Gaining But Too Afraid to Deficit

Theo166 wrote: »

You shouldn't panic over what is less than 2% of your weight. Just pay attention and adapt. That amount could readily be hormones or some hidden salt you weren't aware of in some food.

Also, what are your measurements telling you? Maybe you are gaining some muscle.

Regarding your lack of period, hope you've reviewed this with a doctor.

My waist is actually .5 inch larger
I did see a doctor, and she said she's seen many other patients like me who lose weight and lose their period too. I was first prescribed progesterone, but when that didn't work, I was give a month's supply of birth control. That did the trick, but after that, nothing. I was too frustrated to go back for help.
I thought about salt and hormones, but my weight is usually predictable, and I feel like this is. 1.6 lbs of actual fat instead of water.

dragon_girl26 wrote: »

Its possible that the 1.6 lbs could be linked to whatever it is that is affecting your monthly cycle, such as water retention. If what the doctor gave you didn't help for longer than a month or so, that might be the thing to address first. I'm also voting to visit the doctor again, or getting a second opinion if this one isn't helping, just to rule out issues down the road .

Hmmm.... I thought no period=no weird fluctuations/retention. I'll look into that. Thanks.

getfitchelle wrote: »

middlehaitch wrote: »

How are you getting your 20-35k steps a day?
Work, and it is paced out over an 8 hr period.
A few half hour strolls during the day?
A couple of 10km walks at a fast pace?

I ask because getting in 35k steps at a stroll or stroll + fast pace alternating would have me walking close to 30km (just did a 10 km walking race and logged just over 12000 steps in 90 min) and 35k at non race speed would take me 5-6 hr. that is a lot of walking in one day.

She's pretty short though - 30km would be an enormous amount of steps. I'm 4'11" and that would get me about 50,847 steps at my usual pace. My walking stride length is 59cm.

I walk 20k-35k STEPS not km. Lol. 30km would be impossible to keep up with daily.

collectingblues wrote: »

marthamayhemmfp wrote: »

dragon_girl26 wrote: »

Its possible that the 1.6 lbs could be linked to whatever it is that is affecting your monthly cycle, such as water retention. If what the doctor gave you didn't help for longer than a month or so, that might be the thing to address first. I'm also voting to visit the doctor again, or getting a second opinion if this one isn't helping, just to rule out issues down the road .

Hmmm.... I thought no period=no weird fluctuations/retention. I'll look into that. Thanks.

Sadly, it's not the case. Mine disappeared last July (in my case, female triad -- basically, overexercising and not fueling the workouts), and it's very common to still get the weird fluctuations and water retention even when you're not getting a true period, or any period at all.

I thought it wasn't possible either, until I started researching, and then finally asked my dietitian. I hate it.

Interesting. I haven't noticed any major/lasting fluctuations, even when I finally got a period last year, but I suppose anything can happen overtime. I'll continue to monitor my weight accordingly.

middlehaitch wrote: »

If it is only the 1 hr walking and then the rest to take you to 20k steps is done in small chunks cortisone probably won't be coming into play. If you were getting the steps in in one or 2 large chunks it may have been.

If all else is the same it is probably calorie creep, so shaving a couple of cals here and there, and tightening logging (I know you are tight anyway) should get you back.

Cheers, h.

Thanks
Yeah; you're right. Although many people loosen up after reaching maintenance, I still log quite diligently.
It's just so weird and depressing for me. I finally sat down and looked back at data from one and two years ago, and I was logging 1600-1700 calories for 10k days, 1700-1900 for 10k-16k days, and 1800-2000 for 17k-21k days. All the while, my weight stayed pretty stable.
I rarely eat something un-weighed, and when I do, I overestimate as usual. It's a bit overboard, but I check my food scale every day with three items whose weight I know, and my bathroom scale I check with dumbbells, so those aren't throwing things off either. My eating of "junk" and whole foods has remained the same, and yet based on my small gain, it looks like 2k-2.5k for 20k-35k steps is too much. The data doesn't lie, but it seems odd to me that I would need very little more (~100?) for thousands of extra steps.
The only thing I can think of is that I'm burning less calories walking than I did before. I'm going to increase my intensity and/or change how I walk and cut back some more, but first, I'm going to need a mental reset. I've gotten used to eating 2k+ calories for the past year, and even then, I still find portion sizes small. I took 27k steps today, and tried to eat 1500 calories, but ended up eating ~1700 calories. To have to eat less, maybe even 1500 calories, for my high level of activity, is something I thought I wouldn't have to worry about until I was at least 50 years old. Walking is fun, but I do get hungry, so I don't think I could keep walking as much if I have to eat LESS just to maintain. Being short sure can be a pain sometimes.