On Jan 5, 12:32*pm, Doug Freyburger wrote:
Woody wrote:

After walking off 50 lbs over a couple of years I started metformin. I
didn't change my diet or exercise but gained 30 lbs back in 3 months.

This dispoves the simplistic idea that "Calories in equals calories
out". *The real equation is "grams of fat into storage minus grams of
fat out of storage plus/minus water retention noise level equals weight
change".

So, change in muscle mass isn't also a possible factor with at least
as much
significance as water retention? Sounds like you substituted one
simplistic
equation, for another.



Anywhere near the metastability of healthy metabolism the body can
change its fuel use by hundreds of calories per day to stay at a
stable size, but any change that puts a bias on the stored fat towards
accumulation will trigger weight gain. The ketonuria of low carbing is
a bias on the stored fat towards withdrawal that triggers weight loss.
(In both cases the bias happens without hunger but is easy to
interfere with, whence stalls).

Others have posted that metformin effects insulin and insulin drives fat
into storage. *For some it biases them towards fat withdrawal. *For you
it biased you towards fat accumulation.

When I stoped taking metformin my weight
gain stoped but those 30 lbs stayed with me so I don't think it was
watter weight gain.

It's a shame he had to put on 30lbs in 3 months before figuring out
something was going
very wrong.....