Eating Extremely Healthy and...Gaining??? Confused

ameliabaldwin

Hello all--this is my first time posting on a community message board so I am really looking forward to the help.

About a year ago I gained 30 pounds because of moving, being stressed, work etc. and it was all because I went to food to help me cope with the stress.

Since then, I started a very healthy eating plan (egg whites, oatmeal, no processed foods, fish, veggies) and lost 20 pounds! However, in the past few weeks, I have gained 4-5 pounds. I have been a little more stressed than normal, but I have NOT turned to food to cope. I play the guitar or take some personal time to myself to read. I have NOT cheated on my food or exercise. The only thing that I HAVE done is increase my water consumption by about 20-30 ounces per day. I could see how this could have an effect on one or two weigh-ins, but I have stayed consistently gaining...I am SO incredibly CONFUSED!

Please provide your opinion, experience, and expert advice. THANK YOU SO MUCH!

MooseWizard

How many calories are you consuming?

kaylarozon

Stress can affect your weight lost/gain. Maybe you just need to relax a little more.

kao708

If you want advice on what you are eating, please make your diary public. We can't offer valid suggestions if we can't see what you are eating.

ameliabaldwin

I eat between 1200-1300 per day, give or take. If I eat over, it is always because of lean meats or veggies, nothing bad. I do not feel starving between meals. I am between 5'3" and 5'4", female.

RoniDoll

you may not be drinking enough water... I am 162 pounds and I need 81 ounces of water a day. Take your body weight and divide it by two. Thats how many ounces you need to drink in order for your body to release weight properly. Hope this helps!

nickiben

You can eat 100% healthy food, but still gain weight. Even healthy food has calories, so are you going over your target even though its all healthy? Stress makes me gain weight as your body stores fat if it see times as unstable. Try de-stressing as much as possible (easier said than done sometime!!)

hpsnickers1

I eat between 1200-1300 per day, give or take. If I eat over, it is always because of lean meats or veggies, nothing bad. I do not feel starving between meals. I am between 5'3" and 5'4", female.

How much of that are you burning off through exercise? If you eat 1200 but burn 400 that leaves you at 800 which is too low. If you consume too few calories for too long your body responds by slowing your metabolism rather than burning through more fat. Keep your NET calories above 1200 (this is at the top of your Home Page). And you will lose more muscle mass than fat.
Eat your exercise calories. The more weight you lose and the closer you get to your goal the more important this becomes.

Drink at least 64oz of water per day. This will help keep water going out of your body so you don't retain.

If you are doing a lot of weight lifting you could be building some muscle. But with muscle increase comes metabolism. You might gain weight but you are burning fat.

dakoerber

You mentioned exercise - are you still doing the same workouts as when you started? You may need to change your workout or increase your intensity. Your body will get used to what your doing so you need to switch it up every few months.

ameliabaldwin

Water: I am drinking half my body weight in water every day--no doubt.

Diet Profile: I have set my profile to public.

Calories: I have stayed at my 1200-1300 per day, with the exception of some days where I had done some hiking/working, which burned a lot of calories so I consumed a bit more so my body would not freak out.

holli_walker

Do you have snacks between meals to keep your metabolism going?

ameliabaldwin

I am really appreciating your responses everyone!

Yes, I do snack. Apples, almonds, sometimes dried fruit, small bowl of homemade veggie soup....

CONGRATS EVERYONE ON HOW MUCH WEIGHT YOU ALL HAVE LOST!

Kat120285

I eat between 1200-1300 per day, give or take. If I eat over, it is always because of lean meats or veggies, nothing bad. I do not feel starving between meals. I am between 5'3" and 5'4", female.

How much of that are you burning off through exercise? If you eat 1200 but burn 400 that leaves you at 800 which is too low. If you consume too few calories for too long your body responds by slowing your metabolism rather than burning through more fat. Keep your NET calories above 1200 (this is at the top of your Home Page). And you will lose more muscle mass than fat.
Eat your exercise calories. The more weight you lose and the closer you get to your goal the more important this becomes.

Drink at least 64oz of water per day. This will help keep water going out of your body so you don't retain.

I can't tell you how great it is to finally see someone who understands this haha. My net is set at 1250 as my BMR is 1248. Once I add exercise that number goes up to anywhere between 1880 to today being 2,095, I end the day back at a net of 1250. And yes, I am losing weight still =] calories are just as important to weight loss as gain. If you don't eat enough to support not only daily funtions but exercise, your body is going to respond and go against you losing weight because you aren't feeding it properly. I've also been on that side of things, not so good =\

Tzavush

Cortisol can cause weight gain.
Its released when you are stressed.

staciekins

Make sure you are tracking your sodium. This is VERY important and that you are getting adequate amount of fiber. It is ok to go over your fiber. Are you exercising? Just a brisk 45 min walk 5 times a day can do wonders. Vitamins are important too. I try to take a multivitamin and 2 vitamin B-50's per day. The B vitamins help you get more energy and speed up metabolism. Water, water, water. When you feel like you just can't drink another bottle of water, chug another down. Take your body weight and divide that by 2 and that's how many ounces you should drink per day. You might have to go to your settings and change your lbs/week loss. If you have it at the max 2, change it to 1.5 or vice versa. Sometimes when you hit a plateau or start gaining, one small change is all you need.

jojoworks

Hi,

I took a look at your food diary. Congratulations on eating very healthy! I look at the diaries of most everyone asking for opinions and you're one of the first I've seen who really is eating good, healthy food.

that being said, I'd encourage you to track your sodium. Even while eating healthy you could be hitting a lot of sodium that could be effecting your efforts. The current recommendations for sodium are to keep it around 1,500 mg / day.

Next question, are you exercising and not recording it? If so, you may not be eating enough. Your daily goal has a deficit built in and exercise can cause you to have too steep of a deficit if you don't replenish those calories.

Lastly, I've read that people within 10 to 20 lbs of their goal weights slow down in their loss rate. There are some forum topics on how to make adjustments the closer you get to your goal weight.

good luck and happy eating!!!

staciekins

Also, soaking in a salt bath can help relieve signs and symptoms of stress.

jmiller0115

I had the same problem and it was because of too few NET calories. I was using my gross total and for example was eating 1900 and one day I burned 1300 with exercise...my body said oh no you don't and that week I gained 4 pounds after gaining 2 and 1 the two weeks prior. After switching to net calories last week I lost 5 pounds this week....try it!

ameliabaldwin

jojoworks: Thanks for the compliment on my food intake--I am very proud of it!

I will take the advice of all of you and check my salt intake--I was imagining that it wasnt due high due too the types of food that I am eating, but maybe all the healthy food I am choosing contains too much sodium all combined.

I believe that you are all right about the NET calories.

jmiller0115: I appreciate you telling me about your experience. I will increase my calories, and I bet that will do the trick--thanks!