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Does this sound normal? Because I'm starting to worry...

15 replies

NoWayNoHow · 24/02/2015 23:33

Hello...
Short history... Until about a year ago, I've managed a relatively-easy-to-maintain weight of 10st0 - 10st3 (I'm 5 foot 4 so this is the heavier size of the healthy BMI range).

My "normal" weight then started to creep up to around the 10st8 mark and eventually hit 11st without anything else about my diet or activity levels changing- I cook from scratch, and eat healthily during the week but relax it over the weeknd.

So I did the 7 day juicing which shifted half a stone, but this went straight back on over Christmas, which I was expecting, but what I wasn't expecting was the battle afterwards to lose it. Since January, through a combination of juicing (which did not work at all this time) and the 5:2 (which has been working) I have shifted a grand total of 5lbs. This was up until half term when I had our (extremely fussy eater) family staying with us. In That ONE WEEK, I put on 7.5lbs.

I have looked at my food diary on MyFitnessPal and I have averaged 1414kCal a day over the last 3 and a bit weeks. An example of a day of food for me would be gluten free toast and egg for breakfast, salad or homemade veg soup for lunch and a healthy dinner of mainly protein and veg, but sometimes rice/gluten free pasta.

I am starting to get a bit worried that something else is gong on here - to be unable to lose more than 5lbs in 2 months despite being so careful but then to gain so much so fast has me concerned about all sorts(PCOS, diabetes, etc). As an aside, I do yoga as my form of exercise. It's not muscle weight either, just as a btw - I physically can't fit into my clothes any more.

Is it worth maybe making an appointment with the GP?

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ColdFeetWarmHeart · 25/02/2015 00:08

Do you have any other symptoms other than the weight gain/difficulty in losing weight noway?

I would be tempted to see GP to rule out anything serious. I have PCOS and it took years to get my diagnosis. I was only diagnosed when I was ttc, if I ever discussed my weight with GP or nurse I was just told to eat less and move more. With that in mind I would take a food diary with you. Can you print these off of MFP? Or at least the graphs and charts that show a monthly view etc?
If you don't have this much data, could you religiously log everything on MFP for a month, down to the last gram, to take with you to GP? A month may sound a lot, but that couple with weekly weigh ins would give GP more to work with. Plus it could take you that long to get an appointment Smile

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Caorunn · 25/02/2015 00:13

How old are you?

Post-40 it is an utter bitch. Weeks of carefully planned eating. One weekend of booze and eye off the ball - bang whatever lost plus a bit on. Always, every bloody time.

Is so much harder the older you get.

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Runningupthathill82 · 25/02/2015 06:54

Sounds like a simple case of too many calories I'm afraid.
When I lost weight on mfp I had to average under 1200 net a day to lose anything - and I'm taller than you.
Even then I only lost 2lb a month, but it's stayed off!

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Delphine31 · 25/02/2015 09:21

My feeling is that on less than 1500 cal a day you should definitely not be putting on weight and I would expect to see extremely slow but sustainable weight loss which is the best kind of weight loss.

I wonder with your 7.5 gain at half term whether it could be the case that the with the juicing diet some of the weight loss won't be 'real' as although you'll definitely lose some weight juicing you'll also appear to lose a few pounds that is just a loss of water retention. So the moment you stop juicing some of the weight would come back on straight away.

But the main thing here is that the possibility of the gain being due to an imbalance in insulin is playing on your mind. If you're concerned, make an appointment with your GP. After all the NHS is taking the rise in weight issues seriously, with an attitude of prevention is better than cure, so your GP should be happy to help you get to the bottom of this.

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26Point2Miles · 25/02/2015 09:35

Are you drinking enough water? Suddenly started drinking lattes or something? Drinking alcohol?

Stopped walking and started driving?

I'm in a similar position... Weight shifting so slowly this year, but I'm marathon training so I'm putting it down to that

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NoWayNoHow · 25/02/2015 09:46

Thanks all for the replies. I, too, feel like less than 1500 kcal a day should be sufficient for weight loss, especially combined with a 5:2 approach which has ALWAYS worked for me. Basically, Mondays and Thursdays I have 500 kcals; Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Fridays I average 1200-1500 kcals and Saturdays and Sundays a more lenient 2000ish. That feels like it should be enough, and it normally would be (based on past experience).

In terms of any other symptoms, I am a little worried about the smell of my Urine (sorry, TMI) - for about a year, it's had an almost biscuit-ey odour, not horrifically unpleasant, but not normal either. Occasionally I feel a bit faint and tingly and light-headed, but put this down to the fact that I have naturally very low blood pressure. Equally, I suffer a bit from fatigue, but put this down to a mild relapse of ME which I was diagnosed with about 10 years ago.

Is it possible I'm attributing symptoms to pre-existing conditions when they could actually be a sign of something else?

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Milllli · 25/02/2015 11:53

How old are you?Smile

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NoWayNoHow · 25/02/2015 12:43

I'm 36, nearly 37

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NoWayNoHow · 25/02/2015 12:44

Or, as my DS would say, 36 and 3/4 Smile

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Milllli · 25/02/2015 13:26

Bless, so not peri/menopause yet then?

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NoWayNoHow · 25/02/2015 13:31

Not unless it were unusually early - there has been a slight change in my cycle over the last 12-18 months, but nothing drastic really, just a gradual shortening from 26/27 days to 23/24 days.

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SunnySomer · 25/02/2015 13:39

I know people always say this, but I'd get your thyroid checked. I had many similar symptoms (slow weight loss, fatigue, low blood pressure) and have an under active thyroid. Since taking thyroxine things improved!

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m0therofdragons · 25/02/2015 13:54

Sounds like me and I've put it down to age. I'm 5 foot 4 and 10st 3 is the biggest I used to get to. By Jan this year I was 10 12. I'm doing mfp and eating 1200 but losing only 1 lb a week. Last week was half term and dd's birthday. Before half term I'd got to 10 1 but on Sunday I was 10 6! I think it must have been water retention as today I'm down to 10 stone after just 2 days back on calorie counting.
I've accepted i can't eat what I used to so by calorie counting I'm going to learn about what I should be eating.

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m0therofdragons · 25/02/2015 13:55

Forgot to say - I'm 32 with 3dc

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NoWayNoHow · 11/03/2015 15:29

Just an update - following another 2 weeks of averaging 1,357kCals a day, I have not shifter any weight at all. Did a bit of research online based on sunnysomer's post and have GP appointment tomorrow to hopefully get things checked out. Tick a lot of underactive thyroid boxes, including depression, weight gain and extreme fatigue, so would like to make sure all is good.

Thanks for all your responses

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