hello, all. i registered to see if this has happened to anyone else or if anyone has any explanation or tips, because i'm fairly confused.

i'm 5'11, and about 2 months ago, i weighed around 145, and was pretty comfortable with that. i literally changed nothing about my diet and exercise (live in a city, walk/bike everywhere), and suddenly, i started gaining weight. in about a month i was up to 160. for the past month, i've been trying to lose it, and instead, when i weighed myself today the scale said 170. it's not that i'm gaining muscle, instead i can tell that i'm putting on fat in my stomach, hips, and upper back (which is also weird for me). what the hell happened?

when i say "trying to lose it", i mean that i drink even more water constantly, switched to only drinking black coffee, started running on the treadmill twice a week and doing wii-fit about four times a week, and eating organic granola throughout the day to make sure it wasn't a fiber problem. i can't eat breakfast because of the medication i'm on (i get nauseous and throw anything up for the first few hours), but i snack healthily and really don't eat poorly for lunch or dinner, and have started not eating after 8.

i plan on making even more changes to my diet and exercising more, but seriously, what gives? is it even healthy to gain weight that fast? i know that my metabolism could be slowing down, but i'm only nineteen, and it was so unexpected and fast that i feel sort of like a stranger in my own body now.

Hiya there

Its a tricky one that. Id deffinatly go to docs asap. Something doesnt sound rite! They will beable to do test first to rule out any health problems, refere you to a dietican and give you proffessional advise

Sorry i couldnt be any more help

I would definitely see a doctor.

Have you tried counting calories to see if there has been anything go into your diet that would have an impact. A free account on FitDay - Free Weight Loss and Diet Journal would help with that - and also allow you to check your other nutrition too. This may well be of use to your doctor in getting a handle on the problem. You could also log your exercise there so that the doctor can see the picture more clearly.

Hormones can play a part in sudden weight gain. You do not mention your gender - but things like changes in birth control can have an impact for ladies which experience a sudden unexplained gain.

Reading your post there are 2 things that stood out to me.

The first and most obvious is the medication issue. Has your medication been changed recently or is it new? Is there any way you could get your dr to switch you to a med that doesn't make you sick, so that you could try balancing out your meals better?

The other thing is that granola is a sneaky non-diet food. Everyone thinks granola is healthy - and even better if it's organic, right? But granola often has a TON of sugar in it and sugar will pack on those pounds because it's nothing but empty calories.

It's possible that this is all medical related, but it's also possible that you're eating more than you think you are. I'd say for one week try keeping a food journal. Sign up with the dailyplate.com or fitday.com or one of those and log EVERYTHING you eat. I mean seriously everything - if you lick the spoon while you're cooking, log it down. A lot of people are surprised at how many calories they're consuming w/out even realizing it.

thank you guys for your responses!

i did call my doctor this morning, forgetting that it was a holiday (small, family doctor), and then called my mother's doctor's office (which is located inside the hospital, so it's almost always open), and spoke to a nurse. she agreed that it was odd, and suggested i come in for some hormone tests (?), and also mentioned that it may be a thyroid issue.

i weighed myself today, and i'm at 165, which is better, but i think i'm going to buy a new scale just in case this one is on the fritz.

i also signed up for fitday, and apparently i'm eating a ton of carbs! i didn't even realize it. thank you for your note about the granola, because i had no idea it had so many calories! i get it from a woman up the road who makes it for a farmer's market, so there's no handy nutritional values on the side. according to it, i ate approximately 1,551 calories yesterday. i'm going to try and keep it in that range, but substitute things out so i get more protein and less carbs.

Taking your weight as 165 - I would try to get my protein at 83g or higher (e.g. half weight).
Also aim:
your fibre to be at least 30g
your sodium to be 2500mg or less
your calcium to be at least 1,000mg

Also make sure that you are drinking plenty of water. You want at least 83 fluid ounces each day. You can get constipated if you do not have enough water even if you have tons of fibre - and that shows on the scale.

Our bodies need carbs as long as they are good carbs which you get from fruit and veg. It is the ones that people normally think of as carbs that we need to be really wary of having too much of (e.g. bread, rice, potatoes, pasta - and if there is a wholemeal option that is always better).

Cereal is something that is better limited - weighing out a small portion - but not eating too much.

Read up the nutrition sections on this forum.