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  #1   ^
Old Sun, Jan-14-18, 11:01
MPrufrock MPrufrock is offline
Senior Member
Posts: 101
 
Plan: Low carb, low gi
Stats: 210/159/154 Female 68.5 inches
BF:
Progress: 91%
Location: FL
Default Regained a few pounds after maintaining: help?

Hi all,

I'm back and need a little support. After losing nearly 60 lbs on low carb and maintaining it for 2 years, I seem to have regained a little weight It isn't a lot, about 5-7 lbs. The lowest weight I have seen was 152 and I generally maintained 154 easily. Now I rarely see the scale dip below 159.

I still eat exactly the same way and continue to workout (HIIT). I don't eat any dairy, mainly because it breaks me out. Honestly, I see no change in the way my clothes fit and wear the same size.

I have tried Intermittent Fasting and it seriously helped my a1c drop from 5.3 to 4.9. Since my a1c is so low, I also got off metformin on my doctor's request. Nevertheless, the weight gain was before going off metformin.

Any help? I'm really quite sad.
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  #2   ^
Old Mon, Jan-15-18, 11:02
jessdamess's Avatar
jessdamess jessdamess is offline
Senior Member
Posts: 4,904
 
Plan: Keto
Stats: 252/172/165 Female 69.25 inches
BF:
Progress: 92%
Location: Northeast TN
Default

I'm up from my goal weight for several reasons. Strength training with the goal to gain muscle. A new medication. Switching from keto to just low-carb. More lax logging of food. In total I am just over 15lb more than my goal weight. I've been trying unsuccessfully for almost a year to get back down to at least 158 (8lb over goal weight). Working out makes me very hungry. And I can't do anything about the necessary med. My measurements are still good, muscle definition is good, and my clothes still fit. So I'll keep trying to get the 7lb I absolutely can't live with.

As far as I can tell, this isn't all that uncommon. The body decides that it doesn't like your choice of goal weight for some people. It feels healthier higher and will fight you tooth and claw.

There is a thing called adaptive thermogenesis, here's the link to a study on it. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3673773/

The last sentence of the abstract says: "Important inferences can be drawn for therapeutic strategies by recognizing obesity as a disease in which the human body actively opposes the “cure” over long periods of time beyond the initial resolution of symptomatology."

Here is a journal entry by someone on MFP that does a good job of explaining this annoying phenomenon. It happens when you diet for a long time and it happens after you've stopped losing.
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/blog/Ev...ght-loss-567546

The best thing to do if you think you have not changed anything is to check for sure you haven't accidentally loosened logging or haven't accidentally decreased exercise or non-exercise movement. Or you aren't accidentally creeping up on portions or carb counts without realizing it. When we get down to goal weight, our calorie needs have so decreased, that we have little fudge room.

Or alternately, you've had a hormone balance change that is causing you to retain more water or which is changing your energy balance needs.

I know I don't log as well. The workouts make me danged hungry. So I'm driven by leptin imbalance to eat more, which is counter-productive to me getting back closer to my goal weight again. It's something I will have to figure out.

I hope some of that blather helped.
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  #3   ^
Old Mon, Jan-15-18, 20:33
sara9683 sara9683 is offline
Registered Member
Posts: 82
 
Plan: LCHF - My own rules
Stats: 000/000/000 Female 61 inches
BF:
Progress: 41%
Default

I think it's important to remember that the scale is only 1 tool to assess but it doesn't tell the whole picture. I was really reminded of that today. The gym I attend does body scans and the last one I got was back in October of 2016 back when I was much stricter with my diet and much more consistent in workouts. My friend who is just getting back to the gym after some time off really wanted to get a new scan and wanted me to join her. I was very hesitant as my scale weight is 15 lbs higher than it was back in Oct'16. However I decided to face the music so to speak and get an accurate idea of where I am now. Well I learned today that all of my weight gain has been muscle & water. My fat mass is just the same. So even if I gained fat at one point, I've since lost it again. I know my body is more inflamed due to foot pain - a cause for some of the water weight. I also know I'm a bit looser on carbs than I was back then. I also know with the scan, some of the areas I've gained are where I want (biceps!). So even though the scale # says I've digressed, when I get the big picture, I've actually maintained or even improved. Because of this - I'm mentally throwing away the idea of a goal weight. I just want to be at a healthy body fat% so I will keep up with these scans and track my progress that way.
I've heard people say the scale 'lies' and today I TRULY understood what they meant. In other words what I'm saying - don't let that 5-7 lb increase make you sad
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  #4   ^
Old Tue, Jan-16-18, 05:37
Kristine's Avatar
Kristine Kristine is offline
Forum Moderator
Posts: 25,581
 
Plan: Primal/P:E
Stats: 171/146/150 Female 5'7"
BF:
Progress: 119%
Location: Southern Ontario, Canada
Default

I'm in this boat, too. I finally changed my stats.

I think I can blame a few things:
- Peri-menopause. My cycles have gone from clockwork to weird, and my body shape has changed - I'm suddenly more apple-shaped and my bra size has gone up. Old lady body.
- Probably related to the peri-menopause - poor sleep. I think sleep is often overlooked as an important factor in weight loss/maintenance.
- Also contributing to the poor sleep - my work shifts. I spent the fall on the graveyard shift. I like the job itself, but it's brutal physically. I'm back on my normal day shift now, thankfully.
- Likely messed up thyroid that isn't showing up on that TSH, which was normal, which is probably an insufficient test in the first place, but I don't feel like arguing with the doctor. It started when I was broke a few years back and had to ride my bike 120 km (75 mi) per week to and from work.

I hope this isn't my new set point, but it seems to be. Every time I "buckle down", cut dairy and snacking, etc; a few pounds will disappear but they'll come back as soon as I go back to my usual LC maintenance. It's frustrating, but I refuse to permanently give up more than I already have. I enjoy the food I eat. I'm slim, and free of the food obsession and mental bullsh*t of starvation dieting. My blood tests are stellar, I'm fit, I feel good most of the time, my arthritis and asthma are virtually in remission, I'm winning the war on depression/anxiety, and that's what's most important to me now.
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  #5   ^
Old Tue, Jan-16-18, 17:36
Meetow Kim Meetow Kim is offline
Senior Member
Posts: 166
 
Plan: Atkins Concept
Stats: 225/190/175 Male 70.5"
BF:
Progress: 70%
Location: Central Virginia
Default

Isnt it pretty normal for people to put themselves back on induction for a couple weeks to knock off those pesky few pounds gained?

I'm new here, but I've read that this is what you can do with low carb. It's a bit of a roller coaster, sure, but isn't it also "payback" for those foods we allow to treat ourselves with?

I dropped 13lbs in 13 days in induction and also stopping all alcohol consumption. Will that not work again a year from now if I put on a bit of weight after reaching my goal (or close to it)?
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  #6   ^
Old Wed, Jan-17-18, 10:46
Himadri's Avatar
Himadri Himadri is offline
Senior Member
Posts: 441
 
Plan: Atkins72, mostly
Stats: 294/178.6/150 Female 66 inches
BF:
Progress: 80%
Location: Michigan USA
Default

Meetow Kim, if, after reaching your goal, you maintain a LC lifestyle but with higher carb intake than during loss and/or with an occasional "off plan" choice, going back to induction may help you shed a few regained pounds, but its not likely to be the kind of loss you experienced during induction the first time-- reasons being, that first induction was going from a "standard" high carb/carbage diet to extreme LC. Water loss and weight loss is often rapid and profound when you initially go from high carb to nearly no carb. Also when you started you had more weight to lose-- when you are close to goal loss can slow to a snail's pace.
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  #7   ^
Old Wed, Jan-17-18, 14:24
madeyna's Avatar
madeyna madeyna is offline
Senior Member
Posts: 936
 
Plan: Atkins
Stats: 168/128/130 Female 5.3
BF:
Progress: 105%
Default

Someone mentioned on here that the difference between naturally thin people and those that yo yo with regain is one group is better about naturally without really even needing to think about it balance their higher cal/cab days with lower ones at about the same rate. I think that makes since. While maintaining its not unusual for me to treat my self at night with a spoonful of peanut butter but I don,t tend to skip a meal that often unless I make a point to. So that occasional peanut butter treat ends up as a gain overall because I am not offsetting it with a cal . deficit . When maintaining it becomes just as much about balancing cals as it does staying lowcarb. While maintaining there just isn,t much wiggle room
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  #8   ^
Old Sat, Jan-20-18, 02:14
Ms Arielle's Avatar
Ms Arielle Ms Arielle is online now
Senior Member
Posts: 19,177
 
Plan: atkins, carnivore 2023
Stats: 200/211/163 Female 5'8"
BF:
Progress: -30%
Location: Massachusetts
Default

My first thought is that you have put on muscle!
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