I keep piling weight on and I can’t figure out why

[LukeSkywalkerBoots]

Hey all

My ‘happy weight’ is around 9 stone. However, over the last few years I have gone up to 10stone 4 which on my petite frame feels very uncomfortable (particularly around the middle).

This is what I eat on an average day:

Fruit with a spoon of almond butter and honey
A nakd bar
A bowl of kale and tuna salad with seeetcorn and a bit of salad dressing, or a tuna mayo pitta bread with an apple
A little homemade gingerbread man mid afternoon
Salmon and vegetable stir fry with chilli sauce and half a microwave rice
A bit more fruit and almond butter

I have quite a disordered relationship with food and worry a lot about what I’m eating putting weight on me.

I’m on pregabalin which may have added some weight to the pile- however I have been on it a couple of years and I thought medication weight gain would be rapid rather than slow?

I’d also be surprised if all of that food is more than 2000 calories so I would suspect it’s something else. I know not everyone needs 2000 calories but really, the last thing anyone needs is posters picking apart this pretty healthy daily food amount and saying bits and pieces of it are wrong. It’s well balanced and healthy in my view.

@daisydreaming no it’s pretty much what I’d eat when I was thinner.

Bloody pregabalin. Brilliant for zombifying the brain but awful for my stomach and weight gain. Must get on top of the anxiety another way.

I do exercise, I usually do a boxing workout at least five times a week and I go for walks too.

Thing is, if I stripped things like the nakd bars back I know I’d feel really deprived.

I literally just drink chamomile tea and at least 1.5 litres of water a day.

OP I know you didn't come on for pregablin advice, however...it does make some people bang the weight on. Also, it often under up having a paradoxical effect in relation to anxiety when taken for long periods. I am definitely not giving you medical advice but if you are feeling like you want to come off it, I would speak to your GP about a long, slow taper off. The longer the better, and see if it has any impact

First, as a PP said, do not start counting calories as you know you have a history of disordered eating, it’s the worst idea possible. If you are moving a reasonable amount you shouldn’t be gaining weight with that kind of diet so it seems more likely that the medication is playing a part. Are you continuing to a weight or do you feel it has stabilised and is hard to shift?

On the bloating, try keeping a diary of what you eat and when bloating happens to see if you can link anything, from there experiment with cutting out suspected culprits for a week or two and then reintroduce, watch for any reaction.

Finally - it’s natural to gain a little weight as we age and often our ‘happy weight’ at 20-30 may be different closer to 40+ (in terms of what our body wants to be)...our head needs to accept this. The most powerful way to feel better about this is, IME strength training. But any exercise that you enjoy will help you appreciate your body and take the focus off a number on a scale.

It's easy to overdo it on nut butters. Our metabolisms slow down with age, too.

10 stone 4 - 9 stone = 18 lbs.
18 x 3500 kcal = 63,000
few yrs = I'll call that 2 yrs (no idea what OP meant by few)
2 yrs x 365 = 730 days
63000/730 = 86 kcal

You only need to have overeaten by 86 kcal/day on average to have gained weight. That's a single apple excess intake/day. One apple.

If listening to your appetite isn't working you can either work on improving your hunger-eat triggers, or resort to strict calorie counting or another regime. I wonder if exercise helps some people eat less, actually, makes you more in tune with your body.

Maybe look at portion size, a portion is a lot smaller than some people realise.

I can't speak to the impact of your medication, but to anyone else in your circs I'd say cut the snacks and cut the almond butter and honey (fruit really is sweet enough without it).

It’s pregablin

That stuff is instant weight gain.

Sorry.

Look into alternatives if you don’t need it anymore - something you can wean off with.

How about looking into cold water therapy for your anxiety?

I put on weight with mirtazapine and at first thought it was one of those things - but when I started calorie counting I realised that no, I was just eating too much. By being really strict I've dropped it all and then some, and I'm still on the pills.

Instead of counting calories, could you work on changing your diet in a really simple way? Cut out processed foods for example, and focus on a simple vegetable and fruit-led diet for a while?

I cut out bread, dressings, salt, sugar, any processed snacks etc. I won't lie, the first two weeks were miserable but now its normal and the results have been amazing. It's made me healthier and less anxious too.

Strength training exercises rather than cardio boxing all the time are good too.

Its not what you're eating its hpw many yimes in a day you're eating. Have a look at IF and Jason Fung / Gin Stephens and the weight should drop off.

Your diet is pretty high in carbs -

Fruit with a spoon of almond butter and honey - high carb
A nakd bar high carb
A bowl of kale and tuna salad with seeetcorn and a bit of salad dressing, or a tuna mayo pitta bread with an apple high carb
A little homemade gingerbread man mid afternoon high carb
Salmon and vegetable stir fry with chilli sauce and half a microwave rice check chilli sauce ingredients - likely to he packed with sugars/starch and rice high carb
A bit more fruit and almond butter high carb

Read up a bit about the impact of carbs on your metabolism.

I'd be looking at cutting most of those out tbh.

And yes, the number of times you are eating in a day will have an impact too.

I had to make some guesses around fruit and portion size, but I just put your average day into MFP and it came out at just under 1600 calories. You say you're petite so it may be that this is too many calories for your size to lose or maintain weight.

It's worth doing a TDEE calculator to see what your maintenance calories would be.

I like this one tdeecalculator.net/

Nut butters can be pretty high in fat and calories, same with salad dressing. I'd eat them only occasionally.

Try adding low fat dairy (e.g. yoghurt), and make sure the salad dressing is a low calorie one (I often just use things like balsamic, red wine vinegar or lemon juice). Keep an eye on portion sizes, and make sure your plates are lunch and dinner are mostly non-starchy veg.

OP if you have disordered eating then it's not a good idea to start restricting. Your diet sounds very healthy to me, perhaps the weight gain is indeed related to your meds, or even hormonal.

Thats why I'm not suggesting restricting calories, just switching diets and cutting out some of the processed stuff. Eat till you're full but it's much harder to put on weight from eating mainly vegetables.

Your diet sounds really healthy & the only thing I wouldn't have is the nut butters. Try that for a few weeks & if there's no change then definitely see the GP over your meds.
Ignore anybody telling you 1 extra apple a day will make you gain weight (sounds like a miserableway to live life) & whatever you do avoid My Fitness Pal, you really don't want to get into restricting & disordered eating just because an app tells you to.

I think that's a bit rude of you actually.

One extra apple a day could make you gain weight, if it tips you over the calories you burn off.

That's not miserable, its just mechanics, and it possibly answers the OP's query about why she's putting on weight (which is why she posted after all).

Hmmm. I can see why people are suggesting restricting but I have a history of disordered eating and also on two occasions restricted to the point of being hospitalised (as a teen) and feeling lightheaded all the time.

I need to be able to eat like a normal human being, and not feel really anxious about food all the time, but I also don’t want to feel like a blob.