Moved back to America &gained 15lbs in a month?!

Assuming its not just a difference in the scale you are using the only real way to put on that much weight that quickly realistically is by retaining water, not by adding fat. One sure fire way to retain a ton of water very quickly is to greatly increase your sodium intake.

If you went from a low sodium diet to a high sodium diet you could easily pack on 10% of your body weight as water in a matter of days. There are a lot of American foods that are very high in sodium so that might be something to consider.

That is not "bad" really. I mean if it makes you uncomfortable then should avoid it and if it such a high salt diet that it is raising your blood pressure to dangerous levels then you should dial it back. Other than that, not really something to be all that concerned by.

Don't worry! It's probably just the weight of the "How to be Politically Correct" official rule book we are all required to lug around so we don't offend people.

I think the availability and prices of fresh food in the USA vary depending on where you are. (There is an entire thread about living off of $100 per month on here and the range of prices is astounding in the USA). I'd have to live on rice and beans and oatmeal to get by on $100 per month where I live. I spend that much for one person for a week, and I cook almost every meal at home.

Some of my siblings live in Southern California and they have much better produce and it is half the price compared to where I live (Northeast). I was in Europe last month and I found the produce also cheaper and fresher than in the my city. I was like a kid in a candy store (except the smallest selection was of the junk food and candy) amongst all the fresh food. I spent about $20-30 US per week and ate well (cooking in my apartment for 3 meals a day). There is no comparison when it comes to baked goods and bread. If you want decent bread here it costs $3-4 US for a semi-fresh baguette in my city, meanwhile where I was in Europe, it was .30 euro and baked that day (or minutes before)! The meat, fish and poultry also were fresher and about 2/3 of the cost in my US city, since I was in a place that grows food, livestock, and not too far from the coast. (Although I live in a coastal city in the USA, none of our seafood comes from anywhere in the USA except for occasional shrimp from Louisiana).

TanyaHooton wrote: »

I lived in Europe and Asia for a period about 10 years ago, and when I came back to the Midwest, I gained 15-20 lbs. It was caused by huge portions, such easy access to cheap food all the time, and mostly by much lower activity.

I've lost a bit of that weight, but what I found is there's pressure to eat in the US. They say I'm already skinny, but really my BMI is just over the line into overweight. Seems like the baseline for normal has moved toward overweight.

BMI is not entirely correct because it doesn’t account for bone mass and muscle mass. You could actually be a healthy weight even with your BMI. Body builders have large BMIs even with their low fat masses.

elisa123gal wrote: »

cwolfman13 wrote: »

elisa123gal wrote: »

American processed hidden sugar laden food Welcome to the U.S.A.

I've traveled fairly extensively...there's tons of processed food everywhere. Hell, when I was in Colombia, SA and I went grocery shopping, whole foods were very limited...processed foods were abundant.

There is no hidden sugar either...it's right there on the nutritional label.

Having traveled quite a bit, I'd say the availability of fresh, whole foods in the US is more abundant, cheaper, and of greater variety than almost anywhere I've ever been.

you are being argumentative... and food companies were foreced to put ingredients on lables due to this crisis, and putting an ingredient on a label doesn't make it right..
also..i have traveled quite a bit myself. ..mostly to Europe - where if you keep your eyes open as you pass all the pastry shops - all you see are thin people... a fat person is an oddity. Their food is not as processed, it is regulated on how it is made, not after the fact by putting chemicals and hidden sugars on a label..as if that makes it okay.
on a personal note; my daughter got back from living in Germany for two years last Christmas and has packed on 15 pounds ..doing nothing different than eating here, her work load and routine are the same.

But if it's on the label it isn't "hidden". Plenty of overweight people in Europe. UK is not all thin people. Not even close.

It's not the food chemicals, etc. If you accurately log food and exercise for a while, it becomes pretty *kitten* clear that the problem is that we have become sedentary AF (drive everywhere, TV/computer as entertainment) and eat ginormous portions of calorie dense food (much of the latter coming about due to cheapness and availability of food and people eating out a lot more) and snack all the time. For instance, A typical burger + fry plate at a restaurant is ~1500 calories - it's not uncommon for your average American to have that multiple times per week.

cwolfman13 wrote: »

elisa123gal wrote: »

cwolfman13 wrote: »

elisa123gal wrote: »

American processed hidden sugar laden food Welcome to the U.S.A.

I've traveled fairly extensively...there's tons of processed food everywhere. Hell, when I was in Colombia, SA and I went grocery shopping, whole foods were very limited...processed foods were abundant.

There is no hidden sugar either...it's right there on the nutritional label.

Having traveled quite a bit, I'd say the availability of fresh, whole foods in the US is more abundant, cheaper, and of greater variety than almost anywhere I've ever been.

you are being argumentative... and food companies were foreced to put ingredients on lables due to this crisis, and putting an ingredient on a label doesn't make it right..
also..i have traveled quite a bit myself. ..mostly to Europe - where if you keep your eyes open as you pass all the pastry shops - all you see are thin people... a fat person is an oddity. Their food is not as processed, it is regulated on how it is made, not after the fact by putting chemicals and hidden sugars on a label..as if that makes it okay.
on a personal note; my daughter got back from living in Germany for two years last Christmas and has packed on 15 pounds ..doing nothing different than eating here, her work load and routine are the same.

They don't have processed food? I call *kitten*...I've been...they have processed food goods...plenty of them...with added sugar and whatnot.

Yes, there are certain things that are used in the US that aren't used elsewhere...but you can also get processed goods in the states without those things. Processed foods in Europe also have various additives and chemicals...just different ones.

And like I said...the US has a huge variety as well as substantial availability of whole foods. People choose what they eat.

Seconding. I've stayed in a few countries in Europe, one in South Am, and lived in the Caribbean for a year (and visited some neighboring islands). So much processed food. I taught while in the Caribbean, and I can tell you that at the middle and post-high school level, there were many people (I had ~200 students in total) who were overweight. Even on a small island there's fast food (some local chains in addition to MacDo) and they have several traditional foods that are deep-fried. Plus the booze. I drank my weight in rhum, and came home a few pounds heavier for it - and there were lots of youngish folks with beer bellies.
The Caribbean had the sweetest yogurt I've ever eaten. Why? The same yogurt (but with European formulation) can't compete with the local produce, naturally sweetened by the sun, and market research revealed people thought it tasted bitter in parfaits, etc. So the island formulation had more sugar added to make it palatable if you eat fruit & yogurt for breakfast.

And speaking of meals - Belvita crackers were a staple for almost everyone I knew, the grocery stores had the same aisles of processed foods we have here, and they had THE BEST flavors of Special K and potato chips.

(edited to correct double quote)

sgtx81 wrote: »

There are a lot of GMO's and chemicals fed to us here in the US that are either not used or completely illegal in other nations. Also if you're stressed your cortisol is up, and that can be a part of your weight gain.

So? What does this mean? What does it matter whether it is used outside the US?

Dnarules wrote: »

sgtx81 wrote: »

There are a lot of GMO's and chemicals fed to us here in the US that are either not used or completely illegal in other nations. Also if you're stressed your cortisol is up, and that can be a part of your weight gain.

So? What does this mean? What does it matter whether it is used outside the US?

Well, the point is that the OP was trying to figure out why they gained 15 lbs. since they returned to the USA!! All kinds of suggestions are being put forth, and of course there
needs to be a comparison of what they ate as well as behavior where they were before and now in the USA.

sgtx81 wrote: »

Dnarules wrote: »

sgtx81 wrote: »

There are a lot of GMO's and chemicals fed to us here in the US that are either not used or completely illegal in other nations. Also if you're stressed your cortisol is up, and that can be a part of your weight gain.

So? What does this mean? What does it matter whether it is used outside the US?

If you can't figure out what I'm saying here, I'm not going to try and explain it to you. It's pretty simple and straightforward. Besides, I don't believe you to lack the understanding, you're just being argumentative. Regardless of which is true, life is too short to follow through beyond this one short reply. Have fun with that.

GMOs don't cause weight gain though