How is this happening?

Jpost001
Jpost001 Posts: 26 Member
edited March 2020 in Goal: Maintaining Weight
I've been counting my calories for a good while now. I count everything. Yes even beverages and sauces etc. Usually my weight is pretty steady but I've put on a a few pounds recently (3 or 4 depending when I weigh myself). I weighed myself a few times to make sure. Ive been doing my usual thing so I'm not sure where that came from, especially since I've been UNDER my goal quite a bit lately. I'm not anywhere close to be overweight so I'm not terribly worried about a few pounds but it just worries me that it will keep happening. Especially since the weight only seems to want to go to my belly and even if it's just a few pounds I can see the difference.

Replies

  • cmriverside
    cmriverside Posts: 33,937 Member
    How long have you been at Maintenance, and how long have you been eating the same amount of calories?


    Did you travel, have you been sick, are you at a particularly important time of your cycle if you're female? Stress? Sleep? Hydration?


    Only step on the scale once a day. Pick a time, most people do it first thing in the morning.
  • fdlewenstein
    fdlewenstein Posts: 231 Member
    There are many reasons why daily weight can fluctuate. Be consistent and patient. If the issue doesn't resolve itself, then re-evaluate your habits.
  • Jpost001
    Jpost001 Posts: 26 Member
    cmriverside wrote: »
    How long have you been at Maintenance, and how long have you been eating the same amount of calories?


    Did you travel, have you been sick, are you at a particularly important time of your cycle if you're female? Stress? Sleep? Hydration?


    Only step on the scale once a day. Pick a time, most people do it first thing in the morning.

    For a few years. I've been eating the same calories for at least the past 6 months. I increase or decrease them every often depending on how my weight is going. I'm more at a risk of losing too much weight vs gaining too much but I still want to be mindful of both. Also my metabolism won't be this fast forever.

    No travel. Feeling a bit under the weather. I've been having trouble with being gassy lately and for months it's felt like I just can't digest food properly. It mostly happens with more processed foods but even lean meats and veggies have been giving me issues. So I'm wondering if it's bloating. I'm female but my cycle shouldn't be causing any issues right now. My sleep is honestly not great lately and stress levels are moderate.
  • rheddmobile
    rheddmobile Posts: 6,840 Member
    Have you had your thyroid checked? My weight was creeping upwards despite logging as usual and I found at my last bloodwork that my TSH had shot up to 22! Needless to say they upped my meds and now it is trending downwards on the same amount of food. Slow digestion and constipation can also be symptoms of low thyroid.

    Can’t hurt to have a regular checkup if you haven’t had one in a while.
  • Jpost001
    Jpost001 Posts: 26 Member
    rheddmobile wrote: »
    Have you had your thyroid checked? My weight was creeping upwards despite logging as usual and I found at my last bloodwork that my TSH had shot up to 22! Needless to say they upped my meds and now it is trending downwards on the same amount of food. Slow digestion and constipation can also be symptoms of low thyroid.

    Can’t hurt to have a regular checkup if you haven’t had one in a while.

    Thanks for the reply. I had blood work done five months ago and my TSH was at 1.50 with a note that "The free T3 order was cancelled as per the BCMA/MSP. However a specimen will be stored for four days if TSG is normal and seven days if abnormal".
  • Jpost001
    Jpost001 Posts: 26 Member
    edited March 2020
    fdlewenstein wrote: »
    There are many reasons why daily weight can fluctuate. Be consistent and patient. If the issue doesn't resolve itself, then re-evaluate your habits.

    I'm pretty sure I'm not doing anything that should cause weight gain which is why this is confusing. I eat pretty healthy and exercise moderately. My job also keeps me on my feet and moving around almost the whole time. Aside from a medication I took that made me gain almost 15 pounds (and I was still within the healthy range with a BMI of 20.1. But I've been off it for over two years and lost that weight) my issue hasn't been excess weight gain but making sure I don't lose too much. I can easily drop down to like 115 or less if I'm not careful. I'm 5'10 so yeah. My sweet spot is 127-130. Technically 'underweight' but I have a muscular disorder so my weight is going to naturally be a bit lower than average.
  • PAV8888
    PAV8888 Posts: 13,547 Member
    edited March 2020
    Technically, as is obvious from the context that you know, your sweet spot is at the edge of underweight and your "not careful" spot is exceedingly deep in the underweight range.

    So a 3-4lb weight gain ought not be upsetting because of the gain itself given that you have an additional 20 if not 30lbs before you would even start coming close to the upper edge of the normal weight range.

    However, given your experiences of digestive issues, the fact that all this is prompting you to eat less calories than normal and in conjunction with the likelihood of a weight reduction being unlikely to help a muscular disorder, I would probably try to follow up with some testing/checking out of the digestive issues...

  • EnterNihil
    EnterNihil Posts: 67 Member
    maybe you're backed up aka constipated idk
  • Jpost001
    Jpost001 Posts: 26 Member
    PAV8888 wrote: »
    Technically, as is obvious from the context that you know, your sweet spot is at the edge of underweight and your "not careful" spot is exceedingly deep in the underweight range.

    So a 3-4lb weight gain ought not be upsetting because of the gain itself given that you have an additional 20 if not 30lbs before you would even start coming close to the upper edge of the normal weight range.

    However, given your experiences of digestive issues, the fact that all this is prompting you to eat less calories than normal and in conjunction with the likelihood of a weight reduction being unlikely to help a muscular disorder, I would probably try to follow up with some testing/checking out of the digestive issues...

    Thank you. The weight gain itself isn't so much of an issue since yeah I do have quite a bit to go before being overweight. It's more than it only goes to my belly/pelvis which I find very uncomfortable. When I gained the extra 15 pounds some time ago I looked like I was a few months pregnant and the feeling of that extra weight there was really physically unpleasant. Though that made sense since I read a side effect of the medication was that it affects cortisol levels and can cause weight gain primarily in the stomach region. So that I get but I'm not sure what is going on now. My weight used to also go to my thighs and butt.
  • Jpost001
    Jpost001 Posts: 26 Member
    EnterNihil wrote: »
    maybe you're backed up aka constipated idk

    That's possible lol
  • PAV8888
    PAV8888 Posts: 13,547 Member
    edited March 2020
    Jpost001 wrote: »
    Thank you. The weight gain itself isn't so much of an issue since yeah I do have quite a bit to go before being overweight. It's more than it only goes to my belly/pelvis which I find very uncomfortable. When I gained the extra 15 pounds some time ago I looked like I was a few months pregnant and the feeling of that extra weight there was really physically unpleasant. Though that made sense since I read a side effect of the medication was that it affects cortisol levels and can cause weight gain primarily in the stomach region. So that I get but I'm not sure what is going on now. My weight used to also go to my thighs and butt.

    From hearsay, I would expect that after weight regain any specific "spot" fat gains are likely to redistribute more evenly over the next 6-24 months. Thus what you see immediately after an initial regain may not be true long term. The same applies during weight loss, to some degree, with fat stores not necessarily all reducing proportionately initially, but often re-balancing once weight has stabilized for a bit.

    I am obviously not familiar with the specific health challenges you're facing. But, in general, a weight reduction at the lean-ness level you're currently at is unlikely to be muscle sparing. In other words any weight reduction is quite likely to negatively affect your muscle mass faster even than any remaining fat mass.

    Again if you're having digestion problems / potential food absorption problems I would address them with my doctor sooner than later as opposed to increasing risk. Water retention can increase weight much faster than any fat level change and water retention can also show quite a bit on a small frame. Unexplained and unexpected water retention is not usually a good thing :neutral:
  • Jpost001
    Jpost001 Posts: 26 Member
    PAV8888 wrote: »
    Jpost001 wrote: »
    Thank you. The weight gain itself isn't so much of an issue since yeah I do have quite a bit to go before being overweight. It's more than it only goes to my belly/pelvis which I find very uncomfortable. When I gained the extra 15 pounds some time ago I looked like I was a few months pregnant and the feeling of that extra weight there was really physically unpleasant. Though that made sense since I read a side effect of the medication was that it affects cortisol levels and can cause weight gain primarily in the stomach region. So that I get but I'm not sure what is going on now. My weight used to also go to my thighs and butt.

    From hearsay, I would expect that after weight regain any specific "spot" fat gains are likely to redistribute more evenly over the next 6-24 months. Thus what you see immediately after an initial regain may not be true long term. The same applies during weight loss, to some degree, with fat stores not necessarily all reducing proportionately initially, but often re-balancing once weight has stabilized for a bit.

    I am obviously not familiar with the specific health challenges you're facing. But, in general, a weight reduction at the lean-ness level you're currently at is unlikely to be muscle sparing. In other words any weight reduction is quite likely to negatively affect your muscle mass faster even than any remaining fat mass.

    Again if you're having digestion problems / potential food absorption problems I would address them with my doctor sooner than later as opposed to increasing risk. Water retention can increase weight much faster than any fat level change and water retention can also show quite a bit on a small frame. Unexplained and unexpected water retention is not usually a good thing :neutral:

    Thanks for the advice. I went to my doctor about bloating, gas and some other issues last year and he got me to do a blood test and referred me to a gyno (appointment is coming up on May) just in case it's related PCOS or something. I'm also thinking I might need to see a gastroenterologist.

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