weight gain reasons

10 Surprising Weight Gain Reasons (Based On Science)

Unlock the mystery of sudden weight gain reasons. First, consider them for underlying medical conditions. Then know how to tackle it.

Have you been asking “why am I not losing weight?” to yourself over and again?

Don’t worry. We may have all come on different ships, but we’re in the same boat. I’ve seen in many different forums on weight loss queries like:

  • What are the causes of weight gain?
  • What causes rapid weight gain in the abdomen?
  • Is Weight Gain a sign of cancer?
  • Why am I gaining weight while exercising?
  • What causes sudden weight gain around the middle?
  • What diseases cause rapid weight gain?

Fundamental Reasons for Your unintentional Weight Gain:

Every one of us wants to burn fat and lose weight. But did you ever tried to find out the real reasons behind weight gain? Probably not!

Most people put on weight due to extra calories than they burn. In many cases, the unintentional weight gain is not a serious concern. However, there may be many underlying health conditions that can cause weight gain.

This article highlights some possible conditions for your unintentional and sudden weight gain.

Genes:

Genes are surely the ones which affect the way you look or to say exactly genes are the ones which determine whether you’ll be obese or not. The role of genes in your body’s fat distribution is major.

Gaining muscle mass instead of fat is more important. How well your food is transformed into energy and how you burn fat during exercise is all within the genes. It varies from person to person.

Family:

It’s well known that obesity runs in families. At least one of your parent’s obesity may be your bane as it descends to their children. This is mainly due to the genes.

However, it can also depend on your surroundings that encourage high calorific valued food items.

Age:

The much you grow older the much you are at risk of obesity. With the growing one’s lifestyle becomes less active when compared to one’s youth. All the metabolic activities are affected as the muscle mass is decreased and one needs to burn fewer calories.

Adding high-calorie foods to your diet only increases one’s weight.

Lifestyle:

A sedentary lifestyle without much physical activity is a result of excessive fat accumulation and weight gain. Modify your lifestyle as such you burn the extra fat with regular exercises.

Insomnia or Lack of Sleep:

Do remember that sleep is not just for lazy people. We need to have a proper sleep quality otherwise it could have a drastic effect on hormones. When you’re sleep-deprived, there’s an increased chance of being hunger with higher levels of ghrelin hormone. This ultimately leads to overeating and thus sudden weight dain.

Sex:

Being a weaker sex, the woman has more chances of being obese due to their body’s nature of accumulating fat at required areas and less muscle mass.

The physical activities that women do in comparison to men are much lesser. They burn fewer calories than men at work and at rest too.

Drugs:

Certain medications like corticosteroids (steroid hormones) and antidepressants (mainly TCA’s) can result in the addition of weight. Prescription medication for hypertension (commonly known as high blood pressure) and a neuroleptic condition can also do so.

Weight gain is the most common side effect associated with the use of antipsychotic medications and birth control pills.

Hormonal Imbalance:

The hormonal imbalances can lead to many medical problems such as thyroid, diabetes, PCOS, gastritis. These do bring a lot of change in weight balance, body metabolism, emotions, energy levels etc.

An abnormal production of hormones is mainly observed in Cushing’s syndrome. This is a condition in which you are exposed to too much of the stress hormone cortisol. These hormonal changes are most likely to happen in your middle years and thus weight gain.

Menstruation:

Women do observe sudden weight gain due to their irregular menstrual cycle. This is mainly due to the changing levels in estrogen and progesterone. It is common that women do lose their gained weight gain at the end of the menstrual period. And then it reappears during the next menstrual cycle.

Menopause:

As said earlier, Menopause brings down estrogen levels in the body. As a result, the metabolic rate is reduced. It leads to the accumulation of starch and sugar as fat and thus sudden weight gain.

Pregnancy:

Pregnancy is an important phase in women’s lives. They do undergo a lot of changes physically and hormonally. As women are advised to eat more during their pregnancy, it is quite common for them to gain more weight during the last trimester.

It is to be noted that sudden weight gain during pregnancy could be a sign of a health problem. Moreover, it makes difficult for the woman to give birth to her child naturally.

Generally, the weight gained during pregnancy is lost during breastfeeding. However, a few end up with pregnancy pounds.

Medical Problems:

Sometimes, obesity is the result of certain medical problems including Gestational Diabetes, Hypothyroidism, Hashimoto’s Disease, Polycystic Ovary Syndrome (PCOS), Kidney Failure, Congestive Heart Failure, Pituitary Cancer, Ovarian Cancer etc.

Being overweight increases a person’s risk for developing diabetes mainly due to insulin resistance. Similarly, one unfortunate side effect of diabetes is weight gain. Thus diabetes and obesity are interrelated.

In a majority of the cases, people suffering from arthritis are prone to severe weight gain. This is mainly due to a decrease or limited movement.

Alcohol-Related Liver Disease:

Excessive alcohol consumption can damage the liver. People with alcohol-related liver disease end up with life-threatening cirrhosis and total loss of function. Starting with excess fat accumulation to fatty liver, this shortens your lifespan.

The only way to prevent alcohol-related liver disease is to cut down your alcohol intake.

Quitting Smoking:

Undoubtedly, quitting smoking is a good thing for your health. Then why does it results in weight gain? In general, people who gain weight after quitting smoking tend to lose it quickly when they settle down.

Ignoring Healthy Lifestyle:

This includes stress and low mood, tiredness, unhealthy food choices, large portion sizes, late night snacking, crash diets, less sleep, etc.

Say if you are feeling tired, then you may end up eating high-calorie and late night snacks. Eventually, high sugar and transfats get stored as fat. Always be conscious of what you eat. Distracted eating may add to weight gain. Never do multitasking (like watching television or working) while eating your food.

What’s Your Opinion?

Whatever may be the reason for weight gain, remember you can lose extra weight. All you need to do is eat healthily and workout regularly. For the best guidance, you can refer to 3 Week Diet weight loss program. Learn the best rules of dieting and fat loss.

If you have strong determination, then you can lose 21 pounds in 21 days. Yes, you are reading it right.

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Image Credit: Peter Cade Collection / Iconica / Getty Images
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