Doing all the right things and gaining weight......

farmermariepier
farmermariepier Posts: 10 Member
in Motivation and Support
Over the past one month, I have quit smoking, quit drinking diet pepsi and started eating well and counting my calories and following the macros that was suggested to be by a dietist, walk 10k a day (I was on my couch all the time and hardly moved since the beginning of Covid)... And the problem is that I keep gaining weight ! I have gained almost 10 pounds in one month. It is so discouraging, I just feel like crying when I look at myself in the miror, I can actually see that I am getting more puffy underneat my chin. Why ? I am doing so well with my motivation, trying to be balanced and all.... Anyone has experienced something like this ?

Replies

  • AwesomeSquirrel
    AwesomeSquirrel Posts: 644 Member
    Wow it sounds like you have made major changes lately in the name of health. Good for you! Quitting smoking is an excellent investment in yourself.

    I’m impressed that you’ve found the willpower to make all of these changes at the same time. Looking specifically at the weight loss piece however it really comes down to calories in (what/how much you eat) vs calories out (your daily activity and exercise).

    Most people who aren’t seeing movement on the scales have an error somewhere in this equation.

    Calories in: are you weighing (on a digital scale) everything that you put in your mouth and chose the correct entries from the MFP database? If not, you are most likely underestimating the amount of calories you consume.

    Calories out: are you logging your walks as workouts and eating back those calories? Most walking would be accounted for in the general activity level suggested so if you are adding them back the adjustment might be too big.

    What is your age, weight, height and what is your calorie goal per day? To lose 1 pound per week you need to create a deficit of 500 kcal per day.
  • Queen_J
    Queen_J Posts: 5 Member
    I’m in the same boat ! I’ve been doing Shaun T workouts since March (insanity, insanity max 30 and now T25) 6 days of exercise a week, eating about 1600-1800 calories a day. And yet I’ve gained weight, (at least 7 pounds
    ) and my belly just won’t stop bloating. I’m on a gluten free diet now to see if that will help with the bloating but as of yet still haven’t seen a change to bloating.
  • priyaravi79
    priyaravi79 Posts: 1 Member
    I have been in the same boat. I have been following Kit Rich and Heather Robertson workouts. I have put in 3 kilos during the lockdown. I also take celery juice in empty stomach following my doctors advice. I take 15mgof Mitrazipine. I was in 30mg. Took the risk and reduced it by half still no change in my weight. I face out in 10 kilos dince I started this medication. It’s very frustrating. Looked everywhere for advice everyone says the same. That one will put in weight while on that medication. I guess if I didn’t too all the workouts and a healthy diet I would be even more heavier.
  • Geneveremfp
    Geneveremfp Posts: 504 Member
    I'd second the weigh everything advice.

    Something I've personally done before is not weigh "healthy" food and just guesstimate. Things like "a cup of brown rice" would get logged but when I actually measured it out it was smaller than I expected. Same with peanut butter and even fruit and vegetables. This along with the stress of making lots of changes will make it hard to see anything on the scale.

    It might be worth taking a week or two where your only goal is to log everything accurately - weigh and measure. Don't worry as much about hitting calorie goal just weigh and measure to start making it a habit.
  • Womona
    Womona Posts: 1,782 Member
    A game changer for me was using a digital scale to weigh my food, and then log - even if you’re over your calories. I also got a good heart rate monitor that tracks calories. I love the Polar OH1+. Polar is the only brand I trust. The calories estimated on MFP are always way more than I actually burned.

    Congratulations and best of luck with stopping smoking! You just did your health a huge favor! Weighing and logging accurately will help moderate any additional snacking you may be doing as a result of quitting smoking. Totally fine to snack, as long as it fits in your overall calorie goal.
  • farmermariepier
    farmermariepier Posts: 10 Member
    Thank you so much everyone. To answer some questions, I am 51 years old, my height is 5,7 (1,72m) and I weight 178.8 pounds (as of this morning)... my god it just keeps on adding. I have taken my measurements and I did got thicker around the waist area by 0.5 inch. I am post menopause so in theory, it should be hormonal. I do mesure everything I eat with a digital scale and I try to keep approximately 300 to 400 less calories (intake vs outake). I am talking to my doctor tomorrow to see what he thinks about it. I have also met with a chinese medecine specialist to see if it could be water retention related and he is preparing a personalized powder with herbs that could help me. I was told that stress can do something with your cortisol level and make you gain weight. Since, the changes I made were somewhat stressful, it is possible that caused the weight gain. It could also be a thyroid situation, I will discuss it with my doctor tomorrow.

    Thank you thank you thank you thank you everyone for taking the time to write me back. I must admit that tonight I ate more than I should out of discouragement (it's 1am and I woke up and had two yogourts and some cereals with it - so approximately 400 calories in total)... At least it was not a cigarette because god knows I surely feel like having one right now !!! ;-) I somehow have changed my mindset since writing my original post... I became a little bit more defiant towards my results. I was telling myself... "What ever the results, you will keep on going and conquer... what ever amount of time this will take, it will happen this time.".

    Thank you again.
  • nanastaci2020
    nanastaci2020 Posts: 1,072 Member
    Changing so much at once is hard and stressful for the body. Perhaps also focusing on the scale for now is too much? Being active, not smoking, eating at a reasonable level: all good habits to build upon. Maybe work on those 3 things and wait another month or two to let things settle before worrying about the scale again.
  • farmermariepier
    farmermariepier Posts: 10 Member
    Thank you... you are probably right. And in fact, since I want this to be a long term goal, it is okay if changes occur slowly.
  • kfarnworth2785
    kfarnworth2785 Posts: 46 Member
    Ask your doctor to run a hypothyroidism test! I have hypothyroidism and when my thyroid hormones gets low my metabolism shuts down and it also causes unbearable food cravings I gained 30 lb in 2 months the last time it went down actually a little over 30 lb.
  • yirara
    yirara Posts: 9,944 Member
    kfarnworth2785 wrote: »
    Ask your doctor to run a hypothyroidism test! I have hypothyroidism and when my thyroid hormones gets low my metabolism shuts down and it also causes unbearable food cravings I gained 30 lb in 2 months the last time it went down actually a little over 30 lb.

    The metabolism doesn't shut down. Research has shown this is a maximum of 4% of NEAT. It doesn't accumulate and nor does it go away again. But hunger, moving less, holding more onto water is certainly true.
  • hlr1987
    hlr1987 Posts: 151 Member
    I can't see that anyone has pointed out that quitting smoking often leads to short term weight gain, because nicotine is suppose to both reduce your appitite and boost your metabolism. That's absolutely not a reason to set back quitting though! There are so many good reasons to quit. It just means you should be careful about logging to check you aren't over eating and it will sort itself and start going in the right direction if you give it time.
  • crplcon
    crplcon Posts: 1 Member
    edited August 2020
    Hi. I'm sorry for your distress. I wonder if you're gaining muscle and/or your body is in the process of adjusting to this totally different lifestyle. After awhile you may start seeing pounds drop. That walking 5 K every day is incredible. Keep up the good work! Um...I'm from the hated male portion of society, so this response may not be too valid :\
  • kfarnworth2785
    kfarnworth2785 Posts: 46 Member
    edited August 2020
    yirara wrote: »
    kfarnworth2785 wrote: »
    Ask your doctor to run a hypothyroidism test! I have hypothyroidism and when my thyroid hormones gets low my metabolism shuts down and it also causes unbearable food cravings I gained 30 lb in 2 months the last time it went down actually a little over 30 lb.

    The metabolism doesn't shut down. Research has shown this is a maximum of 4% of NEAT. It doesn't accumulate and nor does it go away again. But hunger, moving less, holding more onto water is certainly true.


    Well my doctor told me that low thyroid hormone causes metabolism to slow. But hey what does a medical doctor know right? 🤷
  • yirara
    yirara Posts: 9,944 Member
    kfarnworth2785 wrote: »
    yirara wrote: »
    kfarnworth2785 wrote: »
    Ask your doctor to run a hypothyroidism test! I have hypothyroidism and when my thyroid hormones gets low my metabolism shuts down and it also causes unbearable food cravings I gained 30 lb in 2 months the last time it went down actually a little over 30 lb.

    The metabolism doesn't shut down. Research has shown this is a maximum of 4% of NEAT. It doesn't accumulate and nor does it go away again. But hunger, moving less, holding more onto water is certainly true.


    Well my doctor told me that low thyroid hormone causes metabolism to slow. But hey what does a medical doctor know right? 🤷

    Yes, I said 4%. How many scientific papers does a doctor read? Does he have access to those anyway and time? How much time is left for nutrition and 'metabolism' when studying medicine? In some countries it's only a day.
  • MaltedTea
    MaltedTea Posts: 6,286 Member
    I'm here to - perhaps inappropriately - mention that @farmermariepier's PP looks positively voluptuous and reminds me of a pin-up girl pose. 😍

    You look like you feel amazing in that pic so I'm sorry to hear that you were going through a tough time managing your weight loss.

    You gotten some solid advice here and I'm glad you're balancing different approaches with Western medicine. Perhaps your discussions can include how menopause may illicit a need for a slightly different plan of attack then any previous weight management attempts you made earlier in life.

    For example, you're already doing much of what is listed in this article but perhaps it can be the basis of discussion at your next doctor's appointment to ensure as many bases as possible are covered...

    https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/325386#menopause-and-weight
  • farmermariepier
    farmermariepier Posts: 10 Member
    Thank you again everyone for taking the time to write to me.... back in August. I am still at the same place except that for the past few months I stopped everything.... exercise, food, etc. (I did not start smoking again). I am starting a new year, with hopefully more motivation and acceptance of my body limits. I still feel like a big whale but will work on becoming a big healthy whale and will see where it takes me. It is too bad that so much pressure is put on my body image in my mind. Covid has kind of been a blessing because I don't really want people to see me with this extra 25-30 pounds that I have gained over the past 10 years....
  • callsitlikeiseeit
    callsitlikeiseeit Posts: 8,626 Member
    As someone who quit smoking, lost 130 pounds, left a bad relationship .... let me give you a couple of words of advice. Don't try to do all of it at once.

    stop smoking first. you will feel better in general.

    THEN once that's down pat of NO SMOKES AT ALL (several months) ... start tackling the weight. start small. its not a race. all you will do is crash and burn, as you found out. Learn how to weigh and measure your food properly with a food scale and how to find accurate database entries. Slowly add in exercise if you want to.

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  • sportygal1971
    sportygal1971 Posts: 62 Member
    What most people don't really realize is body composition is far more important than a weight. I'm sure you've gained muscle. It takes me a month to see change as I tend to gain muscle faster.
    I could weigh the same but be 10% bodyfat. Weight is a horrible measure for overall health.
    Weight loss is a byproduct to body comp change over time.
    I focus on lowering my bf & increasing muscle.

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