Help! Recent Weight Fluctuations

bwilliams1989
bwilliams1989 Posts: 2 Member
in Goal: Maintaining Weight
Hello all!

So long story short. From roughly this time last year until about a month or two ago, I weighed 146 - 148 (depending on what time of the day I weighed myself). However, lately my weight has started creeping up. I am now between 151 and 152 and I'm 5'7". My habits are the same (actually, I think better). For the last few months, I walk every day. I consistently hit over 10,000 steps every weekday (while climbing a minimum of 10 flights of stairs each day) and over 5,000 steps every weekend. This equates to about an hour of active minutes five days a week. I drink water or half/half tea, apples/peanut butter for breakfast every morning, lunch, and dinner with no snacking in between. Very rarely do I have a dessert with my meal. Well..maybe once a week...but still. I also never eat anything after 8 p.m. in the evenings.

I thought I had my weight down to a science and was shooting for my goal of 140 but now it's creeping back up. I'm not sure why or what could be causing it.

A side note. Over the past two years, I've experienced hormonal issues as a result of birth control use. I was off of birth control through December - March of this year, was given a new kind, and switched about 4 months ago to a previous version, Cryselle. I was having regular periods until last month when I skipped a month. This is my "special week" and I have seen a small increase of weight that I think may be a result of this but that should not be the case for the remainder of the month that I've seen this increase. With this in mind, has anyone else experienced weight fluctuations due to hormones/birth control? At this point, this is the only thing I can think of that could be contributing to it.

Thanks in advance for all of your help!

Replies

  • kgirlhart
    kgirlhart Posts: 5,116 Member
    Are you weighing your food or just eyeballing your portions? It could be that your portions have been getting larger without your noticing and you may be eating more than you think.
  • StaciMarie1974
    StaciMarie1974 Posts: 4,138 Member
    How many calories do you consume a day? Likely culprit: the change in meds has had a minor impact on your appetite. Eating a little more at meal times - if you were at maintenance before - will lead to a gain.

    Accurately, honestly track your logging for a few weeks. Then trim 250-500 calories back per day.
  • leejoyce31
    leejoyce31 Posts: 794 Member
    bwilliams1989 wrote: »
    Hello all!

    So long story short. From roughly this time last year until about a month or two ago, I weighed 146 - 148 (depending on what time of the day I weighed myself). However, lately my weight has started creeping up. I am now between 151 and 152 and I'm 5'7". My habits are the same (actually, I think better). For the last few months, I walk every day. I consistently hit over 10,000 steps every weekday (while climbing a minimum of 10 flights of stairs each day) and over 5,000 steps every weekend. This equates to about an hour of active minutes five days a week. I drink water or half/half tea, apples/peanut butter for breakfast every morning, lunch, and dinner with no snacking in between. Very rarely do I have a dessert with my meal. Well..maybe once a week...but still. I also never eat anything after 8 p.m. in the evenings.

    I thought I had my weight down to a science and was shooting for my goal of 140 but now it's creeping back up. I'm not sure why or what could be causing it.

    A side note. Over the past two years, I've experienced hormonal issues as a result of birth control use. I was off of birth control through December - March of this year, was given a new kind, and switched about 4 months ago to a previous version, Cryselle. I was having regular periods until last month when I skipped a month. This is my "special week" and I have seen a small increase of weight that I think may be a result of this but that should not be the case for the remainder of the month that I've seen this increase. With this in mind, has anyone else experienced weight fluctuations due to hormones/birth control? At this point, this is the only thing I can think of that could be contributing to it.

    Thanks in advance for all of your help!

    I believe I do as well. When I start a new pack of active pills after my cycle, my weight goes up about 2 pounds. I hate it. I think it's water retention. Unfortunately, I hold on to the weight until my next cycle.
  • leejoyce31
    leejoyce31 Posts: 794 Member
    Let me also add though, there is a bit of a spike in my appetite too when I start the active pills. So, some of it can also be some fat gain too.
  • bwilliams1989
    bwilliams1989 Posts: 2 Member
    Thanks guys! I do log my food every day using MyFitnessPal (on day #252 now). I will keep a closer eye to be sure that I am logging correct portions.

    According to MFP, I consume 1,800-2,000 calories per day and burn anywhere from 300-500 calories in exercise each day.

    One of the hormonal challenges I've faced is my periods randomly occurring. Missing one last month and wondering if they will pick up this month where in the past, they didn't and I had to be taken off of birth control completely.

    Maybe it's a combination of water retention and perhaps eating bigger meals without realizing it. I will try to focus on both of these to see if I can get it down.

    I would love to be down to 140 although my BMI indicates that I'm still at a healthy weight now, I just don't want to creep further up.

    Thanks again!

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