If you’ve ever wondered, “Wait… I am working out 6 times a week… I’m counting calories, I’m doing all the right things, so… why did I gain weight?!” You’re not alone. Even while following diet rules, meal plans, and exercising every day, weight gain can still occur.
So, why?
First, the most important thing to acknowledge is that your body size and shape are not good indicators of your overall health. Bodies can feel comfortable at any size, but you deserve to feel good in your body. When you don’t, you have every right to look for possible solutions to get you back to feeling your best. But keep in mind that there are many other factors that could be contributing to weight gain.
Undereating
Undereating is being packaged as trendy diet tips, like “intermittent fasting” or “just drink water when you’re hungry to suppress hunger”, or the casual “eat 1200 calories per day”. Many people tend to compensate by skipping meals if they’ve eaten or are planning on eating more calories or carbs than usual in order to “make up for” what they ate the day before or replace meals with coffee. Therein lies the issue— although many people do rely on these trendy diet tips to try to lose weight, it’s not a solution that is sustainable long term.
Your body needs a minimum amount of calories for survival, like basic organ and cell functions (the basal metabolism.) Your caloric needs change on a daily basis (with stress levels, mental energy, physical recovery, possible inflammation. So, when you eat less than you need to, not only do you deprive your tissues, organs, and cells to receive proper nourishment, but you also lose touch with your hunger cues
This can also lead to a drastic decrease in energy, a spike in cravings, and a metabolic adaptation in the long term. The end result is a possible weight loss created by stressing your body and metabolism, then a rebound – causing the famous yo-yo effect.
Overeating
On the flip side, there’s overeating. Overeating is defined as eating a larger amount of food than your body needs and is often accompanied by a lack of mindfulness about the food being consumed.
Overeating can be a consequence of undereating or restricting foods. In this case, we could call it compensation or punishment eating. Overeating can also be a consequence of absent hunger and satiety cues. In the long run, it can cause a toxic relationship with food, digestive discomfort (such as bloating and heaviness), and food guilt… It’s worth noting that overeating is often thought to be synonymous with binge eating, but this isn’t the case. Instead, binge eating is when food becomes a coping mechanism to deal with stress and other emotions.
With time, overeating can lead to weight gain. But it is important to note that the solution to that is not, and will never be, to cut out on foods, overexercise, or get on any kind of diet. Instead, try supporting your body by observing the different types of hunger and understanding your body cues.
Overexercising
Although contrary to what many people believe, exercising intensely every single day actually isn’t great for your body. In fact, it can be even worse for you than a sedentary lifestyle!
If you’re working out extremely hard every day and pushing your body to undergo excess physical stress without proper rest and nourishment, tissue damage is more likely to occur.
This is because your body isn’t getting the proper downtime it needs in order to recover from each workout. When your body is deprived of proper recovery time, your body will start to adapt to this constant physical stress. So, over time you’ll start seeing lower-quality sleep, a slower metabolism, a decrease in muscle mass, and weight gain.
Yes, weight gain can occur with overexercising, because that metabolic adaptation makes your system slow down the rate/pace at which it uses energy and nutrients to repair those tissues all while allowing you to function properly during the day.
Of course, daily movement is good for you and important to your health. But sometimes your body needs rest, and that’s okay! It doesn’t always have to be a difficult workout. Find a movement that you enjoy, with a duration and intensity that feels good to you, and incorporate it consistently into your schedule. Be sure to include (and schedule, if needed!) rest days as well.
Stress
Stress is probably the most underrated and most common reason for weight gain. When you’re stressed, your body releases adrenaline along with the stress hormone cortisol. Cortisol is your body’s response to stress; when you encounter a stressful situation, your body turns on the “fight or flight” mode, and your body releases cortisol as a defense mechanism against those perceived outside threats.
This increase in cortisol leads to short-term spikes of energy followed by a sudden and quick drop.
In the long term, whether during or after the high-stress period, your cortisol levels return close to normal. But those highs and lows of cortisol have physical and psychological effects, especially on eating behaviors, such as increased cravings for sugary, high-calorie, high-fat foods, which, if not eaten mindfully, can lead to an increase in weight. Additionally, there is a strong correlation between high cortisol levels and the risk of high blood sugar.
History of Yo-Yo Dieting
Yo-yo dieting can also be a possible cause of weight gain. When you cycle through various eating patterns constantly, although you may see initial weight loss, it will eventually hit a wall and won’t be sustainable long term.
This is because of metabolic adaptation. When you are constantly yo-yo dieting, it can have a negative impact on your hormones and digestion. Additionally, yo-yo dieting results in shocking your body— your body will start getting used to the yo-yo effect and will store food for the next time you don’t nourish it properly. Your appetite may increase, but your body doesn’t lose the fat because it’s in storage mode, resulting in weight gain.
Medication
Some medications like antidepressants, anxiety medication, and GERD/stomach medication can sometimes increase appetite, which causes you to eat more even when your body doesn’t require or desire more food. Additionally, some medications can also impact your body’s metabolism, which causes calories to burn off at a slower rate.
Both of these things can eventually lead to weight gain. If you take medications that you think may be causing weight gain, don’t just assume that this is the issue. It’s best to talk to the doctor who prescribed them to check what the side effects and long-term effects are for the medication you’re taking.
So What Can Be Done?
I know that working out every day or a stressful few days may not seem like something that could possibly impact your health negatively. And I know how tempting and helpful those diets can sound, especially when they come from trusted sources, like medical professionals or people we admire.
But knowing the way that these things impact your life and how you can work to make healthy changes is the key to transforming your health. And intuitive eating can give you the right tools and support you need in order to do so.
There’s so much strategy that comes with health, but remember that you need a few things to reach a healthy and happy weight: building a solid foundation for your metabolism, developing realistic and effective daily structures, understanding your body cues, feeling in control of emotional eating, and having good stress management techniques.
It can be overwhelming to think of letting go of your current eating patterns and start listening to your body, but once you put yourself in the driver’s seat and work on personalized tools for you, your body will blossom and love you right back.
This way, you’ll attain sustainable health that lasts (and doesn’t yo-yo back) and improve your relationship with food, eating, and yourself!