Seemingly constantly gaining weight

maryclayk

Let's start with this: I'm 18 years old, and I know I'm not fat. I'm not obese, nor am I anywhere close to it. I am 5'2.5", and I currently weigh around 120 lbs (between 118-120). I know that's a completely normal weight. The problem is that about two years ago, I lost 20 pounds, going from 128 to 108. I felt so, so good about my body. My clothes fit well, and I looked great. Until February, when I started working hardcore on two musicals, I weighed 111 lbs. Then... the weight started piling on. Now, I guess I still look okay, but I feel horrible about myself and my clothes do NOT fit. I am terrified of gaining all the weight back.

While in the process of losing weight, I got to be a pretty good chef (if I do say so myself), and I now enjoy cooking meals every day for my family. With this new found adoration (and working in a restaurant), I am always thinking about food, surrounded by food. I have been working in the restaurant just this summer, and it will end soon. I love it, but it has also cut out much of my exercise time. I used to attend at least 3-4 group classes a week and run often. I even ran 2 half marathons this year. It seems, though, even when I do exercise, I gain weight. Last night, I weighed 120. Tonight, after I had run 5 miles today and had eaten 1700 calories, I was at 122. I just don't understand, and I am frustrated.

Now, I am exercising less and, really, I'm eating whole, real, healthy foods. As I am on my feet all day, I still burn a few extra calories. I don't eat dessert all that often, and I'm good about portion sizes. I am about to go off to college, where I'm actually studying to be a dietician, so maybe I'll get back into a normal routine. I just want to know opinions on this, because I am sick of gaining weight. I would love to be 115 lbs and be able to fit into my clothes comfortably again; I just doesn't seem to be headed in that direction.

stephe1987

The two pounds gained overnight is definitely water weight. Different times in your cycle will have weight gain. Same thing with different times of the day or even day to day during the week. The important thing is that there is a general downward trend. I would recommend weighing yourself once per week.

Make sure you're weighing your food or otherwise getting an accurate measurement of the number of calories. A lot of people think they're eating one portion and find out that it was actually 2-3 portions. Be sure to log your drinks as well as your fruits and veggies (I read somewhere that Weight Watchers counts those as 0 pts and of course those calories can add up quickly).

As for being surrounded by food, it's important to eat small portions to stay under your daily calorie limit, and to get plenty of exercise.

Jim_Barteck

Undereating and/or over-exercising can actually temporarily cause you to put on weight as well. Your body goes into starvation mode and stores everything you eat as fat while cannibalizing muscles (which requires calories to maintain, so the body eats them first). This then slows your metabolism and it becomes a vicious cycle where you eat even less (or exercise even more) to get a greater calorie deficit to offset the weight gain and it happens all over again. Right up until the point where there's no more muscle readily available for consumption and your weight completely crashes through the floor.

Without knowing what you're eating or how much you're exercising, there's no way to give a definite diagnosis. The best thing you can do is start tracking your eating. ALL of your eating. Even the bite you grab here or there. Also, watch out for drinking your calories which is a common mistake I see people who "eat healthy" do a lot. Alcohol, iced tea, coffee any other way than straight black (Starbucks patrons, I'm looking at you), energy and soft drinks contains tons of empty calories which add up very quickly. Working in a restaurant can be difficult, especially if you're also eating the food there. There's no real way to keep track of your calories if you're doing that.

Once you've got a good track of your eating/exercising and what kind of surplus/deficit you're regularly at, then you'll be able to figure out where the weight is coming from.

Laura3BB

Track. your. food.

mactaffy84

Undereating and/or over-exercising can actually temporarily cause you to put on weight as well. Your body goes into starvation mode and stores everything you eat as fat while cannibalizing muscles (which requires calories to maintain, so the body eats them first). This then slows your metabolism and it becomes a vicious cycle where you eat even less (or exercise even more) to get a greater calorie deficit to offset the weight gain and it happens all over again. Right up until the point where there's no more muscle readily available for consumption and your weight completely crashes through the floor.

No offense, but WTH? Why would our bodies store the extra calories, energy, as fat and then first use muscle when we need additional energy? That just does not make sense! Why wouldn't we store our extra calories as muscles, then?