What is going on? Gaining weight!

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I started about 30lbs overweight, and am slowly gaining a little here and a little there. Once in a while, I will lose a wee bit of weight, only to gain it right back the next day. Sometimes, the scale reads severla pounds heavier, and I've only managed to shed a portion of that. In short, I'm about 7 lbs heavier now than when I started trying to lose weight about 6 weeks ago.

I don't have an overeating or impulse control problem. I don't even really like food that much. I have no medical conditions other than being insulin resistant.

Today is a classic example of this baffling weight gain. Yesterday, I was run off my feet and only had time for a piece of fruit, some nuts, and a bottle of water at lunch. I started to eat an energy bar on the go, but just couldn't finish it. I was too tired to be bothered with dinner by the time I got home. (No, that's not how I usually roll.) I got a good night's sleep and did my usual workout this morning (treadmill w/HIIT, weights, abs, stretching), and resolved to make sure I eat well today. When I went to weigh myself before breakfast, I thought that even though I ate so poorly yesterday, at least the payoff would be a bit of weight loss, right? (I've been eating and exercising normally, everyday prior to yesterday.)

Nope. I apparently have gained 3 pounds since the last time I weighed myself (about a week ago).

At this rate, I literally would probably have been better off if I hadn't started trying to lose weight. My weight gain was much slower than it has been since cutting calories and exercising daily.

What could possibly be going on? Is this because of my insulin resistance? Is everything I eat being stored as fat now?

Replies

  • adoptakalyn
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    Are you losing inches?
  • IveLanded
    IveLanded Posts: 797 Member
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    Lots of people think they eat "well" or "healthy" and it's still too many calories. Weight loss is basic math of calories in versus calories out. You are gaining because you are eating more calories than you are burning, probably.
  • BenomBenjamin
    BenomBenjamin Posts: 9 Member
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    Are you losing inches?

    I've only measured my waist. It's usually the same or an inch bigger than my start measurement.
  • SuzyLy
    SuzyLy Posts: 133 Member
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    Maybe with all your exercising, the weight is turning to muscle . . . also your body may be storing your calories because you are not eating throughout the day and it goes into starvation mode . . keep us up-dated and good luck
  • BenomBenjamin
    BenomBenjamin Posts: 9 Member
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    Lots of people think they eat "well" or "healthy" and it's still too many calories. Weight loss is basic math of calories in versus calories out. You are gaining because you are eating more calories than you are burning, probably.

    I suspect, based on more reading I've been doing, that it is actually the insulin resistance. There is not a single chance that I'm eating over 2,000 calories er day (usually more like 1,500-1,800), and I used to be an athlete, so I know my workouts are pretty intense. What I mean is, the insinuation that I'm kidding myself about my diet and caloric expenditure is not valid.

    Being insulin resistant means that whenever I eat smething, my body produces too much insulin. What does insulin do? It triggers the body to store calories as fat. Eating fewer calories can emphasize this effect, apparently. But eating the same calories as I used to led to gradual weight gain, too.

    I'd love to know more about this, from people who understand insulin resistance, or those who've successfully lost weight despite it. Is there something specific I should be doing besides caloric deficit?

    What is your undertanding of how insulin resistance impacts the body's ability to lose or maintain weight?
  • beccarockslife
    beccarockslife Posts: 816 Member
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    why would you presume that you have an illness before eliminating everything else? And why ask if you already know the answer lol.

    Everyone has a degree of insulin resistance.

    What you are eating is as important as how much, plus if you are undereating (and possibly under drinking if you are that busy) then you might well be supporting a water weight amount. Your diary isn't open so no one can help on that one.

    Have you tested your lean body mass compared to your fat mass? Has this changed?
  • BenomBenjamin
    BenomBenjamin Posts: 9 Member
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    Maybe with all your exercising, the weight is turning to muscle . . . also your body may be storing your calories because you are not eating throughout the day and it goes into starvation mode . . keep us up-dated and good luck

    Thanks for the encouragement. I appreciate it. I'm really starting to wonder, though.

    I don't know how accurate those home scales are, but mine always reads about the same for fat %, water weight, and bone mass. Body fat % might be up a percent or two, then goes back down to my starting %. Today I only did weight, so I don't know if body fat is up, down, or the same.
  • BenomBenjamin
    BenomBenjamin Posts: 9 Member
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    why would you presume that you have an illness before eliminating everything else? And why ask if you already know the answer lol.

    Everyone has a degree of insulin resistance.

    What you are eating is as important as how much, plus if you are undereating (and possibly under drinking if you are that busy) then you might well be supporting a water weight amount. Your diary isn't open so no one can help on that one.

    Have you tested your lean body mass compared to your fat mass? Has this changed?

    You have problems. LOL! I asked for information about insulin resistance, and if that might be why I was having trouble losing weight. I am not "presuming" I have Insulin resistance.

    If you have zero expertise with insulin resistance, maybe YOU are the one who should refrain from "answering" questions about it. LOL!
  • adoptakalyn
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    Maybe with all your exercising, the weight is turning to muscle . . . also your body may be storing your calories because you are not eating throughout the day and it goes into starvation mode . . keep us up-dated and good luck

    Thanks for the encouragement. I appreciate it. I'm really starting to wonder, though.

    I don't know how accurate those home scales are, but mine always reads about the same for fat %, water weight, and bone mass. Body fat % might be up a percent or two, then goes back down to my starting %. Today I only did weight, so I don't know if body fat is up, down, or the same.

    Try weighing yourself three times in a row... if anything is different even once then I would say research new scales.