Gaining weight but look somewhat smaller

missy5290
missy5290 Posts: 68 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
So over the past 3 weeks I have gained about 8lbs: 147-155. Its a little discouraging as I have lost 50, hit a plateau and now I'm gaining weight. I weight everything that I eat and I use a heart rate monitor for exercise. I saw a nutritionist at my school regarding my calorie concerns and she told me that I wasn't eating enough. She checked my diary and told me to go from 1250 to 1500, so I changed my goal from 1lb a week to .5. I also started taking antidepressants about 2mts ago and about 3 weeks ago I started this new program called Inferno which is similar to insanity, p90x, all that good stuff. I look smaller, I feel stronger but I'm kinda pissed that I'm almost 10lbs heavier. Im starting to feel like a failure. Any ideas on why I've gained weight. I'll also take into account that I had wine and few slices of pizza over the weekend.

Replies

  • SLLRunner
    SLLRunner Posts: 12,942 Member
    Since you started a new exercise program, and you say you are smaller, it is probably water retention.
  • Jasmunr
    Jasmunr Posts: 147 Member
    -you upped your calories
    -you started antidepressants
    -you started a new exercise program.

    All 3 can cause weight gain. It could be 1 or all of them together.
  • SLLRunner
    SLLRunner Posts: 12,942 Member
    Jasmunr wrote: »
    -you upped your calories
    -you started antidepressants
    -you started a new exercise program.

    All 3 can cause weight gain. It could be 1 or all of them together.

    it is unlikely that 1500 calories is her maintenance. Even wtih some miscalculations in calories, she would most likely maintain or continue to lose at a slower rate.

    Antidepresents causes an increaed appetite, so she would have to eat quite abit over her tdee to gain 10 pounds of fat in a few short weeks.

    The exercise program will cause water retention.

    All three can certainly cause water retention, which is not fat gain. It seems to me she's been fairly successful at weight loss with 50 pounds gone. :)
  • PeachyCarol
    PeachyCarol Posts: 8,029 Member
    What are your stats, OP? I do agree with SLLRunner that a large part of your gain could be water due to starting a new exercise program. Another issue could be water retention from increased intake of carbohydrate with having upped your calories.

    All sorts of other issues could be playing in to this like sleep (I slept TERRIBLY the other night and was up 2 pounds, went to bed early the next night, slept in a little and then it was gone) and stress.
  • missy5290
    missy5290 Posts: 68 Member
    edited June 2015
    Jasmunr wrote: »
    -you upped your calories
    -you started antidepressants
    -you started a new exercise program.

    All 3 can cause weight gain. It could be 1 or all of them together.

    I figured it may have been water retention. The doctor did say I would gain weight but about 2 lbs. That was my main concern...and mood of course, so he prescribed Lexapro. It works well and has the least amount of weight gain.
  • missy5290
    missy5290 Posts: 68 Member
    mamapeach910 wrote: »
    What are your stats, OP? I do agree with SLLRunner that a large part of your gain could be water due to starting a new exercise program. Another issue could be water retention from increased intake of carbohydrate with having upped your calories.

    All sorts of other issues could be playing in to this like sleep (I slept TERRIBLY the other night and was up 2 pounds, went to bed early the next night, slept in a little and then it was gone) and stress.

    Sleep and my stress levels could also be another factor. The carb intake makes sense, I blow up like a balloon after eating carbs.

    What stats do you need?
  • PeachyCarol
    PeachyCarol Posts: 8,029 Member
    edited June 2015
    Height and age and how many hours a week you exercise. Also information on if you're eating back exercise calories and how you calculate the burns. If you are eating them back, what percentage you're eating back.

    Don't worry about carb gain, it's temporary.
  • missy5290
    missy5290 Posts: 68 Member
    Thanks for the answers everyone. As a worrier I had to make sure there wasn't something magically wrong with me. I have a follow up appointment with my nutritionist tomorrow but clearly I couldn't wait until then lol.
  • missy5290
    missy5290 Posts: 68 Member
    edited June 2015
    mamapeach910 wrote: »
    Height and age and how many hours a week you exercise. Also information on if you're eating back exercise calories and how you calculate the burns. If you are eating them back, what percentage you're eating back.

    Don't worry about carb gain, it's temporary.

    I'm 5'4, 25, I calculate them with my heart rate monitor. Each day is different so some workouts may be 30, some may be an hr. Depends on what DailyBurn has scheduled for the day. I also interchange with Zumba and that is about an hr. I workout maybe 3-4 days a week. I do a lot of yard work and gardening but I don't count that. I leave about 200-300 calories on the days I exercise just to be on the safe side.
  • BWBTrish
    BWBTrish Posts: 2,817 Member
    can you open your diary?
  • FatFreeFrolicking
    FatFreeFrolicking Posts: 4,252 Member
    edited June 2015
    missy5290 wrote: »
    Jasmunr wrote: »
    -you upped your calories
    -you started antidepressants
    -you started a new exercise program.

    All 3 can cause weight gain. It could be 1 or all of them together.

    I figured it may have been water retention. The doctor did say I would gain weight but about 2 lbs. That was my main concern...and mood of course, so he prescribed Lexapro. It works well and has the least amount of weight gain.

    Lexapro is actually one of the more common SSRIs linked to weight gain. I gained 111 lbs on Lexapro. I went from 95 lbs to 208 lbs in less than 3 years.
  • qn4bx9pzg8aifd
    qn4bx9pzg8aifd Posts: 258 Member
    missy5290, take a look at the following post, and especially the posts from the OP... among multiple aspects touched upon by the OP (and accompanied by explanatory info), his posts include an informative 'highlighting' of 'spikes' in weight... and his second post, in particular, is specific to -- "What if your weekly or monthly weigh in is on a spike day?"...

    http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10152741/i-hit-goal-today-after-27-months/p1


    Also, fwiw, my weight routinely fluctuates within a 5lb range throughout any given day... and if I wasn't aware of that, and happened to compare two weighings that involved the low-end on one day, and the high-end on another, the conclusion could be misleading...

    Lastly, I definitely notice differences if/when I don't get much sleep... and even a 1-2lb difference, if/when 'combined with' my typical within-a-5lb-range intradaily fluctuations, could result in quite a misleading conclusion, were two weighings to occur at the 'right wrong times' (so to speak), relative to the range...

    (...just something to keep in mind...)
  • PeachyCarol
    PeachyCarol Posts: 8,029 Member
    Just wanted to note that the Lexapro, if it's implicated, would theoretically cause weight gain by increasing your appetite and slowing your metabolism at the same time.

    If you are monitoring your caloric intake, you could rule out the appetite increase causing you to eat more half of the equation. The metabolic slow down could be an issue, but it's still early yet in terms of how long you've been taking it.

    The drug just doesn't create fat out of nothing.

    Regarding your intake? Doing a calculation based on the TDEE method which would already include 4 day a week exercise calories, I get around 1500 calories for you for a 1 pound a week loss. You probably should just stay with that and not eat back the exercise calories at all. Log your burns as 1 calorie.

  • SLLRunner
    SLLRunner Posts: 12,942 Member
    edited June 2015
    mamapeach910 wrote: »
    Just wanted to note that the Lexapro, if it's implicated, would theoretically cause weight gain by increasing your appetite and slowing your metabolism at the same time.

    If you are monitoring your caloric intake, you could rule out the appetite increase causing you to eat more half of the equation. The metabolic slow down could be an issue, but it's still early yet in terms of how long you've been taking it.

    The drug just doesn't create fat out of nothing.

    Regarding your intake? Doing a calculation based on the TDEE method which would already include 4 day a week exercise calories, I get around 1500 calories for you for a 1 pound a week loss. You probably should just stay with that and not eat back the exercise calories at all. Log your burns as 1 calorie.

    This 100%.
  • RoxieDawn
    RoxieDawn Posts: 15,488 Member
    edited June 2015
    I took Lexapro for 8 years as a preventative for migraine headaches... no weight gain.. actually I stayed at the same weight for all those years and then gained weight after I stopped it a year ago..

    Once I started the exercise the migraines and female issues all disappeared... i think weight gain or loss on this medication is different for every one.
  • Liftng4Lis
    Liftng4Lis Posts: 15,151 Member
    I'm going to go with water retention for the win. Toss the scale, as you say you look and feel smaller. BONUS!
  • missy5290
    missy5290 Posts: 68 Member
    SLLRunner wrote: »
    mamapeach910 wrote: »
    Just wanted to note that the Lexapro, if it's implicated, would theoretically cause weight gain by increasing your appetite and slowing your metabolism at the same time.

    If you are monitoring your caloric intake, you could rule out the appetite increase causing you to eat more half of the equation. The metabolic slow down could be an issue, but it's still early yet in terms of how long you've been taking it.

    The drug just doesn't create fat out of nothing.

    Regarding your intake? Doing a calculation based on the TDEE method which would already include 4 day a week exercise calories, I get around 1500 calories for you for a 1 pound a week loss. You probably should just stay with that and not eat back the exercise calories at all. Log your burns as 1 calorie.

    This 100%.

    Okay. I'll definitely talk about this tomorrow. She actually did some type of calculation and said 1800 with exercise...not eating back calories. That sounded scary so I stayed at 1500.
  • missy5290
    missy5290 Posts: 68 Member
    PeachyCarol wrote: »
    Just wanted to note that the Lexapro, if it's implicated, would theoretically cause weight gain by increasing your appetite and slowing your metabolism at the same time.

    If you are monitoring your caloric intake, you could rule out the appetite increase causing you to eat more half of the equation. The metabolic slow down could be an issue, but it's still early yet in terms of how long you've been taking it.

    The drug just doesn't create fat out of nothing.

    Regarding your intake? Doing a calculation based on the TDEE method which would already include 4 day a week exercise calories, I get around 1500 calories for you for a 1 pound a week loss. You probably should just stay with that and not eat back the exercise calories at all. Log your burns as 1 calorie.
    PeachyCarol wrote: »
    Just wanted to note that the Lexapro, if it's implicated, would theoretically cause weight gain by increasing your appetite and slowing your metabolism at the same time.

    If you are monitoring your caloric intake, you could rule out the appetite increase causing you to eat more half of the equation. The metabolic slow down could be an issue, but it's still early yet in terms of how long you've been taking it.

    The drug just doesn't create fat out of nothing.

    Regarding your intake? Doing a calculation based on the TDEE method which would already include 4 day a week exercise calories, I get around 1500 calories for you for a 1 pound a week loss. You probably should just stay with that and not eat back the exercise calories at all. Log your burns as 1 calorie.

    Can you show me how you calculated that or what website you used? I've never had any luck doing it myself or understanding how it is calculated. I appreciate it.
  • missy5290
    missy5290 Posts: 68 Member
    So I used the Scooby website which was pretty helpful. I have a question though. Some days I take my dogs to the dog park and will run back and forth with them or take them for a walk. I'm not burning the same amount of calories I would in a Zumba class so is that included in the activity level or would I have to add in an extra workout for the week?
  • SLLRunner
    SLLRunner Posts: 12,942 Member
    missy5290 wrote: »
    So I used the Scooby website which was pretty helpful. I have a question though. Some days I take my dogs to the dog park and will run back and forth with them or take them for a walk. I'm not burning the same amount of calories I would in a Zumba class so is that included in the activity level or would I have to add in an extra workout for the week?

    I believe our dog walks are included in your activity level.

    I only count cardio calories for running and the elliptical machine, but I do not count extra for anything else, including my weight lifting.
  • SLLRunner
    SLLRunner Posts: 12,942 Member
    gia07 wrote: »
    I took Lexapro for 8 years as a preventative for migraine headaches... no weight gain.. actually I stayed at the same weight for all those years and then gained weight after I stopped it a year ago..

    Once I started the exercise the migraines and female issues all disappeared... i think weight gain or loss on this medication is different for every one.

    My friend has severe migraines, and she says running helps get rid of them. When I've ran with a headache, they are always gone afterward.
  • shandypop27
    shandypop27 Posts: 6 Member
    Throw the scales away! If you look and feel smaller and you are happy then dont let the scales drag you down. Sending you hugs. xx
  • missy5290
    missy5290 Posts: 68 Member
    shandypop27 wrote: »
    Throw the scales away! If you look and feel smaller and you are happy then dont let the scales drag you down. Sending you hugs. xx

    Thank you. I plan to. Before my weight loss I have always struggled with weight and self image. I have worked hard these past few years and I love my process. My husband and I are finally taking our honeymoon in August so I'm trying to make sure I look my best in the swim suits I just bought. I'm excited!
  • benzieboxx
    benzieboxx Posts: 253 Member
    It sounds like you're figuring this all out so I just want to say good luck and keep going! It sucks that there are so many contributing factors to weight loss because it can really make you crazy. :smile:

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