Causes for Unexplained Weight Gain

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GKoz004
GKoz004 Posts: 87
in Motivation and Support
I whine on here every now and then about my plight, but I am at a complete loss and thought maybe, by chance, someone has a solution or recommendation.

So around April I started to gain weight. I thought it was because in March I had a few binge episodes. In May I went to a dietitian who recommended I increase my intake from 13-1400 to 1700 and pick up a weight lifting program.

I started at 140. Here are my weekly weights in the following weeks (I'm 5'5", 21 y/o) :
143
144
147
147
148
148
149
150 - joined a gym and increased exercise to 30-30mins 5x/week instead of 20 on the elliptical at home.
152
On the week of July 14, I lowered my intake to 1500.
Since then, I have gained and today I am 155.

I do everything right. I went to an endocrinologist and took a test for Cushing's Disease and it came back negative. Thyroid is fine. They said they couldn't help. I try to remain positive but its hard when I continuously gain weight no matter what I do. I eat mostly healthy foods, watch my sodium intake, exercise, drink plenty of water, I don't know what's left.

Ideally, I would like to be back at 130 but even a HALF pound less would make me happy. I work so hard trying to be healthy and lose weight, and I get no results. In fact, I get the complete opposite of results.

If anyone has ANY suggestions or recommendations for any type of doctor to go to or any test to take PLEASE let me know.
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Replies

  • Phildog47
    Phildog47 Posts: 255 Member
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    You've mentioned a few binge episodes, don't do that! LOL
  • azxswed
    azxswed Posts: 6
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    Perhaps you are gaining muscle weight? I know my sugar intake causes me to gain weight when I overdo it. I would try drinking more water and see if that will make a difference.
  • DesireeNL
    DesireeNL Posts: 220 Member
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    Have you taken your measurements since you started? Your body might still be slimming down. Weight and size don't always correspond the way you might think.
  • tigersword
    tigersword Posts: 8,059 Member
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    No way it's muscle weight. Arnold Schwarzenegger in his prime couldn't put on 15 pounds of muscle in 2 months, never mind a woman with a tenth of the testosterone, and eating such low amounts of calories and protein.

    I really don't have an answer. Water retention is a possibility, depending on your gym sessions. Ever take a gym break? Or a diet break?

    Also, possibly pregnant? That's about the only other thing I can guess that would cause unexpected weight gain.

    EDIT - After reading your profile, you were eating very low calorie for a very long time. That screams metabolic issues. Weight gain is expected when you increase to a reasonable amount of calories while your body adjusts and reregulates itself. This is one of the reasons that VLCDs are frowned upon around here. They wreak havoc on people's bodies and never end well.

    Stick with the program, give your body the time to fix itself.
  • mem50
    mem50 Posts: 1,384 Member
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    Have you seen a GP?

    Your diary looks OK unless you are misjudging the amounts. Are you scaling everything?

    Plus what DesireeNL said.
  • knowak82
    knowak82 Posts: 200 Member
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    No way it's muscle weight. Arnold Schwarzenegger in his prime couldn't put on 15 pounds of muscle in 2 months, never mind a woman with a tenth of the testosterone, and eating such low amounts of calories and protein.

    I really don't have an answer. Water retention is a possibility, depending on your gym sessions. Ever take a gym break? Or a diet break?

    Also, possibly pregnant? That's about the only other thing I can guess that would cause unexpected weight gain.

    EDIT - After reading your profile, you were eating very low calorie for a very long time. That screams metabolic issues. Weight gain is expected when you increase to a reasonable amount of calories while your body adjusts and reregulates itself. This is one of the reasons that VLCDs are frowned upon around here. They wreak havoc on people's bodies and never end well.

    Stick with the program, give your body the time to fix itself.

    ^^^This! I agree one hundred percent! :bigsmile:
  • lacharp
    lacharp Posts: 66
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    Talk to your regular doctor about getting tested for food intolerance/allergies. I went through a similar thing years ago where I inexplicably gained weight, and over a short period of time, despite diet and exercise. I, too, was tested for Cushing's (that that's a fun test right?) and thyroid, but those were negative. Ultimately, my doc at the time said it was "an imbalance" that would eventually "reset itself." It did not.

    I've been seeing a new doc, who just this year diagnosed me with non-celiac gluten sensitivity, which similar to Celiac, causes damage to your intestine - in turn that causes you to not be able to absorb all your nutrients correctly, and that in turn causes other systems to perform poorly. It was missed initially because typically you would see weight loss in cases like that, but in some cases the person will have unexplained weight gain.

    Once that was figured out, I did notice a difference when I cut out gluten from my diet. (and I only say that b/c I was diagnosed with gluten sensitivity - I do not advocate gluten-free as a fad diet!). It hasn't been as much as I would have liked, but some of that is also summer fun and too many cheat days. :wink: But mostly, though, is just healing the body so it'll take time.

    Good luck!
  • GKoz004
    GKoz004 Posts: 87
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    Perhaps you are gaining muscle weight? I know my sugar intake causes me to gain weight when I overdo it. I would try drinking more water and see if that will make a difference.
    I wish it was 15lbs of muscle hahaha I'd be shredded! I usually average 12 glasses of water a day, so I don't think it's water I'm lacking.
  • GKoz004
    GKoz004 Posts: 87
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    Talk to your regular doctor about getting tested for food intolerance/allergies. I went through a similar thing years ago where I inexplicably gained weight, and over a short period of time, despite diet and exercise. I, too, was tested for Cushing's (that that's a fun test right?) and thyroid, but those were negative. Ultimately, my doc at the time said it was "an imbalance" that would eventually "reset itself." It did not.

    I've been seeing a new doc, who just this year diagnosed me with non-celiac gluten sensitivity, which similar to Celiac, causes damage to your intestine - in turn that causes you to not be able to absorb all your nutrients correctly, and that in turn causes other systems to perform poorly. It was missed initially because typically you would see weight loss in cases like that, but in some cases the person will have unexplained weight gain.

    Once that was figured out, I did notice a difference when I cut out gluten from my diet. (and I only say that b/c I was diagnosed with gluten sensitivity - I do not advocate gluten-free as a fad diet!). It hasn't been as much as I would have liked, but some of that is also summer fun and too many cheat days. :wink: But mostly, though, is just healing the body so it'll take time.

    Good luck!
    This is interesting to note! I don't eat too much gluten to begin with, but I can try cutting it out for a few weeks, just to see if anything changes. Glad to hear you're doing better, though!
  • GKoz004
    GKoz004 Posts: 87
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    Have you taken your measurements since you started? Your body might still be slimming down. Weight and size don't always correspond the way you might think.
    haha I wish I was. I gained about 5 inches on my hips :(
  • randomtai
    randomtai Posts: 9,003 Member
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    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/872212-you-re-probably-eating-more-than-you-think
  • Serah87
    Serah87 Posts: 5,481 Member
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    Do you have a food scale?? If you don't, you maybe over eating, like peanutbutter a little bit over and that can be a lot of calories over of what you set your calorie goal!!
  • jeffpettis
    jeffpettis Posts: 865 Member
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    It sounds like you are no longer in a calorie deficit... No, actually if you are gaining weight you are NOT in a deficit. What your dietician told you to do was up your calorie intake and start lifting weights? I agree 100% about the lifting part, but just because your lifting weights does not mean that you don't have to still have a calorie deficit present to lose fat. You should absolutely lift to maintain, or (as a beginner) try to gain a little muscle. But if you are trying to lose fat you are going to have to have a deficit present. There's just no way around that one.
  • TiffieLand
    TiffieLand Posts: 159
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    I was like you too. But now that I really keep track of what I eat and actually measure it. I was so overeating and so much calories than I thought. Food scale is the best to keep things accurate. Often, you are actually overestimate how much you exercise. Good luck and keep trying :)
  • normalowell1
    normalowell1 Posts: 4 Member
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    Have you had a complete work up of your vitamins?? I know that if I am missing just one vitamin imbalance I start to gain. Your body will crave things trying to get you to eat certain foods to get the missing vitamin. Usually VT. D or B 12s...
  • catfive1
    catfive1 Posts: 529 Member
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    Eat to your calorie goal and try to meet your macro #'s.
  • rachelboddy
    rachelboddy Posts: 115 Member
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    I would add sugar as one of the nutrients to watch. Since you do well with other things, change your settings to see how much sugar you are consuming. That could play a huge role.
  • annemama
    annemama Posts: 245 Member
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    Have your RMR tested... easy test done by many nutritionists. Recline in a chair and breathe into a mask for 10 minutes or so. I had mine checked and even HE was surprised at the fact that it was 300 calories lower than what he expected based on my LBM and % body fat. I have a terribly pitiful thyroid which is the underlying problem....even with all the meds I take it doesn't help much with metabolism! You may just find out that your metabolism is slower than you and your nutritionist are assuming. I'm sure we will all agree that lifting weights to add LBM will help... muscle is quite metabolically active and will help to increase your metabolism. But I know what it's like to be doing everything by the numbers and NOT getting the results you expect. I've also recently started IF (intermittent fasting) and it certainly seems to make eating a low-calorie diet a bit easier. Best wishes to you!
  • GKoz004
    GKoz004 Posts: 87
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    Have your RMR tested... easy test done by many nutritionists. Recline in a chair and breathe into a mask for 10 minutes or so. I had mine checked and even HE was surprised at the fact that it was 300 calories lower than what he expected based on my LBM and % body fat. I have a terribly pitiful thyroid which is the underlying problem....even with all the meds I take it doesn't help much with metabolism! You may just find out that your metabolism is slower than you and your nutritionist are assuming. I'm sure we will all agree that lifting weights to add LBM will help... muscle is quite metabolically active and will help to increase your metabolism. But I know what it's like to be doing everything by the numbers and NOT getting the results you expect. I've also recently started IF (intermittent fasting) and it certainly seems to make eating a low-calorie diet a bit easier. Best wishes to you!
    I'm actually having my RMR tested on the 30th. I'm hoping it's not ridiculously low, but that would explain some things :/
  • GKoz004
    GKoz004 Posts: 87
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    I would add sugar as one of the nutrients to watch. Since you do well with other things, change your settings to see how much sugar you are consuming. That could play a huge role.
    Are we talking natural sugars, like in fruits? I don't really go nuts with processed things or candy, but I do eat a decent amount of fruit.

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