Eating 1200 calories and GAINING weight. HELP!

[Incorgnito]

I'm 40. 5"4. And gaining weight when I've been eating 1200 cals. I strictly calorie count, including seasoning. I've gone up from 60kg to 63kg.

Only things I don't add are 1 tsp coffee granules, 2 tsp 0 cal sweetener and 2 decaff teabags, salt, as the calories are negligible.

It's making me crazy.

Are you weighing everything before you cook it?

I have the same problem. I weighed all of my food to confirm calories were correct. I got a Fitbit and I did 15000 steps every day which made a slight difference.

What were you eating before you started gaining weight?
It's impossible to be in a calorie deficit and gain weight, so there must be something else going on.

Have you taken neck, waist and hip measurements? If you've added in any exercise you may have lost fat but gained muscle. If this is the case you could weigh more but take up less space, so have smaller measurements. Otherwise, I'd ask for bloods to check thyroid especially.

Exercise? When I was losing, I needed to get down to 1500 net. The only way I could do it without being starving (albeit I am taller than you) was to increase exercise plus steps to give myself a reasonable amount to eat.

Underactive thyroid and lipoedema do that to me. Of course the competitive under eaters of Mumsnet don't like to think about that.

I was the same. Thyroid and bloods all fine. I think that at age 38 my metabolism slowed dramatically. I gained 2 stone whist eating 1200 and trying to lose the first stone I put on. I could only lose at 800cal (fast 800 diet), and then very slowly.
I started Mounjaro and it was like a reset, suddenly the same 1200 calories meant a loss of 3-4lb a week. The only changes I made were eating more protein and drinking 3l water a day.

Are you drinking enough water and getting enough sleep. If not inflammation and water retention can make a big difference on the scales, you also actually need water for the chemical process that breaks down fat so not getting enough fluid can make a drastic difference to weight loss. Measurements can be a better way of tracking loss sometimes too.

What did you eat yesterday?

I’m the same. If I go over 1200 calories I gain weight!!!! How is that even possible????? I’m 5’7”! I find if I sleep better, exercise and drink 2l of water it’s not as extreme but I’m feeling a bit desperate about it. I can’t eat so little forever.

I feel your pain!

A couple of things. Not all calories are equal. Low carb is the only way I can lose.

YES, as someone else has said here, 1200 on WLI and I can lose even with a few carbs.

I’m 41, 5ft4, 54kg and definitely lose weight at 1200 calories. Putting your stats into a BMR calculator suggests you should be burning 1250 calories per day just existing. Even with a sedentary lifestyle you’d be expected to burn 1550 calories per day.

Generally it’s an issue with tracking calories e.g not weighing foods correctly, missing out the oils or butters, underestimating, forgetting the odd snack here and there. I’d carefully check your calories for a few days, miscounting by a couple of hundred will make a big difference to progress.

If you’re totally confident with your tracking, I’d try and increase steps / exercise activity and see if that makes a difference.

Otherwise, not losing at 1200 calories would be suggestive of something else going on (just to add, I’m not medically trained!)

That does seem a bit low. I gain if I exceed 1300 calories but I’m sixty and only weigh eight stone at 5 ft 4.

Also, prioritising protein can help keep hunger at bay at lower calories and your body uses slightly more calories digesting protein than other food groups. Bulk out meals with veg and fruit.

Weigh daily and take an average weight over the week, weight fluctuates for various reasons so you have to look at the overall trend.

How long have you been doing it OP? I do 1200 calories a day and didn’t really notice any loss for a good few weeks (it was quite demoralising!), then eventually it started to come off.

All food is weighed pre-cooking.

I've had general blood and hormone tests for other issues. My iron is slightly low. Need OTC supplements.

Aside from my decaff tea and 1 cup of coffee in the morning, all I drink is water. So about 2L a day on average.

I don't lift weights and have a desk job so it won't be muscle. I also do a minimum of 10k steps a day, including 30mins treadmill a day for heart health.

Forgot to add yesterdays diary log.

1 cup coffee.

1 slice seeded bread with lentils and spinach.

1 flapjack.

1 High fibre wrap with 100g mince and 2 cheese slices and 30g quark.

1 decaff tea

200g 10% fat greek yogurt, with pineapple, raspberries and blueberries.

Total calories: 1,196.

What we're you eating before? You've maintained 60kgish presumably? Which is a completely healthy weight, you can't usually be gaining 3kg a week

Reduce your carbs and increase your protein, carbs cause water retention and you're eating them at every meal and a snack. The quark and Greek yoghurt is good, skyr and cottage cheese are good options.
What are your macros for protein amd carbs? Also make sure to count milk in coffee and tea if you take it. Stress and poor sleep increases cortisol which causes abdominal fat gain, could this be am issue?

My guess would be hormonal fluctuations causing illusionary weight gain, unless you have been on your 1200 cal diet for a few months and regularly gaining.

Assuming you haven't changed your diet recently, have you been losing up to this point? Or maintaining for a long time and suddenly started to gain?

It sounds incredibly frustrating, but I would continue with what you're doing and monitor the scales and if you continue to gain, look at diet changes, more protein/less carb helps some people. Add in exercise where you can, it doesn't necessarily help with weight loss but can give your metabolism a bit of a shift.