For some reason, I've been gaining weight over the past few weeks. I've just started uni 3 weeks ago and have been quite active - walking a lot, riding my bike to the train station and back (so 20 minutes of riding my bike every day), taking dancing lessons once a week etc. And I've been eating a lot less. Beforehand, I'd been sitting at home all day, eating lots of chocolate and not moving much at all. So now that I actually should lose some weight, I seem to gain weight!? I've gained about 5 pounds (!) over the last 3 weeks, especially around my stomach. What should I do about it?

I'm not sure what would cause that...Try keeping an eating diary for a week or so to keep track of how many calories you're eating and your general eating patterns. I do lose weight when I'm on my ass but it's because I eat a lot less. When you're active you can't run up too much of a calorie deficit because you'll feel weak and hungry and tired. When you're not moving around much it doesn't matter if you feel like that, it's not like there's anything you need energy for. But if you're eating less and moving more I'm not sure what is happening.

I think you've read about my problem with orthorexia, right? Wouldn't be so good for me too keep an eating diary

It sounds stress-related. You're probably retaining a lot of water and not eating makes your stomach semi-dormant. You should always drink tons of water and eat something when you wake up (even an apple) to get your metabolism kicking.

Personally, no matter how much running, biking, skating or whatever I do, nothing fixes my stomach and abs like good old-fashioned crunches and sit-ups.

My whole body would look excellent, but for that little tummy paunch. Sit-ups, crunches, any ab excercises you can pick up. They hurt bad, but look good.

Yeah, that's true.

Maybe your metabolism is just evening out? I don't really know what would be going on unless you're eating more calories. Have you weighed yourself or do you just think you've gained about 5 lbs? Being stressed can make you see yourself as fatter (or it does me, but maybe that's strange). Anyways, give it some time and see if your weight evens out in the near future. Don't obsess too much.

I think that I might have low blood sugar as well!? Every time I get hungry, I also get kind of dizzy and can't see properly until I've eaten something. Could this be related to my weight gain?

it can be gas(i dont know if this is the proper word in english)
my stomachs gets gigantic when i have gas

Or maybe it's water retention?

Or it could be muscle gain, i thought it was heavier than fat?
Sounds like your doing all the right things. And don't forget women can put on 3-10lbs around their period!

how often do you eat? it sounds like you're not eating often enough.

it's a common mistake when trying to lose weight to cut down on the number of meals, which not only fucks up your metabolism (and can cause you to gain weight; starvation mode bla bla you probably know all this. but it's easy to forget when dieting), but leaves you hungry and dizzy like that when you haven't eaten for a while.

especially if you're being more active than before, you need to make sure you eat often enough. small meals every 3 hours is good. if you don't have time for proper meals, with uni and all, you could try to carry around stuff like nuts/raisins/fruit/veggies/sandwiches/whatever so you can grab a bite between classes.

That's actually what I'm doing! I eat lots of small meals every couple of hours. My stomach sometimes feels kinda swollen, though

hmmm. maybe it's the stress then. i'd say give it a month or so for things to calm down with school and just life in general, and then see how you feel. maybe you could try eating less salt to see if it could be water retention like you say?

nevermind the weight numbers. it could be muscle gain from working out, and it could also (most likely) be normal weight fluctuation. 5 pounds coming and going out of nowhere is perfectly normal.

also (i know, meet captain obvious, but just in case), could it be just pms/period stuff? feeling bloated around your stomach area and dizzy/unwell could be that.

if it goes on, you might want to see a doctor and get some blood work done. check your iron levels and stuff. might be that making you feel bad.
edit- actually, considering your other threads as well (tiredness, orthorexia), you should probably definately get this done anyway. even if nothing is wrong, it's nice to know.

or you could be pregnant

Thanks for taking your time to write this!
The last time I had blood work done was 6 months ago. Everything was fine except for my iron levels, but I guess they have evened out a bit, judging from the amount of meat I've eaten in the meantime!! Apparently my thyroid was ok as well, but my blood sugar was not so good. The thing is that I sometimes feel a bit lethargic but nonetheless restless, you know? Strange. But maybe that's cos of my character, cos my mum's the same I cannot be pregnant - although I wish there was the possibility, cos that'd mean that I'd be having sex, which sadly isn't the case

So thanks again!

perhaps you should get your thyroid checked