okay so this last 7 days ive been on the paleo diet
ate LOTS of fruits and veggies and meats and only slipped up once on the carbs, and haven't eaten more than 1700 calories a day
and i gained 6 pounds


now i'm not gonna stop the paleo diet because it's for health reasons over weightloss
but idk how i' m maintaining a calorie deficit yet gaining weight
over a week of barely eating more than 800 calories a day i lost 8 pounds
but eating a PROPER dietary deficit earns me +6 pounds?

idk, what am i doing wrong? am i really not gonna be able to lose weight no matter what i do because of my meds and birth control?

It sounds more like the weight swings are due to the huge changes in your diet. You know that consistently eating 800/day is not good for you - your body's probably a little off-kilter and still figuring things out from that. In fact, those 8 lbs were really probably not genuine, so this 6 lb "jump" isn't genuine gain either. If you're still down 2 lbs from where you were before, that's good. Keep going. Focusing on health sounds like a really good plan.

As someone who starved myself many times in my early 20s (sometimes 400 cals a day, some times 800...sometimes 1000, all depending on how "motivated" I was to lose weight...) if you starve yourself ( and you will see a weightloss at first) once you start eating normallly (like 1700 cals a day, the weight comes back on.

It can be your metabolism slowing down from the calorie restriction, sometimes its just so little food means an emptier digestive system, but once you start eating again, you get food back in your bowels, so its not really fat you are losing of gaining, but the weight of digested food. Also starving yourself can mess up fluid retention, though I don't know the details of that...

Anyway, It took me many years to stop starving myself cycled with over eating, and at first it took my body time to heal. And when it did, a normal healthy diet with exercise does result in a steady weightloss.

i'm not starving at 800 intentionally, i have appetite issues that sometimes make my physically unable to eat without feeling severely ill, so every so often i'll have a few days where i can barely eat and just the smell of food makes me want to throw up. and i used to be eating over 3000 calories a day so cutting it nearly in half SHOULD be making me lose weight! i just don't understand how i'm IN A CALORIE DEFICIT yet GAINING weight.

JohnP is really fond of saying that there is a big difference between weight loss and fat loss - that's part of what's going on here. Remember your scale is an imperfect tool for measuring fat loss. I know it's really frustrating, but try to work on patience and expectations and just keep going with what you've started - you'll be rewarded.

Give it time, it will even out.

As far as birth control meds go, I'm really not a believer of them causing weight gain, it's not like it's 1000 calories per pill! Granted, it may make a person feel hungry, which if they then eat too much food will cause weight gain, but the pill itself isn't adding fat. If yours is overly stimulating your appetite, have you tried switching?

I often wonder if the 'weight gain' side effect is from women who have started taking the pill due to being in a long term relationship, but it's the being in the long term relationship that means feeling more lax about food choices and eating out more. lol. Just my 2 cents, but there's plenty of different pills/methods out there if yours is making you feel bad!

Leaves - weight gain is associated with many birth control products, especially those dominant in progesterone (like the mini pill). It has very little to do its habituation and everything to do with the HPA axis and physiological augmentations caused by those hormones. Like cancer, weight gain is a well documented side effect of those products and there is a fairly straightforward medical explanation as to why.

not the pill, Mirena. and it was over $500 to get, i'm NOT paying another $300 to get it removed when i can still have it for the next 4 years.

^
This

And women who go through periods of starvation/eating (even if it's still eating in a deficit) also create lots of hormonal problems/metabolic problems.

One of the hardest parts of recovery for eating disorders is that they will gain a large amount of water weight in the initial period of re-feeding. It causes freak outs and many of them relapse before the week is over.

To be honest, all the studies that I've read have documented that there is no correlation in standard oestrogen dominant pills and significant weight gain except for some water retention, unless the person already had underlying insulin resistance. I don't know about the mini-pill as it's not something that I've looked into.

However, as it's not the pill in question here! Alyssa, are you sure you're totally accurate on you calorie counts, weighing things out etc? And that your scales are reading properly? I would stick out a few weeks at your current calorie level whilst things settle down and see what happens. If nothing, then reduce to 1600? Hope you find something that works

I do believe if it was the pill causing you to go gain weight, it would be due to an increase in appetite from the hormones in the pill.

Eating 800 calories a day (regardless of whether it's safe or not, that's not the topic here ) would cause a weightloss based on your current weight of 180lbs due to the calorie deficit.

Using a scale for meat portions and measuring spoons and cups for fruits/veggies/condiments, EVERYTHING will be instrumental in accounting every bite, lick and taste.

But like Arctic Mama said, give it a bit of time. Your body might just be adjusting to all of the changes you are making all at once.

No advice, just

I know from previous posts that you've been struggling a lot. I hope things even out for you.

****!! Sounds like you are just weighing the food (and maybe drink) in your stomach, though!! On Saturday, I was X1.6, with an empty belly, and on Monday, while still eating same maintenance calories, but maybe a lot of volume food & drink from a bbq, was X6.6!

thanks guys~ i am not measuring with a scale because i don't have one, and have no money to buy one with, so i just use measuring cups or eyeball it. but when i eyeball it, i tend to round up a bit to give myself a bit of leeway.


i've lost a few pounds since i made this post, and i'm trying soooooooooooo hard to eat properly, it's really hard. if you look at the past few days of my food log, you'll see that i've been trying, but struggling, but at least have been forcing myself to eat at least once a day.