly counting calories off and on. I eat far more healthy* and I don't binge drink anymore. I switched to wellbutrin from Lexapro in October, so not even the SSRI should be a factor. I've been calorie counting in earnest the past month- not entirely sure how effective it is since I don't have a strong scale.

I don't get it ):

*healthy being that I try to eat at multiple points during the day and not just pizza and soda

you can't "out activity" weight gain. Just because you feel that you are more active does not mean that you are burning enough calories to be in a calorie deficit.

I would suggest getting a food scale; setting MFP to 1 pound per week loss; weigh/measure/log everything that you eat; find a form of activity that you enjoy.

ndj1979

Jazzykatt wrote: »

Yes CICO is the rule of thumb but Lexapro is known to help pack on the pounds. I loved being on it cause it made me feel good but then I would get depressed when I saw how much weight I had put on. I'm now on Wellbutrin and the weight came off. I was eating and exercising the same on both meds. Wellbutrin isn't as good but my natural sense of happiness because of the results I see when I exercise and eat better compensates for it.

Note that not everyone responds the same way to medications.

that just means that OP needs to better regulate the CI side of CICO.

JaydedMiss

Im happy you didnt try to hide behind "I gained _blank amount of weight- weighing everything and being in defecit!" Thanks for that XD You just eat more than you realize because you dont track.
I did the same thign when i first got my job as a mover by end of the day i was starving and been worked hard all day so id eat. And not track. I figured one meal couldnt hurt. You have multiple Doesnt matter if its healthy food healthy food has calories to.

Dee_D33

NightmarePoon wrote: »

In college I ate very poorly and spent most of my time writing/playing video games. I maintained 130-140ish. I was anemic at points, sometimes not eating all day and other times +3000 in alcohol and pizza. Senior year I started Lexapro, and I started to slowly gain 150ish.

Since I've graduated I've put on about twenty pounds, despite having a job that puts me on my feet all day and I've been half heartedly counting calories off and on. I eat far more healthy* and I don't binge drink anymore. I switched to wellbutrin from Lexapro in October, so not even the SSRI should be a factor. I've been calorie counting in earnest the past month- not entirely sure how effective it is since I don't have a strong scale.

I don't get it ):

*healthy being that I try to eat at multiple points during the day and not just pizza and soda

Found your problem. You've only been calorie counting for a month. Before then, you were not keeping track of your calories and thus overeating. Eating at multiple times during the day as opposed to three meals doesn't really make your diet any healthier. Regardless of when you eat, you just need to make sure you're eating at a deficit. It's only been a month of counting, you have to give it more time.

NightmarePoon

I guess the thing that really bothers me is that before I ate whatever I wanted and stayed the same size when I was a complete bum, and now I have to actively watch what I eat when I am more physically active. u__u going from normal 135 to normal 165 in two years really sucks.

VintageFeline

NightmarePoon wrote: »

I guess the thing that really bothers me is that before I ate whatever I wanted and stayed the same size when I was a complete bum, and now I have to actively watch what I eat when I am more physically active. u__u going from normal 135 to normal 165 in two years really sucks.

It's a habitual thing. Your habits back then of essentially fasting some days then eating a lot on others helped keep everything in balance, whether you realised that or not because you were perceiving the calories you did consume as mostly "unhealthy".

Fast forward and you've unwittingly changed your habits and those have lead to weight gain.

So time to learn new habits again that will help you lose and hopefully maintain back where you were comfortable.

It's totally doable but like with any learning, there will always be bits you do just because it gets you to the end goal.