Can't figure out why a certain meal causes short-term weight gain

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mburgess458
mburgess458 Posts: 480 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
I know that answer must be water retention, but I can't figure out why a meal that I have every week or so always results in a 2-2.5 lb weight gain (for a few days). It doesn't seem to be high in salt/sodium. Here are the ingredients:

wegmans pork sausage (plain breakfast sausage, not at all spicy)
canned tomatoes (no salt added)
small jar of tomato sauce (entire jar has 650 mg sodium and this makes 4 meals so only 162.5 mg sodium per meal)
onion
olive oil
cannellini beans (no salt added)
1-1.5 serving of gluten free pasta (depending on my appetite, corn and rice flour, box says 0 mg sodium)
fresh basil
fennel seeds
paprika
a LOT of broccoli (I eat broccoli at other times so I don't think it's the problem, but this is more than I usually eat at one time so maybe?)

So it isn't a carb heavy meal. Shouldn't have tons of sodium either. Any thoughts on why it causes a short-term weight gain?

(Please note - I am NOT freaking out over it. The weight quickly goes away, I'm not worried about it in the least. It doesn't bother me, I'm not thinking about cutting this meal out of the rotation. Just curious if anyone has any theories on why it's happening or if you have any similar experiences.)
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Replies

  • lmbecker12
    lmbecker12 Posts: 46 Member
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    Maybe the sausage?! I know a lot of sausage--even the plain has quite a bit of salt/seasoning in it?
  • ewhip17
    ewhip17 Posts: 515 Member
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    tons of sodium in sausage, canned tomatoes, tomato sauce and cannellini beans. Even if it says "low sodium", those are packed with it. I'm not making judgments on any health issues related to sodium, just saying that as it relates to your question, that's the answer. If you aren't already, you can track sodium in your diary. I track it just so I can stay on top of why fluctuations are happening. Good news is that it will fix itself in a few days. :smile:
  • hhnkhl
    hhnkhl Posts: 231 Member
    edited April 2015
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    The sausage has sodium about 400g...
    there are higher sodium in canned tomatoes than regular tomatoes...
    tomato sauce has sodium....
    onion has sodium....
    olive oil has sodium...
    cannellini beans have sodium....even if salt isn't added...
    paprika has sodium....
    fennel seeds have sodium...
    1/2 cup broccoli has about 20 mg sodium...

    So it's not high, but high enough for water retention to kick in. It isn't high enough so it disappears quickly.
    Try eating about 2500 mg to 3000 mg sodium...
    I gained 2.5 kgs the next day..
    This was probably food and water weight together.
  • ninerbuff
    ninerbuff Posts: 48,535 Member
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    It's the sodium.

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  • Camo_xxx
    Camo_xxx Posts: 1,112 Member
    edited April 2015
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    Please provide the complete ingredients of the tomatoes.
    The no salt added is your clue. Often times when you see a " no something added ". You can be sure they just used some other form
    Of that ingredient and often times more of it to replace the the ingredient they didn't add.

    Deli meats are a good example
    "No nitrates " Added but then they just add celery salt to make sodium nitrite.
  • leggup
    leggup Posts: 2,942 Member
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    When you log the meal, how many mg of sodium does it have?

    What is your daily average sodium intake? How much more weight do you have to lose?

  • scottacular
    scottacular Posts: 597 Member
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    I eat broccoli regularly but if I eat a whole load of it at once rather than a cup's worth, it tends to make me feel horribly full.
  • kriegmeister
    kriegmeister Posts: 20 Member
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    I would also look closely at whats in the tomato sauce. If your living gluten free then there might be enough in the sauce to cause an inflammatory reaction (combined with sodium).
  • jkwolly
    jkwolly Posts: 3,049 Member
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    scottacular wrote: »
    I eat broccoli regularly but if I eat a whole load of it at once rather than a cup's worth, it tends to make me feel horribly full.
    Them brocc gainz
  • mburgess458
    mburgess458 Posts: 480 Member
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    Camo_xxx wrote: »
    Please provide the complete ingredients of the tomatoes.
    The no salt added is your clue. Often times when you see a " no something added ". You can be sure they just used some other form
    Of that ingredient and often times more of it to replace the the ingredient they didn't add.

    Deli meats are a good example
    "No nitrates " Added but then they just add celery salt to make sodium nitrite.

    Pomi chopped tomatoes - 5 mg sodium per serving. That's not it.
    Cannelli beans - 100 mg per serving. I eat 1.5 servings with this meal. That's not it.
    Tomato sauce - ingredients are tomatoes, olive oil, basil, carrots, onion, sugar, salt (already mentioned only 162.5 mg sodium in the amount I eat per meal)
    Olive oil - no sodium (as in 0, not "some" like one poster said)
    Pasta - no sodium (as in 0)

    MFP says it's 1,100 mg sodium for the meal (almost 500 mg from the sausage, I hadn't realized it was that high). I still wouldn't really call it a high sodium meal.

    Someone mentioned possible gluten in the sauce. Nope. And wouldn't be a problem, I only eat the gluten free pasta because my wife has issues with wheat.

    For the full day my sodium was 2,700 which is a little high for me (usually 2,000 - 2,300). Is that difference enough to cause 2.5 lbs of water retention? It really is just this meal that seems to cause me to have high weigh-ins for a few days.
  • MarciRenee74
    MarciRenee74 Posts: 22 Member
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    If you know it happens and you aren't freaking out over it, why the worry? Just know it's gonna happen and choose not to weigh for a few days after you eat it...

    I would assume it's the sodium and amp up your hydration to flush that excess sodium out faster.
  • mburgess458
    mburgess458 Posts: 480 Member
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    My actual meal has less sodium than that. I just noticed that I used a more generic "canned tomatoes" entry that has the right calories but 195 mg of sodium versus the 5 mg in what I actually ate. So the meal was more like 910 mg sodium and the full day was more like 2,500.

    Maybe it is the broccoli. It doesn't make me feel bloated or anything though.
  • Ninkyou
    Ninkyou Posts: 6,666 Member
    edited April 2015
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    ninerbuff wrote: »
    It's the sodium.

    Yuuuuuup.

    OR the Carbs.
  • mburgess458
    mburgess458 Posts: 480 Member
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    MarciRenee74 wrote: »
    If you know it happens and you aren't freaking out over it, why the worry? Just know it's gonna happen and choose not to weigh for a few days after you eat it...

    I would assume it's the sodium and amp up your hydration to flush that excess sodium out faster.

    Like I said, I was curious if anyone else had similar experiences. Ideas on what is going on for me, and/or if they have a meal do something like that for them when it doesn't seem to be high sodium. (the last part so that if I find another meal that does it for me I might more quickly figure it out....took me several weeks to realize it was this meal that does it for me)
  • MarciRenee74
    MarciRenee74 Posts: 22 Member
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    For me it would be the carbs...that's a guarantee of about 5 pounds of water weight...
  • Liftng4Lis
    Liftng4Lis Posts: 15,150 Member
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    Sodium in the sausage, plus carbs make me retain.
  • brendak76
    brendak76 Posts: 241 Member
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    Meat + tomato sauce + pasta makes me retain huge amounts of water and upsets my stomach. I can eat each ingredient one at a time in separate meals and be fine but combine them all and I'm a mess. Even low salt sauce and ground turkey (not salty sausage). So now I'll just have plain sauce with pasta, no meat and eat more protein at another meal.
  • shinisize
    shinisize Posts: 105 Member
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    How often do you eat gluten-free carbs? I have issues with some of the grains they use where I end up bloated for several days (and the kind of gassy that drives the dog from the room), and definitely hold on to a few extra pounds until it passes.
  • holothuroidea
    holothuroidea Posts: 772 Member
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    What about this meal is different from your usual diet? Is this the only meal you eat gluten-free pasta with?

    Check the ingredients on the gluten free pasta, sometimes there's some crazy stuff in "gluten-free" foods.
  • mburgess458
    mburgess458 Posts: 480 Member
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    holothuroidea wrote: »
    What about this meal is different from your usual diet? Is this the only meal you eat gluten-free pasta with?

    Check the ingredients on the gluten free pasta, sometimes there's some crazy stuff in "gluten-free" foods.

    This is pretty much the only time I eat the gluten free pasta. Made by Barilla, only ingredients are rice flour, corn flour, and mono and diglycerides (whatever those are).

    I do have gluten free pizza once a week and that doesn't do it. Not sure exactly what is in it because it's from a restaurant. I would think that would be higher in sodium than this meal (because it's from a restaurant and because of their sauce and cheese).

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