General Fitness & Nutrition: weight gain?

if the above is true, you should see a physician

thanks for the input!

I guess seeing a doctor mayn't be a bad idea (I have insurance so it isn't that expensive)
I do eat very frequently (at least 5 times/day) so it is spread out.

It is entirely possible that I just don't eat enough, but I kinda thought you had to eat less then what I do for that to kick in, but since I'm gaining weight with what I am doing, trying to increase my caloric intake can't really hurt anything. 

I was reviewing my food logs today and realized that while overall caloric intake hasn't really changed, I seem to be eating more fruit then I used to (which means for me less grain and less dairy) so I'm also going to change that, because I think the ratio is probably off. Too high in sugar. WE'll see. 

How long did it take you to gain 8lb?

Going thru similar, had my first visit to the GP about this today, who couldn't offer anything beyond organising tests to rule out standard things. If i could've done things differently, wish i had opted for someone like a personal trainer first, or a GP who had background/experience with fitness-related things to talk to for information that could've been more useful.  

Good luck & keen to hear how things pan out at your end.

I have about 30% protien 20% fat 50% carb, and it took about 3 weeks to gain the 8 lbs.

I saw an endocrinologist today who ordered some bloodwork so we'll see!

You might try Leigh Peele's Fat Loss Troubleshooting Guide and Metabolic Repair Manual if your thyroid tests come back negative.  It's kind of expensive and some of the stuff in there you probably know already, but she has a great program in the metabolic repair manual to help get the fires burning again so that you can eat a normal amount of calories (way more than 1200) and still lose weight.

Here's the link:

http://www.fatlosstroubleshoot.com/index2.html

alanya, what happened?  Did you figure out the cause of your problem?  Just asking because I'm having a similar problem - okay, it's not really similar, I guess, because my calorie intake is way higher than yours (about 1800 a day) but I'm so hungry all the time... just can't go any lower, at least not if I want to keep running and weight-training.  But I don't want to keep gaining weight!!  Am also wondering if it could be my thyroid?  Made an appointment with my doctor after reading this thread but don't know how long the tests take... weeks?  months?  I have a half-marathon in March and worried I'll have gained some huge amount of weight by then...

While I agree a physician visit is needed to check your thyroid levels you definitely eat too little.( I have a B.S. in Nutrition and am on the path to be a RD). 1200 calories is the least we recommend for any weight loss diet and that calorie level is usually reserved for sedentary or elderly, obese adults- not healthy active people like yourself.

The problem with eating too low of calories and carbohydrates is this- glucose is your body's (and your brain's) number one source of fuel.  If you are not consuming enough calories your body looks to your fat and protein stores. When the body is desperate for energy (like during exercis) it starts to break down muscle to convert protein to glucose. If you were eating enough calories the extra glucose would be stored in your muscles and used instead of the protein in your muscles. It is common knowledge that muscle burns more calories than adipose tissue (or fat cells). Therefore when you are exercising for 2-3 hours a day your body is using your own muscle tissue for fuel. The calories you eat are instead stored as fat. You are breaking down your muscles (huge calories burners) and replacing them with fat cells (sloth like calorie burners). In turn, your basal metabolism is slowing down so you have to eat less calories to maintain your weight. 

The above is why most crash diets do not work and set people up to fail. Slow, steady decreases in calories and slow, steady increases in exercise can lead to weight loss without significantly affecting metabolism.  Long story short- you need to eat more. I recommend mypyramid.gov for sound advice on a healthy diet. 

Um, thanks (if indeed I am included in your message)!  The picture is actually from when I was thinner, but yeah, I know I'm not really that fat, but that's kind of why I'm confused because on the one hand, I'm tempted to just relax and tell myself that this new weight is a good thing (if it's really muscle?  or if I'll have more energy now that I'm not starving all the time?), but on the other hand, I don't want it to slow me down tremendously in my races.  I know a few minutes more or less won't make a difference, especially as I'm not competing for the podium or anything, but I just feel it will be depressing and demotivating for me to be coming in minutes behind where I've been in previous attempts.  That's all!

Oh except that, my calorie intake is actually around 1800-2100 per day, which to me seems normal... but then reading about all these other runners at 1200 and still worrying about their weight has gotten me feeling like a bit of a glutton lately!

But yeah, thanks for your input.  Was supposed to see my doctor tomorrow but had to postpone it for Tuesday (because someone from work wants to go running with me!!  and I never pass up the rare opportunity to run with company!) and hopefully will follow through on the thyroid tests and let you know the results!

Thanks, jodaddy, that's some great advice!!  Yesterday I was all fired up to go on a crash diet, but this morning I was already having second thoughts... looking in the mirror, I just don't really think I need to lose weight, and it's true that my clothes fit the same or maybe even a little looser than before - it's just the number on the scale that seems high to me.  I would really like to attribute it to my increased weight-training... just don't want to be foolish.  I think you're right about going by body fat percentage instead of weight alone.  Do I need to get my doctor to do that or should I buy one of those magic home scales that claim to be able to do it all?  I kind of looked into that in the past but it seemed like a load of hype at the time...

Also thinking that this weekend I'll do some time trials, to see whether this extra weight is really slowing me down.  If not then yeah, perhaps it's not such a big deal!

Just as a comparative note borntocry, I gained 8-10kg once and actually lost about 5%+ of body fat.  I was healthier than ever heh.  I wouldn't be too alarmed.  Like Jodaddy said, if your clothes are still fitting the same then it probably isn't completely on account of fat. You can take a basic test online too.  Some of the ones that actually ask you for a lot of information can be quite good.  

The numbers wont lie.  Keeping it as simple as possible 1800 is a normal intake for most women, it will maintain weight. Any activities you are doing that burns calories will improve your fat loss if you keep to 1800.  If you want to burn more, although you already seem quite trim in the minipicture, you could drop to 1500 if you can manage it.  If you are eating 1800, and going for 10-15km runs daily, you should keep it up.  You can't go wrong!  

At 1500 calories, you should be down 300/day, 2100/week.  As long as you are running at a easy pace for 15km/week, you are losing a pound of fat per week roughly.  If you are running 50km/week, you're at 2lbs+ lost heh. But how much muscle did you gain? Scales lie, the numbers don't.  Do the body fat tests :).

I currently want to improve my running ability and do go 10k every other day with some 15's thrown in.  I am also trying to lose weight.  But I overeat on some days to make sure I am not losing too much too quickly.   2-3 lbs per week. 

I'll second the above two comments.  1200-1600 calories may not even be enough to meet your basal metabolic rate (BMR, the calories you need for essential body functions, not including any activity, food digestion [yes, that burns calories also], or anything else).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basal_metabolic_rate

Furthermore, if you're building muscle which is an active tissue, it will burn more calories just to maintain itself.  More muscle = higher BMR.  Actually, building muscle requires a surplus of energy intake, so you're likely not allowing your body the chance to even build or re-build your muscles.

I exercise 1-2 hours, maybe 3 days a week, and I eat at least 3000 calories a day.  Granted, males tend to have slightly higher calorie requirements, but even at a scrawny 135lbs I need those calories just to maintain my weight.

Without being an expert (and perhaps it'd be worth talking to one as others have suggested), it seems that you really have GOT to eat more.  Your body will thank you.

Marten

Ha... yes, I thought that was impressive.  That's around my hubby's intake but he's 6'4", 205 lb.

Wish the original poster would come back and let us know how she's doing... I too find it incredible that anyone could subsist on 1000-1200 calories and work out 2-3 hours a day.  I could probably just barely manage either of those things but certainly not both (and probably not either, at least not for more than a couple of days at a stretch)!

But then I do know another girl who does it, so I guess it's possible!

Well, since I promised I'd be back with my results and not disappear like the OP, here I am to say that my thyroid came back "borderline" so I have to get it re-tested in three months.  Also my iron and estrogen are low and my bilirubin and eosinophil are high.  Not sure what that means and my doctor doesn't know either so have to get some of those tests done again in three months also.

Bizarrely, I've now lost 5 lb in the last 6 days so either something weird really is going on or we runners just monitor our bodies more closely than others and are thus perhaps overly quick to suspect that something is wrong?    

its just muscle development, muscle is heavier than fat so as your running your building your muscles therefore gaining weight

My housemate and I have been upping our activity level, and we just this week started training to run a 5K in November. (We walk quite a lot, but are complete newbies in running.) Both of us have noticed our weight increasing a bit in the last couple weeks. We're not worrying about it, chalking it up to muscle gain for now.

Anyway, I was sharing bits and pieces of this thread with her, and she reminded me that running also builds bone density. Denser bones weigh more, so that may also be a factor.

Just our two cents of thought-food. ;-) Good luck, all!

ETA: Oh, and jodaddy, I wanted to thank you for being an excellent voice of reason here. :-)

hey borntocry- I had some problems with low iron, including some weight gain. I'm not sure how it's related, but I guess if your body is off...I also was tired all the time (had no energy to speak of despite 9+ hours of sleep every night) and was having some serious digestive problems. I started taking an iron supplement followed by vitamin c (required to digest the iron) and within weeks noticed changes in my energy level...and a couple after that I started losing weight quickly. Might not solve your problem, but it's easy to change...

Good luck!

Barbara

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