Eating healthy, exercising but gaining FAT. Please help

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rhodigs
rhodigs Posts: 11 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Hello! I'm really frustrated and hope somebody out there can help me. About six months ago I had major jaw surgery and lost about 15 lbs (I wasn't able to eat much!). I really wanted to keep the weight that I had lost off as well as get into shape and be healthy, so I purchased a fitbit tracker, signed up on here and began exercising regulary. It was working great at first, but over the past 2 months I have gained about 10 lbs! I do cardio 4-5 days per week, and strength training (usually bodypump class) 2-3 days per week. I vary my cardio regularly between elliptical, jogging, cycling and stairmaster, plus I vary my workouts in each of those areas as well. I have my weight loss goal set to the recommended 1.0 lbs per week, and I VERY rarely go over my calories, I usually eat exactly what I'm "supposed" to for that day. I eat well balanced meals (lean proteins, lots of veggies, some complex carbs). I stay away from soda, processed foods and sugary things. So, can somebody please explain to me why I've gained 2 inches on my thighs???? I'm so frustrated by this whole things that I want to start crying every time I think about it. I know I've gained muscle as well but my pants hardly fit anymore and my thighs and *kitten* just seem to be ballooning out. I am completely at a loss,

Replies

  • BeautifulBetsy
    BeautifulBetsy Posts: 60 Member
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    I'm sorry to hear about your weight/inches gain. I'm not an expert and I do EXACTLY the same things your doing, only for the last 2 weeks though... Keep at it, maybe it's just a lot of water and sugar around your muscles trying to heal them.
  • Chief_Rocka
    Chief_Rocka Posts: 4,710 Member
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    About six months ago I had major jaw surgery and lost about 15 lbs (I wasn't able to eat much!).

    I'm thinking that your ordeal left you either (a) low on muscle glycogen, (b) at a bf% that's difficult for you to maintain, (c) you carried no food in your gut when you weighed our self, (d) some muscle losses are coming back, or (e) some combination of the 4.

    I suspect you're just experiencing a "rebound" from one or more of those things.
  • KBE1990
    KBE1990 Posts: 38
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    How many calories are you eating? I am sure some of the weight gain is just muscle...
  • guardian419
    guardian419 Posts: 391 Member
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    cardio makes you fat, remember? :) Go with Fire_Rock's advice :D
  • cbrrabbit25
    cbrrabbit25 Posts: 384 Member
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    How many calories are you eating? I am sure some of the weight gain is just muscle...

    that is a LOT of muscle for such a short amount of time.
  • Chief_Rocka
    Chief_Rocka Posts: 4,710 Member
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    How many calories are you eating? I am sure some of the weight gain is just muscle...

    that is a LOT of muscle for such a short amount of time.

    If she's rebounding from such a physically traumatic event, not necessarily
  • jesz124
    jesz124 Posts: 1,004 Member
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    How many calories are you eating? I am sure some of the weight gain is just muscle...

    that is a LOT of muscle for such a short amount of time.

    My thoughts too. I'd get a medical opinion personally. It is unusual to gain as much as this, plus inches when you are eating at a deficit. I doubt it's all muscle?
  • rhodigs
    rhodigs Posts: 11 Member
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    Thanks guys! Yes I know some of it is muscle, but I figure if I'm eating a deficit and gaining muscle my overall size should be going down, not up, right? I can plainly see that my "fatty parts" are not shrinking, although muscle is building underneath. What's the deal? I know following my surgery my body was healing itself, which resulted in a slightly hypermetabolic state. Now that I'm pretty much healed my metabolism is settling back down to what it should be, however, I was hoping through exercise and proper diet I could make sure it was still running nicely and not plummeting. I was expecting to gain weight as my body returned to normal, I just feel like putting on this much in such a short amount of time is abnormal and extremely frustrating, especially when I seem to be doing everything "right." :( Also, I do seem to retain water fairly easily. Always have. I've read little tidbits about muscle gain causing water retention? If somebody could give me some info about that it'd be much appreciated, but I think jesz124 may be right, maybe I need my thyroid checked.
  • rhodigs
    rhodigs Posts: 11 Member
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    Also, Fire_Rock, those are some very good points you made, a few things I hadn't considered. What would you advise then, if I am in fact experiencing a "rebound"?
  • Laces_0ut
    Laces_0ut Posts: 3,750 Member
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    you are probably eating too much.
  • secretlobster
    secretlobster Posts: 3,566 Member
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    What's your calorie intake?

    Maybe you have gained some muscle, but I think the weight gain and inability to reduce fat has more to do with your rebound from what must have been a very low calorie diet when you were recovering from surgery.
  • rhodigs
    rhodigs Posts: 11 Member
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    I follow the myfitnesspal recommended daily calories almost to a T, but off the top of my head I would say on average I stay between1500-1700 on days I exercise, and 12-1300 on days I don't. And like I said, I have a pretty healthy, well-balanced diet.
  • leilamarchi
    leilamarchi Posts: 34
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    How much sodium do you have in your diet? Sodium is one of the top reasons for water retention. How much water do you drink? (Myself, I hate water but I know it's crucial for weight maintenance/loss and skin clarity, so i'm forcing myself to drink 2 liters a day. I'm making trips to the bathroom constantly, which is annoying, but I remind myself that I'm flushing out all kinds of nasty things.)

    Try cutting your sodium and upping your water intake.

    If you open up your food journal, the folks on the forums here are really good about helping you walk through your daily food and going "well that might be causing an issue for you" - something to consider!

    Good luck!
  • Chief_Rocka
    Chief_Rocka Posts: 4,710 Member
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    Also, Fire_Rock, those are some very good points you made, a few things I hadn't considered. What would you advise then, if I am in fact experiencing a "rebound"?

    Assuming you're controlling your calories as you say you are, I would just wait it out. If this weight gain is really that difficult to slow down, this it's probably something that your body really needs to do. Maybe set a firm mental goal, that you'll keep doing what you're doing, but if you gain more than the original 15 that you lost, then it may be time to look at doing something different.

    All other things being equal, 2 months isn't enough time to make a great deal of progress anyway.
  • secretlobster
    secretlobster Posts: 3,566 Member
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    Assuming you're controlling your calories as you say you are, I would just wait it out. If this weight gain is really that difficult to slow down, this it's probably something that your body really needs to do. Maybe set a firm mental goal, that you'll keep doing what you're doing, but if you gain more than the original 15 that you lost, then it may be time to look at doing something different.

    All other things being equal, 2 months isn't enough time to make a great deal of progress anyway.

    I agree with this. I know it sounds like a copout answer, but if you know you're doing the right things, you need to be patient and understand that you've gone through some circumstances that are probably causing your body to not respond at all to the changes you're making - Yet. It may seem silly, but sometimes your body does need to put on weight in order to take it off. I would agree to wait this out, continue what you're doing, don't change a thing. Things will normalize.
  • lallaloolly
    lallaloolly Posts: 228 Member
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    i have two family members who have gone through jaw breaking/surgery (both had their mouths wired shut) and both lost a significant amount of weight during their recovery. right now your body is trying to recover from being starved on what i assume was a liquid diet, and it's to be expected that you put some of that weight back on (unless you continue to starve your body, which isn't healthy).

    i'm not a weight loss expert, but it only makes sense that if you keep up good habits of exercising and eating right, once your body stabilizes from its ordeal, it will start to move in the direction you want.
  • lallaloolly
    lallaloolly Posts: 228 Member
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    i have two family members who have gone through jaw breaking/surgery (both had their mouths wired shut) and both lost a significant amount of weight during their recovery. right now your body is trying to recover from being starved on what i assume was a liquid diet, and it's to be expected that you put some of that weight back on (unless you continue to starve your body, which isn't healthy).

    i'm not a weight loss expert, but it only makes sense that if you keep up good habits of exercising and eating right, once your body stabilizes from its ordeal, it will start to move in the direction you want.

    that being said, since your body did go through a rather traumatic event, you could always get your thyroid checked to make sure it's working correctly. an out of whack thyroid can definitely affect your ability to lose weight.
  • rhodigs
    rhodigs Posts: 11 Member
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    Thank you so much everyone for responding! I definitely feel better hearing what you all had to say, all of you had some great advice! Leilamarchi, I too am a water hater haha, but you're right I should start paying more attention to that aspect. Fire_Rock, thank you for your perspective, it makes a lot of sense. It's easy to get impatient with things like this, (especially when the scale is going up!) but I'm going to take your advice. I'll wait it out a couple more months, and if I continue to gain perhaps I'll take a trip to the doctor. Anyway, thanks again everyone, it's nice to not feel so discouraged anymore :)
  • zaph0d
    zaph0d Posts: 1,172 Member
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    Can you explain how you determined that what you gained is fat?

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