Gained weight after 5 years of maintenance

ordinary1111

I recently gained back 15lbs after 6 years of maintaining around 170lbs (30yo Woman 5'10", was ~210 for about 10 years) and am finding it very difficult to get back to 170. I've been upping my exercise and adding more fiber and protein to my diet, but the weight doesn't seem to budge.

Has anyone else had experience with this? Any help is much appreciated.

spiriteagle99

Any changes in your life? New meds, new job, more stress, less sleep? A lot of things can make you gain weight, along with changes in exercise and diet.

Go back to weighing and measuring everything you eat to determine how much you are actually eating. It's easy to eat more than you think you're eating, especially when you've been maintaining for a while.

bbell1985

Just get into a deficit. It will take some time to lose but you'll be back down before you know it. Make sure you are logging everything and if you activity level is different than it was 5 years ago, account for that as well.

apullum

Did you increase your exercise before or after you noticed the weight gain? If you started exercising first, and then saw the scale go up, then some of what you're seeing is likely water fluctuation that can come with a new exercise routine. However, it's probably not 15 pounds of water...that would be a lot.

I agree that the best thing to do is go back to weighing and logging all your food, or tighten up your logging if you are already doing that. Some people find that they need to keep logging in maintenance, and some don't, but it's a good tool to use if you're outside your maintenance range and want the scale to move down.

You lost the weight once, so you are absolutely able to do it again. You got this.

Jrpwgr

Absolutely, our calorie needs shrink as we get older. You're 30 now. That's different than 24. Figure out your new maintenance calories for age 30, and take into account if you also have exercise differences than when you were 24.

heybales

ordinary1111 wrote: »

I recently gained back 15lbs after 6 years of maintaining around 170lbs (30yo Woman 5'10", was ~210 for about 10 years) and am finding it very difficult to get back to 170. I've been upping my exercise and adding more fiber and protein to my diet, but the weight doesn't seem to budge.

Has anyone else had experience with this? Any help is much appreciated.

Adding more fiber and protein - to the level of eating you were already doing?
Or replacing some of what you were eating?

Could be a big difference there.

Or have you totally changed your diet like so many do - so you have no firm knowledge of how much you were eating that caused the weight gain?

And how fast was that weight gain - that can help explain what it was?
Too fast and it wasn't fat only, if at all.
Where is it showing up, typical belly first if that's your spot, or other normal spot, or not discernible right now?

FitPhillygirl

I would just set your goal to lose .5lbs a week and eat the amount that Mfp recommends until you are where you would like to be at.

nxd10

I wish FitFillygirl was right, but I'm in the same situation, did that for six months, and it hasn't worked. I am also 5'10", woman, 59 years old, and maintained 5 years between 150-155. I gained 5 pounds last fall and am now at 160-165. I dropped my calories down to a 500 calorie deficit (1230 net) since before Christmas and have only JUST started losing.

What helped wasn't calories, it was exercise and carbs. If I don't walk at least 30-45 minutes a day and keep my carbs under 40%, I can't lose weight. I can get my steps - 10K per day. But if it's not aerobic walking, it doesn't help. Same with calories. 40% isn't low carb, but it's also something I have to work at by eating more protein and dropping things like fruit. I can't cut calories below where I am.

I never ever miss logging anything, but it also is important to refocus on measuring and weighing.

Goober1142

You have to change something. Maybe count macros for a while? What's your fat intake? I swear if I don't eat enough fat I don't lose weight. I'm always experimenting to see if I can lose a little more. Sometimes I feel like I'm trying to get the scale to zero lol. Sometimes I'll purposely take a week off from working out religiously eat 1200. Other times I will eat maintenance every other day or I'll be a vegetarian for 10 days. Right now I'm adding a two mile walk every day for a month to see what effect it has. Normally I just lift weights three or four times a week. If you want something to change you have to change something. But...perserverance always pays off! Just keep swimming..

88olds

Upping your exercise- from what, to what, and why?

You start a food diary?

My experience is that exercise is way overrated as a weight loss strategy. Can work when we’re young.

lorrpb

So you are now 185, up from 170, in what period of time?

geltner1

I would set your calories on MFP to lose one half pound per week and start logging and measuring. You'll be so relieved to lose the new unwanted pounds.

ordinary1111

@lorrpb @heybales am now 185 from 170 over 6 months. The reason for my gain? I stopped exercising the 3-4x a week I'd been doing for years (to maintain) and started eating more junk food. I've now adjusted my food intake to focus primarily on protein and fiber.

It shows up mostly on my abdomen (belly and waist), in addition to an all-over thickening.

@nxd10 why do you think you just started losing now?

Thanks everyone!

lorrpb

ordinary1111 wrote: »

@lorrpb @heybales am now 185 from 170 over 6 months. The reason for my gain? I stopped exercising the 3-4x a week I'd been doing for years (to maintain) and started eating more junk food. I've now adjusted my food intake to focus primarily on protein and fiber.

It shows up mostly on my abdomen (belly and waist), in addition to an all-over thickening.

@nxd10 why do you think you just started losing now?

Thanks everyone!

That's about 3 lbs per month, which is a fairly rapid gain. It equates to about 300 cals per day which can easily be accounted for with less exercising and more food. Good job to recognize it now and takes steps to take control again, as you certainly know how to do!

MerryMavis1

I'm also a 5 year maintainer-our weight will still fluctuate in maintenance, the trick is to not let it get over the set maintenance range that you've established. It's fairly easy to correct a 3lb uptick. Not so easy to correct a 20lb one though-it's hard to relearn the patience that you need for the weight loss phase The good news is you've done this before and can do it again. You just have to get your mindset in the right place and then make the necessary adjustments to get back to your target weight range.

Since you've cut out exercise you need to adjust your calorie intake down to compensate. Re-run your numbers without exercise factored in and then adjust your food/calorie intake accordingly.

Also-you should be adjusting your calories first, macros/fiber a distant second. Protein and fiber are great, but eating more of them won't cause weight loss without the calorie deficit you need to hit your weight targets.

wenrob

You don’t mention lowering your calories, just adjusting the type of food you eat. You need to be in a calorie deficit. Calorie creep when in maintenance is pretty common. I maintained for a good four almost five years when my dad got very ill and I found myself sitting in ICU units and hospital rooms for a good part of a year. That plus grabbing food on the run led to a 20lb gain. In a nutshell I took my eyes off the ball. A year later I finally started caring again, went back to logging/counting calories and lost that 20lbs plus 16 more. Been maintaining ever since. FTR I was 41 when I lost the initial weight, I’m fifty now.

Log what you’re eating now so you know how much you’re taking in and then create a deficit from there. If eating more protein and fiber makes you feel good, great but that alone won’t help you lose. You need to eat less than you burn in order to lose.

hroderick

good job on planning a come back. now follow through

ordinary1111

@wenrob @MerryMavis1 I have restructured my macros to be at a 500-700cal/day deficit, and my intake is primarily composed of protein and fiber. I've started exercising again, and also intermittently fast (16:8) with a day off from counting on the weekend.

@lorrpb thanks! sometimes it feels endless. it feels like we should be able to get to a certain weight and stay there, like a level in a video game.

wenrob

ordinary1111 wrote: »

@wenrob @MerryMavis1 I have restructured my macros to be at a 500-700cal/day deficit, and my intake is primarily composed of protein and fiber. I've started exercising again, and also intermittently fast (16:8) with a day off from counting on the weekend.

@lorrpb thanks! sometimes it feels endless. it feels like we should be able to get to a certain weight and stay there, like a level in a video game.

How long have you been in deficit? Are you weighing and measuring your food? When you say you’re taking a day off of logging are you also taking the day off from your deficit? By how much?

lorrpb

ordinary1111 wrote: »

@wenrob @MerryMavis1 I have restructured my macros to be at a 500-700cal/day deficit, and my intake is primarily composed of protein and fiber. I've started exercising again, and also intermittently fast (16:8) with a day off from counting on the weekend.

@lorrpb thanks! sometimes it feels endless. it feels like we should be able to get to a certain weight and stay there, like a level in a video game.

Yes, I do feel like it is never ending,

LivingtheLeanDream

So you know why you gained, you stopped exercising. It was that exercise that kept you at maintenance. To lose you either start exercising again or you cut some calories so you are in deficit.

I'm about to reach 5 years of being at goal, it still takes being vigilent with calorie intake and keeping active, there is no end but I'm prepared to always work to keep at this weight but it feels and looks good on me imo.