Gained a stone?!

[NoOneToCallWhenThePlaneLands]

I’m just going to spill everything here because my head is a mess.

I started mounjaro last summer. I lost about seven stone.

I had been feeling like it was less effective for me for a while now. But I pressed on, and stayed on it while I was having surgery three months ago. I was 15 stone 8 when I went for my surgery.

Since that, I have been less active than usual. I was still eating at maintenance/a slight deficit.

i started back at the gym three weeks ago. I’ve gone into a full on programme of cardio and muscular exercises.

I’ve weighed myself at the gym tonight and I’m 16 stone 5.

im gutted. I feel like I could cry. I haven’t been 100%, but definitely not at a point to gain that much. I feel like there’s no point continuing to pay for Mounjaro when I’m just failing on it, but also I wouldn’t be able to continue at my current calorie level (1400 a day), without it.

my current stats are

5 foot 4.7

16 stone 5.

what do I do?! I don’t know whether switching to wegovy could be useful?! I’m currently doing a split dose of 10mg every 4 days.

I just feel like throwing in the towel. Maybe this is where I’m meant to end up

Irrelevant. I was verifying the scale from the gym.

Not irrelevant. You weigh more at the end of the day becuase you've eaten and drunk all day

It wont account for 12lbs of course but try to be more accurate

In any case, just carry on carrying on and it will come back off.

Not irrelevant at all. Weighing at different times of day makes a huge difference. You can only truly calculate what you've gained by using the same scales, at the same time of day, with the same or similar clothes/no clothes.

@NoOneToCallWhenThePlaneLands you have not put on 8 lbs of fat in the course of 3 to 4 days since you last weighed. You have not been over-eating to the tune of several thousand calories, so any fluctuation in weight will be temporary, due to differences in when/where you have weighed yourself, hormonal changes, hydration, etc etc.

In any lengthy weight loss process there will be ups and downs, times when things aren't going as well as you hope. The trick is not to be derailed, and to continue on in your calorie deficit and the number on the scales will fall again.

There are loads of valid reasons why the scales may not be an accurate source of information right now. The main ones I would suspect will be water retention and inflammation.

Water retention - bodies are really clever and fucking annoying. They NEED water, it’s necessary for healing muscles torn by new and hard exercises, to allow organs to function and to enable the chemical process of lipolysis which is the break down of fat. If your body recognises it has higher needs than usual then it will hold on to every drop. The answer is to drink more.

Inflammation - You’ve had surgery I don’t know what kind but any wounds cause inflammation, inflammation causes water retention, which causes weight gain, but not fat gain.

In addition other factors will probably have slowed fat loss:

• stress hormones are released in response to the surgery and to interruptions in sleep, these can actually cause your body to stop breaking down fat as efficiently.
• You say you’ve been eating to maintenance so that would have slowed down loss
• you may have increased your muscle mass.

a couple of weeks of hydrating, making sure you take adequate rest days between work outs to allow for healing and eating at a deficit should fix it.

My maintenance at 5’4 is 1400

Do you weigh 16 stone?

I think maybe you’re confused. This is likely just different time of day and water.

just weigh on your normal scales tomorrow morning, or whatever time you normally do. And stop panicking you must know you’ve not gained all that weight in 3-4 days,

I somehow gained 8 pounds last week despite very much being in a deficit (I’m not on WLI though if that makes a difference) and this week I’ve lost it all plus an extra two pounds.

I have no idea what was going on and I weigh on the same scales at the same time every day, so it wasn’t that. Bodies just do weird things sometimes!

I think you need to:
cut back to 1,200
eat at least 120g protein
eat 30g fibre
15,000 steps a day
strength training 3x a week

Your height may have measured shorter due to the time of day. I lose an inch between morning and evening.

Realistically you don't know when that stone went on - for all you know you put 2 on and are already losing again.

My best advice is to dust yourself off and make a fresh start today, but the big difference being you're going to weigh yourself as often as you can.

Same time of day, same scales, same conditions (for me it's after no.2s, before food/drink, naked!). If you don't own scales, buy some today and use those.

Then, if the scales are moving in the wrong direction or not at all, you know that immediately and if a trend continues more than a week you know adjustments are needed. It's all very well to calculate TDEE and weigh food and whatnot but the scales give you the most accurate data about is working or not working for YOU and your individual body.

1200 isn’t enough for an adult woman who is extremely active.

1300 calories a day is only a 300 calorie defeicit. I would look to lower your calories.

My BMR is 1740. Eating in a deficit of 300 a day should produce a loss of about a pound every 10 to 14 days or so. Adding in exercise increases that deficit. I am happy with slower weight loss as I have lost a huge amount in a short space of time and lost hair etc along the way. I’m not looking for advice to speed up the losses - I’m asking why I gained.

That’s what I have been eating each day since June. I’ve been to the gym every day lifted heavy (I’ve got an PB deadlift of 97.5kg and squat of 92.5kg during this time) and averaged almost 20k steps on that. I’m 163cm. Most days I’ve run 5km. My BMR is circa 1,500, my TDEE as estimated by my Fitbit is 2,400 (as I am so active).

The issue is that BMR calculators aren’t accurate and it’s very hard to measure exactly whay you eat. So a deficit of 300 ends up being maintenance.

If you gained a stone you’ve eaten a surplus so the estimate of BMR is inaccurate.

I think we’ve concluded it’s not fat though. My TDEE according to my Apple watch is 3000+ a day.

I’ve weighed as I normally would this morning. 16 0 dead on. So it’s a gain of 6lbs. That feels more like it could be water and other things?

It could indeed be water or inflammation. Drink a little more.

I believe salt and carbs also cause you to hang on to water, so a treat meal can look worse than it is next day.

Just give it a few days for your body to regulate.

Take it gently.

Also, I am literally heavier when I’m fed up. No idea why, but I have friends who say the same. Misery weighs me down, or I’m miserable with a couple of extra pounds. Or inflammation makes me sad. Who knows. But if you are sad and stressed, you may be a couple of pounds up for that!

My maintenance (based on me being 5 foot 3) is apparently 1700 a day. So 1400, plus my exercise, should still be a deficit. And nowhere near enough to cause a gain of a stone.

This 👆stood out to me. You've been back in the gym for three weeks. Are you eating back calories expended by exercise at all?

Also, are you on any medication? That could be causing water retention or changing your usual body functions in some way. Make sure your macros and fibre are correct and that you're eating enough protein.

I’m not eating back calories, never have. I’m not expecting for it to be dropping off me like it did before, but I don’t want that either. I want to continue losing slowly. Not gaining when I’m in a deficit!

What type of surgery did you have and were you on any medication for it? Some might cause swelling/inflamation in joints, thyroid surgery might slow metabolism, ovarian surgery might affect hormones and fat storage, steroids or beta blockers for surgery can cause fluid retention/fat storage etc.

I would get some cheap scales for home and track at a consistent time of day. It is your average weight over a week that is important rather than the day to day fluctuations.

Sinus surgery, no meds. Just come off a course of antibiotics for an ear infection though, but that was relatively minor

In addition to the water weight, it could also be a bit of muscle gain if you have been going to the gym. I wouldn't worry about it - focus on how you look and where clothes are fitting etc. I've lost two stones on Mounjaro so far and I'm going through small gains and plateuing.