What Causes Weight-Gain (Apart From The Obvious…)?
Okay, so you probably weren’t terribly surprised when you stepped on the scales after Christmas and found that you’d put on a bit of weight. Or a lot. But two weeks later, are you still gaining weight? Were you gaining weight before the Christmas festivities began in earnest?
If you’re being honest with yourself about the calories your consuming and the exercise you’re undertaking then it would become clear if you were taking in more than you were burning off, and that’s the obvious explanation for why you’re getting a bit more cuddly. But what if you’re doing everything you can to lose weight, or even just eating sensibly and exercising regularly to maintain a healthy weight – and you’re still gaining? What could be going on there?
Here are some causes of weight gain that you might want to consider.
1. Stress: we feel stress in the same way that our ancestors felt it, and our ‘fight or flight’ mechanisms kick in. This can mean an increase in cortisol, our ‘stress hormone’, which can increase appetite.
2. Lack of sleep: often related to stress or over-work, biochemically a lack of sleep affects our hormones and increase hunger. If you’re really tired, you’ll often automatically reach for high-sugar, high-energy foods to keep you going. Plus, if you’re awake, you’re more likely to have the opportunity to eat.
3. Medication: some prescribed medication including antidepressants have a side-effect of weight gain. Check the leaflet in the pack for known side-effects and speak to your GP if you think it’s having an adverse effect.
4. Hypothyroidism: how many fat people have you heard bemoaning ‘it’s my thyroid’ as they tuck into a plate of pie and peas? Well, they give the rest of hypothyroidism sufferers a bad name because genuine sufferers can eat relatively little and still gain weight because a reduction of thyroid hormone from the thyroid gland slows the metabolism down. Other symptoms include feeling cold, weak and tired.
5. Age: changes in hormones during the menopause in women don’t actually affect weight, but the aging process does slow down the metabolism.
6. Polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS): this is a common problem suffered by women from puberty to menopause that causes lots of little cysts on the ovaries. It changes their hormones and leads to weight gain, lots more body hair, and acne.
7. Stopping smoking: nicotine is an appetite suppressant, so people who have stopped smoking sometimes find themselves hungry for the first time in years. Others just pick things up (like biscuits) and put them in their mouth in substitution of their cigarettes.
If you think that any of the above might apply to you, see your GP. But it’s a good idea to write a food diary – listing everything that passes your lips – for a couple of weeks or even a month, so that you can prove that you’re not gaining weight because of your diet. Also jot down any exercise you take. That might show the doctor that there is a problem to be investigated – or you might realise just how many treats have been creeping into your diet.