Gained 10lb in a weekend after going out to eat... two months of clean diet later, it's still there

thebuz

fitmom4lifemfp wrote: »

12 pounds up would put me up TWO sizes. I can't even imagine that happening in a couple of days. Def see a dr.

This would be different from person to person depending on where you carry the weight, your personal size etc. With the excessive water retention I can experience I can wear the same size at 160 that I wore at 146.

ashleyvenerable

What other exercises are you doing though other than the elliptical and pilates?? Pilates is great but it doesn't burn a ton of calories per session, and if you're not changing up your workouts your body remembers the movements and it becomes less effective. Maybe try some strength training. And also not stressing out about it. Stress makes you fat, not joking.

Psychgrrl

There's a limit to how helpful we can be without seeing your diary. Totally your choice. I've responded to a lot of posts where folks thought they were logging accurately, and it turns out they weren't.

You seem really hostile and angry. I realize how frustrating weight-loss is, but taking it out on folks that you've asked for help doesn't seem like the best strategy. You've negated or deflected most of the advice and suggestions you've received. Which, again, totally your choice!

Maybe if we try another approach we can be more helpful. What were you hoping to get out of the discussion?

middlehaitch

opalneria wrote: »

work_on_it wrote: »

Could you be pregnant?

No. Unless we've got some kind of immaculate conception going on ;3

rebeccachobat wrote: »

This is heartbreaking for me to read, I can't imagine how you must feel. The only thing that I could think of is that even though you have retained it for 2 months, it's still water weight. Do you track your sodium intake by chance? that one meal may have been high in sodium and then it never got fully flushed out of your system.

First, thank you for your empathy. I do track sodium as my doctor requests for me to get slightly more than most people - I have orthostatic hypotension and generally low blood pressure, so I've been going for around 3000-3500 per day rather than the MFP standard. I did struggle to keep up with the higher sodium goal during my July diet, which I think had something to do with my energy issues.

The food certainly had more salt than that, I'd wager, which is why I thought it surely must have just been salt/water bloat at first... the fact that it's lasted this long, through a clean diet, is what's throwing me off.

amyrebeccah wrote: »

I'll be honest. With as much as this is upsetting you, it sounds like you could probably use a diet break. I'm not saying this will change anything about your weight, but it might improve your mental outlook and allow you to reconnect a bit socially.

I've had a few friends say this, but it's a bit... it irks to know how close I was, only to have it set back so far. I feel personally offended, somehow, haha.

When was this (bolded) diagnosed and when did you increase your salt?
If recently, you have basically increased your blood volume, needed for counteracting the low blood pressure, and are retaining water.

This information in your initial post would have been useful.

h

fiddletime

How do your measurements of your waist, hips, arms, etc compare to those of a few months ago? Also, it would be great if you let us know if you do, or don't, end up having a medical thing going on. I think those of us who've read this whole thread are really interested in what caused the sudden 12 # jump.

LynnJ9

Do your clothes fit different after the 10 lb gain? If not maybe it is your scale.

RedSierra

J9LynnHelton wrote: »

Do your clothes fit different after the 10 lb gain? If not maybe it is your scale.

I agree with this post.

If you haven't done so, check the scale's batteries or buy a new scale. My one-year-old digital scale has been giving me readings that are suddenly way off, even though I've replaced the batteries. That might be the case for you, too.

I hope you don't have a medical problem, but it looks like you're checking that out.

sak20011

This would be very distressing to me as well. In addition to thyroid hormone panel, ask about Cushing's. Also are you bloated? Possible huge cyst?

everher

This is unwanted advice, but at your rate of loss I would say you are either a) logging things incorrectly or b) overestimating exercise calories anyways. I would say it's b) overestimating exercise calories if you are logging and weighing everything which you say you are. Could be inaccurate database entries as well, but it's probably more likely you're overestimating the exercise calories. Doing a week of maintenance every other week isn't helping your rate of loss either.

All that aside, I would be curious to know if you've moved your scale and if you've been weighing the same way at the same time of day consistently everyday. I also wonder if you were low sodium before or low carb and now have increased intake of carbs or sodium. If I were you, I would look at my previous intake versus my current intake and see what's different.

Barring any medical problems, it could very well just be water weight from you intaking so much sodium.

ammo7

opalneria wrote: »

I know that I'm not eating more than I think I am day to day.
...
I am 5'7" and for example, at 150 eating about 1200 will result in my losing MAYBE one lb per month, more likely half a pound.
...

I alternate 1200 with maintenance weeks of 1600
...
My BMR is only 1300 (once again, professionally measured) so 1200 is not starvation for me; rather, this explains why 1200 is such a slow weight loss for me; it's only a 400 deficit from my maintenance.

Rather than trying to speculate about the mystery of what happened after your date meal, I will try a fresh perspective to unravel what was going on before that time. I'm going to look at the numbers you've provided, since you have complete certainty in those. My calculations will, of course, be approximations though.

You have indicated that you lose 0.5-1 lb per month. Roughly, that tells you that you are in a deficit of around 1750-3500 calories per month. For a month where you lost 1lb, this implies that you achieved your 400 calorie daily deficit on only 8.75 days. This doesn't seem to fit with your description of alternating between 400 calorie deficit days and maintenance, unless "alternating" describes that you spend 70% of each month at maintenance.

You are certain that you are not eating more than you think. And you are confident in your profesionally-tested BMR. But your long-term results over the last year indicate that things haven't been going as you expected over the past year anyway.

It seems to me that there is definitely something going on (either like a medical issue, or a logging issue) and what I want you to take away from my post is: the date meal was not the beginning of your mystery

I hope that it's some kind of unexpected logging issue that you can resolve, instead of a serious medical concern. Hopefully showing your food logs to your doctor can help get a fresh perspective there too.

its_me_april

I will admit I skimmed over the responses . . . have you been unusually stressed or had chronic issues with sleep? That could also be the culprit. Retaining that much water for so long would have me a bit worried. Do you feel bloated or swollen a lot of the time? Might be worth it to get checked out, or try a day or two with no salt and limited carbs to see if your body lets go of what is most likely a lot of retained water. I'm not sure how old you are, but your calories are very low and it sounds like they have been for a while. Your metabolism may be slowed as well--might be good to take a break and build it back up, then drop calories after things have stabilized a bit.

Does your body look different? I don't know about others, but I can tell when I'm retaining water as opposed to having gained real fat. It looks and feels different to me. My rings are tighter, my feet feel swollen, etc. . .

Anyway, good luck to you! That is very frustrating.