Unexplained weight gain

B

beryybverry

New member
I’ve been trying to lose weight, and lost 7lbs through January. I eat 1400 cals a day and sometimes do interment fasting or OMAD. I weigh most of my foods so I’m pretty sure I’m counting accurately. As far as working out, I do weight training 4x a week, and walk on the treadmill for 45min afterwards.

I’ve been noticing my weight is steadily starting to go back up.. I don’t know why, I haven’t changed any habits, and I’m still counting my cals. I’m worried I’m going to lose all my progress already and it’s really frustrating. I’m trying to be patient but my weight plateued for 2 weeks and now went up this past week. I am still pretty heavy 5’2f at 196lbs, so I’d figure I’d be able to eat more in the beginning, but I might have to cut calories this soon? I don’t think I can handle eating less then 1400, it’s already so little :(

Any advice or opinions would be greatly appreciated… I don’t want to feel discouraged but if I see the scale go up again this week I’m gonna feel hopeless..
 
@beryybverry Menstrual cycle, high salt intake, stress, new exercise intensity, and other factors may contribute to 3-5 lb fluctuations.

Keep at it and trust the process. You got this! 🙌

It’ll come off if you track with a food scale and are honest.

FWIW, sometimes plateaus can last 2-3 weeks.
 
@beryybverry You should absolutely be losing weight at 1400 calories a day at your bmi. I would really make sure there aren't hidden calories you're missing, like cooking oils or sodas. If you're counting 100% accurately, I would talk to a doctor if you continue to make no progress. It could just be natural fluctations if it's only moving up and down a a few lbs.
 
@beryybverry With your current weight and activity, you really should be able to loose at 1400, and I don't think you should go lower than that if you think it would be a struggle. This is a marathon, not a sprint, and you need to lose in a way that is long term sustainable. Plateaus and fluxuations back up can happen, and can last more than 3 weeks.

Try to give it more time. There are so many things that can cause temporary increases on the scale, bloat from food/sodium, period bloat, water retention from exercise, etc.
 
@beryybverry Have you been tested for insulin resistance or hypothyroidism (fasting blood draw first thing in the morning)? Either of those conditions could make it hard to lose weight and easy to gain weight.
 
@beryybverry Yes, but your calorie deficit will have to be bigger than you might expect. Because your body is storing calories as fat instead of burning them for energy. Can you talk to your doctor about medication for insulin resistance? Trying to lose weight with untreated insulin resistance is going to be an uphill battle.
 
@beryybverry PCOS can lower your BMR significantly due to higher insulin, cortisol, and inflammatory issues. I found that sticking to a low-glycemic Mediterranean diet and taking inositol supplements helped lower my insulin significantly after 6 months, but ultimately my BMR is still lower than TDEE calculators assume.

Personally I found that keeping a smaller calorie deficit and just being hella patient for slow weight loss was the way to go. I tried eating even less calories and it ended up in me getting nutrient deficiencies and elevated cortisol (and worsening depression and ADHD symptoms). Don’t recommend it!

Asking a doctor about metformin (if you aren’t already on it) might also help. I also found that switching from sertraline to Wellbutrin helped a lot with my insulin levels, so if you are on any medications that could worsen your insulin levels (which ironically includes birth control, the go-to PCOS treatment) it might be worth having a conversation with your doctor about whether you can explore alternatives or find another way to offset this.

One possible plus side of PCOS that you hoped leverage to your advantage (if applicable) is that on average, we can put on muscle more easily than non-PCOS peeps due to sometimes having higher androgen levels. Mine are usually within normal range these days but on the higher range of normal, and I do find it not too difficult to put on muscle at my small calorie deficit as long as I’m consistent with my protein intake and strength training. So with all the weight training you’re doing, make sure to hit your protein targets.

Adding muscle the way you (hopefully are) will potentially make the scale an unreliable narrator of fat loss due to increase in temporary inflammation and muscle mass, so do try to keep that in mind! Fat loss and weight loss are related, but not to be conflated.
 
@beryybverry 3 weeks of plateau or gaining sounds abnormal to me. Did you increase your cardio significantly during that time? That could explain water retention. If not, that means you’re not in a deficit, therefore, you’re consuming more than 1400 cals/day.
 
@butterfly2222 Yeah I’m gonna try to be extremely accurate this week. But I’ve been pretty exact as far as I know, I track oils and such, and use grams when weighing. I’m hoping that’s the issue because if not then I’m clueless..
 
@beryybverry Are you using grams to track oil? Because 1ml of oil isn’t 1g, it’s closer to 0.8g. It’s also possible packaged foods labels aren’t accurate, or even restaurants that give that nutritional info.
 
@beryybverry Ok good! Just wanted to make sure because a mistake when measure chicken breast won’t do much, but a mistake measure oil can really fuck you over. You don’t « eat back » the calories you spend exercising either, right?
 
@butterfly2222 No worries! And yes I make sure not to eat beyond 1400, and don’t even count calories burned. With that being said, that takes off another 300cal when I workout, which makes the weight gain even more frustrating lol
 
@beryybverry Yeah that makes it even more odd. I know increasing your cardio can result in weight gain that never really « flushes » because it’s the result of extra blood volume. You’re also sure you weigh yourself in the exact same conditions right? Like scale on the same floors, no clothes, in the morning after using the washroom?
 
@beryybverry Are you steadily gaining? Or did you have two weeks of no gain/loss then a gain in week 3? You've said two different things here. How much did your weight go up in week 3?
 
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