Why am I gaining weight?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here - thanks so much for all the responses. It is so great to hear that others have dealt with this successfully.

Again, I'm quite positive thyroid is not an issue. I have no health issues that I know of, all my labs were normal at my last checkup this summer. I haven't been excessively tired, particularly since quitting coffee.

Re exercise 5x/week, it's hard to find the time, but I may try to just walk to the metro on the days I don't work out at the gym. I have been working out more than I ever did before (incorporating weights is totally new to me - I used to swim and occasionally run), but it isn't daily.

What about dairy? I have been reading about insulin resistance / LCHF and it seems like dairy is OK? I had almost cut it out in recent months.

Also, what about beans? I have always leaned veggie and eaten a lot of beans to make up for the protein. But it seems like a lot of people classify beans as carbs. Are there beans that are less carb-y than others?

I don't think I can stick to a strict diet, but I think I can take out sugar, bread, and pasta, since it seems like others my age have had success with this.

That's because beans ARE carbs. Which aren't necessarily bad. Because they have fiber and more protein than carbs like pasta/rice/bread, they will keep you full longer.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:PP above...just a ant to clarify the point a little the original menopausal mice. The researchers concluded that menopause causes overeating which causes obesity. But the truth is the OPPOSITE! The mice overate because they needed more food! They needed more food because their bodies were taking calories and storing them rather than letting them burn.

Menopausal women don't overeat because they are gluttons all of a sudden. If they get fat and overeat, they overeat because they have less energy and need more food! It's a vicious cycle, though, because if they overeat a Hugh carb diet, they are storing more and more fat and raising insulin higher and higher, storing more fat, and on and on.

Fat causes the urge to overeat. Overeating carbs raises insulin and causes even more calories to be fmdivertes to fat, which causes more hunger.

i actually cried when I read this chapter. Then got mad. Then got 50 pounds slimmer, seriously. With not a lot of effort compared to all the calorie restriction and exercise and self-recrimination I had previously tried and failed.

NP. Finally somebody who put it as it is, and thank you for explaining it so I can truly understand. I never needed carbs, didn't like them before 40. Then I was so tired(I did have undiagnosed Lyme, but that just added to the problem). All of a sudden around 40 I want carbs, I want bread, I want that rice! It is like all I ate my whole life, veggies and meat, turned upside down and I became my own Jekyll! How did you lose weight, by eating more protein? I also make muscle like nobody's business, my kids too, I can walk one mile and muscle is there. Please give us more info! Thank you!!

[Anonymous]

OP, I"m the 47 year old who gained/lost the belly weight. I eat some dairy--low or full fat yogurt and cheese. It keeps me full, better for calcium absorption and Im not a huge meat eater. I also eat beans, complex carbs, and some pasta and sourdough bread (fermented is good). Fair amount of olive oil and nuts, too--think Mediterranean diet. For brunch today (no work) I made a vat of tomato based veggie soup--zucchini, carrots, celery, greens and garbanzos with lots of onion, garlic and red pepper. I simmered it with a rind of parmesan and serve it with shredded parmesan and a slice of sourdough. I'll eat this as a light meal several times this week.


I tried a pretty low carb diet for a while and there was no magical weight loss after the first 3-4 lbs of water plus I was always stressed about finding something to eat and my workouts were not as good. I now eat a wide range of (mostly unprocessed) things, just less of the sweet and bad stuff, try to stick to good quality. weight loss was slow but steady.


weight lifting is new for me but has helped with posture and core--part of my belly was structural/ postural.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here - thanks so much for all the responses. It is so great to hear that others have dealt with this successfully.

Again, I'm quite positive thyroid is not an issue. I have no health issues that I know of, all my labs were normal at my last checkup this summer. I haven't been excessively tired, particularly since quitting coffee.

Re exercise 5x/week, it's hard to find the time, but I may try to just walk to the metro on the days I don't work out at the gym. I have been working out more than I ever did before (incorporating weights is totally new to me - I used to swim and occasionally run), but it isn't daily.

What about dairy? I have been reading about insulin resistance / LCHF and it seems like dairy is OK? I had almost cut it out in recent months.

Also, what about beans? I have always leaned veggie and eaten a lot of beans to make up for the protein. But it seems like a lot of people classify beans as carbs. Are there beans that are less carb-y than others?

I don't think I can stick to a strict diet, but I think I can take out sugar, bread, and pasta, since it seems like others my age have had success with this.

As someone who was diabetic in pregnancy and had to check blood sugar levels several times a day, beans had a similar impact on my blood sugar levels as pasta. They do have protein but I wouldn't be substituting them for meat/eggs etc on a low carb diet.

[Anonymous]

Okay. First why don't you try to determine how much you're actually burning per day. The easiest way is to get a Fitbit or other tracker with heart rate tracker.

Generally, to avoid overestimation, I set my stats about 5 to 10 lb lower and my age one or two years older. Wear that everyday for a week and see how many calories are actually burning as opposed to taking in.

I think you will find it quite Illuminating.

I would really start there with something simple rather than cutting out entire food groups or changing things drastically.

. You may find that unless you're moving quite a bit during the day you're only burning about 1700 calories a day and if you're taking in 1900, there's your problem

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:PP above...just a ant to clarify the point a little the original menopausal mice. The researchers concluded that menopause causes overeating which causes obesity. But the truth is the OPPOSITE! The mice overate because they needed more food! They needed more food because their bodies were taking calories and storing them rather than letting them burn.

Menopausal women don't overeat because they are gluttons all of a sudden. If they get fat and overeat, they overeat because they have less energy and need more food! It's a vicious cycle, though, because if they overeat a Hugh carb diet, they are storing more and more fat and raising insulin higher and higher, storing more fat, and on and on.

Fat causes the urge to overeat. Overeating carbs raises insulin and causes even more calories to be fmdivertes to fat, which causes more hunger.

i actually cried when I read this chapter. Then got mad. Then got 50 pounds slimmer, seriously. With not a lot of effort compared to all the calorie restriction and exercise and self-recrimination I had previously tried and failed.

NP. Finally somebody who put it as it is, and thank you for explaining it so I can truly understand. I never needed carbs, didn't like them before 40. Then I was so tired(I did have undiagnosed Lyme, but that just added to the problem). All of a sudden around 40 I want carbs, I want bread, I want that rice! It is like all I ate my whole life, veggies and meat, turned upside down and I became my own Jekyll! How did you lose weight, by eating more protein? I also make muscle like nobody's business, my kids too, I can walk one mile and muscle is there. Please give us more info! Thank you!!

Op here. After I read the Taubes book I drastically cut back on all refined sugars and slowly started stepping away from carbs. I added LOTS of fat, especially grass fed butter and olive oil. I did things like switching tea with sugar to tea with heavy whipping cream which is amazingly delicious. Cutting out starches, breads, pasta was much harder for me at first so I added intermittent fasting. Still ate lots of calories, no added sugars, lots of fat, but only did it with an 8 hour window daily to keep my insulin lower. As the months went by and I felt better and better, I went back to carbs less and less. It was so hard for me because so much of my diet WAS carbs. I had eaten tons of rice and pasta since Weight Watchers in my 20's because all of that was "low fat". I hardly ever ate fat or much meat beyond lean white meats. Now I eat beef and don't drain the fat. Amazing that. Asicalkyvthe opposite of everything I was taught is now working.

Btw, my total cholesterol has gone way up but my triglycerides are WAY down, good cholesterol is way up, and bad cholesterol is doen. My cardiologist is totally fine with total cholesterol being higher as long as triglycerides (which are high from sugars/carbs, not fat) are low and the ratio of good to bad is good. My inflammatory markers which used to be sky high are basically gone. Losing the weight is basically just a bonus on top of being SO much healthier!!!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:PP above...just a ant to clarify the point a little the original menopausal mice. The researchers concluded that menopause causes overeating which causes obesity. But the truth is the OPPOSITE! The mice overate because they needed more food! They needed more food because their bodies were taking calories and storing them rather than letting them burn.

Menopausal women don't overeat because they are gluttons all of a sudden. If they get fat and overeat, they overeat because they have less energy and need more food! It's a vicious cycle, though, because if they overeat a Hugh carb diet, they are storing more and more fat and raising insulin higher and higher, storing more fat, and on and on.

Fat causes the urge to overeat. Overeating carbs raises insulin and causes even more calories to be fmdivertes to fat, which causes more hunger.

i actually cried when I read this chapter. Then got mad. Then got 50 pounds slimmer, seriously. With not a lot of effort compared to all the calorie restriction and exercise and self-recrimination I had previously tried and failed.

NP. Finally somebody who put it as it is, and thank you for explaining it so I can truly understand. I never needed carbs, didn't like them before 40. Then I was so tired(I did have undiagnosed Lyme, but that just added to the problem). All of a sudden around 40 I want carbs, I want bread, I want that rice! It is like all I ate my whole life, veggies and meat, turned upside down and I became my own Jekyll! How did you lose weight, by eating more protein? I also make muscle like nobody's business, my kids too, I can walk one mile and muscle is there. Please give us more info! Thank you!!

póg mo thóin

Op here. After I read the Taubes book I drastically cut back on all refined sugars and slowly started stepping away from carbs. I added LOTS of fat, especially grass fed butter and olive oil. I did things like switching tea with sugar to tea with heavy whipping cream which is amazingly delicious. Cutting out starches, breads, pasta was much harder for me at first so I added intermittent fasting. Still ate lots of calories, no added sugars, lots of fat, but only did it with an 8 hour window daily to keep my insulin lower. As the months went by and I felt better and better, I went back to carbs less and less. It was so hard for me because so much of my diet WAS carbs. I had eaten tons of rice and pasta since Weight Watchers in my 20's because all of that was "low fat". I hardly ever ate fat or much meat beyond lean white meats. Now I eat beef and don't drain the fat. Amazing that. Asicalkyvthe opposite of everything I was taught is now working.

Btw, my total cholesterol has gone way up but my triglycerides are WAY down, good cholesterol is way up, and bad cholesterol is doen. My cardiologist is totally fine with total cholesterol being higher as long as triglycerides (which are high from sugars/carbs, not fat) are low and the ratio of good to bad is good. My inflammatory markers which used to be sky high are basically gone. Losing the weight is basically just a bonus on top of being SO much healthier!!!

Sorry, I'm terrible with the typos today. I'm the Taubes-recommending PP, not OP!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:PP hit the nail on the head. Also look up Obesity Code by Dr. Jason Fung.

+1000 You may be the PP who originally turned me on to The Obesity Code, PP -- if so, thank you!! You made my life SO much better since late 2016.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:PP hit the nail on the head. Also look up Obesity Code by Dr. Jason Fung.

+1000 You may be the PP who originally turned me on to The Obesity Code, PP -- if so, thank you!! You made my life SO much better since late 2016.

Not that PP, but we both have the original Obesity Code PP to thank! It's the first time something worked for me.

[Anonymous]

OP here, I have two Taubes books on my desk now. It will be good reading for the new year! I actually think this won't be a huge lifestyle shift for me. I generally eat whole foods, healthy local organic etc., but I could easily cut back on carbs, especially sugar which is my Achilles' heel. I think I've been telling myself that the sugar is ok if I am eating well in other areas, but clearly my body has started to change, and it's not ok any more. After tracking my food for the past month I've been realizing how many carbs I had been consuming - in part through beans and fruit, which I still want to eat, but will balance out w/more veggies. I am coming up with a grocery/shopping plan.

To the other PPs who recommended 5x/week running plus more exercise, thanks as well. I spent the spring and summer doing regular intense exercise (I still do intense exercise 2x/week and a lot of walking on the other days) and it didn't change the fact that I was gaining weight steadily, which is why I am looking at my diet now.

[Anonymous]

Diet book promotion

[Anonymous]

OP, at 39.5 years, I gained 13 lbs in 4 months for no apparent reason. I wasn't eating or drinking more, and I certainly wasn't exercising less. (I exercise daily.) But I just packed on the 13 lbs despite running 25 miles/week, lifting weights, doing yoga, walking 2 miles a day, etc.

My doctor noticed the weight gain at my next appointment and had my thyroid checked. I have thyroidosis. I've managed to go this long (about 5 years) without being medicated, but I'm thinking of going on the Synthroid soon because I'm more fatigued than I was before.

If your thyroid is normal, it's probably the metabolism slowing that happens to all/most of us. You may need to increase your exercise. Chances are that the breast-feeding was burning off enough calories for you not to gain weight at your age, and weaning meant that was 100's of calories per day that weren't being burned off. (what I don't recommend is cutting calories drastically because once you have, where do you go from there?)

[Anonymous]

14:57 here - HYPOthyroidosis. doh.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Diet book promotion

+1

This thread should be reported.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Diet book promotion

+1

This thread should be reported.

Why? If you don't like it don't read.