Gaining weight from barely eating

[Janeway]

This is probably going to be a vent post as I doubt anyone has suggestions that will work for me but....

 

I already see the endocrinologist every 3-4 months. I already take Synthroid and Metformin. BUT, every single time I reduce my caloric intake, regardless of why, I gain weight! Not kidding. 

 

I had dental work done two months ago. It left me with teeth pain and difficulty eating. I am not consuming a ton of calories. My day consists of, for example, yesterday, two cups of coffee (one large actually so I am counting as two, my coffee cup is big, but it was coffee made at home), a piece of toast, and a salad with lettuce, cucumber, mozzarella, and the house dressing from the Italian place. It was technically a side salad, so that size. Then before bed, I had a Greek yogurt. This is a typical day.

 

Today, I am 20 pounds more than I was when the dentist mutilated my teeth. The doctor did suggest weight activities, so I bought weights to put on my wrists to add to my day. But, the back pain has started that comes with the higher weight.

 

I am so frustrated! I know this is the curse of my genes, but I am seriously so frustrated. I started crying this morning about it and my husband tried to tell me how sexy I am anyway, but I hate how I feel.

[Annie G]

:grouphug: 20 pounds in two months AND dental pain is awful. I'm so sorry.  I hope you can find some answers because something has to be going on. 

[HomeAgain]

Toast, salad, yogurt. That would put my body into survival mode and make it hold on to calories for dear life. 

[Snickerdoodle]

What does your endocrinologist think of your diet?  Does he think you are getting enough nutrients by eating this way?      How is your sleep?

[SparklyUnicorn]

Could this be a swelling/water weight issue? 

[maize]

I am thinking your body has determined that food is scarce and it is storing all it can.

[Spryte]

I agree that you are in survival mode.

 

And I think you should talk to your endo about this.

 

I have a similar issue. I have always been small, but not any more. If I'm not starving AND exercising, the weight is going on. :(

 

FWIW, here is what we are trying:

 

- doublecheck that thyroid and adrenal meds are right

 

- I have serious GI issues (history of C Diff and dysbiosis) so rechecking gut flora and for pathogens. Treating leaky gut. Again.

 

- hormone check. I have PCOS, I'm sure that's an issue. Right now my progesterone is low (so staring a higher dose of supplement) and testosterone is high (progesterone will help, along with Addison's treatment changes).

 

- ketogenic diet. Doc has me following ketoblog.

 

- I have a mountain of supplements, including three binders.

 

There's more, but that's a start. If any of those ideas look compelling, feel free to ask for details.

[regentrude]

I am sorry, this must be very frustrating.

With this little food, it seems virtually impossible that the weight gain is due to fat storage, because you are not eating enough calories to make 20 lbs of fat in two months (1 lb of fat is 3,500 calories). So, I would suspect your weight gain is due to you retaining water. The causes (and remedies) for this need to be discussed with your doctor,  but it also means that drastic caloric restrictions are not going to address this issue.

Best wishes.

Edited May 29, 2016 by regentrude

[GailV]

 I'm so sorry -- that must be so frustrating!  It really does sound like a hormonal issue/ metabolism issue.  Even though you're getting bigger, it doesn't sound as though you're being nourished.  I hope your endocrinologist can help you straighten it out. 

 

 

[Ellie]

This is probably going to be a vent post as I doubt anyone has suggestions that will work for me but....

 

I already see the endocrinologist every 3-4 months. I already take Synthroid and Metformin. BUT, every single time I reduce my caloric intake, regardless of why, I gain weight! Not kidding. 

 

I had dental work done two months ago. It left me with teeth pain and difficulty eating. I am not consuming a ton of calories. My day consists of, for example, yesterday, two cups of coffee (one large actually so I am counting as two, my coffee cup is big, but it was coffee made at home), a piece of toast, and a salad with lettuce, cucumber, mozzarella, and the house dressing from the Italian place. It was technically a side salad, so that size. Then before bed, I had a Greek yogurt. This is a typical day.

 

Today, I am 20 pounds more than I was when the dentist mutilated my teeth. The doctor did suggest weight activities, so I bought weights to put on my wrists to add to my day. But, the back pain has started that comes with the higher weight.

 

I am so frustrated! I know this is the curse of my genes, but I am seriously so frustrated. I started crying this morning about it and my husband tried to tell me how sexy I am anyway, but I hate how I feel.

 

A common hypothyroid complaint. I'd bet that you are undermedicated, and I would not be surprised to learn that your endo only tests TSH, or maybe also Free T4, but not Free T3, Free T4, and Reverse T3. He probably doses you based on TSH, which, BTW, is a pituitary thing, not a thyroid thing.

 

Adrenal/cortisol issues can also cause weight gain. The best way to test that is a 24-hour saliva test, which you will most likely have to order on your own. Stop the Thyroid Madness has a link for you to order your own.

[Ausmumof3]

I would absolutely starve! Did the dental work involve taking antibiotics at all? That could have messed up the gut flora if they were oral. Otherwise I agree it's either water retention or some other issue. Medical advice is usually if weight gain happens that's not explained by diet go get it checked out. Of course convincing the Drs to believe that's your actual diet can be hard so you could try a food journal as evidence.

 

As far as the way you feel it can be helpful to look for some things you do like about yourself and focus on them. Nice eyes? Smile? Curves can be beautiful. Just because you have weight gain doesn't mean you have to feel bad as well. Idk I know this sounds so trite but sometimes we need to hear it.

[Janeway]

My endo does not know how little I have been eating because it only started after the bad dental work. I know my cortisol is often high, but that never gets discussed. Plus, I have asthma so I have been on steroids recently. The baby still breastfeeds too.

[Janeway]

Oh, and the ketogenic diet doesn't work for me, based on testing I have had done.

[Pegasus]

This will explain why eating very little not only can, but will, cause weight gain:

 

http://www.dietdoctor.com/first-law-thermodynamics-utterly-irrelevant

 

I wish you the best of luck as you pursue solutions for your health issues.

[eternalsummer]

This will explain why eating very little not only can, but will, cause weight gain:

 

http://www.dietdoctor.com/first-law-thermodynamics-utterly-irrelevant

 

I wish you the best of luck as you pursue solutions for your health issues.

 

I dunno, I skimmed that article but it said clearly that physics somehow doesn't apply to physiology.

 

While it makes sense that the calories your body needs and will use (instead of store) may change depending on how much you eat or how much you exercise or how your insulin is regulated or what drugs you are taking, I can't see how the laws of physics could magically not apply.

 

If you are not eating 20 lbs of calories in a month (which I think is like 2000+ calories a day?) how can you gain 20 lbs of fat (or muscle)?  Nothing comes from nothing.  Even if you don't burn a single calorie, it just doesn't work mathematically.

 

On the other hand, you might be retaining water for sure (being as how it doesn't require you to eat anything one way or another).  Steroids are notorious for causing weight gain.

 

 

Edit: ah, I see, the 20 lb took 2 months.  Still, that is like 1100 calories of fat storage a day, and it doesn't sound like you're eating that much.

Edited May 29, 2016 by ananemone

[trulycrabby]

My first thought was Cushing's, so I recommend getting your cortisol levels checked. Steroids can cause Cushings syndrome.

[Spryte]

Oh, and the ketogenic diet doesn't work for me, based on testing I have had done.

I haven't tried it either, yet. It's just one of the next steps. Among many.

 

If your cortisol is often high, that might be a factor. And taking steroids is what I do to raise my cortisol.

 

Can you tell your endo? I'd suspect it's all related.

[Janeway]

What steroids are you taking ? Prednisone ? it causes weight gain. 

Prednisone is the main thing. But the inhalers and breathing treatments have steroid in them. I have also been on antibiotics and have been taking probiotics. <I am getting so old!>

[J-rap]

Another thing to consider, is where you are as far as menopause, although I have a feeling that you're not there yet.  :)  But when I reached menopause, I felt like I could barely eat anything and would put on weight.  It probably took 3-4 years for my body to figure out what to do with food!

[Joules]

I dunno, I skimmed that article but it said clearly that physics somehow doesn't apply to physiology.

 

 

Certainly not a very clear explanation.  Right up there with the evolution/2nd law argument leaving out the sun. 

 

I do think the system is more complex than 

calories in - calories out = fat stored

because you are ignoring lots of uses and waste of energy by the body.

 

The first figure here:

http://www.fao.org/docrep/006/y5022e/y5022e04.htm

is better at showing the complex distribution of the calories out.

 

Looking through the factors:

 

The very first thing listed is Faecal Energy.  Every calorie you eat isn't even absorbed into the body from the digestive system.  The limit of this we've all experienced with the GI bugs that run all food right through us.  It is why Olestra worked as a diet aid for some.  Some people are super efficient and absorb every calorie, some not so much.  That's one of the factors that would be accounted for when measuring an individual's basal metabolism rate (BMR), the amount of calories required for bodily functions.

 

I had to laugh at Combustible Gas.  It's probably not an area people are looking to for weight loss, wouldn't be worth the trade-off.

 

For those two, keep in mind that dung and methane burn, so they do contain calories that aren't used in the body.

 

Apparently there is a little energy lost in urine (obviously more if there is protein in your urine), but the energy required to make urine is included in an individual's BMR.  And some lost in sweat, maybe?  (That's new to me.)

 

I would guess (but haven't done the research) that individual differences in Heat of Microbial Fermentation are caused by different gut flora.  This would likely be complex, because it is burning calories, but it is warming up the digestive track.  Some of that heat would reduce the energy expenditure required later to maintain body temperature (in BMR).  It is not likely a simple subtraction.

 

Dietary Thermogenesis is huge.  No machine is completely efficient and there is waste in converting food to fuel.  Some foods require more work to extract energy (more likely whole foods), others like juice require little.  Again some of this waste is heat that goes to keeping our body temperature up.

 

Heat lost from the effects of cold, hormones, certain drugs, bioactive compounds, and stimulants are also on the list. These vary so widely with people's environment, health conditions, medications, and dietary choices.  

 

One of the last is the BMR - how many calories it takes to keep you alive.  This varies by person.  They give us an estimate based on age, height, weight and gender, but it is actually different for each person as it depends on your efficiency and some of the above factors.  It can be measured by isolating you, seeing how much heat you put off and measuring the energy in your poop, pee, gas, and apparently, sweat, though you will only see that in a research lab.

 

All of this is not to say that controlling the diet and exercise won't make a difference.  Those are large factors in the overall equation, and they are the things that an individual can control.  But when frustrated dieters say it is not as simple as CICO, I think they are right.  

 

 

 

 

(I know many people don't believe that metabolism can make that much of a difference.  I've had Grave's disease and saw it in person.  It is a hyperthyroid condition that ramps the metabolism in every way.  Before I was diagnosed, I was eating everything in sight.  Giant ham sandwiches at 2 in the morning and still losing half a pound a day.  On medication, I ate half as much and started putting the weight back on.)

Edited May 31, 2016 by Joules

[Joules]

There really is glucose in sweat:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22376082

 

Doesn't seem like a huge contributor for energy calculations, but would be an awesome alternative to pricking the finger for diabetics once the bugs are worked out.

[kroe1]

My endo does not know how little I have been eating because it only started after the bad dental work. I know my cortisol is often high, but that never gets discussed. Plus, I have asthma so I have been on steroids recently. The baby still breastfeeds too.

Steroids, as you know, make one retain huge amounts of water. They have to be out of your system 2 weeks before your adrenal glands get back to your baseline. Therefore, this 20lb. Experiment really isn't a valid picture of your weight issues.

 

I have to really watch calories, too, and I do not even have a thyroid issue. Most women can only consume about 1500 calories a day without becoming overweight. That is really a tiny amount of food by today's standards of gigantic portions.

[gardenmom5]

it sounds like your body may have gone into starvation mode-   slowing down the metabolism  as you cut calories in order to hoard what weight you have to protect against famine conditions.