temp weight gain from eating too many fruits and veggies

Danilova82
Danilova82 Posts: 27
in Food and Nutrition
I have a really hard time eating fruits and vegetables because they are bulky and I do tend to go overboard when I eat them. For example last week I ate an entire bundle of asparagus for breakfast, weighed it on my food scale and my scale calculates cals if you input the food code (included book with scale). So for 64 calories I ate about 2 pounds worth of food. Then later that day I had a pound of strawberries 64 calories. I did this for several days with small portions of proteins and fats and found that I had gained 6 pounds despite a lot of exercise and no I wasn't constipated.

Has anyone else experienced this? I know maybe I should just eat smaller portions of fruits and vegetables but if I do continue eating this much bulk, will the weight thing eventually even out and I'll lose the water weight? It goes without saying, but I'll say it anyway, I weigh only in the morning, sans clothes and post elimination.

For the time being I have cut out the fruits and vegetables all together because I got so scared of the weight gain.

Replies

  • bcf7683
    bcf7683 Posts: 1,653 Member
    Do you have a reason for sitting down and eating a pound of strawberries at a time? That just seems odd to me for a person to do.

    I think it's obvious that you need to add a little more variety.
  • thisismeraw
    thisismeraw Posts: 1,264 Member
    Eating too many fruits and vegetables won't magically cause you to gain weight provided you are still within your calorie range.

    I would imagine the weight gain was due to something else and the increase of fruits and veggies was just a coincidence.

    For the above poster, it's not uncommon for me to sit down and eat a pound of strawberries. I had a lb of strawberries this morning between my smoothie and my fruit for breakfast. The only time it's not uncommon for me to eat a lb of strawberries is if they were pricey to buy. It's not uncommon for me to eat a whole head of lettuce in a salad. Or three to four oranges for breakfast. I haven't experienced weight gain due to it ever.

    OP, I would imagine the weight gain was either hormones, water rentention or just due to things not being moved along in your body.
  • Danilova82
    Danilova82 Posts: 27
    Yeah it is odd but that's what I call lunch. I eat vegetables for bfast, fruit for lunch and protein for dinner. I do have an eating disorder so I know this is disordered. Overall I can keep my calories really low if I keep my diet mostly fruits and vegetables. I don't think it's odd to eat a pound of strawberries at once. That's 2 cups of fruit. 1 cup of fruit is a serving. 2 cups happens to equal a pound or 400 grams. So really I'm just eating 2 servings of fruit. Maybe that's a justification but why not? I LOVE strawberries and if I want to eat a pound for 64 calories, what's wrong with that?
  • Danilova82
    Danilova82 Posts: 27
    Thanks thisismeraw. I would imagine it's water weight too especially since I haven't eaten fruits and vegetables for quite some time out of fear of the bulk. I do know it's water but I want to know how long it'll take to regulate. I also suffer from gastroparesis which means food transit time out of my stomach and through out my GI system is super slow taking many many hours. And eating something four times a day is difficult for me to do because often the food fom the previous meal will still be digesting in my stomach.
  • bcf7683
    bcf7683 Posts: 1,653 Member
    Yeah it is odd but that's what I call lunch. I eat vegetables for bfast, fruit for lunch and protein for dinner. I do have an eating disorder so I know this is disordered. Overall I can keep my calories really low if I keep my diet mostly fruits and vegetables. I don't think it's odd to eat a pound of strawberries at once. That's 2 cups of fruit. 1 cup of fruit is a serving. 2 cups happens to equal a pound or 400 grams. So really I'm just eating 2 servings of fruit. Maybe that's a justification but why not? I LOVE strawberries and if I want to eat a pound for 64 calories, what's wrong with that?

    I didn't say anything was WRONG with it...but then again that is the point of this post, you're asking if there IS something wrong with it... I simply suggested more variety in your diet.
  • ldrosophila
    ldrosophila Posts: 7,512 Member
    Might want to look into portion control seems like you need a lot of volume in your diet. I'm the same way. I limit myself to half of my meal coming from vegetables and fruit and the other is made up with starches and protein.

    So if I eat a 16 ounce meal I will weight out an 8 ounce salad and have 4 ounces of meat and 4 ounces of starch.

    This works the best for me.

    The nice thing about portion control is your stomach does eventually adapt to the smaller meals and you get full faster. IF you are consistent. My issue.
  • paigeleanneross
    paigeleanneross Posts: 1 Member
    I recently lost 10 pounds, gained 8 back after eating a ton of fruits and veggies (yes, still within my calorie range, and with exercise).

    The next day I drank a TON of water, and the day after that I was back down to the 10-pound loss.

    Fruits and veggies are packed with fiber, so to carry the fiber through your system, make sure you are drinking enough water. I am trying to add apples and oranges to my water for a bit of flavor. I hate water. :) But the more I drink, the more I tolerate it.

    Try lots of water, and see if it helps!

    ~Paige
  • Danilova82
    Danilova82 Posts: 27
    Thanks so much guys!
  • mockchoc
    mockchoc Posts: 6,573 Member
    You are eating extremely low calories so your body is holding on to anything it gets.

    If you need help to know how much you should be honestly eating and will eat it then pm me and I'll give you a link if you want.

    64 calories of anything won't make you get fat no matter what it is.
  • SteelySunshine
    SteelySunshine Posts: 1,092 Member
    A pound of strawberries really isn't a whole lot of strawberries. I think that would be a great desert. I think the only problem is if you eat a ton of veggies and nothing else consistently I am pretty sure that would lead to problems but not a too many calorie type of problem. So, sure I think if you eat maybe a bit of rice a protein and have some veggies with that and strawberries for desert you are good to go.
  • jdhoward_101
    jdhoward_101 Posts: 234 Member
    I will quite happily eat a bowl of steamed vegetables for lunch, nothing weird about it in my eyes :p
  • Danilova82
    Danilova82 Posts: 27
    Thank you guys for the responses. I have cut back on my portion sizes of fruits and vegs but would like to increase again. I'm just afraid.
  • miladymarathoner
    miladymarathoner Posts: 78 Member
    danilova,

    I had the same thing happen to me last week!! I was trying to make a real change in my lifestyle to finally drop some pounds. So I started eating lots of fiber: broccoli, black beans, brown rice, other veggies. Tons of veggies. My kcals went down to about 800 per day and I was stuffed. But the scale started to go up! So I freaked out and cut out a lot of veggies.

    My theory is that since fiber bulks up in your colon by taking on water (I think that's how insoluble fiber works to scour your colon), it was probably extra water moving thru my digestive tract. I am pretty sure that if I stuck with it and made sure to really increase water consumption relative to the increase in fiber, my weight would swing the other way.

    I am preparing to test this theory. I want to get my water consumption up, then next week reintroduce large amounts of veggies. I still eat some, but I want to eat much more for more bulk:less calories.

    I'll let you know how it goes.
  • Confuzzled4ever
    Confuzzled4ever Posts: 2,860 Member
    Do you have a reason for sitting down and eating a pound of strawberries at a time? That just seems odd to me for a person to do.

    I think it's obvious that you need to add a little more variety.

    I've eaten a pound of meat in one sitting.. nothing wrong with it. :) and could easily eat a pound of strawberries in at once.. and probably quicker then OP can. LOL

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