How Can I Possibly Be Gaining Weight?

I cannot tell you how many times clients complain to me about gaining weight despite that they are "barely eating anything at all".  "I keep gaining weight, but I am eating like a bird" is another common complaint.  Worse yet, you feel like you are eating celery sticks and cardboard  while your stick thin coworker is putting down a handful of cookies.  We all know that skinny B*&%#  that seems to be able to eat everything and anything and not gain a pound.  I swear one of high school friends existed on Dorritos and candy and was never bigger than a size two.  Most of us, however, do not fit into that category (FYI, skinny mini's no bragging in public).  If people are not eating that much, then how are they gaining weight? Fortunately, there really is no mystery to weight gain.  If we eat too much, we will gain weight.  Period, end of statement. 

 

So how do we figure out why we are gaining weight?  We really need to look at our diet and exercise.  The first thing I ask people is whether they keep track of their food intake with a journal.  James O. Hill, PhD, director or the Center for Human Nutrition at the University of Colorado and co-founder of the National Weight Control Registry (NWCR) knows the importance of accurate recording.  Emily Yoffe, a columnist for Slate.com, recently interviewed Hill for Oprah Magazine.  Through the NWCR Hill has monitored people who have maintained a weight loss of 30 pounds for at least one year.  What he finds is that people claiming they eat very little actually "eat quite a bit when their food intake is monitored.  Rigorous studies show that it's impossible to be a really large person and not eat much".   Some individuals were found to be under-reporting up to 1,000 calories.  Interestingly researchers saw that people are not necessarily lying about their intake, they just truly believe they are not eating very much. 

 

Another issue is that when you lose weight, your metabolism decreases.  You will have to eat less to maintain your new weight.  People often do not compensate for this loss in metabolism and eat what they are used to eating.  No wonder people struggle with yo-yo weight loss/gain.    

 

What can you do to help keep your metabolism up?  Besides exercise (especially strength training), one easy thing to do is fidget!  Get up, walk around, get up to talk to your co-worker instead of emailing, tap your feet and walk around while you talk on the phone.  Eat mindfully and keep track of your intake.  Fill up on low calorie, high volume foods like fruits, vegetables, soups and salads.  Visualize yourself at your perfect weight.  The more vivid the picture, the more real it will feel to you according to Janice Taylor, weight loss coach and author of Our Lady of Weight Loss.  Exercise, move more and eat less.  Hate to break it to ya, but that is still the best answer.  You cannot be serious about weight loss unless you commit to regular exercise and healthy eating.