I'm gaining all of a sudden

[Sera]

I'm really starting to get frustrated...for the past week I have steadily been gaining weight...a few 100 grams every day.
I'm now up 1.1 kg (about 2.5 pounds) and cant find the reason.
I have had a virus infection before I started gaining but during that illness I kept losing very regulary, now I seem to have gotten a cold right afterwards and I understand you can gain waterweight when you are ill but I also seem to gain a few centimeters on chest and tummy.
Now, I ate kidney beans for the first time last Friday and they seem to cause that I can't go to the toilet like I normally do, so I figured the first weight gain was gonna go away again once I could go regulary again.
I haven't had kidney beans or anything new in this week and still keep gaining.
I don't exercise right now because I'm ill so there can't be any muscles building.

Here is what I eat most days:

Breakfast: 100-150 g greek yogurt with syrup and a few drops of sweetener or a few slices low carb bread made from almonds, flax seed and pumpkins (never caused problems before)

Snack: 1 oz of cheese (not every day)

Lunch: 20-250 g of no-beans-chili made from ground beef, sugar free tomato sauce, bell peppers and mushrooms + about 1 cup of kohlrabi

Dinner: about 200 g beef or chicken and 2-3 cups brussel sprouts or a greek salad with tomatoes, onions, bell pappers and feta cheese

Snack: about 60 g Mascarpone with a bit of sugar free cocoa or 100-150 g Strawberries (not always)

I drink loads of water every day, so no trouble there.

My calories are somewhere between 1600 and 2000 and rations on fitday are currently somewhere around 65 - 5 - 30...it does vary but not much.

I'm up to 40 carbs but usually can't get past the 35 and that has been fine for the past month.

So basically I really can't see why I'm gaining...all the foods I'm eating are ok because they never caused problems before and I am on OWL rung 6.

If anyone has an idea whats wrong, please help me out here

[sallyseachange]

Perhaps you've found your CCLL. Why not try dropping back 5 g carbs/day and see if you start losing again. Or... could it be the almonds that are causing probs?
How are your measurements? Maybe it's just the scales being evil.

[Sera]

See, that's the thing, I doubt this is my CCL since I have been losing good on 30-40 net carbs for quite a while now and I'm also still in ketosis...that's what baffles me.
I have tested almonds and nuts extensively before and had issues when I ate to much of them but now I found that if I keep them at a minimum they don't cause problems plus I've been eating that bread for several weeks now (well only a few days every week) and kept losing.
Measurements seemed to be up 1 centimeter on chest and tummy this morning, I hadn't measured the days before because I figured it would all sort itself out.
I haven't been losing centimeters for 2 weeks now while the weight seemed to catch up, so I absolutely wasn't worried...as long as one of the two (weight or measurements) goes down, I'm happy enough.

So yeah...that's why I am so confused, no changes in diet and excercise and I'm gaining.

Oh...and TOM is a few weeks away so that can't be it either.

[*Emma*]

question....

Whats your BMR?

Also, if you're on rung six I would think your ratios should of changed slightly when i was at that rung i would hazard a guess to say i was on at least 10% carbs

Do you think your fat intake could be too high?

[Sera]

my BMR is around 1600 and I have days where my carbs are 8% but you know what?
the fat thing actually gives me an idea.
In the 2 weeks before this one I always thought "damn...is my fat count high or what?" because it was always in the 70ies with carbs being somewhere around 8 and protein in the low 20ies or even as low as 14.
But during these 2 weeks I lost 100-300 g almost every single day, so maybe its the other way around and my fat count is too low now?
Is that even possible?

I know at my rung I should have a lot more carbs in general but to be honest I don't eat from every rung every day and most days I don't even get close to the 35 net carbs while I could be trying to eat 40 or 45 regularly.

Maybe having protein around the 30ies is too much as well?

[*Emma*]

Yes its possible, i did extended induction (stupidly) for a long time, the more fat i ate the faster i lost, it could be worth a try.

Just dont ever let your protein go above 30, excess protein will turn to icky nasty glucose!

[Sera]

thanks Emma, I would have never thought in that direction...I knew about too much protein causing problems but too little fat?
I'll up my fat and try to lower my protein and see if that changes anything.
I will report back in a few days.

[Evermind]

I posted a reply this morning, or thought I did, but it isn't here!

Anyway.........

I'm having the same thing happen. This weekend, out of the blue, I gained 3.5 lbs. I've since lost .5 of it.

Nothing new added to my foods.
My carb amount is the same it's been for 2 weeks.
My fat count is high - which is usual for me.
No more calories than usual - still about 200 under my bmi.
No new exercise - I've been running 3x a week since early August, and hitting the gym 2-3 times a week as well.

<shrug> I can't explain it. But I'm betting that the measuring tape will tell a different story...........

[Sera]

well you know, no new exercise in your case still means you are excersing, so maybe you are building up muscles...however...that is a lot of gain for just muscles.
I really hope for you that the measuring tape tells you that you have actually lost...too bad mine didn't say the same thing

[Butterfly73]

I'm no diet expert, but you might try cutting back (or out) the dairy, replacing it with eggs or meat, and increasing the leafy greens or other low carb veggies a bit. That has helped me to get things going again when I seemed to have stalled. Green salads, string beans and spinach have been some of my best friends during those times.

Oh...and TOM is a few weeks away so that can't be it either.

Almost forgot to mention-ovulation can cause a hormonal weight gain as well as TOM.

Also, Sera ,if you are using ketosis testing strips as an indicator of whether you are in ketosis, you might be interested to know it is possible to show purple on the strips and NOT be burning body fat. The purple just shows you are breaking down fat rather than storing. The ketones you see *might* be simply dietary fat passing through rather than body fat being broken down. Some helpful people brought that to this stix-junkie's attention and after experimenting, I realized that the reading can be strongly affected by how much fat I eat as well as whether I am drinking enough water.