Argh, not eating above TDEE and slowly gaining!

jett254

I'm frustrated. I've maintained the same weight for 1 year and now I feel like I'm slowly starting to gain weight. I am not worried about minor day-to-day fluctuations but I don't like seeing the scale slowly creep up. Full disclosure - I'm small but I was very happy with my weight and I don't want to gain 5 lbs.

Details --
- I'm 5'1'' and at my lowest was 98-99 lbs, and I was fine with going up 2-3 lbs because I know that even though I was a healthy BMI, I was right on the bottom.....but now the scale for the last 3-4 days has said 103-104 lbs.
- I exercise 6 days per week (mix of cardio at least 3-4 days plus some strength training)
- I wear a BodyMedia Fit and use that as a general guide
- I was eating in maintenance 2000 calories per day and that was still below what I was getting from the BodyMedia. Now I've dropped it to more like 1800-1850 per day but I'm still gaining
- I track what I eat carefully
- The only thing that has changed was I started birth control pills since I was having a problem with my period stopping. However, everything I had read said that weight gain from the pill was due to your appetite increasing and I am NOT eating more. It should still be calories in = calories out, right?

Any thoughts/suggestions. I just feel blah.

mallen404

ask your doctor.. sounds like it could be the BC

fourfiftythree

Sounds like the pill to me too. Your body may have greater fluctuations due to water retention or simply adjusting to the hormones. Give it at least a full couple of months to see if your body regulates.

jett254

Thanks! It sucks because I have no choice but to be on the pill due to my hormonal issues. I was on a different pill for 2 months and was doing ok, and I just switch 2 weeks ago. I'm switching back to the old one today!

RenshiG

Hi girl. Obviously not knowing and digging into ur personal business, but I had to get onto the depo for hormonal issues & endometriosis. I did not see any weight gain. Maybe another alternative for you to consider?
Best of luck!

tahinilove

Which pill are you on now (if you don't mind me asking?)? I went on progesterone for my amenorrhea and I gained weight whilst on it however I believe it is merely water retention. As soon as I went off it my weight was actually lower than normal. If you are on a progesterone tablet then the scale might go up as it is mimicking your hormones pre-bleed. Hence you get a load of pms symptoms including water retention/weight gain

acidosaur

It definitely sounds like the pill to me too. It happened to me, even though I was exercising and eating exactly the same. I went up two boob sizes! I had to come off it.

jett254

Thanks everyone. I don't think depo is an option for me.

I was on Loestrin / Gildess for 2 months and saw maybe a slight weight gain, nothing I was concerned about. I switched to Seasonique / Jolessa and that is when I saw the gain. I just switched back to the Loestrin.

I suppose it is the pills and is probably water retention but it is annoying and driving me crazy!

DanaDark

Just noting that a lot of weight loss/gain issues can be related to hormones. This is why cortisol levels from too steep deficits can half weight loss and HIIT exercises can result in greater weight loss despite lower immediate caloric burn than steady state cardio.

That being said, Birth Control is usually a very very large dose of estrogen (mainly female hormone). And playing with hormones can, and usually do, start to do interesting things with weight.