Is it possible to GAIN weight at first?!

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  • posted by Fffff
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    Hi everyone – I’m finding it hard to stay motivated as I’m seemingly gaining weight on just 800 calories a day?! My husband and I are doing the diet together and this is Day 9 for us. My husband has lost 7 pounds in that time – I have gained 5 1/2!! We are sticking to the diet completely – my only lapse was one glass of wine on Mother’s Day (my husband has had a few other lapses and takes on regular carbs with it too).
    I feel like I have a bit more energy but I am just so fed up with seeing my weight increasing day on day when I’m trying so hard! What am I doing wrong? I’m sticking to the diet plan completely. Any advice would be great!! Thank you!

  • posted by sunshine-girl
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    Hi Fffff, sorry to hear of your dilemma, it is common for men to lose weight quicker than women for some reason. However, I cannot understand you actually gaining. There might be a few things you could look into. Are there any womens issues like periods, menopause etc. What about your portion control, are you weighing and measuring everything. That includes yourself as well as your food as you could have lost inches. Are you having too much of the good stuff like fruits and nuts, careful with some fruits as they are high in carbs and others are high in calories, same with nuts a small handful (6 to 10 almonds or pistachios or 3 to 5 brazils). Which carbs are you eating, squashes and root veg are quite high in carbs. I assume you are having the same as your husband and he is going off plan now and then so is he eating more calories and you are serving yourself a similar portion. Just a few things to think about.

  • posted by Fffff
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    Thanks for your thoughts sunshine-girl and I will double check everything from now on. But I had thought I was being so careful! I’m middle of the month so there should be no hormonal issues, and I was following the recipes in the book very closely. I’m hoping it’s all water retention but 9 days seems a lot for that!! I am gaining pretty streadily and it’s around a pound every two days. In fairness I hadn’t been measuring myself (just weighing) but none of my clothes are fitting any looser. A friend said my body might have gone on to starvation mode and be holding on to the fat as a result but I can’t see the scientific backing behind that! I’ve read on this forum posts of people plateauing but no one else appears to have only gained and not lost anything. I figure even if I’ve been getting my portion sizes wrong there is no way I can be eating more than 1000-1200 calories a day which should still see some sort of weight loss. I am flummoxed.

  • posted by sunshine-girl
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    Fffff Let me say first of all that the starvation mode answer is a myth, the book explains that the theory was from a study in the 1940 on men who had been in concentration camps and they were REALLY starving, 800 calories is not starving, it is being careful about what you eat and getting really good nutrition. I was told that my brain would shrivel up and I would get dementia because the brain functions on glucose – true but the body is so clever, it knows how to make glucose, that is what the liver is for. Forget all those silly stories, next they will be telling you you weight more because you have gained muscle, like I could ever gain musclie doing a few aerobics or swimming once a week.

    Although already I see a question for you, you say you are doing 800 cals but now say you might possible be doing 1000 to 1200 which is what would be a ‘normal’ slimming diet which might give you a slow loss. Add to that a glass or 2 of wine and you are getting about 140 to 280 calories. However, that doesn’t account for a gain so something is going on. Recipes, are you dividing up the portions, for example Harissa chicken is 420 calories and the recipe in the book is for 2 people, the calories are for one, not divided by the 2 people so you are not having 210 calories you are having 420. Are you counting every calorie (boring I know but necessary in the first few weeks) what about oil in cooking, just a splash could be 100 calories. What about carbs, where are you getting your carbs from, if you take just a slice of bread or a scoop of mash you could be messing up the diet. Are you using sugar substitues, especially are you drinking calorie free fizzy drinks or are you using honey instead of sugar. Just a few more thoughts. Keep asking and keep learning.

  • posted by Fffff
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    Yes I think there are a lot of crazy theories out there!! I’m making the recipes for my husband and myself – so the two person recipes are really just going on two people – so I truly believe my portioning is correct. I was just playing devil’s advocate in case I was out by a bit – but really it could only be a bit! Since starting the diet 9 days ago I have had no traditional carb foods (bread, rice, potatoes, etc), and no sugar, sweeteners or honey. My diet is pretty much vege, dairy and meat with the occasional piece of fruit and some nuts. My carbs can only be coming from my pieces of fruit.
    I am counting calories every day and I’ve only had the one glass of wine in the 9 days – so I really am confused!
    I’m going to give it another week and if there is still no loss (and further gain!) I think I might need to see a doctor as I am trying so hard here for exactly the opposite results that I want!

  • posted by sunshine-girl
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    Good luck, this should work, give it a week and report back.

  • posted by Theodora
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    Fffff – sorry to hear about your problems, and I can shed no light on why you may be gaining weight, but you say your carbs can only be coming from fruit. Please don’t under-estimate the amount of carbs there are in veg, even all the above ground veg. For example, I am having a salad this evening – just a few leaves, 3 cherry tomatoes, some chopped cucumber, some chopped red pepper and some avocado. I will obviously be adding a protein source, but that has zero carbs, and the salad alone comes to in excess of 20g carbs which, when added to my breakfast yoghurt, takes me over my self-inflicted carb limit of 30g per day.

    Are you logging your intake on an app? It really helps, and pinpoints exactly where your carbs may be coming from. I and many others use FatSecret, and lots of others use MyFitnessPal. But you must remember to log everything – milk in coffee or tea, any small amount of fat used for frying, dressings etc. Absolutely everything must be accounted for.

    Good luck, and please let us know how you get on.

  • posted by Fffff
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    Oh thanks for the app ideas! I hadn’t been logging it all – just tallying it up I my head but think I’ll take a more precise count from now on! Fingers crossed!!

  • posted by SunnyB
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    Good move – guestimating is not a great way to go, as it’s far too easy to underestimate resulting in over doing things.

  • posted by Theodora
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    Great stuff, Fffff – they are free to download, and really easy to use. It just might make a difference, it is soooo easy to under-estimate. Plus they allow you to track your weight loss, which is really helpful. Be sure to change the daily calorie allowance to 800 though, else they will keep telling you that you have under-eaten. Hopefully you are being meticulous at weighing ingredients too, and not guessing?

    Good luck.

  • posted by Fffff
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    Thanks guys 🙂
    I’ve downloaded FatSecret and meticulously put in everything from today (I was feeling a bit down so I haven’t been as stringent today with the diet as in previous days) but I can already see the problem may be the nuts. I had no idea they were so calorific! While I have had 750 calories today so far apparently – 350 of that is from nuts!! I had a few walnuts with breakfast and a sprinkle of pine nuts on my salad at lunch and they account for half my day’s intake! So I’m going to eliminate them entirely. Even a couple of nuts are so many more calories than say a whole bowl of rocket so I don’t know why I was even eating them. They seemed to be in a lot of the book’s recipes I guess.
    In fairness I don’t think I would have surpassed 1200 calories on any day since I started the diet (and doesn’t account for my weight gain) I don’t think I’ve been getting to 800 either – thanks to the bl**dy nuts!! 🙂

  • posted by LindaA
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    Hi Fffff
    A lot of us have noticed that the calorie and carb counts in the recipes in the book are incorrect, so add your ingredients into Fat Secret as you go.

    Also, I haven’t seen any mention of water. Are you drinking at least 2-3 litres per day?

    There are quite a few carbs in dairy products from the lactose, just keep an eye on those. Some people end up giving them up for that reason. Just a thought.

    Last thing, watch your protein levels. Protein in excess of what the body needs is converted to glucose which will prevent you from losing or even make you gain. You should be having no more than 1 – 1.5g of protein per kilo of IDEAL body weight (or lean body mass). I’m 5’6″ and try and stick to about 60g per day. Your Fat Secret will tell you how much you’re eating.
    Let us know how you go.
    Cheers
    Linda

  • posted by Fffff
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    Thanks Linda – I’ll watch my dairy too in that case! Yes the calorie counts in the book definitely didn’t match the App – which is a bit misleading!
    I’m drinking loads of water – two litres is about accurate I’d say!

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