1 pound gain over night?!

amber_catastrophe

Yesterday I ate good... I thought. And I went to the gym for an hour. Although, for dinner (before gym) I ate a foot long sub from Subway.. That must have been why I gained almost a pound this morning when I weighed? Ugh!!!!!

Liftng4Lis

Water retention.

amber_catastrophe

How do I get rid of excess water? It discourages me when I see is gained a pound. Especially when I have 15 to loose. Another question: if my calorie intake is allowed 1600 do I have to burn over 1600 for weight loss?

higgins8283801

It happens. If you weigh daily, you can't fret the normal, daily swings. You could have more water, waste, ect. You would have had to eat 3500 over your tdee to gain a pound of fat.

amber_catastrophe

Thank you! That's helpful!

amber_catastrophe

amber_catastrophe wrote: »

Thank you! That's helpful! (:

suwala2t

Ya i wouldn't worry too much about it. Just water retention. My weight will vary by 5 lbs in a day due to water retention. Usually my lowest is in the morning first thing. But that's just how our bodies operate!

ggeise14

Normal fluctuations -- you ate at Subway, sodium can cause bloating/water retention. Working out and doing new exercises can cause your body to hold more water.

radiosilents

If you're going to weigh daily, you MUST prepare yourself for and accept that these normal fluctuations will happen. I am a daily weigher, and sometimes it drives me crazy, but I like to collect the data and it is kind of interesting to see how my body functions in that way. Once in a while I will even weigh at night, and let me tell you, it is AMAZING what you see – a gain and loss of 4-5 pounds during the day and then gone overnight, for example.

Anyway, long answer short: it's totally normal, especially if you're not careful about sodium (lots in Subway, believe it or not). Exercise can also make you retain water.

Just keep doing what you're doing and don't worry about the daily fluctuations. Instead, watch for the overall trends.

ncboiler89

amber_catastrophe wrote: »

Yesterday I ate good... I thought. And I went to the gym for an hour. Although, for dinner (before gym) I ate a foot long sub from Subway.. That must have been why I gained almost a pound this morning when I weighed? Ugh!!!!!

Random weight variation. Get used to it. If you are going to stress about a pound you're going to drive yourself crazy. And there is no way a foot long sub made you gain a pound of real body weight.

LavenderLeaves

Like everyone said, weight fluctuation from day to day is totally normal. If you're eating at a deficit and doing everything right, you will lose weight. Daily weighing may not be a good thing in your case, if you're not able to just weigh yourself every day and realize you may be up anywhere from 1-4 pounds one day(due to anything that may have made you retain a lot of water) but know you didn't actually gain fat. What might be a good idea if you're really determined to weigh daily, is start logging your weight every day, but look at the general trend every couple weeks. Ie: am I down every first of the month? If yes, then you know you're doing it right, and the day to day weight fluctuations won't bug you.

ahoy_m8

Deli meat=salty. Nothing wrong with that, per se. You will get used to water weight fluctuations or drive yourself batty. I think the fluctuations are interesting and I do weigh most mornings. Some people advocate relying on measurements rather than scale weight for that reason. Best of luck!

KarenJanine

Fluctuations happen. For my lunch I just ate: 300g soup, 1 bread roll (~50g), 1 yoghurt (120g), a banana (~100g) and a cup of water (~250g).

Scale weight would have increased by nearly 1kg in the space of about 20 minutes. It doesn't mean I've gained fat.

DemoraFairy

amber_catastrophe wrote: »

How do I get rid of excess water? It discourages me when I see is gained a pound. Especially when I have 15 to loose. Another question: if my calorie intake is allowed 1600 do I have to burn over 1600 for weight loss?

Drinking lots of water will help you get rid of excess water, but won't completely stop fluctuations. Foods high in salt will increase your water retention and lead to higher fluctuations, too.

For your second question, if you're asking if you have to burn 1600 calories in extra exercise if you're eating 1600 a day, then NO! You've got to eat to live! If you mean do you have to burn over 1600 including the calories you burn just by living, then yes.

jennifer_417

amber_catastrophe wrote: »

How do I get rid of excess water? It discourages me when I see is gained a pound. Especially when I have 15 to loose. Another question: if my calorie intake is allowed 1600 do I have to burn over 1600 for weight loss?

Oh gosh no! It means your NET calorie intake for the day should be 1600. That means, even after subtracting what you burned exercising. (Be aware though, that MFP tends to overestimate calorie burns.)
ETA: The gain is likely a combo of water retention and undigested food still in your body.

amber_catastrophe

Thanks everyone for your response! I just tend to get discouraged really easily! I weight most mornings. But if I have a "cheat day" I won't weigh in the morning, just to spare myself the disappointment lol.

ncboiler89

amber_catastrophe wrote: »

How do I get rid of excess water? It discourages me when I see is gained a pound. Especially when I have 15 to loose. Another question: if my calorie intake is allowed 1600 do I have to burn over 1600 for weight loss?

Excess water? How do you know it's excess? You could have not had enough water when you weighed yourself previously. It's not water you are looking to loose it's body fat. I weigh myself every morning but don't stress about the results from one day to the next. You are looking for long term trend. Calm down.

Your weight loss is determined by the difference between the calories taken in and the calories burned. So if you eat 1600 calories you will maintain your weight if you burn 1600 calories. If you have an average deficit of 500 calories per day (so in your case if you burn 2100 calories on average while taking in 1600 calories on average) you can expect to lose about one pound per week as a pound is about 3500 calories; (500 calories per day) * (7 days in a week) = 3500 calories = 1 pound.

rwbgator

If you stay within your calorie intake under 2000 calories and burn some of that during the day, you most likely will not gain any weight. the extra weight would come from water or salt in your body..

amber_catastrophe

Thank you all! By the way, I need women friends on here! To help motivate and hold me accountable! Lol

pilot1960

Agree with members above. Weighing daily will cause you to see fluctuations of up and down. Water, waste, etc. is the cause. I always weigh in the morning, night time weighing is always heavier by a pound or two.

rbfdac

There should be something every single person who uses MFP is required to sign acknowledging that they understand the basics of weight loss, including but not limited to, WEIGHT FLUCTUATION due to any number of factors, including water retention.

Weight fluctuates. It's what it does.

I just don't understand how so many people can begin a weight loss journey, or journey to fitness, or whatever, and not have even attempted to research the BASICS of how the body works.

End rant. Semi-apologies to anybody I may offend.

Liftng4Lis

amber_catastrophe wrote: »

How do I get rid of excess water? It discourages me when I see is gained a pound. Especially when I have 15 to loose. Another question: if my calorie intake is allowed 1600 do I have to burn over 1600 for weight loss?

Drink lots of water and eat less sodium.

Debbjones

A gallon of water weighs 8.3 pounds (see below for calculation on the weight of water)... imagine you weigh yourself, drink a bottle of water and then weigh yourself again (without expelling any water), there is your pound.

I concur with all the other comments... what you saw on the scale was water retention. If you had a particularly salt filled meal before going to bed, therein could lie the cause. Salt is a primary cause of water retention.

Best wishes...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

One gallon of water weighs 8.34 pounds.

There are 128 fluid ounces on one gallon, so 8 ounces is 1/16th (.0625) of a gallon.

Convert the 8.34 pounds into (Weight) ounces to get 133.44 (weight) ounces per gallon.

Multiply the number of ounces in a gallon (133.44) by the quantity (the .0625) of the sample and you come up with 8 fluid ounces of water weighs 8.34 (weight) ounces.

Edited to add: I just wanted to confirm, and I have a digital kitchen scale. So I put a measuring cup on the scale, zeroed the scale out and added one cup of water - it came up with 8 5/8ths ounces that works out to 8.625 ounces. So given that i wasn't accurate in pouring one cup, and it wasn't pure water (hard water weighs more) I'm pretty sure the round about way above is correct - eight ounces weighs 8.34 ounces.

holliebaker90

I personally loose or gain anywhere from 1-3 pounds in one night. I have noticed that I weigh less on the weekends when I am not stressed out than during the week. Don't let one pound bother you! Your weight will most likely be completely different the next day. There are MANY factors that pertain to a gain, being near your period, eating too much salt, and drinking a lot of water. I would NOT worry about excess water... it is just how your body retains things, don't stress over 1 pound! Gradually you will come to understand how your body reacts to certain days. I have learned not to pay attention to my weight during the week and wait to see what happens Saturday or Sunday.

If this makes you feel any better... when I am on my period I normally weigh 2-3 pounds heavier and can't loose anything. But once I am off everything gets normal again!

Athos282

OMG A whole pound?!? What did you eat? A truck load of McDs? A scow's worth of Taco Bell? A barge of Burger King?

In all seriousness, I've taken dumps that weighed more than one pound. There's nothing to panic about with a one-pound over-night weight fluctuation. Key word: fluctuation! Go at least week to week, not day to day to avoid future panic attacks. Breathe...just breathe!

amber_catastrophe

holliebaker90 wrote: »

I personally loose or gain anywhere from 1-3 pounds in one night. I have noticed that I weigh less on the weekends when I am not stressed out than during the week. Don't let one pound bother you! Your weight will most likely be completely different the next day. There are MANY factors that pertain to a gain, being near your period, eating too much salt, and drinking a lot of water. I would NOT worry about excess water... it is just how your body retains things, don't stress over 1 pound! Gradually you will come to understand how your body reacts to certain days. I have learned not to pay attention to my weight during the week and wait to see what happens Saturday or Sunday.

If this makes you feel any better... when I am on my period I normally weigh 2-3 pounds heavier and can't loose anything. But once I am off everything gets normal again!

Thank you! I just get so discouraged. My mom will lose 5 pounds in a week if she wants to. Although, she definitely doesn't do it the healthy way. I guess I expect to see results like her, but our dieting methods are completely different. Thank you!!! (:

jemhh

OP, here is a link to my weigh-ins for the past year. I'm reverse dieting right now so you can ignore the measurements for the past week. But you can see that my weight has gone down, up, and stayed the same at various times but the overall trend was downward. Completely normal.

530roman

^^^Probably the best thing anybody can read if they're struggling with a small weight gain from one day to the next is the link above^^^

AmyRhubarb

amber_catastrophe wrote: »

How do I get rid of excess water? It discourages me when I see is gained a pound. Especially when I have 15 to loose. Another question: if my calorie intake is allowed 1600 do I have to burn over 1600 for weight loss?

Your body burns more than 1600 all day long, in a 24 hour period - sleeping, walking, working, exercise, household chores, etc. So if you're asking if you need to burn 1600 in exercise, the answer is no, absolutely not. The goal MFP gives you has you at a deficit, even before exercise, which is why they add exercise cals back into your goal - eat those too and you're still back at your original deficit for the day.