Weight Gain Even While Restricting

Weight gain is without doubt the biggest fear that clients have.

Part of the reason for this is the eating disorder. The changes in physiology and psychology that happen with an eating disorder increase the seeming importance of weight. 

But these fears nearly always pre-date the eating disorder. The reason most people started dieting in the first place was that they wanted to lose weight.

So, while it is true to say that this fear didn’t originate with the disorder, the fear has grown exponentially as the disorder has.

Alongside the fear, there is a lot of confusion about weight too.

For example, a client is restricting heavily and exercising excessively and yet their weight is no longer going down. They are delaying their eating. There are moving even when they are exhausted and don’t want to. And yet, their weight still won’t budge.

Or worse yet, their weight is starting to increase.

For example, they are still restricting heavily and exercising excessively and have been doing this for years. But during the last couple of weeks, they have started to eat a little more or they have exercised a little less. In real terms, it is a menial change but it’s a change that has led to weight gain.

Or they don’t even notice a change in their eating and exercise but weight gain has happened.

And this is like their fears becoming a reality. Even the tiniest change leads to weight gain, so of course they need to be even more vigilant.

Restriction and Weight Loss

While I’ve used the terms “restricting heavily” and “exercising excessively,” this isn’t necessarily how these clients would describe what is happening. 

And a big part of this is due to the connection that is made between eating, movement and weight gain. 

If they are eating and weight is not coming off, then obviously it can’t be a small amount or restrictive. If they are noticing that they are hungry, it obviously can’t be real hunger because they aren’t losing weight, so they must be getting enough food. 

And if weight is going on, then obviously this is “over eating” and they clearly can’t hear their hunger and fullness cues properly. 

Or when reflecting on exercise, they clearly aren’t exercising in a way that is burning enough calories. So even if they are walking for hours a day, it’s seen as “just walking” and that “walking isn’t real exercise anyway”. So, they feel like they are lazy for not doing “real” exercise and that this is the actual problem.

Sadly, they are being gaslit by their own beliefs. Because if the belief is that restriction leads to weight loss or exercise leads to weight loss, but then this isn’t happening, they start to question whether they’re really restricting or doing enough exercise in the first place.

So, when I speak to a client like this and point out that their body is clearly in an energy-depleted state, it’s unsurprising that they are sceptical. 

Yes, they can notice all the symptoms that are occurring, like:

Feeling cold, poor sleep, digestive issues, dizziness on standing, missing period and libido, and frequent urination (to name just a few).

But to them, this can’t possibly be linked to being in an energy-depleted state, because otherwise, they’d be losing weight.

So let me explain this from the body’s perspective

Our body wants to maintain homeostasis and balance. Everything it does is an attempt to keep us alive. And the amount of energy that we have coming in is crucial to the body being able to do this task. 

When the amount of energy coming in is reduced and/or the amount of energy being used is increased, the body takes note of this.

You eat a little less and/or move a little more, so the next day the body nudges you to eat a little more and/or move a little less. This is obviously a very simplified version of what happens, but the point is that there are feedback loops to assist the body in getting what it needs to function. 

Now, this feedback can start to be overridden. You notice that you’re hungry, but delay eating. Or you eat foods that are high in fibre and fill your stomach but provide little energy.

Again, the body will try to nudge you to change this but if this message is still not heard, it starts to modulate how it’s functioning.

And it does this by changing how food is partitioned and how much energy specific systems and organs receive.

Let me use some numbers to demonstrate this.

These numbers are for illustrative purposes only.

Before restriction, your body had 2,500 calories coming in and was using 2,500 calories. It was in energy balance.

You then upped your exercise and reduced your eating. This meant that now 2,000 calories were coming in and the body was using 2,800 calories, creating a deficit of 800 calories.

While in the world of dieting a calorie deficit is seen as the holy grail, to your body it is a situation where it is now spending more than it is earning. This is unsustainable and something it wants to correct.

As I mentioned, its first attempt at dealing with this is sending feedback to encourage you to move less or eat more. But if this doesn’t work, it starts to reduce its spending. 

Previously your digestion was receiving 400 calories to function, not it gets 300 calories. Previously your liver was getting 150 calories, now it gets 100. It does this across the board.

It has now reduced its output and, even with the exercise, is down to using 2,300 calories. Your body continues to send feedback for you to eat more and move less alongside these spending cuts.

Unfortunately, this message isn’t responded to. You continue to prize weight loss and further reduce your eating. You’re now eating 1,800 calories, continuing to create a calorie deficit.

So once again, the body starts to reduce its functions. 

One way it does this is to triage functions based on their importance. 

When there is less spending to go around, the body prioritises short-term survival over everything else. So it gives energy to essential functions for life and removes energy for nice-to-have functions.

Reproduction is a nice-to-have. By turning this off, it saves the body 200 calories a day. You now no longer get your period.

And so this process continues. As the energy coming in is reduced, so is the spending that the body makes.

This then leads to various symptoms, like the ones previously listed. And it means you can find yourself in a position where you are bringing in 1400 calories a day for example, and yet the body has reduced its functions to match up with this. It’s not that your body only needs 1400 calories, it’s that it has adjusted its functioning as a way of keeping you alive.

Putting Away Savings Even During A Famine

Now, the body can take this reduction even further. It sees what is going on and as a precaution reduces its spending even more than the energy that is coming in. 

Just like someone living on a meagre budget can still create some savings, your body does the same. It doesn’t know if things are going to get even worse, so as a precaution, it wants to create a savings buffer.

So even though 1400 calories are coming in, it is now only using 1200 calories. Those extra 200 calories are partitioned away from use, being saved for the proverbial rainy day. This saving results in weight gain. So even on a 1400-calorie diet, you begin to gain some weight.

And again, this doesn’t tell you that you’re “over eating” or that your body only actually needs 1200 calories. All it tells you is how your body is choosing to behave when it is in this energy-depleted state.

Actual Results May Vary

Now, I want to add that no two bodies are the same and how your body prioritises all of this can vary compared to someone else.  

Some people can lose a lot of weight and it takes a long time before the body starts to really put the breaks on. For other people, weight loss barely happens no matter how much they try. 

Some people lose their period almost immediately when they start restricting. For others, no matter how much restriction occurs, their period remains. 

But all of these people can find themselves in an energy-depleted and malnourished state with many functions turned down and off. They may look different on the outside and their symptoms may vary, but the net result is the same: the body has restricted its spending because of the limited energy coming in.  

A Nourished Body Acts Differently To A Depleted One 

I started this article by mentioning that the fear of weight gain is one of the biggest blocks to recovery. The reality is that I don’t know what will happen to your weight as you recover. And there is nothing I can tell you that will take away the fear of weight gain.

But what I will say is that how your body functions and the amount of energy it uses when it is in a depleted state is NOT an indication of what will happen when it is provided with what it truly needs.

Just like your body down-regulates functions when it is restricted, it up-regulates them again when this restriction is removed. This isn’t a perfectly linear shift, but it does happen. Your body wants to use more energy, it just needs to know that it is coming in regularly. 

Need Help With Recovery?

Fear of weight gain is the bane of recovery. But recovery can happen, even while this fear exists. In fact, hoping for this fear to go away before starting recovery is something that will never happen.

If you struggle with a fear of weight gain AND you still want to recover, I’d love to help.

I’m a leading expert and advocate for full recovery. I’ve been working with clients for over 15 years and understand what needs to happen to recover.

I truly believe that you can reach a place where the eating disorder is a thing of the past and I want to help you get there. If you want to fully recover and drastically increase the quality of your life, I’d love to help.

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