[Mama2Five]

Sooooo, I am gaining weight....rapidly!! I was doing low carb for a month and lost 17lbs, and switched to low calorie this past Friday. Since then I have GAINED 3 pounds. I assume because I suddenly went back to eating some carbs?? And not much, I've had maybe 40-50 grams of carbs a day since Friday, and I was used to having 10-15 a day before.

Is there a certain way I should switch over to this new diet? Ugggh, I'm glad for losing what i did on low carb but I feel like I really messed up my body and now I can't eat anything! LOL

Oh and the plan was to do 1400 calories a day but I've actually done less than that every day....

[nelie]

Low carb diets deplete your glycogen stores so when you start eating carbs, the scale will show an increase but it isn't fat. Just keep doing what you are doing and everything will balance out.

[Rosinante]

I went from low carb to lowER carb plus calorie counting. I didn't get an instant increase but I did get a lot of fluctuating up and down the same half pound for 2 weeks.

I went from under 15g to 50g for a while - but because my GP recommended I didn't eat after 8, and a low GI book I was reading recommended not eating grainy/starchy carbs at the evening meal, there were a lot of days early on when I'd run out of carbs before I ran out of calories, so I stopped eating once I got to the carb limit. This meant for the first couple of weeks, although my aim was for 1400, I actually ate around 1200. As I've increased my carbs (100-100g now), I don't run out of them so soon, and my average is now 1400 calories. Maybe the accidental lower calories helped?

[kaplods]

I do occasionally alternate low-carb and higher carb, and I weigh more on high carb, but as nelie says I don't consider the difference one of "fat."

I didn't know about the glycogen, but as I read, that low-carb eating requires less water in your body also, so some of the weight gain is the water that your body needs to process more carbs. I use that to my advantage also during TOM (when I retain water like crazy). I eat very low-carb during TOM to minimize water weight gain (seems to help with menstrual cramps and cravings too).

You didn't mess up your body and you won't keep gaining on a higher-carb level. You just have to realize that your high-carb weight is going to be a little different than your low-carb weight (even when you reach goal).


I tend to gain a lot of water weight, and so easily, that it would be very hard for me to go back to high-carb eating intentionally. Even though I know it's "just water,", the difference is so amazing, that I sometimes find myself staring at my wrists, hands, ankles, and feet in awe that they look normal and not hugely puffy. Even my double chins have disappeared, well mostly. I still have a little bit of extra fat under my chin, but it barely qualifies as a double chin compard to the quadruple chin I had when I started. If I'm eating high carb, I don't blow back up to the quadruple chin, because of the weight loss, but it definitely can fill out my face more than I would like.

[Mama2Five]

Still gaining!! Help!! I'm up 2 more pounds which makes 5 total in the last 5 days since going off low carb!!

I'm supposed to be around 1200-1400 calories a day to lose weight, according to the online charts....I have been doing around 800-950 a day. Not on purpose, I have just been so busy with all 5 kids home for the summer.....and sometimes I get hungry at night, like 8-9pm but I'm trying not to eat after 7 so I just don't eat then even if I'm hungry.

Is it because I'm NOT eating enough? I've still been doing the "walk away the pounds" 2 mile video, and I've added in a 20 minutes ab/butt workout too for the past 3 days.

I'm getting a bit freaked out about gaining every day!

[ma26]

Fruit and veggies and beans! I have been trying to increase the amount of fruits vegetables and beans that I eat. And I have definately noticed and energy upsurge and weightloss after only 5 days. Plus I know I am getting lots of good vitamins and minerals and nourishing my body. Can't go wrong fruit and veggies. Also they have alot of water and that helps to keep you form water retention.

[kaplods]

Originally Posted by Mama2Five

Still gaining!! Help!! I'm up 2 more pounds which makes 5 total in the last 5 days since going off low carb!!

I'm supposed to be around 1200-1400 calories a day to lose weight, according to the online charts....I have been doing around 800-950 a day. Not on purpose, I have just been so busy with all 5 kids home for the summer.....and sometimes I get hungry at night, like 8-9pm but I'm trying not to eat after 7 so I just don't eat then even if I'm hungry.

Is it because I'm NOT eating enough? I've still been doing the "walk away the pounds" 2 mile video, and I've added in a 20 minutes ab/butt workout too for the past 3 days.

I'm getting a bit freaked out about gaining every day!

I don't know what your low-carb/high-carb weight discrepancy is, how long your body takes to make the transition, or how carb-sensitive you are, but I can tell you my experience.


My "high-carb" weight is about 8-10 lbs higher than my "low-carb weight." It's decreasing as I lose weight, so when I'm at goal I imagine the difference will be smaller, but who knows?

For me, it takes about 3 to 5 days to see the full difference, either way. For example, if I had switched to high-carb on friday when you did, then by today I would expect to weigh 8 to 10 lbs more than my low-carb weight (my weight on friday). The reverse is true too. If I switched back to low-carb today, then I would expect to lose those 8 to 10 lbs by Monday. Sometimes the transition is more rapid (2 to 3 days), but the 5th day seems to be the max (for me, for you it could be shorter, or longer).

I cannot stay on high-carb eating for the long-term, so I don't even try. When I eat high-carb foods, not only do I gain the 8-10 lbs in water weight, but I also am much more hungry, so I find it harder to stay on plan. I also experience more fatigue, so I'm less active. All that combined means that I can't stay on higher carb plans very long without my weight loss suffering (I'm losing so slowly mainly because I do have trouble establishing my ideal carb level and sticking to that).

I'm slowly realizing that low-carb may have to be the plan I follow for life, at least the majority of the time. For me, high-carb days are usually days that I'm choosing high-carb for convenience, such as when going to a family picnic, or on days I'm not feeling well (I still haven't mastered the art of keeping enough low-carb convenience foods in the house).

When I know I am going to have a high-carb day, I try to be extra vigilant with my food journal and calorie/exchange counts to prevent the extra hunger from resulting in extra calorie intake.

I've found it difficult to distinguish water-gain from fat-gain in the long run, so I try to keep my high-carb days infrequent.

Only experimentation will tell you what you need to do. You could stick it out a little longer (I'd expect you to taper within a couple days. If you're still gaining by friday, high-carb eating may just not be for you).

Good luck.