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Diabetes / Insulin Resistance / Metabolic Syndrome For discussion of Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes, insulin resistance and metabolic syndrome. |
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07-05-2015, 01:29 AM | #1 | ||
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New Member
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This is my first post, I'm hoping you can help me as this issue is very vexing.
I'm in my mid-20s and I've never had a weight problem in my adult life. Suddenly, in the last 7 months or so I've gained 33 lbs, taking me from a healthy weight to edging on obese. The only symptoms I really noticed in this time was increased joint strain but a blood test also indicated insulin resistance (13mU/L) and elevated homocysteine (10.1umol/L) possibly caused by the fact I'm a compound heterozygote (not that I fully understand what that means). Losing weight has been a big priority of mine over the last few weeks. I've taken to eating a lower carb diet with small meals throughout the day (5 meals total). It has been low cal with lots of fruits and vegetables and higher fat and protein. I've also been exercising with high intensity 4 times a week (yoga, weights, swimming) and keeping active with lots of incidental walking (averaging about 1 hour a day). My calorie deficit, at least by my estimates, would be 1000+ a day. I'm hungry and tired a lot, and I really miss my favorite foods, like pasta and chocolate. In three weeks of this, I have not lost a single pound, although I am definitely building muscle. How is this actually possible? I'm also on some psych meds which may be contributing to the issue (lithium being the most likely, although I've been taking it for 2 years without any problems). I recently went off Yasmin to see if that would help, although after a week without it, it hasn't seemed to make any difference. I'm interested in suggestions as to what to do now because I'm very frustrated. It would be easy enough to continue eating healthily if it were yielding any results, but as it isn't I feel deprived and rather unmotivated. |
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07-05-2015, 10:38 AM | #2 | ||
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Grand Magnate
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Welcome Person perso.
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Kitt -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "It is what it is." |
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07-05-2015, 02:54 PM | #3 | ||
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Senior Member
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Quote:
Quote:
If there is no apparent reason for this rapid weight gain, I would investigate that matter with a physician if I were in your shoes. |
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07-05-2015, 03:43 PM | #4 | ||
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Grand Magnate
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Muscle does not weigh more than fat. It is a myth. However, more calaries are burned at rest with muscle than fat. Two people who weigh the same, etc. but one has more muscle than fat will look different and will wear a different size. There are many sites which confirm this.
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Kitt -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "It is what it is." |
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07-05-2015, 05:03 PM | #5 | |||
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Magnate
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Whether muscle weighs more than fat is a poorly worded question. What does it actually mean? 5lbs of fat, by definition, weighs the same as 5lbs of muscle, but the fat takes up a far greater VOLUME. This site has a nice photo depicting this:
http://info.extremebodyshaping.com/b...Fitness-Fact-6 Dave.
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You and I are yesterday's answers, The earth of the past come to flesh, Eroded by Time's rivers To the shapes we now possess. The Sage - Emerson, Lake & Palmer. |
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07-05-2015, 05:08 PM | #6 | |||
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Magnate
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Hi Person perso,
How many calories are you consuming a day? Your body can go into starvation mode if you do not consume enough, and shut down your metabolism, thus negating any weight loss efforts. Dave.
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You and I are yesterday's answers, The earth of the past come to flesh, Eroded by Time's rivers To the shapes we now possess. The Sage - Emerson, Lake & Palmer. |
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"Thanks for this!" says: | Hopeless (07-06-2015) |
07-05-2015, 05:23 PM | #7 | ||
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New Member
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Thanks everyone for your help. To answer some questions, the weight gain was caused by an increased, insatiable appetite and associated changes in my eating habits although I remained active. Trying to lose weight, I was eating about 1000 calories a day (so the starvation mode thing could be right) until I realised that my calorie count was that low. I've increased it to 1200, which is the recommended amount for women trying to lose weight, although my RMR is something around 1800 calories a day, so at least theoretically there should be lots of room to manoeuvre?
Is it possible to be on 'starvation mode' when my diet, although small, is nutritionally sound? |
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"Thanks for this!" says: | Kitt (07-05-2015) |
07-06-2015, 10:31 AM | #8 | ||
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Senior Member
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I guess I did not expound enough on the differences between fat and muscle. I should have added the word "volume". Fat and muscle have a different molecular structure. Dave is so much better at expressing things than I am. YES, 5 pounds of sugar is exactly the same weight as 5 pounds of flour. Also, 5 pounds of fat weighs the same as 5 pounds of muscle. If one exchanges 5 pounds of fat for 5 pounds of muscle, the scale will not change. 5 pounds is 5 pounds and will always weigh 5 pounds. A sack of feathers does NOT weigh the same as a sack of bricks. I totally agree that muscle burns more calories than fat. I guess we were not talking about the same things. Are we talking actually pounds on a scale, or volume, or calories? Sorry for any confusion I may have caused but I believe that a person that has replaced 5 pounds of fat with 5 pounds of muscle will still have the same number show on the scale. Again, 5 pounds IS 5 pounds no matter what comprises the 5 pounds. BUT, if one is replacing 3 cubic inches of fat with 3 cubic inches of muscle, the scale will show the difference. A cubic inch of muscle DOES weigh more than a cubic inch of fat. Muscle has more density. Maybe Dave can express this better for me. He is gifted in being able to express things well in words. (Far better than me.) Last edited by Hopeless; 07-06-2015 at 11:04 AM. |
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"Thanks for this!" says: | EnglishDave (07-06-2015) |
07-06-2015, 01:31 PM | #9 | ||
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Grand Magnate
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Quote:
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Kitt -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "It is what it is." |
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07-06-2015, 06:22 PM | #10 | ||
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Senior Member
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I am not sure what to make of your post. I thought I made myself clear that a pound of "anything" is still a pound if we are speaking of weight. To compare a pound of anything with a pound of a different item, they will always be the same weight as we are comparing ONE pound with another ONE pound. One pound of feathers will always be equal in weight to one pound of brick(s). When I said muscle weighs more than fat, I backed that up with a cubic inch of muscle DOES weigh more than a cubic inch of fat. That is a FACT. Muscle has more density than fat. In this scenario, we are comparing the exact same size (a cubic inch) of two different items (muscle and fat) which have different densities and therefore different weights. I really do not see your point. It appears to me that we actually agree -- that density affects weight. (And muscle has more density than fat.) If you fill a bag with feathers, and you fill another bag of the exact same size with concrete, the bag of concrete will weigh more than the bag of feathers. The reason is the density of the concrete versus the density of the feathers. In this case, both the volume and density differ, only the size of the bag is the same (the container), NOT the items being compared. The items being compared, feathers and concrete, differ in both weight and volume. Now, if you measure out a pound of feathers and place it in a bag, and also measure out a pound of concrete in another bag, both bags weigh the exact same amount, ONE pound each. I think we are both saying the same thing, just going about it in different ways. There is a lot more to the complexity of weight loss than the debate on weight of fat versus weight of muscle. Just as it is not as simple as often stated that if calories IN equals calories OUT equates to no change in weight. That is an over simplification but is often listed as the goal to maintaining weight. There are a lot more factors that come into play. I just did not think this thread was the place to go into all the biology and body chemistry of body weight. The person that started the thread asked why she was not losing weight when she was building muscle. I was trying to give a short and simple response. It is a FACT, that muscle has more density and when comparing a cubic inch of fat to a cubic inch of muscle, muscle DOES indeed weigh more. If I were better at providing links, I would provide them to prove it. We seem to say the same thing, just in different ways. (Except that you referred to the weight of muscle and fat being different as a myth in your initial response to my post.) It is NOT a myth, I just did not go into all the details of WHY muscle and fat are NOT equal when you consider comparing the same size of each with one another. |
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