Messed up metabolism!

[Whathefisgoingon]

Hi all.

After having my son 2 years ago, I lost 3.5 stone on a low carb diet and walking a minimum 10k steps per day. I was 63kg which was ideal for my height.

My problem is that in the last six months since increasing my carbs and calories, I am gaining weight so easily. There is a strong family history of diabetes so I do need to stay relatively low carb, but I have found that if I eat anything over 1,500 calories per day, I gain weight. In the year I lost all the weight, I wasn’t calorie counting but I was on 2 meals a day, one being salad, so I’ve messed up my metabolism.

I’ve heard about “reverse dieting” but not sure. Considering seeing a nutritionist. I’m now still a healthy weight but need to lose around 4kg that I put on.

Has anyone had anything similar?

I have a very similar experience. I lost what was quite a lot of weight for me, around 7kg, by doing intermittent fasting after my son was born. Got down to 56kg, which I hadn't been since pre-kids, and it felt easy. I also felt like I was in such a deficit for ages, that I could almost eat what I wanted. I kept it off for quite a while, about two years, then it gradually crept back on.

Even though I've tried to return to strict IF, it doesn't seem to work now. I don't get hungry; it's almost as if I've trained my body not to need as much food. I'm still very low carb, and I rarely eat breakfast, but... have about 3kg to lose to return to my comfortable weight. It's not a big deal, so I haven't posted about it, but I don't feel as good in my clothes.

I've been doing weight training - and have been following quite a steady training schedule, but it still doesn't seem to have shifted my metabolism. It's kind of frustrating. I've started introducing more protein into my diet, and started eating breakfast again (usually just a small bowl of cottage cheese and some nuts), but so far (3 months in) I have only felt a little bit bigger rather than smaller. This seems a relatively common experience when starting weight training, but it's a bit depressing not to see any real improvements.

I'm of two minds. One of the tenets of IF (michael Mosely version) is that you really can't damage your metabolism as easily as people think. I do sometimes think...maybe I should just go stricter, be more patient, really calorie count, etc. But, I'm not sure I entirely trust this. I'm not sure - and haven't entirely ruled it out. But, to be honest, I'm sick of feeling weak, and the sense of diminishing horizons.

I think I'm going to push through and keep weight training - I imagine it might take up to a year to improve. So - basically, don't have much to add but you're not alone! And if anyone else has any advice, I'd also love to hear it.

are you still exercising?

@fiddletree I did some weight training for a bit too. My PT kept telling me I would gain on the scales but it would be muscle. I never did!

I don’t really trust calorie counting either. I’ve dropped 2.2kg in the last week by going back to my old diet, eliminating most carbs and a having chicken salad for dinner! I think this will have to be the way for life now. I was using my fitness pal which is somewhat controversial and I reckon underestimates everything. Still, even then I was tracking less than 2,000 calories and according to every calculator I’ve used I should be able to eat 2.5k calories and maintain my current weight which doesn’t happen.

It’s frustrating because for the first year or so I found it so easy. I would have genuinely preferred to have a salad than a burger or pasta, but now..... jeez!

It’s especially draining fussing around for a low carb meal for myself after making different ones for DP & DS.

@ivykaty44 Yep, I’ve consistently hit a minimum of 10k steps most days for almost 3 years now!

I'm exactly the same. I can lose weight but it takes forever. One treat weekend - eg if we are away and I relax - and it's all back on and takes several weeks to lose.
I had my blood sugar tested and I have been borderline type 2 diabetic - I did used to eat too much sugar (see my username) which seems to have led to a situation where a little sugar now puts my body into fat storage mode.
The only thing that works for me (and slowly) is going very low sugar (inc wholewheat everything, no white) and exercising for a burn of 400-500 calories a day which is about 1.5 hours ish of walking or cycling to keep my metabolism going. It's frustrating. I know if I ate what I wanted I'd quickly need to be hoisted out of my bedroom window if I needed to leave the house.

Also - low carb doesn't work for me - it's caused a benign ectopic heart beat from too much protein - something to do with a hormone. Go low GI.
Weight training also didn't work for me.

Hmmm, 4kg isn't a lot really. It's about half a stone. I wouldn't notice that really TBH if I put it on, unless I was really thin.

How tall are you if you're still a healthy weight where you are now? Perhaps your body doesn't want to be 63kg despite what you may want or the BMI range says you should be.

If living off chicken and salad is making you miserable you need to decide if being the perfect weight is realistic. I think too many people go into trying to obtain the perfect body without realistically thinking about what that entails. I've always been just outside my healthy BMI (10 stone, I'm short) because I'm frankly not prepared to starve or exercise to excess to be under 10 stone. I've learned to reach a compromise.

@Godzillawilla I’m 5’7. I definitely don’t feel comfortable at my current weiht! The weight gain shows on me and none of my jeans from last year fit. I feel best around 60-63kg although anything under 65kg is impossible for me to maintain by the looks of it. In my foolish youth I went on a starvation diet to get under 60kg and could barely reach 59kg which is still considered a healthy weight for my height.

@TooMuchToblerone Exactly that. If I had 3 meals a day I’d be straight back to square one.

I am.sorry but if your body is happy at 65 kilos instead of 62 and you can maintain that without angst, buy some bigger clothes and get comfortable in them. I absolutely guarantee that you won't look significantly different at the two weights if your clothes fit properly . Keep fit and.work on feeling good about yourself at a couple of kilos heavier than your ' ideal weight'

Obviously try not to go over 65kg but really are those 4-5 kg really worth the unhappiness and stress ?

@bumblingbovine49 sorry, I didn’t explain that very well.

id be happy to be able to maintain 65kg, but I can’t. As soon as I started eating more calories and carbs I went up to 72kg and I’m now at 70kg having to extreme diet to get back to 65Kg ish.

Well how much exercise are you doing per week? I am 5'6, so similar height, size 12, and my daily cals required for maintenance are about 1500 if sedentary, 1700 if doing basic activity (supermarket, cleaning house, etc), and more like 2000 if walking 5 miles or so.

I think maybe your expectations of how much you should be able to eat is way too high? Surely your extra inch of height doesn't allow you to eat 2500?

@Orangio Perhaps. I used various calculators. I didn’t eat 2,500 though, when using My fitness pal I tracked them at 1,500 and I wasn’t losing weight despite walking 4/5 miles a day.

You are stable at around 1500 so that's what you can eat?

Your metabolism is controlled by your body releasing thyroxine, not sure how you can mess up this by diet?

i don’t think we know enough about calories and the effect on the body, 1000 calories from chocolate or two meals of brown rice and lentil dalh is not going to retain the same amount, have the same effected in the gut & digestive system

all the calories from the choclate will be easily absorbed, but the same will not happen with the lentils and rice. Humans are not simple combustion engines that burn food, we are complicated musical science and this means a calorie is not a calorie

nuts containing 180 calories so not leave 180 calories in the body when we eat them - it’s more like 140 calories

perhaphs as the foods you are eating has changed, your body absorption is more calories and your appetite has increased leaving you eating more

Just found this thread! Did you try the reverse dieting?

I'm about to start pushing up my calories by about 30 a day. I am stuck at the same weight now for a month despite eating so well and so carefully. My body has adapted to 1200 calories a day which would be fine but I am overweight.