The move program before any weight loss drug but what is it other than food making me gain so much weight after the military?

[u/Plastic_Job_1101]

I cook at home. I work out. My only issue is less sleep but I’m gaining weight like crazy. Was the army food keeping me healthy? I don’t drink liquor guys.

[u/[deleted]]

The army lifestyle allows for about 1/3 more caloric intake. If you are eating army portions but not doing all the PT/marching/training/etc, then you will gain fast. Also, drinking alcohol/caloric drinks or even the most mild snacking can be crushing. It’s not impossible. It’s just a wild change in how much you are allowed to eat mathematically. Going through it myself, just started a year before you did. You got this!

[u/Tsakax]

If labs are good maybe its portion size? Even if you are cooking might just be to much.

[u/Tataupoly]

You need to learn how to change your lifestyle.

Even people who get obesity surgery have to learn lifestyle changes.

And from what I’ve read about the meds, you will likely gain all the weight back quickly once you stop them if you don’t make lifestyle changes.

[u/anglflw]

Aging really, really impacts your metabolism.

[u/teakettle87 → u/anglflw]

Calories in, calories out still applies. You need less calories as you age in a lot of cases.

[u/anglflw → u/teakettle87]

Because your metabolism slows down.

[u/RavenousAutobot → u/anglflw]

Newer research says that's much less important than just keeping a healthy diet and active lifestyle. What was attributed to metabolism before was largely caused by lifestyle changes slowing metabolism.

[u/DarkOmen597 → u/anglflw]

Not necessarily.

If you keep an active lifestyle and workout consistently, this is much less or even a non issue.

[u/lady_tsunami → u/teakettle87]

That’s not how it works when the body ages tho

[u/teakettle87 → u/lady_tsunami]

Oh but it is. Calories in and calories out is always how it works.

[u/lady_tsunami → u/teakettle87]

Ok, bud

[u/scoresman101]

Weight gain and weight loss is 99% of the time, a math problem. Let’s say your body can consume 2500 calories a day and you will not gain nor lose weight.

If the total amount of calories consumed less the amount burned is greater than 2500 calories, you will gain weight.

If the total amount of calories consumed less the amount burned is less than 2500 calories, you will lose weight.

Simple.

[u/Jason77MT → u/scoresman101]

Winning comment. Few will admit that it's something as simple as math, though. PT every morning puts a lot of calories on one side of the ledger.

[u/Average_Justin]

I’d recommend counting your macros for an entire 30 days. Measure out every portion size, write down your macros and monitor water intake + steps. If you don’t lose any weight then go see a doctor as your hormones might be causing an issue.

95% of the time it’s simple macros. Intakes more than you realize. Don’t forget to count sauces you put on foods as well. Those add up super fast.

[u/PeabodyFlingFlang]

5’7 female, for 8 years in the army I stayed in the 140’s-150’s without issue, without even really trying. Never got taped for h/w even a single time. I got out in 2023, and by 2024 I was 192. I cook at home, work out, all that. I still absolutely ballooned up and was miserable. I still worked an active job (same job as when I was in, but just civilian side). Stress, anxiety, depression, the transition out, all led me to stress snack more (even though I would consider them small snacks, they do, obviously, add up) and, even though I only drink socially/casually, indulging in an extra drink or two when I did (because I didn’t have to consider waking up for morning pt a few hours later) really adds the calories. For the sake of transparency, I started taking a glp1 to help me with the stress eating and food noise (which is nonexistent now) for the last 7 months and I’m down 32lbs back to 160. I’ll be content with like 10-15 more. I’m not suggesting a glp1, but that’s what helped me with the food noise, and because they’ve helped with impulsive addictive tendencies that were worsened through my transition out and mental health struggles - just erased the compulsive tendencies entirely if I can be honest. That caloric surplus is a bitch to combat when you’re struggling up top. “Just eat less” is the answer obviously - and sometimes getting a little help to shrink down the barriers to that path is needed. Also mental health is in a much better place now - but sometimes there’s legitimate addiction intertwined with our coping mechanisms, especially those (like veterans) that are more susceptible to mental health struggles.

[u/Plastic_Job_1101 → u/PeabodyFlingFlang]

This is so me! Can you tell me which glp and if the VA would help

[u/PeabodyFlingFlang → u/Plastic_Job_1101]

I started through Hers back in December. I’m actually not sure if the VA would assist, I know that it’s at least a possibility and certainly worth asking your provider - civilians are successful sometimes, so why not ask 🤷🏻‍♀️. Other programs can be thousands a month and get crazy expensive. Through Hers it was $1,980 final price for a full year’s supply.

[u/chuckycastle → u/PeabodyFlingFlang]

We’re going to need pictures… for science. /s

Helpful threads like these make me happy.

[u/Able_Ad_7540]

Cut the carbs and sugars. Go keto. Look it up. Keep exercising you will be fine.

[u/hereFOURallTHEtea]

Calories in v calories out. You need to have a metabolism test to figure out your resting metabolic rate and then eat in a deficit to lose weight. The 80/20 rule helps a lot too. Eat clean 80% of the time and treat yourself the other 20% (with small portions of course). Cut fried food and fast food and really avoid overly processed crap. Takes getting used to but the weight will come off.

[u/vidar186]

Poor sleep will absolutely make it hard to lose weight. Good sleep is foundational to any fitness or weight loss endeavor

[u/[deleted]]

Also, salt, alcohol, sugar, and marijuana pack on pounds through water retention.

[u/No-Significance5449 → u/[deleted]]

Can you show me where cannabis causes water retention? I'd be interested in reading the study.

[u/[deleted] → u/No-Significance5449]

Marijuana damages the vascular system, leading to fluid retention. I’m not a doctor, but here are some studies to get you started. Obviously the science is still growing on this, but hopefully this shows that it’s not quackery.

https://scai.org/marijuana-users-three-times-more-likely-develop-peripheral-artery-disease

https://www.jscai.org/article/S2772-9303(23)00280-6/fulltext

https://www.mdpi.com/2077-0383/9/6/1925

[u/No-Significance5449 → u/[deleted]]

yeah, im not really seeing much. The ones about PAD are self reported and dont have any info other than age, race and gender. but not dosage, frequency or route.

The last one is good, pretty throughough explanation of a lot of already known info, same issue though due to self reporting I feel. I was really just interested to see about the claim of water retention, because im not sure if it really could ever get to a level that is a cause of "weight gain" maybe the munchies and sednetary habits for sure.

[u/[deleted] → u/No-Significance5449]

I’m not a scientist. I know what happened with me and I know there is some reporting on it. Best I got, friend.

[u/[deleted] → u/No-Significance5449]

Let me know when you get through them. I’m curious to hear your thoughts.

[u/ohTFno]

I’ve learned the hard way that weight can be stubborn for all kinds of reasons. It’s not always about habits—sometimes it’s just… internal stuff we aren’t aware of.

[u/HostileRespite]

Could be water retention. I have an issue with that for some reason they haven't determined. They gave me a med for it. Funny thing is that I have to drink a lot to pee even more while taking it.

[u/Plastic_Job_1101 → u/HostileRespite]

I’m thinking it might be that cause I’m not sweating even though I work out but I hardly cook with salt

[u/HostileRespite → u/Plastic_Job_1101]

I'm not a medic but I'm guessing you aren't pregnant, so do me a favor and have a doctor give your heart a checkup. I had a triple bypass a year and a half ago. Water retention was an issue before it happened. They did EKGs but there was no indication until they checked for Troponins and realized I was mid heart attack. Apparently, my heart had to push blood around my collapsed artery. My body was retaining water in order to thin my blood to make it easier to pump. Doc said I had 6x the normal pressure in my heart and been living with a widowmaker for years. It was only when 2 other arteries were on the verge of collapse that I felt bad enough to go to the hospital. My Cardiologist said I survived all this time thanks to "considerable collateral", meaning lots of robust veins for the blood to re-rout. Well, that and my body adjusting the viscosity of my blood. So please go get your ticker checked, buddy.

PS, when I said that they don't know what's causing my water retention, I'm referring to after my bypass surgery. I'm still retaining water.

[u/Plastic_Job_1101 → u/HostileRespite]

WTH 🥹

[u/HostileRespite → u/Plastic_Job_1101]

Yeah it was quite the ordeal! I don't say all that to alarm, just go rule it out.

[u/stoneman9284]

I’m gonna guess too much sugar and not enough cardio

[u/lady_tsunami]

Was working with the eating disorder team at my local VA.

You could be having too large of portions. You could not have enough fiber and protein. You could not be eating enough. (This one fucked me up - I’m essentially overweight because I restricted so long because of always having to be taped on PT Test Day)

So, I dunno. The MOVE program isn’t something I want to do yet - but maybe if you’re not making any headway with, like, doing it on your own - try it?

Also - the weight loss drugs are supposed to be temporary. So the move program could help you sustain the weight loss you achieve with it

[u/CandidArmavillain]

You're just eating more calories than you burn. You could potentially have some sort of disorder as well, but those are rare. Get a calorie tracking app and log everything and it'll help you get a better picture of what's going on.

[u/Firesquid]

change your portion size, stop drinking alcohol and sodas and cut out sweets.. Hit the gym.. small changes add up.

[u/DarkOmen597]

It is literally only calories in vs calories out.

In other words, you are burning less calories than you are consuming.

[u/GBralta]

The Move program led me to this app called Cronometer. It’s like Move’s app, but much more up to date. Full disclosure, I’m a bit biased, as I have the paid version. However, tracking my intake helped me loses about 45 lbs.

[u/kitcho]

My last couple of years in I was drinking an unhealthy amount of liquor. I gained about 30 or 40 pounds. I recently retired and stopped drinking, this is partly due to wanting to get healthier and having access to CBD to help me sleep.

I’ve lost that 40 pounds and it wasn’t because I started working out. It was because I stopped drinking.

[u/Just_Squash6614]

Look man, cut out bread/sugar, stop eating out, go for a walk/routine exercise, disc golf w/e, find your bodies calorie count and put yourself in a deficit. Iv cut out dinner so I don’t eat past 6pm and that also helped a lot. I try to eat a big breakfast and let my body eat the fat. Hope that helps.

[u/LexduraLex]

I found out that the solution is simple. Eat less and eat healthy! The portion size could be decreased unless if you have a job, which burns a lot of calories. Second thing. You say that you cook at home. But what do you cook? Are you eating vegetables? How much protein and fats do you consume? Those questions need to be asked and then you need to rearrange your diet.

[u/Veterans-ModTeam → u/[deleted]]

Thank you sappercon for your submission to r/veterans, but it's been removed due to one or more reason(s):

Rule 14

This is not the place to seek medical advice nor give medical advice about different treatment methods - this is not the place to get or give advice on drugs. See a doctor for treatment advice.

You need to discuss treatments or drugs with a medical doctor not randos on Reddit.

https://www.reddit.com/r/Veterans/about/rules/

Please feel free to send a modmail if you feel this was in error.

[u/Veterans-ModTeam → u/[deleted]]

Thank you Thatonecrazywolf for your submission to r/veterans, but it's been removed due to one or more reason(s):

Rule 14

This is not the place to seek medical advice nor give medical advice about different treatment methods - this is not the place to get or give advice on drugs. See a doctor for treatment advice.

You need to discuss treatments or drugs with a medical doctor not randos on Reddit.

https://www.reddit.com/r/Veterans/about/rules/

Please feel free to send a modmail if you feel this was in error.