HELP! body & metabo. must be messed up for this to happen :( need advice/help badly

Okay this is completely nuts. And I cant figure it out for the life of me. Ive been pretty much a Fitness guru/diet fanatic for years now and pretty much have it all down pat. Now heres the trouble. About 6 months ago i started having symptoms of a thyroid problem- at first it was just bloating here & there, then my hair started falling out, then i got the shakes, very tired, etc. and then i packed on 36 lbs. which is IMPOSSIBLE cuz i watch my calories like crazy & work out more than the kids on biggest loser. So i went to the drs. nope no thyroid prob. so all she said was go see a nutritionist. I said lady look ive been doin this for years, im sure ill get some chick right out of college and shes gunna tell me stuff ive been doin for years now. so no go.  Anyhow- I know there are different calorie amounts for different people that if they eat under these amts their bodies go into starvation mode & any cals they eat are converted into fat even with exercise. So...im not sure if this is whats happening. I exercise from 35-70 mins every day ( ellip. at numbr 8 resis- burning anywhere between 400-1200 cals daily). With how much I eat, and work out I have a weekly cal deficit of anywhere between 7000-20,000 calories a week depending on how much i work out. But between last monday & this monday i even gained 3 more lbs. this is insane to me! I cannot comprehend this or whats happening. I am actually 36 lbs above my weight right after i had my 3rd child (rest in peace Lukie! Mama loves you baby!!) 7 months ago!!! and ive been very active since then...this is really hurting my spirits. Ive never been this big before! And i feel like this is just not going to get any better. for some reason my body thinks i am eating a lot when im not, and im gaining weight. and i cannot see why. does anyone have any ideas? or tips? anything at all? for someone like me ( ive struggled with ED for about 16 yrs now) it is honestly enough to break me.  I honestly cant do this much anymore-especially if i am doing all the right things  * yes maybe eating too little but for the way i exercise there is nooo reason at all i should have gained 36 lbs in 6 months* please let me know.  if there is anyone else out there like me let me know how you got through this, or how you got someone to realise your not crazy. i know theres something wrong with my body but everyone thinks im just ...overexaggerating..and it sucks. so if someone out there has found out what causes this, do let me know so i can inform the "drs" who suck so badly! thanks so much :(

i wish I could read that but the bold is making my eyes bleed. Sorry.

There are way too many variables here:

You say you maintain a calorie deficit yet you've gained 36 lbs in the last 6 months. Some of the possibilities are:

1. As you said, there may be thyroid problem. Well you can get it checked out. There are many doctors and lab out there, not just the one you visited.

2. You said you are a diet guru. Call me doubting Thomas if you will, but I'm not sure the calorie deficit you maintain is truly a calorie deficit. If you don't have a thyroid problem, the proof is right on your body. Metabolism changes may affect your weight some what, but if it's a steady increase in 6 months. I think it's more likely that you have a calorie surplus.

If I were you, I would definitely go see another doctor and get yourself tested to make sure. Then monitor your diet and exercise a lot closer than you did before.

Hello, I don't have this problem but can offer my 2 cents.

You say that sometimes you have a 20000 calorie deficit!? That seems very high. How many calories are you eating in a day? If this were me, I would have to consume around 4500 calories a day just so I don't drop below my BMR. If that is actually the case and you are creating a deficit that large then maybe your body is in Starvation mode.

What about medications? Have you been put on any new meds since your last child. Things like birth control and antidepressants can result in weight gain.

I'm not an expert but those are my thoughts.

I'm starting to consider it my goal in life to tell people this important news:

Eating too little can make you fat!!!  Maybe it doesn't happen to everyone that way, but it certainly happened to me.

How many calories are you eating every day?  What are your stats?  A 20,000 weekly deficit is WAY too high.  

http://www.phord.com/cc/

I have found this calorie meter to be the most reliable. When I put my stats in there and increase my activity level, it just tells me to eat more. Our bodies will try really hard to not let us starve ourselves.  I'm eating more now than I've eaten in 5 years, and the weight is finally coming off.

yeah some weeks its 20,000. its not hard. its like burning 3,000 xtra cals a day. and i know i dont have a calorie overload at ALL. i watch what i eat waaay too much to know that i definately always have a calorie deficit. yah i thought it was a thyroid prob- it runs in the fam- but apparently noone believes me. the dr says the levels are "normal" and that the one level is "in the normal to high range" which is again fine for someone my age. she wont listen to me that yeah it might be fine for someone ELSE my age, but apparently not me! if its making me gain weight then theres apparently a problem. Its very hard to make someone understand that something thats normal for another person isnt normal for everyone! Yes i know eating too little can make you gain. and yes i know ive probably had my body on starvation mode for a looong time, but with what i eat and the way i work out there is noo way i should gain either way! and yes, i know its a lot to burn, but i take every measure to get accurate calorie burn readings. i even round down numbers to make sure i get a better reading. oh well. someone else on another chat told me " your only 23 its not the end of the world" and i hope i can believe that. id just like to know whats going on with me. its driving me bonkers. and i dont like being this paranoid about this stuff. blah

Original Post by iceprincess0966:

I'm starting to consider it my goal in life to tell people this important news:

Eating too little can make you fat!!!  Maybe it doesn't happen to everyone that way, but it certainly happened to me.

How many calories are you eating every day?  What are your stats?  A 20,000 weekly deficit is WAY too high.  

http://www.phord.com/cc/

I have found this calorie meter to be the most reliable. When I put my stats in there and increase my activity level, it just tells me to eat more. Our bodies will try really hard to not let us starve ourselves.  I'm eating more now than I've eaten in 5 years, and the weight is finally coming off.

 

can you elaborate. what were you eating before? what are you eating now? what were the immediate effects of the increase?

You have WAY too much of a calorie deficit. I have done the same thing before and yes I gained weight from this. Keep it to a 7000 calorie deficit a week, eat the rest and you will stop gaining weight.

Your body may have worked well with your eating and exercise at one point but sometimes your metabolism can change, I have also had this a few times, sometimes I could eat like a horse and still lose 2lbs a week, the 6 months later if I even eat slightly over my calories I can gain 2lbs. If you had a child 7 months ago and you have been gaining for 6 months I would say your metabolism/body has changed the way it processes.

Hi Chrissy,

When I discovered Calorie Count, it told me to eat 1200 a day.  I followed that very strictly and added in 30-40 minutes of exercise each day.  After 10 days, the scale hadn't budged.  I'd also been Lean Cuisine dieting for about 2 weeks before I came here with no success.

I made a frustrated somewhat angry post about gravity conspiring against me and some nice folks told me to eat more.  I thought they were insane, but I was rather desperate so I tried it, mostly so I could come back and tell them they were wrong.  I was convinced by this point that my metabolism was seriously messed up.

I upped my calories to 1400-1500 and after one week of staying the same, I started to lose about a pound every 3-4 days.  The phord site says I should eat 1600, which is my BMR.  I am struggling with this right now, as I've switched to eating all healthy stuff and already eat massive amounts of food to get to that number.  It's TTOM so I think I'll be logging a couple pounds loss next week, judging  by how my clothes fit right now.

I had to go buy smaller jeans, and now one pair of those is too big.  Although I haven't really lost that many pounds, my shape has really changed in the past 3-4 weeks.  I feel like I'm shoveling food into my mouth all day and having fun getting back into lifting and cardio.  It's great!

What are your stats?

Height, weight, calorie goal, goal weight, age?

Well if you are such a diet expert, surely you've heard of starvation mode? Your body is sick of being undernourished and has started to hold onto fat stores... Your body has perceived a famine and this is the inevitable result. I suspect if you began to eat more your problems would be solved.

If you have struggled with an eating disorder for years then yes it is likely you have metabolic and other medical problems. Are you currently in treatment for your ED?

Wow, since you're such a diet wizard I'd think you'd know about the ill effects of anorexia by now?

Thems the breaks, dear. Start eating more or say goodbye to healthy life.

Well from everything you said, you are coming acrossed as arrogant in "what" you know.  More so, it's what you "think" you know, which is obviously not as much as you think.  IF you did, you wouldn't be stuck on thinking you have a thyroid problem and thinking your doctor sucks and a nutritionist couldn't tell you anything that you didn't already know.  Because if you KNEW it all, you wouldn't be going through this!

But now if you want my opinion, which you probably don't. It sounds to me like you have a hormone imbalance., which can cause all the symptoms listed above! talk to your doctor about getting tested for it.  Talk to you doctor about checking your estrogen vs progestorone levels first!