Gaining 10 lbs a month

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  • AJ_Pete
    AJ_Pete Posts: 863 Member
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    I was going to ask if you were pregnant until you said you were male. I would talk to a doctor to see if something more is going on.
  • albayin
    albayin Posts: 2,524 Member
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    I was going to ask if you were pregnant until you said you were male. I would talk to a doctor to see if something more is going on.
    LOL...I am glad I double checked OP's post as...He's ...MALE. :)
  • harmanee2000
    harmanee2000 Posts: 41 Member
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    Are you allergic or have sensitivity to any foods? i was on weight watchers and for 2 years straight couldn't lose a pound. I let them see my food journal and was really strict about everything. I was working out 6-7 days a week. Every leader just assumed I was lying about my points. I found out I am gluten intolerant. My body and joints swell really bad when I eat gluten. Even though I workout all the time, I get tired and can't lose weight with gluten in my diet. This may be something to check out. :smile:
  • Capt_Apollo
    Capt_Apollo Posts: 9,026 Member
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    i'm 2" taller then you, and that is where the differences end. i eat a lot, and things i like too, like pizza and ice cream. i'm training for triathlons and mud races.

    if you are gaining that much weight either you have a medical condition, or you are over estimating your work outs and under estimating you food intake.
  • heybales
    heybales Posts: 18,842 Member
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    if you are gaining that much weight either you have a medical condition, or you are over estimating your work outs and under estimating you food intake.

    Ditto's.

    If very aerobically efficient, your BMR and TDEE is probably lower than expected. Not just daily activities, but during exercise too.

    I was surprised to find when I wore my HRM all day (not for calorie burn estimate which is NOT valid, but just avgHR) on non-exercise day, it was 56. 45 sleeping and at the desk, quick recovery from any activity back down to that low.
    Just a very efficient system that means less calories burned.

    If you are going by HRM calories for what you burn, you may have your HRmax default being too low for your true HRmax, so it would be inflated calorie burn.

    Besides all the other great advice on seeing Dr for other things.

    It's hard to imagine a surplus of calories on that order resulting just from mis-estimating foods and exercise, if it was truly fat storage.
    Which should be felt in the clothes. So probably a combo of things.
    Glucose/water stores can increase in muscles somewhat too, not by that much though.
  • akjone02
    akjone02 Posts: 9
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    Wow, thanks for all the replies. I'll try to hit as many points as I can here.

    Yes, given my gender I'm reasonably sure that I'm not pregnant, so at least I can rule that one out (though I suppose you never know) ;)

    I can run a report on my calorie intake for the last few months but all it gives me is a graph, not my numeric average. For my previous post I actually manually added all my days together and divided by the number of days to get my average. Is there a faster way to do this within the system?

    The doctor ran various blood tests, but he said that everything looked good. I plan on calling him today to tell him that things are still looking bad and, if he has nothing further for me, seeking a 2nd opinion. He said his next step was to send me to a nutritionist to get a food plan. I am concerned that something could be going on, but I can't find anything online that could account for such ridiculous weight gain in so short a time. I feel like the fatigue symptoms are mostly because I'm not eating but I'm still exercising.

    HeyBales: This is something I've wondered about. I've been very active since I was young. For my entire life (save for a few months here or there where I was injured) I've exercised daily. My resting heart rate is less than 60, no idea what it is sleeping. Could it be that I'm just not burning anywhere near as much as expected?
    My only concern here is that my program is theoretically set for 2 lbs of loss a week. Instead I am gaining an average of more than 2 lbs a week. Unless I'm mistaken, that's a 14,000 calorie swing per week (2000 calories per day). Unless I'm completely nuts, could I really be underestimating food and overestimating exercise to the tune of 2000 calories daily?
  • heybales
    heybales Posts: 18,842 Member
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    HeyBales: This is something I've wondered about. I've been very active since I was young. For my entire life (save for a few months here or there where I was injured) I've exercised daily. My resting heart rate is less than 60, no idea what it is sleeping. Could it be that I'm just not burning anywhere near as much as expected?
    My only concern here is that my program is theoretically set for 2 lbs of loss a week. Instead I am gaining an average of more than 2 lbs a week. Unless I'm mistaken, that's a 14,000 calorie swing per week (2000 calories per day). Unless I'm completely nuts, could I really be underestimating food and overestimating exercise to the tune of 2000 calories daily?

    You should wear the HRM while you sleep, see what avg and max is. Then another day that has no exercise, typical day, where it all day. As mentioned, forget the calorie estimate it provides, unless Garmin with Firstbeat algorithms.

    I found it very interesting. I used Garmin, so I could literally see all the data points, when it went high, how quickly it went back to rest. Waking up and moving at night. And even at night, how long it took to go low. That really surprised me, actually was higher most of the night than sitting at work.

    But I agree, those inaccuracies couldn't overcome a deficit and create that surplus normally.

    You should ask Dr for your actual results on blood test. Usually they just confirm nothing fell out of the safe range, but your own looking could reveal several values near the edge that while perhaps not "un-safe", aren't great either. And sometimes there is disagreement on what is a safe-range.

    But if you are feeling clothes getting tighter, and really gain weight, your TDEE is much lower that calculated and exected. Since that is based on your base metabolism, that is probably slower too. And since the HRM estimate of calories burned is based on that too, it is inflated.

    You might benefit from taking a week off exercise, just have one variable that you control - diet.
    See what you get for a week. Take the exercise time to do research on blood test results.
  • akjone02
    akjone02 Posts: 9
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    For the last 2 weeks I've tried ending up under my plan's preset limit. I'm averaging 200 - 300 calories per day UNDER my plan, which is, in theory, 1000 calories below what I need to maintain my current weight. At 1200 - 1300 calories below maintenance, I am finally holding steady in weight (I'm at the same weight now as I was last time I posted, hurray!)

    Unfortunately, to lose a pound a week it looks like I would need to be around 1800 calories under the normal maintenance level for someone of my height and weight. That puts me at about net 800 calories for a day. I can achieve that with exercise, but it just sounds insane. None of this sounds healthy, but I've already tried months of following the plan strictly only to gain, and weeks of being BETTER than the plan, only to maintain.

    After several attempts, I got my doctor to send me a note detailing my bloodwork (just a summary though, not the actual results). The letter states that I have "metabolism level outside normal range" but that the results were not odd enough to warrant follow up. I'm a bit unhappy with what I've been sent since a phrase like "metabolism level" strikes me as very vague and unofficial. I was expecting to see actual numbers or readings of... well... STUFF that is in my blood. Whatever STUFF might be that they look for. I'm going to follow up with him again, but the earliest he said he could see me again would be October. In the meantime I might seek a second opinion.
  • heybales
    heybales Posts: 18,842 Member
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    For the last 2 weeks I've tried ending up under my plan's preset limit. I'm averaging 200 - 300 calories per day UNDER my plan, which is, in theory, 1000 calories below what I need to maintain my current weight. At 1200 - 1300 calories below maintenance, I am finally holding steady in weight (I'm at the same weight now as I was last time I posted, hurray!)

    Unfortunately, to lose a pound a week it looks like I would need to be around 1800 calories under the normal maintenance level for someone of my height and weight. That puts me at about net 800 calories for a day. I can achieve that with exercise, but it just sounds insane. None of this sounds healthy, but I've already tried months of following the plan strictly only to gain, and weeks of being BETTER than the plan, only to maintain.

    After several attempts, I got my doctor to send me a note detailing my bloodwork (just a summary though, not the actual results). The letter states that I have "metabolism level outside normal range" but that the results were not odd enough to warrant follow up. I'm a bit unhappy with what I've been sent since a phrase like "metabolism level" strikes me as very vague and unofficial. I was expecting to see actual numbers or readings of... well... STUFF that is in my blood. Whatever STUFF might be that they look for. I'm going to follow up with him again, but the earliest he said he could see me again would be October. In the meantime I might seek a second opinion.

    Not sure where you are, but in the US, even if insurance paid, you have the rights to your tests. You could have the Dr's office give you the name of the lab if you don't have it, and get them directly.
    You should get a list of everything they tested for, like this:
    http://www.bloodbook.com/ranges.html

    And for everything on the edge, you can go do some research on how good or bad something really is. Like 3 things on the edge of safe individually may not look bad, and for a Dr looking for the little flag on the levels would never stand out - but taken together those three things are bad.

    Incredible. I remember one Dr office calling and leaving message that everything looked fine. I called back, they said that's all they were planning on giving me. I demanded more - they sent a stupid post-card with a checkbox for Acceptable marked!
    Talk about patient confidentiality too.

    Nice test though.

    Trying to recall, was your estimated TDEE based on BMR of age,weight, height, or based on weight, bodyfat%?
  • akjone02
    akjone02 Posts: 9
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    I'm going off of all the myfitnesspal tools. Mfp tells me that my BMR is 2,085. I work a desk job so I set my TDEE at 1.2 x BMR, which give me about 2500. My fitness pal puts me closer to 2600, but that's ok, same basic range. Right now my program is set to let me eat 1600 calories per day, net. I am running, biking, or swimming 6 days a week (friday is my only rest day) but I'm not counting that exercise against my calories. It's only been about 3 days of combining that low a program AND ignoring exercise, but so far so good. I am exhausted though.

    Edit: I misspoke. My previous setup was 1600, counting exercise, but aiming to be 200-300 under my goal (so 1300-1400 net). A few weeks of that helped me maintain (but not lose). Currently I'm set around 1800 but completely ignoring exercise, so with a normal day's workout I end up around 1000-1200 net or less.
  • yarwell
    yarwell Posts: 10,477 Member
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    at 225 lb and 35% fat (wild guess on my part) the Katch McArdle BMR which uses only lean body mass would put you at 1800 BMR. Might be part of the story.
  • Alicemarieed
    Alicemarieed Posts: 86 Member
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    I've gained 20 lbs in the last 2 months, almost exactly 10 lbs each month. For a couple years I've been tracking calories with "Lose It!" and it just hasn't worked. Last month I gained 10lbs suddenly so I switched to myfitnesspal to shake things up. This program lowered my plan by about 200 calories so I think that's a step in the right direction. However, a month later and I've gained another 10 lbs.

    Some info: I'm 29, Male 6'1'' and 225lbs 2 months ago. My job is 8 hours at a desk, extremely sedentary, but I'm an active runner, biker, and swimmer, and I whitewater canoe. During this 2 month period I was training for a canoe race (2 weeks ago) a 15k (the race was a week ago) and I'm currently training for a triathlon (next weekend).

    I know I don't have my fitness journal open for viewing. In the past on loseit! people would check out my food journal, scroll back till the last time they saw a slice of pizza, and promptly proclaim "Where there's your problem!" and that would be the end of any advice I could get. My average calories for the last 30 days has been just over 2000 per day. My BMR is listed as 2125 by the calculator on this site. I understand that I probably won't be losing weight with those numbers, but for this last month I was aiming just to maintain. I have a food scale and weigh every oz of food I eat, I'm confident in the accuracy of my calories. I can also guarantee this wasn't 20 lbs of muscle, my clothes no longer fit correctly.

    Any ideas as to how I seem to generate energy from nowhere would be appreciated.
  • Alicemarieed
    Alicemarieed Posts: 86 Member
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    I've gained 20 lbs in the last 2 months, almost exactly 10 lbs each month. For a couple years I've been tracking calories with "Lose It!" and it just hasn't worked. Last month I gained 10lbs suddenly so I switched to myfitnesspal to shake things up. This program lowered my plan by about 200 calories so I think that's a step in the right direction. However, a month later and I've gained another 10 lbs.

    Some info: I'm 29, Male 6'1'' and 225lbs 2 months ago. My job is 8 hours at a desk, extremely sedentary, but I'm an active runner, biker, and swimmer, and I whitewater canoe. During this 2 month period I was training for a canoe race (2 weeks ago) a 15k (the race was a week ago) and I'm currently training for a triathlon (next weekend).

    I know I don't have my fitness journal open for viewing. In the past on loseit! people would check out my food journal, scroll back till the last time they saw a slice of pizza, and promptly proclaim "Where there's your problem!" and that would be the end of any advice I could get. My average calories for the last 30 days has been just over 2000 per day. My BMR is listed as 2125 by the calculator on this site. I understand that I probably won't be losing weight with those numbers, but for this last month I was aiming just to maintain. I have a food scale and weigh every oz of food I eat, I'm confident in the accuracy of my calories. I can also guarantee this wasn't 20 lbs of muscle, my clothes no longer fit correctly.

    Any ideas as to how I seem to generate energy from nowhere would be appreciated.

    I had the same problem put on 3st in 4 months .went to doctor and I had an under active thyroid.once staring medication weight started to come off.now . Like others said maybe just get a check up at docs :-)? I was very active .ran my own bar and had 3kids to look after and always ate healthy.i couldn't understand why I put weight on.was happy to get a diagnosis
  • laprincess1234
    laprincess1234 Posts: 6
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    I went to a nutritionist because I thought I was calculating and eating all the right things and just couldn't lose any weight. I am now on a 1200 calorie diet which I try to stick to religiously at least 5-6 days a week and I lose about 1 pound a week. I do not add calories to compensate for calories burned during exercise (advice from nutritionist and trainer). If i did that, I wouldn't lose. Exercise is just an added bonus. Maybe you are consuming too many calories if you are adding more calories to your diet to compensate for the exercise. BTW I have lost 16 pounds since February. I went off the diet for a few weeks during the summer at vacation but the important thing is that I didn't gain any weight when I went off the diet. 1200 is hard to stick to but once you get used to it, it isn't bad at all. You need to change your eating habits -- veggies and fruit.
  • Ge0rgiana
    Ge0rgiana Posts: 1,649 Member
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    This happened to me at age 23. I gained 40lbs in about 5 months. I was on Adderrall at the time, so I wasn't eating much. Long story short, in my case it turned out to be edema in conjunction with a sluggish thyroid. I've fought it ever since. Go see your doctor.
  • castlerobber
    castlerobber Posts: 528 Member
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    Without seeing your food diary, this is just a shot in the dark...

    Are you getting a very high percentage of your diet from starchy carbohydrate, even if it's supposedly "healthful" ones like potatoes, rice, and whole grains? Are you trying to keep fat intake low, say 25% or less? Have you been eating this way for months, or even years? If so, your body may be rebelling in the form of insulin resistance, even in spite of the amount of exercise you do. There's no way you should be having to cut your calorie intake down under 2000 at your size and activity level, just to maintain your weight.
  • lkblazek
    lkblazek Posts: 36
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    What is your activity level set in your profile? Do you have it as sedentary (because of the job) and then add your activities or do you have it set at a higher energy level? ( I would suggest list it as sedentary and then add in your activities daily).

    I agree with pretty much everything that's been said so far ... please get a second opinion. Good Luck in tracking this down.
  • Piotrowski
    Piotrowski Posts: 2
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    I have gained 40 pounds in one year. I was overtraining and under eating and have adrenal problems. My adrenals are overproducing cortisol due to stress of training, undereating, mom had cancer and passed away etc., but my hormone specialist gained 30 pounds in one month just from training for a marathon. Excessive training is really hard and stressful on the body and you start to produce too much cortisol which in turn suppresses your other hormones, including thyroid and growth hormones as well as messes with your metabolism. I found out the hard way that more training is not better. I am currently on supplements to lower my cortisol and cannot exercise the way that I used to. I can walk and do yoga rather than my old running and spinning days. Good luck, it's a tough battle... one that I am still trying to recover from.
  • amr264
    amr264 Posts: 1
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    I'd be interested to hear how this is going for you. I am in the same boat (though female; also not pregnant). I've gained 22 pounds since October (3 months now). I've just emailed my doctor, but all recent blood work, including thyroid, was normal. Eating habits haven't changed drastically. I've never gained weight like this before. I'm now 29, 5'4" and 160. My "average" used to hover around 138-143, though even that is a bit high for someone of my height. Anyway, good luck, and let us know if anything has improved. I too had no luck counting calories. Sites like this and Lose it! Suggested 1200-1400 calories a day to lose 1.5 lbs/week. Even after a few weeks I never lost 1 lb. I just started crossfit and hope the strength and cardio combo helps out a bit.
  • ninerbuff
    ninerbuff Posts: 48,670 Member
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    to gain 10 lbs in a month while keeping an eye on calorie intake is significant, much less 20 in 2 months. That much weight gain is actually hard to do. You would need to be overeating about 8750 calories per week (1250/day). Your BMR is about 2200 calories and your TDEE is around 2600, so you would need to be NETTING 3850 calories per day to gain that kind of weight.

    If you are being honest about your calorie intake and exercise, you might want to see a doctor and have some testing done.
    Science doesn't lie. The only other real way weight gain may be happening is from water retention/glycogen storage upon re entering an intense training program.

    A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
    IDEA Fitness member
    Kickboxing Certified Instructor
    Been in fitness for 28+ years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition

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