New and really need help figuring things out

Maleficent0241

Hi all, I am brand spankin' new here! I have been struggling with my weight and really need help figuring out what I am doing wrong. I'll start with a quick intro that gives some background. From puberty through my mid-20s, I was always 125 lbs at 5'7" (female), plus or minus 5 pounds. I got very very ill, lost a LOT of weight, and was put in the hospital. Due to the condition I was diagnosed with, I was put on a bunch of meds. Over the next 8 months, I gained 71 lbs, yes, seventy-one. I repeatedly went to the doctor looking for answers, as I was having trouble keeping down food at all due to the illness, and they kept telling me the typical eat more, exercise less. I went to a registered dietician, who went over 6 months of food logs with me, and said "well, it's not your eating". Great. I joined Weight Watchers, and it did nothing for me as at this point, I was struggling to get in 900 calories per day anyway.

Edit: whoops, meant to say eat LESS exercise MORE

At the end of those 8 months, I put my foot down and went to an endo - my hormones were all out of whack and she told me to quit my medication. I did, and after an initial evening out of my weight, I managed to lose 28 pounds over the next 28 weeks - an even 1 lb per week loss. I was delighted that I was on my way back! I relapsed and got very sick again, and was put on a different set of medications (same types though), and eventually put the pounds back on - 21 of them over nearly 35 weeks and the rest more slowly after that.

When I visited my endo, I invested in a digital food scale. I weighed EVERYTHING I put in my mouth (down to margarines, mustard, etc.), other than liquids like milk and cooking oils which I would measure with measuring cups/spoons. I kept paper logs all this time, and started to try and transfer them over here, but it was way too tedious so I ran the numbers with a calculator and I just can't figure out what I am doing wrong here:

Weight loss phase (28 weeks, down 1 lb per week): Ave. gross daily calories = 1417.9, 12% protein, 62% carbs, 26% fat
Weight gain phase (34.86 weeks, UP ~0.60 lbs/week): Ave gross daily calories = 1445.9, 11% protein, 67% carbs, 22% fat

To me, the numbers just aren't adding up. I see that I had an average increase in calories of 196 per week, but how can that possibly change me from a 1 lb LOSS to a .6 lb GAIN? Shouldn't I have at least stagnated instead of gaining? I see over and over here not to blame the meds, but I really just don't know what else to do. I know there was a bit of a shift in macronutrient ratio, but would that really do it? At the end of the 34ish weeks, I switched to the South Beach diet based on the advice of a registered dietician, and it has indeed slowed the weight gain down, but I am still steadily gaining. I do eat some processed foods here and there (Lean Cuisines and the like), and I am working on that.

As far as exercise goes, in both gain and loss phases it has been a pretty sporadic mix of walking and strength training, as my illness prevents me from safely working out a lot of the time. Before I fell ill, I was running regularly, including a few marathons so it kills me that I cannot exercise more. Also, before I fell ill, I was eating around 2500 calories a day, so my caloric intake has definitely shifted down with the decrease in activity.

Any thoughts would be GREATLY appreciated. I hate how I look and feel now, and want so bad to start losing again.

Maleficent0241

Bump. No ideas?

SLLRunner

HI,

Well, it sounds like you have some pretty specialized medical problems which may affect weight loss/weight gain.

Could it be that you were eating more than you thought you were during your weight gain phase? In order to gain weight, you have to eat ABOVE your total daily energy expenditure (TDEE), which is generally much more than 1445 for a five foot seven female. I'm 5 4 1/2, and my TDEE is something like 2,100 or thereabouts, so yours must be higher due to height.

Have you asked your doctor if all the medications are affecting weight loss? He/she is the only one who can really tell you that.

Maleficent0241

Thank you so much for your response. I am sure I wasn't eating more. The meds have caused my prolactin to shoot up (among other lady hormone imbalances) and have caused pre-diabetes. The diet has gotten the prediabetes down to normal again, but the other hormones are still whacked. I am not sure if either of those issues could cause problems with weight loss - info on prolactin and weight seems a bit scant. I do wonder if these things could affect my RMR and TDEE, and maybe that is my problem? I was also on a low cal liquid diet for a very long time, and I wonder if that could have also screwed me up. Is there any reliable way to get BMR/RMR tested without spending tons and tons of money? If my BMR is much lower than calculators provide for, then maybe the 1445 is more than I need... thoughts on that theory?

hwoeltjen

Let me start by saying....your meds may impact your results.

Let's put that aside for a second.

I want to know what you are eating every day.

What does your daily diet look like? You need to log your food. If you aren't tracking your food then there is no real way to understand why you aren't seeing the results you want.

What does your diet look like?

Maleficent0241

Thanks,

I have been keeping paper logs up until recently (had a notebook by the scale in the kitchen), but I just started using the MFP app instead. My days vary a bit due to the illness coming in relapses and such, but here's a snapshot of an average day (not including my attempt at south beach):

B: 40g McCaan's Irish Oatmeal (150 cal), with 14g slivered almonds (80 cal) and 23g Trader Joe's Golden Berry Blend (75 cal). Hot tea with 3T of half and half and 1/2 packet of Nutrasweet (60 cal). 365 total.

L: Subway 6" black forest ham on wheat, with provolone cheese, spinach, tomato, and olives, no sauces. (290+50+50 for 390 cal). Honest Tea Honey Green Tea (70 cal.). Total 480 cal.

4 oz. of chicken or fish or lean beef (250- 350 cal), 1 cup mixed veggies (177 cal), cooked with 1T olive oil (120 cal). Total 547-647 cal.

Snack: 6 oz. Chobani 0% plain yogurt with 1 packet nutrasweet and 1/4 tsp unsweetened cocoa powder. Plain unsweetened herbal tea (chamomile, rooibos, or similar). 100 cal.

Total: 1492 - 1592 cal.

My average number is different, as some days I eat a treat (some oreos or something) or a lot of simple carbs (bagel with cream cheese) and go over, and a lot of other days I barely eat at all or have to revert to chicken broth all day when symptoms get bad. Those days often end up at 500 cal or less and bring my average number down.

Looking at a chart of my weight, it looks like a "V". I went steadily down, and then suddenly started shooting back up without changing my overall diet. Since then, changing to lower GI carbs has improved my blood sugar numbers, but not much else. Since the overall calories of the higher vs. lower GI carbs isn't much different, I guess that's not really a surprise.

Maleficent0241

I know not too many people read this, but I figured I would update in case there were any lurkers out in cyber land wondering. My hormones were definitely screwed up (not thyroid though!). Switched to a different set of meds and for the first time in a long time I am finally making some progress! My weight stopped going up, and I have even started losing again!