Things I don't understand about weight gain and loss...

[WeirdArchitecture]

I'm new to weight gain - lockdown gifted me with an increase of a stone - as was previously always same, low BMI.

Now I am wondering how it works as it seems stubborn to shift!

So, some say booze/wine is a culprit, but others say not. Some say it is nibbling/snacking but then others say 'little and often is good'.

I suppose it is different for all of us.
For me, the lockdown resulted in me barely moving at all for a year (WFH, no kiddies, etc), I have partaken of more red wine, and have possibly snacked more but on healthy stuff like cheese, nuts, wholegrains.

Now I am trying to get back to my previous weight and fitness, it is confusing me. I have cut out wine I the past week and quit the cheese and managed to lay on another 2lbs! WTF?

My other half says it is 'water weight' but what does that even mean?
I eat barely any sugar but do like occasional fats. Not much carb either apart from a rare panini.

Cold it be the wine? It does make me ravenous during and after drinking it. Any booze has this effect on me, it is like it sends a 'you are starving to death' signal to my brain. If I drink I will somehow munch on little crusts of bread (just mouthfuls) and nuts, seeds, etc.

From this description what would you say is likely to be putting it on?

I think movement does have a big influence at the lower end of overweight. I put on weight when i lost mobility and kept eating as if i were mobile. Its quite hard to adjust your diet down if you eat a nice healthy diet that isnt huge portions.

I only really went lost any weight when i became more mobile again, but i havent lost it all.

True about the snacks, it's just confusing because I always ate that way but only stacked it on since covid.

I must admit though that my wine consumption has grown since covid. I used to drink twice a week, a few whiskey and cokes, but really got into wine in past year.

I always feel much hungrier after drinking, perhaps some of it is boredom. My relationship is a bit iffy lately and I don't like where I am living (due a move soon). I wonder if I have drunk more to ease the boredom, stress. There have been precious few pleasures since lockdown here, and my mum died in November:(

wine and Netflix has been a soothing balm!

@MildredPuppy

I think movement does have a big influence at the lower end of overweight. I put on weight when i lost mobility and kept eating as if i were mobile. Its quite hard to adjust your diet down if you eat a nice healthy diet that isnt huge portions.

I only really went lost any weight when i became more mobile again, but i havent lost it all.

I have a friend who continued to eat the same after a knee surgery that resulted in her becoming disabled (has to use a scooter, etc). She did pile weight on and it took her a while to get her head around that.

Activity does seem to matter, and I agree more likely obvious at lower end of overweight.

In 2016 I had a really bad case of norovirus, had to go in hospital for fluids, etc. I lost so much weight it took me 2 years to get even close to normal again. This was more pronounced as my starting weight was so low. If that happened to me now I'd be back to my old normal;)

just googled and found this:
Alcohol switches the brain into starvation mode, increasing hunger and appetite, scientists have discovered. In tests on mice, alcohol activated the brain signals that tell the body to eat more food.

well that's me in a nutshell.

I always feel much hungrier after drinking, perhaps some of it is boredom

I found when I used to drink that alcohol was a trigger for eating because I relaxed and went into “don’t give a shit” mode. It completely overrode any willpower I had.

I really love the way red wine tastes with crackers, crusty bread and cheese....and oh god, OLIVES!
It is like rolling around in pleasure, lol.

We've all topped up our wine consumption so definitely don't feel bad.

But honestly I've gained 20lb between age 20 and 37. At 20 I ate chip butties, kebabs and lager. Now I eat all the green foods (plus wine but a fraction of what I drank in beer) but the years have kept going and my metabolism apparently hasn't been my friend.

I honestly eat half the calories I did at 20 and I'm 20lb more.

I'd be no help to you at all op, but I'd love to have you round my house

Our Fridays are often a couple of good bottles of wine, with comte and gouda, crackers and often also pate.

You wouldn't lose weight though. In fact I have no right to be suggesting stuff on this thread. I'd just make you fat.

But honestly I've gained 20lb between age 20 and 37. At 20 I ate chip butties, kebabs and lager. Now I eat all the green foods (plus wine but a fraction of what I drank in beer) but the years have kept going and my metabolism apparently hasn't been my friend

I often wonder though- at 20 i’d walk to the pub or to the bus stop, wander round chatting, often be stood up all night. Big nights would then be a fair walk to find a night club, and 3-4 hours dancing before walking to find a cab or nightbus.

That would be 2-4 nights a week. I reckon we burned off what we drank/ate fairly easily.

Whereas now i don’t go further than the fridge or the phone for my takeout and drinks.

Also at 20 my days off would be a wander to the city centre, and a day spend walking for hours round all the shops, trying on clothes, stopping for a sandwich. Now it’s click click from my sofa.

Metabolism aside if I really think about it I was simply far more active in my 20’s. Largely because I didn’t have kids in tow so I could walk an hour to the shop to save the bus fare, and I could spend all saturday shopping before coming home and getting dressed for the pub. Even my 15 year old will do well over 100000 steps in a day walking between classes and to and from school, far more than I do at work or even cleaning the house for a few hours.

I'll have to be contrary and admit that I was a tad more prone to gaining as a youngster. After about 30 it stabilised ....on the smaller side....until covid.
My sister is similar, was thicker set as a teen then slimmed out as an adult. She is 55 now and suddenly turned into an hourglass after a lifetime as a small-boobed pear!

@GoodnightOwl

I'd be no help to you at all op, but I'd love to have you round my house

Our Fridays are often a couple of good bottles of wine, with comte and gouda, crackers and often also pate.

You wouldn't lose weight though. In fact I have no right to be suggesting stuff on this thread. I'd just make you fat.

get the glasses out, I'll be right over

You are well within a healthy weight and would have been classed as underweight prior to lockdown (NHS advise minimum weight for your height as 7Stone 10lbs).

I think the amount you drink (which sounds like a bottle a day) is very bad for reasons unconnected to weight, particularly given your height and weight. I think you may need some support to give up op.

@PandaLady

You are well within a healthy weight and would have been classed as underweight prior to lockdown (NHS advise minimum weight for your height as 7Stone 10lbs).

I think the amount you drink (which sounds like a bottle a day) is very bad for reasons unconnected to weight, particularly given your height and weight. I think you may need some support to give up op.

Confused by this, I don't drink wine every day so how can it be a bottle per day? My consumption has increased through boredom, and I don't like that.

I was previously always somewhere between 7.13 and 8.2 stone.
Lower end of healthy, not underweight.

This was me before lockdown at my lower weight:

The only successful way I have ever managed to lose weight is to literally track every single calorie that passes my lips, try to burn at least 500 calories a day through exercise and and aiming to eat 750 calories less than I burn every day.
And as each calorie then becomes more important to me I tend to find I automatically steer myself towards healthier choices such as lean protein, lots and lots of salad and veg, cutting out empty calories such as sugar and processed food that doesn’t fill me up for long, and reducing alcohol intake to no more than 1 small glass a day.

Have lost 16lb in the last 7 weeks by doing just that (but still have another 8 to go!)

@PurpleDaisies

That sounds like a tiny amount of food for a day. How many calories do you think that is?

How tall are you and how much do you weigh now?

Im thinking the same. You should be dropping weight easily on so few calories. Have you had your thyroid checked?

Your age jumped out at me, 47 is probably peri-menopausal and the only thing that helped me shift any lbs is intermittent fasting in some way. I tend to try and eat in a window 10am-6pm only, so I fast 14-16hr overnight every day. Other people find it easier to have a couple of 500c days and reduced the carbs abit. If I just restricted calories with out the fast I’d be lucky to lose half a lb my body just won’t drop it now thanks to bloody peri-meno hormones.

I always wonder what is the science behind the idea of hormones not allowing the body to burn calories?
I understand the metabolism may slow with age, but I had a chat with a doctor about meno and weight, and she told me it is likely to affect how weight gain is distributed across the body, but not whether you gain it in the first place.

That said, I am clueless in general

What is MyFitness pal?
Do you have to pay for it like Noom?

You should be dropping weight easily on so few calories.
Have you had your thyroid checked?

I don't have any of the symptoms, but will consider this. If it is my thyroid, it has timed itself perfectly with a taste for red wine and a pandemic.

After some thought, I wonder whether I have become a secret eater..........somehow underestimating my total calorie input. As I have always been a small eater, perhaps I have steadily increased my intake and not really mentally clocked it.

Sorry, I read what you'd written as 3 large glasses every night, rather than every few nights!

@PandaLady

Sorry, I read what you'd written as 3 large glasses every night, rather than every few nights!

3 glasses can be a full bottle, I know - I tend to use the old fashioned sized glasses rather than those contemporary goldfish bowl sized ones!

Im honestly shocked how much you can drink in one glass nowadays, it's scary.

very easy to overdo it.