Looking for feedback on weight gain

[Cynthia]

My apologies, because this may end up being long.

I have been exercising regularly for almost 2 years. My goals change but I have been lifting on average 2-3 days a week with 2-3 days of cardio. I have been logging calories daily for this entire time so I have a good idea of what I am eating.

Last spring I did Body for Life and at the end of May my weight was 161, my waist was 29" and I was a solid size 12 and very happy with that. I had my RMR tested at a gym (using BodyGem) last Jan at 1675 and again in May it tested at 1840.

In June, hubby and I got married and at the time I stopped taking BCP (birth control pills - which I had been on for 15 years). We are TTC. I continued lifting and HIIT BfL-style through the summer and in Sept began a training program for a half marathon this March. I stopped HIIT and cut back lifting to 1-2 days per week along with running 4 days but continued eating the same, around 2000 calories.

Since Sept my weight has steadily crept up from 165 to where it is now, 174. My waist is at 32.5", so it is honest-to-goodness weight gain.

I picked up NROL4W after Christmas and I am finishing my 4th week right now. Start weight was 174. Current weight is 174. Cal intake on training days is 2200, long run days is 2600, and rest days is 2000. I used a base RMR of 1675 based on my tests last year to come to these figures. I am 37 y/o btw.

According to my food diary, my avg calorie intake since last July is 2083.

The reason I am concerned is that I keep reading all of you who are no longer experiencing cold hands/feet and that has been a problem for me for years, even though I've not been eating less. I had convinced myself that my weight gain was a result of dropping the HIIT and cutting back on the weights, but now I am not so sure. I also went off the pill but my eating has held pretty steady. I am wondering if I might have another problem here (hypothyroid? side effect of stopping BCP?)? My menstrual cycles are normal, about 27 to 28 days and I chart my temps so I know that I am ovulating and that is all normal.

Any thoughts or advice?

[fengshway]

in the 4 weeks since doing NROLW, how has your waist size and other measurements changed? how are your clothes fitting? sometimes scale weight stays the same, but body fat is going down and muscle is going up.

I know from experience that I don't lose weight while marathon training. the closer I am to a normal weight, the more I need to lift to see a decrease in the scale, but it took six months to lose 15 pounds.


if you think you are hypothyroid, definitely see your doc and get bloodwork. glad you are here!

[Espi]

If you're TTC-ing, are you tracking morning body temperature? What is it like.. what are th lows & highs? (if possible post both in Celsius and F in case you're a Fahrenheit girl ).

A lot of BCPs make women gain weight, a small minority helps in losing, esp. when it's progesterone-based (which can raise body temperature/metabolism)

[UConnJulie]

Remember that BCPs are generally NOT hormones, but rather man-made chemicals designed to mimic a hormonal response. Going off them can take your body a while to regulate the natural hormonal response. And, yes, you CAN get regular periods and ovulate and still have out-of-balance hormones, and not just the sex hormones, but also the other major and minor metabolism hormones (cortisol, insulin, etc).

If you are having symptoms related to a hormonal imbalance (thyroid or other) then getting appropriate testing (and then treatment) is important.

[Cynthia]

Originally Posted by Espi

If you're TTC-ing, are you tracking morning body temperature? What is it like.. what are th lows & highs? (if possible post both in Celsius and F in case you're a Fahrenheit girl ).

A lot of BCPs make women gain weight, a small minority helps in losing, esp. when it's progesterone-based (which can raise body temperature/metabolism)

Yes I am charting BBT, well I was until January and now I gave up. I am on cycle number 9 now without even a positive pregnancy test so I believe I am suffering from some sort of an infertility issue (not to mention I don't really have age on my side).

My charts from August to December indicate that my pre-O temps are range from 36.0 to 36.4C (97.0 to 97.4F) and my post-O temps range from 36.4 to 36.8C (97.4 to 98.3F but I only hit 98.3 one time, usually it is lower than 98.0). I believe these are fairly low, progesterone is probably something I will discuss with my OB-Gyn at my annual exam in March. If you are familiar with charting, I can post a link to my charts on Fertility Friend.

I did visit my PCP yesterday to request a thyroid test. He said my thyroid feels normal on exam but agreed to draw the blood anyway. The results will be back early next week.

Other than thyroid or progesterone is there anything else hormonally I might be missing here? We had health evals here at work a few weeks ago and one of the tests they did was blood glucose; that came back as 93 (that was after about a 12 hour fast). Is that the same as a test for insulin?

I am also considering the possibility that my metabolism may have just slowed down from the decrease in weight-lifting and HIIT for 5 months. It seems a rather dramatic decrease, considering that I wasn't eating an exorbitant amount of food (certainly not more than before, although my protein and carb ratios probably did change slightly). But maybe coupled with the removal of the BCP it just threw my metabolism into a spin?

I am finishing my 4th week of NROL4W right now and I seem to have maintained. I started at 174, my weight today is 173 and probably won't be any lower than 172 by the end of the weekend.

[Espi]

Yes, I'm familiar with charting, and have been since April last year. Fascinating.
From the book with examples, your body temperature range seems to be in line with what is to be expected, though everything seems to be a tad lower than 'normal'.

I'd say: wait a bit longer, especially since you've now started NROL4W and are progressing nonetheless. And do start tracking body temp again.
When I started lifting after 6 months lay-off (illness) my maintenance was around 1700 kcals. 6 months later when I just had moved places and was doing a LOT of volume (not knowing much of what I was supposed to do), maintenance was a whopping 2700kcal.
Now with moderate volume and only informal cardio, it's meandering between 2000 and 2200 kcal.

[Cynthia]

Thanks for the feedback. I just realized yesterday that I have incurred a knee injury (ITBS) that is going to put me into rest mode for at least a week from running. I have opted to switch my plans for the half marathon and instead run the 5k length.

On the good side, it means I can increase my lifting NOW from 2x a week to 3x. I can also start doing some HIIT in about 2 weeks. I was originally putting all this off until March, after the race. I am really hoping that changing these components will solve my weight problem and it will not end up being something hormonal but I guess for now I will have to wait and see.