Weight loss, meds, and insulin resistance
 

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.

Welcome Person perso. :Wave-Hello:

Muscle weighs more than fat. If you are converting fat tissue for muscle tissue, that will not appear as weight loss on the scale.

To what do you attribute this rapid gain? Any changes in lifestyle?

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.

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.

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.

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.

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?

Hi Person perso

Welcome to NeuroTalk - I see that, as usual, you have got a lot of good ideas from other members.

Generally, a homocysteine level of less than 13umol/L is considered OK.

A key enzyme in production of homocysteine is called methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase (MTHFR for short). There are a number of known mutations in the gene which codes for MTHFR. Probably you have inherited one mutation from your mother and a different one from your father - ie, you are a "compound heterozygote" as far as the MTHFR gene is concerned.

You might find the information here helpful; http://circ.ahajournals.org/content/111/19/e289.full .

Volume Differs
 

Dear Kitt,

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.)

Are you drinking enough water?