Alarming weight gain


(Gabe “No Dogma, Only Science Please!” ) #1

So for about a year, I’ve been stalled around 80-81kg (after dropping from around 93kg in mid-2016, rapidly losing 10kg in 10 weeks), which was frustrating but vaguely acceptable.

The weight has been coming back on slowly. It’s sinister but it’s very noticeable. My pants don’t fit as well. I feel my belly getting bigger.

Nothing has really changed in how I eat; if anything, I cheat way less than I ever did when I was maintaining. The only real difference has been that I had a sudden hearing loss in December which meant the doctors told me I couldn’t weight train. This was just a couple of weeks into me deciding to focus exclusively on strength training following Doug McGuff’s protocol. So I basically stopped exercising altogether.

This is confusing to me, because I figured if I kept eating low-carb, I might not lose more weight, but how could I gain? But here I am, seemingly on track to gain more and more weight eating the same way that lost me all the weight in the first place. I have to conclude now that exercise of some kind is necessary even for maintenance.

I’m kind of freaking out! It’s really worrying me.

Do any of you have thoughts on this? Similar experiences? Suggestions?

Gabe


Slow down...slow down...stop!...gain weight!
70% fat,25% protein ,5% cabs macro rations. is that in grams or calories?
The last 10 pounds
(Karen) #2

Obvious question, but have you been eating too few calories? Your body will fight back.

K


(Gabe “No Dogma, Only Science Please!” ) #3

I’ve never counted calories, but I eat to satiety. I’ve never had an issue with weight gain on LCHF before. I’m finding this very worrying.


(Dan Dan) #4

Fasting is a good for resetting and jump starting the metabolism :thinking:


(Gabe “No Dogma, Only Science Please!” ) #5

I already intermittent fast. I really don’t think longer fasts are any way for me to get my weight down in a healthy way — and then maintain it till the day I die. Apologies to those who believe otherwise.


(Kate) #6

Are you under a lot of stress at the moment or chronically stressed? I know for me that can cause me to gain. When my mother in law visited it sent my blood sugars so high and I gained a bunch of weight and then once she was gone it took a week for it to go back down. I notice this always happens when I am stressed or sick.


(Gabe “No Dogma, Only Science Please!” ) #7

Not really; certainly there’s been no change from a few months ago. I was sick last week and have put on more since then, so that could explain the most recent gain. But I can feel that my body’s set point has gone way up and I’m afraid this might be a runaway effect. I really want to stem the tide and I don’t know what to do; I’m not eating any differently!


(Betsy) #8

Is your hearing loss total? Has it returned?


(Betsy) #9

Any possibility of being hypothyroid?


(Gabe “No Dogma, Only Science Please!” ) #10

Thanks for asking Betsy. Most of my hearing returned the day after the loss. The initial loss was huge but I couldn’t get a hearing test till the day after, when it was “only” 5dB. It’s remained at 5dB with lots of symptoms like pressure and tinnitus. They put me on steroids followed by many weeks of diuretic. That’s all stopped now. The steroids might explain the first kilo of weight gain, but I was off them after about 10 days (ie by Jan 1, see chart above) and I don’t think diuretics cause weight gain.

They still don’t know what caused the sudden hearing loss; it’s a medical mystery apparently.


(Betsy) #11

Do you have a thermometer to take your temperature?

I see a homeopathic remedy that fits the hearing symptom, if your temp is low, there is an even better chance of it being a clue to the reason. Even if you don’t want to take a remedy, it’s still a clue.


(Joe) #12

I could only imagine that the combination of not training and/or the new medications are the most likely culprits. I kinda think as we get closer to our set points or plateus it would make sense we are more Metabolically sensitive to changes. Maybe someone with more experience could expound of this is in fact the case. I presume we lose mitochondria when not training so if your body adapted to that level of activity then the mitos drop you don’t burn as much fuel at baseline. I get that this worrisome its frankly my biggest fear as I keep going because this has by far been the most enjoyable and effective WOE I have experienced. KCKO! In the absence of anything else going on I would hope this is just a hiccup.


(Joe) #13

Also your chart looks remarkably like a stock chart. Actually displaying some technical buy/sell signals. Totally irrelevant but interesting to me. :laughing:


(Todd Allen) #14

A couple weeks ago I had an unexpected gain of 8 lbs over a few days, the last couple of which I near fasted in hopes of reversing the gain. Then I noticed my feet and lower legs were plumping up - water retention. I cut back on salt, had been getting a little carried away with it and shifted my exercising from an upper body focus to more lower body stuff and dropped 10 lbs in a week.


(Joe) #15

@gabe, @brownfat’s post have me a quick thought. I think he may be spot on with the sodium. Quick literature search and found this.


(Petra) #16

I feel your pain! I’m a woman and older than you, so maybe not comparable, but I lost 20lbs on Keto fairly easily. Then, like you, without any changes in my diet, no medications, I started gaining weight. I have regained 16lbs and can’t get rid of them, fasting or not fasting, it doesn’t make a difference. I am very active, teach tennis 4 times/week, play myself and move more than 5 miles every day. I am tinkering with different supplements, but I have not been able to crack the code. Very frustrating!!
In your case, I strongly believe the steroids are to blame. Get them out of your system and allow your body to regroup. Good luck!


(Gabe “No Dogma, Only Science Please!” ) #17

Well I’ve started back at the gym over the weekend, doing McGuff’s Big Five plus some interval training for good measure. @SlowBurnMary turned me on to McGuff.

I’ve been IFing for the past couple of days until late afternoon too. But I am worried that fasting and not doing anything more drastic is going to fuck up my metabolism even worse than it already is.

To be honest, once I got down to about 80kg, I could feel my metabolism slow and it sure felt like my body hit a set point. Nothing I could do got it any lower than 78.5 on a good day. Something changed in December/January, prob the meds and the lack of training and the winter all at once.

I’m just praying I haven’t done any long-term damage like those Biggest Loser folks in the study! (https://www.vox.com/2016/5/18/11685254/metabolism-definition-booster-weight-loss)


(Joe) #18

If you haven’t or even if you have go back and check out some of Dr. Fung’s you tube stuff. The science is there. It goes against our conventional wisdom because of all the junk science we have been fed over the years. Dont be afraid to eat and eat (keto of course) when not fasting. Remember its the insulin and not the calories that causes the weight gain. It seems easy to slip back into CICO when the results arnt there when you want them. Nothing goes perfect forever. It has gotten you this far and you know where CICO and SAD gets you weve all seen that road.


(Gabe “No Dogma, Only Science Please!” ) #19

You make a good point. The truth is that eating enough isn’t a problem; apart from when I’m IFing, I eat when I’m hungry and I eat till I’m full. As of the weekend, I’ve started being far more strict about carbs; I’m pretty much exclusively eating meat and vegetables and I’ve cut out most dairy, nuts, dark chocolate, and the fruit that I was “cheating” with occasionally. (Though I should note that I was stable at 80kg for over a year and that nothing, seemingly, has changed in my diet. Not radically, anyway.)

I’ll watch what happens in the next week or two and report back.


(Dan Dan) #20

The Biggest Loser FAIL and That Ketogenic Study Success
May 3 2016 by Dr. Jason Fung, M.D.

So here’s what we’ve learned so far.

  1. Cutting calories puts you into starvation mode.
  2. The key to losing weight in the long term is maintaining basal metabolism, or keeping ‘Calories Out’ high.
  3. Failure rate of Eat Less, Move More is proven to be 99% or so. This remains the diet advice favored by most physicians and dieticians.
  4. Starvation (fasting or bariatric surgery) does not put you into starvation mode.
    Ketogenic diets do not put you into starvation mode.

“We need to keep basal metabolism high. What doesn’t put you into starvation mode? Actual starvation! We see this effect with either studies of fasting, or studies of bariatric surgery.”

“In 4 days of fasting, basal metabolism did not drop – instead, it is increased by 12%. Exercise capacity (measured by the VO2) is also maintained.”

“May the Force (fat adaption) be with you”

IF/EF Keto WOE is Self-Discovery :wink:

Good luck and much success in your journey in IF/EF Keto WOE :grin: