Gain weight too easily

I can’t keep weight off. I am 52 and if I eat more than once a day I gain weight

Replies

  • naomi8888
    naomi8888 Posts: 519 Member
    How much do you weigh? It's probably less about how many times you eat per day and more about the total calories.
  • ladyhusker39
    ladyhusker39 Posts: 1,406 Member
    Would you mind elaborating a little? How much do you think you eat? How active are you? What are your stats (height/weight/age)? If you'd like some help troubleshooting what might be going on some more details will help.

    If you're just vetting, that's ok too.
  • lorrpb
    lorrpb Posts: 11,463 Member
    Portion control is your friend.
  • livingleanlivingclean
    livingleanlivingclean Posts: 11,751 Member
    Do you track your intake?
  • Blythmag
    Blythmag Posts: 252 Member
    Insightful post
  • LivingtheLeanDream
    LivingtheLeanDream Posts: 13,342 Member
    More information would be helpful. That one meal must be calorific!
  • psuLemon
    psuLemon Posts: 38,427 MFP Moderator
    myukas8254 wrote: »
    I can’t keep weight off. I am 52 and if I eat more than once a day I gain weight

    How many calories are you consuming? And if calories are the same, there will be no change in weight outside of normal weight fluctuations, which can be several lbs, especially if you increase carbs, which increases glycogen/water storage.
  • deannalfisher
    deannalfisher Posts: 5,600 Member
    weight fluctuates day to day and even hour to hour....
  • Whitezombiegirl
    Whitezombiegirl Posts: 1,042 Member

    what are your stats for 1400 cals to be a surplus? you must be bed bound?

    I'm 41, just under 5ft, currently weigh 105lbs and extreamly sedentary. My NEAT comes out as 1350 per day.
  • Go_Deskercise
    Go_Deskercise Posts: 1,630 Member
    riiiiiiiiiiiiiiight
  • dimaslopes
    dimaslopes Posts: 36 Member
    almost sure he is logging food incorrectly or his insulin is through the roof
  • deannalfisher
    deannalfisher Posts: 5,600 Member
    dimaslopes wrote: »
    almost sure he is logging food incorrectly or his insulin is through the roof

    or doesn't understand simple biology?
  • newheavensearth
    newheavensearth Posts: 870 Member
    edited December 2017

    what are your stats for 1400 cals to be a surplus? you must be bed bound?

    I'm 41, just under 5ft, currently weigh 105lbs and extreamly sedentary. My NEAT comes out as 1350 per day.

    What is extremely sedentary? Just curious.
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  • collectingblues
    collectingblues Posts: 2,541 Member
    It's total calorie intake. I was taling to my friend last night about this.

    I'd eaten in the day: (all weighed and logged)
    2 small chicken drumsticks
    Ham salad with 1/4 small avocado (just vinegar for dressing, I dislike oil)
    Satsuma
    Apple (low sugar variety, I prefer the taste)
    Cellery and carrot sticks (no dip)
    Tomato and bazil soup (store bought)
    Home made veg soup
    Teeny bowl of oatmeal with almond milk (no sugar or sweetener) before bed (15g)
    A single Ferrero rocher chocolate
    2 large black coffees (un-sweetened)

    All for 812 calories (its low, I was too tired to eat more and had an early night after a particulaly long hard day, the previous day). Still happened to gain 1/2 lb overnight! Yay for fluctuations!

    By contrast she had eaten once that day:
    Foot long baguette with ham and cheese ( and mayo)
    Large size crisps (chips)
    Soft cookie
    Flavoured coffee with syrup (large)

    She didn't measure any of this but we worked out that it was probably in the region of 1400-1500 calories, which is just about maintenance for her and a surplus for me.

    Fluctuations happen. I gain easily gain a few pounds over night thanks to water, cyclical stuff, sodium, etc. So what does your weight do on a trend line? Maintain, constantly go up, constantly go down? One measurement isn't adequate to say how you respond to calories.

    What's the actual weight (in ounces or grams) of what you're eating?

    Feel like opening your diary?

    Because I don't believe for a minute that you're gaining weight on less than 1,000 calories a day. I'm also not inclined to believe that you're eating only 812 calories a day.
  • try2again
    try2again Posts: 3,562 Member
    myukas8254 wrote: »
    I can’t keep weight off. I am 52 and if I eat more than once a day I gain weight

    Along with the other basic questions you have yet to respond to, what kind of time frame are you talking about? A month's worth of data, or you ate more than 1 meal yesterday and "gained" today?

    As others have said, weight gain measured over time is due to a calorie surplus, regardless of how many meals got you there. If your data is limited to a few days or a week, there's any number of reasons you might show an increase on the scale unrelated to your food intake. We often see people who have been in a calorie deficit complain that they "gain weight" immediately if they eat their maintenance calories, which is likely just increased water retention due to an increase in carbs and more food in the digestive tract at a given time.
  • Whitezombiegirl
    Whitezombiegirl Posts: 1,042 Member
    Hi, no I'm not gaining on 812-my maintenence is about 1350. I was just pointing out a random fluctuation. I don't usually eat that low, it was just that kind of day (tired, not hungry, early to bed) . I was using it as an example of how you can eat 3 meals and still have low calories. Alternatively you can have one meal and it be high on calories. I was refering to OP eating one meal a day and not losing.

    When I said extreamly sedentary I was just being glib! . I'm generally lazy and sit on my bum in an office most days, no exercise at the moment.
  • WhereIsPJSoles
    WhereIsPJSoles Posts: 622 Member
    I don’t get it. At 5’3 my maintenance is 1560. Is it really so hard to believe someone who is under 5 ft would maintain at 1350?
  • WhereIsPJSoles
    WhereIsPJSoles Posts: 622 Member
    Your height, no, I wouldn’t believe it either. But if she’s like 4’10...I mean idk, seems reasonable to me?
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