The harder i try, the more I gain

[Miraclemuma03]

Why is it the harder i try to lose weight, the more I keep gaining. Makes no sense. I have a gp appointment tomorrow to talk about a few things but have also decided to have thyroids and some other test run. When I gave up trying to lose weight, I maintained my weight but now im back to trying to lose this weight iv gained 3kg . Please tell me how this is possible.

That sounds really hard. Sorry you’re dealing with it.

How are you going about trying? If you give details, perhaps people can make suggestions or give tips?

Increased activities, changed eating habits even replace some meals with shakes (optifast) lowering my calories, increase in protein. Started noom. Im also in the midst of perimenopaus which is making me feel like im a crazy person. I originally lost 1.2kg when I started out with noom but every week the scales increased a little and not sure what i was doing wrong as I followed everything to a T. Not sure what more im suppose to do.. iv stopped noom now, and given up for a minute in trying to lose weight until I speak to my gp about running a few tests. I just dont understand how iv gained weight, makes no sense, yet when I wasnt doing anything I maintained my weight with no issues at all.

Is it possible that you go for a walk or swim and then tell yourself that you've exercises so can have a piece of toast or square of chocolate? You can't out exercise diet, so if you're doing that it could explain why you're gaining still.
I think bloods are a good idea though. X

Definitely get the bloods done just to make sure you haven't got anything going on

As PP said, you can not out exercise diet

The only way to ensure you have less calories going in is to weigh, measure and track - if you bite it you write as they used to say in WW

You can lose weight through peri and menopause , can be a bit slower then when you were younger, but perfectly possible

I lost over two stone a few years back and have maintained ever since

Have you started doing exercise particularly weights? It puts on water weight.

When you say you're gaining weight, what sort of time period are you referring to? Womens bodies fluctuate a lot during the month as to how much water we hold, so if you start at the 'wrong' time in your cycle the scales might still go up, because your hard work is masked by natural fluctuations. Though that doesn't mean the hard work is wasted, just that the fat loss will show up later.

As others have said, exercise can lead us to justify extra food, or even if we're being strict it can lead to an increased appetite.

Have you worked out your TDEE and then counted your daily calorie intake? That would be my starting point. If you are eating in a calorie deficit and still gaining weight it would point to a medical issue.

Thanks for the replies. Defintiely not eating stuff i shouldnt after excises or anything like that. I have progressively gained 25kg over 2yrs while painstakingly counting every calorie. Iv joined all sorts of walkathons, excises challengers, push up challenges, squat challangers, I have a small hobby farm so continuously carry 20kg bags of animal feed up hills and stairs, I potter and work in the yard daily. I own horses and train my horse every day. I have 2 toddlers and run around after them all day. Iv done weight watchers and noom and I swim. Iv given up now because im exhausted so I thought the next steps is to seek professional help. Iv seen my doctor today and he is sending me for tests for in depth bloods for my thyroids, hormones, glucose and stuff whatever else he has on the form to check for things that can cause excessive weight gain. My doctor also believes iv gained an excessive amount of weight in such a short amount of time and he does not believe its from eating too much food especially when hubby backed me up with what I actually eat in a day. I also showed him my food tracking app. Il be doing my blood tests next week and then have a follow up appointment the week after for results so il let you know what comes back.

With your update @Miraclemuma03 it doesn't sound like this is just a calorie in, calorie out situation. I hope the blood tests show something just so that you can get on top of it, because it sounds like you've worked bloody hard for zero reward.

I'm glad your doctor is taking it seriously - I hope the tests reveal something helpful.

@Miraclemuma03 , that really does sound odd So you are indeed wise to get all the bloods done

I know I piled it on, despite hiking miles, working in a factory in the freezing cold carrying 20kg weights all day every day when I hit Peri. I developed a bit of a wine habit during covid - had wine at home cos we weren't going out, and it was a habit I continued for wayyy too long ( not saying this is the same for you ) . Just seemed what I could get away with before peri, I then couldn't Now Im menopause I only have to look at chocolate and the waist line expands

Wine is now a treat IF we go for a meal

Hope you get to the bottom of it all x

Agree with PPs, sounds like a lot in 2yrs without there being an obvious cause - hope your GP can shed some light for you.

That's tough. I presume you are eating enough protein?

When i was younger and knew nothing about nutrition I tried to lose weight by eating toast and skipping dinners. I ate bread and the odd bit of fruit for a week or two and bloated up considerably. I was counting calories so it wasn't that I ate too much. I was heavy so this wasn't a slim person wanting to get skinny.

I go to a clinic now and they do a full body scan. I still gain weight very quickly (fluids) from carbohydrates, I believe considerably more than more people.

It's just something to consider. Maybe a body scan would help. Good luck with GP appointment

So when we eat in a deficit our bodies burn fat or muscle to fuel the energy needs, thus making our bodies lighter.

if in doing this our bodies become heavier, then it can only mean it is being replaced by fluid, and this amount of fluid on top of the weight you’d be losing is extreme. So you need urgent tests for your kidneys etc, to understand what is causing you to regain so much fluid,

if you’re just underestimating your total consumption over a week, then you need to cut back. But do the tests first and rule out a medial problem, if they come back clear them it’s your intake.

good luck, I really hope it’s intake.

Probably you are over restricting then binging. Do you know what your maintenance calories are?

Sorry I have just seen your update please ignore my unhelpful comment!

It sounds like a healthy issue I'm not qualified to comment on.

BUT. If bloods etc come back normal, GP says nothing wrong etc and you go back to maintaining on a "normal" diet, then my immediate thought is that you're making too drastic of a change to diet and it's not the right one for you. I'd go back to "normal" and then make smaller tweaks (e.g. cut the 11am biscuit, the weekly bottle of wine or the second serving of mash type thing).

So a bit of an update. My testosterone is extremely low, im definitely in perimenopaus as all my hormones are very low, without enough testosterone it can cause excessive weight gain and make it very hard to lose weight and with my levels, this has been my case. Iv been told im a good candidate for hrt and medical weight loss but unfortunetly cant start anything as im in the middle of ivf treatment but thought id update incase anyone is in my situation, my advice is to get a full panel of blood work done and go from there. Thanks for everyones responses and support. I already knew I wasnt over eating as I am pretty good at counting my calories and I know what I eat. Iv decided for the next month to just go on optifast to try to keep my weight down and not gain while I go through treatment.