frustrated ... 5 lb weight gain in 1 week

Hi - I am looking for some help.  I was sleeved June 14th.  As of July 25th (5 weeks) i had lost 36 lbs.  Boy was I doing the happy dance.  But this week I stepped on the scales - at 6 weeks and I have gained 5 lbs.

I can't figure out why.  So my first thought was to look at my fitness pal - see if I am eating too much.

Here is what I found
Avg Calories 550-650 daily.  One day a week (usually Friday or Sat) I have closer to 800 calories - but not more than that. 
Protein is avg 60 grams per day
Carbs  avg 35 grams per day
Fat  avg 30 grams per day
Fluids - 64-90 oz per day depending on activity
Exercise - burning an average of 575 calories via Aerobics or Swimming 5 days a week.

So here is my question... how can eat so little and exercise - but still gain weight?  I do not have water retention as I am on BP that has a diuretic in it and that keeps it stable...plus I checked.. no dents where my socks are  :) 

Is this to be expected?  Is there something I need to do different?  Do I need to decrease fat grams?  Some days I get very little fat - but once a week I do eat some slices of alvacado  (my treat to me)- which accounts for the increased fat avg.  Without those it would be more like 20 avg. 

Any thoughts or critique appreciated.  I don't want to lose my momentum.  And I don't want that negative failure feeling creeping in.

Thanks
Karen

Hi Karen,

This is most likely normal.  I would try a few things like increasing your protein closer to 80-100 grams while keeping your calories the same and increasing fluids.  My guess is that this is a normal fluctuation and is indeed water retention that you can't see.  I would bet money on you losing a substantial amount of weight in the next one to two weeks.  Try my suggestions and get back to me, I bet you will be smiling. ( Oh, and by the way, I would not increase calories, as studies show that this can increase weight loss in the short run, but reduces your weight loss in the long run--so not worth it).

 Thanks Elina - I will try to increase protein but keep carbs the same.. see if it helps.  It was a real shocker this morning.. I don't weigh except on wednesdays.. i was prepared for a stall - but not gaining 5 lbs.  Pre sleeve I would have probably went and had an ice cream cone saying.. see it doesn't matter what I eat.... but at least I have a tool to help... and my attitude was better... Thanks for helping me.  Karen

Although I haven't been sleeved yet, I did think your carb count might bee a bit high. Try cutting those down a little more and see if it helps. Everyone's body does something different and before you know it you have lost those 5 and probably more.

Good Luck!

 Thanks for the encouragement Nieba.  I thought the carbs might be a little high too.  They are all from Greek Yogurt or what comes in a protein shake... but maybe I need to eat more meat and less of those.  Thanks  Karen

 Karen, 

This happens.  It happened to me more times than I can count during weight loss.  It most likely is water in one of the forms you can't see - like glycogen.  Water is the one thing in my experience that makes all the difference in the world.  Your body uses water to break down the fat, it uses water to recreate glycogen stores you may have burned off, then theres wate you need just for proper hydration.

5 lbs is the weight of about 80 ounces of water.

Try a couple of things, try drinking MORE water.  Try limiting your sodium as much as possible.  Try upping your protein and exercise.  Walk, Walk, Walk.

Not to bring up something that some get squemish about, but if you aren't having regula BM's you can be holding fecal weight too.  If you aren't being regular try miralax or fibercon supplements.

 Thanks for hellping me.  Can you explain about glycogen stores?  I was prepared for stalls.. but I was blown away to gain weight and I didn't even eat an ice cream cone ...lol...

Did you drink plain water?  I like unsweet tea - I usually do half caf.... because I don't like plain decaf.  Or I add one of the crystal lights.  I have well water.. so I don't like the taste all that well of plain water.  Maybe I need to get bottled water and see if that helps.  I do drink a vitamin water every day or two in addition to the tea and crystal light.  

5 lbs being 80 oz of water kind of puts it in perspective - thank you for that.  Seems like the concensus is more protein without increasing calories.. so I will start that tonight.  I wish I could do better with walking - but I have horrible knees - that why I do the water jogging - so I can get the exercise without hurting my knees worse.  I need bilateral knee replacements - but I don't want to haul my fat butt around on crutches.  So I want to lose some weight before I have that surgery.  Today after my water jogging I did water walking for 15 additional minutes.  I don't know how many calories that was....but it should be worth something and gave me a total of 1 hour of jogging/walking and the added resistance of the water.  


I am in health care - so BM's don't scare me...lol.  Yes that tends to be a problem post surgery.  I think I am going to have to get something.. I hope by next week water is gone... poop is gone.. and so are 5 lbs.

Thanks for the help.  Karen

 Glycogen is what the body uses for short term energy stores, think of it as a AA battery as compared to the oil barrel we keep in fat.  Your body will burn simple sugars for energy first, when that runs out it will burn glycogen, then break down fat to replace the glycogen.  Water is the base that you body uses to convert the fat to glycogen.  That is why you also see some liver enzymes go high when you are losing rapidly - your liver does all the work.

As you burn up glycogen, your body replaces it.  basically 1 lb of glycogen takes 4 lbs of water to process ( i think thats the right number, but may be wrong).  If you are exercising a lot and not eating simple sugars and carbs you are breaking that glycogen down, then going through a process called glycogenesis to replace it.

As far as drinks, I avoided Crystal Light like the plague.  Some of their calories are high depending on the flavor.  Some of them are as much as 45 calories per 32 ounce glass.  I used plain water with Mio Flavor enhancers.  I usually drink about 120-160 ounces a day that way.  IF I am sweating a lot on exercise days I may supplement that with a 32 ounce bottle of powerade zero but I use that sparingly because of the high sodium content.  I didn't like the taste of vitamin water, so I didnt drink it and am not familiar with its sodium content.

Hope this helps.