Day by day, our body weight fluctuates. In actual fact, it will probably go up or down by as much as 5 or 6 kilos in a single day depending on a range of aspects, including what we ate, how much we moved, our stress levels and more.
But when you’re often stepping on the dimensions and are surprised to see your weight increasing, you is likely to be wondering: Why am I gaining weight so fast? Why am I gaining weight for no reason?
Unexpected or unintentional weight gain might be frustrating and concerning. Often lifestyle aspects can play a giant role, but there are also times that added weight generally is a sign of a medical condition.
Below, we highlight possible causes for unexplained weight gain, when to fret and what to do next. Keep reading or select one of the links below to go to a particular section:
What’s considered unintentional or unexplained weight gain?
Unintentional or unexplained weight gain is whenever you gain weight without increasing the number of calories you eat, and without reducing your activity levels.
Unexplained weight gain can often occur when your individual caloric needs – or the number of calories you body needs to operate well every day – goes down, but your eating habits haven’t modified. The reason why you might need fewer calories include aging, menopause and lifestyle decisions.
But unexplained weight gain can even occur for reasons that don’t have anything to do with caloric intake. For instance, you could have a known or unknown medical condition that’s causing water retention or abnormal tissue growth.
If you may have any concerns, an ideal first step is making an appointment with a primary care doctor. They can diagnose and treat lots of of conditions, in addition to refer you to a specialist when you need more advanced care.
How aging can result in unintentional weight gain
Does it feel prefer it’s harder to administer your weight as you become old? It’s not all in your head. While some of this weight gain is probably going attributable to behaviors, some is because your body is changing and desires fewer calories to work.
Slower metabolism
Your metabolism are the processes that your body uses to convert what you eat and drink into energy that’s used throughout your body. It never stops, even whenever you sleep.
A slower metabolism signifies that your body burns through food more slowly, so that you must eat less. Various factors affect how briskly your metabolism works, including age, gender, genetics, hormonal aspects, eating regimen, muscle mass and activity levels. As you become old, your metabolism slows down, but physical activity and healthy eating may give your metabolism a lift.
Lower basal metabolic rate
Your basal metabolic rate (BMR) is said to your metabolism, however it’s not the identical. The BMR is the minimal number of calories your body needs at rest to fuel essential bodily functions, like respiratory. Everybody’s metabolic rate is different.
For most individuals, their BMR should account for 60-70% of their every day calories. So when you eat 2,000 calories, about 1,200-1,400 calories should go to basic body functions. The opposite calories are used to show food into energy and to support physical activity.
Your BMR starts to diminish whenever you reach about 60 years old. So, it may very well be that your body only needs 1,000 calories – and never 1,200 – to support essential body functions. In the event you keep eating 2,000 calories, you may gain weight.
Changes in sex hormones
As you become old, your sex hormones decrease. A women’s estrogen level changes quickly during menopause or perimenopause – often between the ages of 45-55. Men’s testosterone levels progressively decrease over time.
Changes in sex hormones can result in weight gain. But hormones often aren’t the first cause of weight gain during menopause or later in life. More likely causes are a slower metabolism and fewer muscle mass.
Lifestyle reasons for weight fluctuations
It’s often normal to achieve weight in maturity – as much as two kilos a 12 months, based on a 2022 study. Other than the natural aging process, these extra kilos can often be traced back to changes in behavior or lifestyle (equivalent to the timing and size of your meals throughout the day). So changes in your weight could also be easily explained actually, even when you don’t necessarily think anything major has modified.
Poor sleep
There are such a lot of the explanation why you need to attempt to clock in 7-9 hours of sleep an evening – and your weight is one of them. Quite a few studies show that when people get less sleep than they need, their weight tends to go up.
The rationale? While you don’t sleep enough it will probably affect your hunger hormones, metabolism and food decisions. One evaluation showed that sleep-deprived people ate, on average, almost 400 more calories a day. Not only that, however it’s also harder to get the exercise you would like whenever you’re drained.
Yo-yo weight-reduction plan
Repeat weight-reduction plan, also called yo-yo weight-reduction plan, can result in unintentional weight gain over time. That’s because starting and stopping diets affects your appetite and will cause you to eat more. It could also affect cortisol, a stress hormone that holds on to fat in your body. Making sustainable behavioral changes, possibly with the assistance of a medical skilled, may also help people lose weight and keep it off.
Not drinking enough fluids
Not drinking enough generally is a reason for unexpected weight gain. That could appear odd since water weighs loads, however it’s true.
One reason dehydration can result in weight gain is the way you respond whenever you’re thirsty. While you might just need a tall glass of water, a thirst sensation could make you need to eat, even when you’re not hungry. One more reason is that your body doesn’t work as well when dehydrated – it could burn calories slower and be less effective at breaking down fat.
Quitting smoking or other tobacco products
Giving up smoking is one of the perfect things you possibly can do on your health. But quitting tobacco may cause weight gain – most individuals gain 5-10 kilos within the months after they quit.
That’s since the nicotine in cigarettes and other tobacco products hastens your metabolism, while also reducing your appetite. After you quit, you’ll be hungrier and will look to food as a approach to replace smoking – but your body shall be using up calories more slowly.
Gaining a number of kilos is a small tradeoff for the increased health and energy that you just’ll have whenever you surrender smoking. But when you’re frightened about weight gain after quitting smoking, talk together with your primary care doctor.
Taking certain medications
In the event you recently began taking a latest medication, there’s a likelihood that it may very well be the explanation on your sudden weight gain.
The unwanted side effects of different medications can decelerate your metabolism, making your body burn calories at a slower rate; increase your appetite so that you eat more, cause you to retain water, or change how your body stores and processes food. Some medications might also have unwanted side effects that make it harder to exercise.
The quantity of weight you might gain from a medicine depends upon your age, medical conditions, how long that you must take the medication and the way it changes your lifestyle. Some people might gain a pair kilos in a 12 months, but others might gain 20 kilos in a pair of months. It’s also possible that some people may lose weight when taking the identical medications that cause others to achieve weight.
Medications which will cause weight gain include diabetic medicines equivalent to insulin, in addition to antipsychotics, antidepressants, epilepsy medicines and a few cancer treatments.
In case your weight is being attributable to your medications, there are methods to treat it. Chances are you’ll give you the option to modify to a unique medication or take a smaller dose of your current medication. But don’t make any changes without talking to a health care provider.
Medical conditions that may cause unexplained weight gain
While most weight gain is attributable to behaviors or aging, there are some medical conditions and illnesses that make you gain weight. In some cases, medical conditions may cause unintentional weight gain that’s expected – for instance, it’s not surprising to achieve weight when pregnant. But often weight gain from medical conditions is each unexplained and unexpected.
Underactive thyroid
Your thyroid gland produces a hormone that helps control your metabolism, heartbeat, temperature, mood and more. In case your body doesn’t make enough of this hormone, you could have unwanted side effects equivalent to weight gain, tiredness and depression.
Each men and ladies can have underactive thyroids, however it’s more common in women. The one approach to diagnose the issue is with a thyroid function test. The excellent news is than an underactive thyroid can often be successfully treated with medications.
Mental health conditions
Mental health conditions affect people in other ways. Some people can gain weight while others may experience unexpected weight loss.
There are different the explanation why a mental health condition may cause weight gain. Individuals with anxiety, depression or bipolar disorder may use food as a approach to cope and eat an excessive amount of or make poor food decisions. Plus, some mental health conditions, like depression, could make it difficult to search out the motivation or energy to exercise or be lively. Also, a side effect of common mental health medications, like antidepressants and antipsychotics, is weight gain.
Increased cortisol
Cortisol is often called the stress hormone since it’s released into your body whenever you’re under stress. It’s your body’s way of preparing you for potentially dangerous situations.
As part of this fight-or-flight response, your body gets a lift in energy and heart rate. Chances are you’ll also crave sweet and fatty foods since they supply quick energy. At the identical time, bodily functions that aren’t needed to guard you from immediate danger are temporarily paused or slowed down – one of these functions is your metabolism.
About 4 hours after a stress response, your cortisol levels (and your bodily functions) ought to be back to normal – unless your body has released more cortisol in response to emphasize, you’re taking an oral corticosteroid medication or you may have medical condition like Cushing’s syndrome.
In case your cortisol levels remain high for a very long time, it will probably cause unexpected weight gain since your body may crave high calorie foods and your metabolism could also be slower than normal.
Diabetes
It’s possible to have unexpected weight gain with each type 1 and kind 2 diabetes. Type 2 diabetes, particularly, is usually linked with weight gain.
Individuals with diabetes could also be more more likely to experience weight gain because of eating regimen, medications and lower activity levels. There’s also data showing that insulin resistance (the cause of type 2 diabetes) can decrease energy and increase appetite.
Fluid retention
The quantity of fluid in your body changes throughout the day. It’s totally normal on your weight to vary as much as 4 kilos in a single day, based in your fluid levels.
Fluid retention, or edema, is when loads of fluid builds up within the body. This could cause a sudden weight gain of 15 or more kilos. If you may have edema, your limbs, hands, feet, face or abdomen will likely look swollen.
Individuals with medical conditions, equivalent to heart failure, kidney disease, liver disease, or those taking certain medications may experience this sort of weight gain. But it surely’s also possible that your eating regimen may very well be resulting in fluid retention – for instance, when you’re eating too many salty foods.
Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS)
Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) is a condition that affects the ovaries, causing them to provide abnormally high amounts of androgens (male sex hormones). Most girls have these androgens in small amounts, but higher levels of androgens can affect how a girl’s body works.
PCOS may cause weight gain, especially across the belly, and make it difficult to lose weight. PCOS is a standard cause of irregular periods and missed periods. The condition can even cause pimples or oily skin, and hair growth on the face and body.
Can cancer cause unexplained weight gain?
Yes, it’s possible for weight gain to be an indication of cancer, however it’s more likely related to changes in behavior or a unique underlying medical condition. Those with cancer usually tend to lose kilos as an alternative of gain them. That’s because your body must work very hard to attempt to fight off the cancer.
Weight gain for somebody with cancer may occur in later stages of the disease if tumors grow larger or someone begins retaining fluid, often of their legs or abdomen.
Which cancers may cause unexplained weight gain?
Unexplained weight gain can occur with any type of cancer, but fluid retention is more common with ovarian and colorectal cancer.
It’s also possible for somebody to achieve weight during cancer treatment because of the medications they’re taking. This is particularly true for individuals who have breast, prostate cancer or ovarian cancer.
When should I be concerned about unexplained weight gain?
Unexplained weight gain might be an instantaneous or long-term health concern. In the event you think your weight changes are attributable to a medical condition, make an appointment together with your doctor.
Seek medical care right way in case your unexplained weight gain is rapid or comes with any of the next symptoms:
- Fever
- Skin sensitivity
- Shortness of breath or difficulty respiratory
- Heart palpitations
- Sweating
- Changes in vision
If it’s possible that your weight changes are attributable to aging or lifestyle behaviors, it’s still idea to talk over with a health care provider. Being chubby is a risk factor for medical conditions equivalent to type 2 diabetes, heart disease and certain cancers.
Your doctor may also help regardless of what’s causing your unexpected weight gain. If it seems that you need to see a specialist, they’ll connect you with someone who can look after your needs.