What happened here?

stormyview

Background: I've been maintaining my weight at 114-115 for about 7 months. I have only been logging occasionally, when I know I've been eating over maintenance. I'm 5'4", small frame.

I went on a food-centric vacation in May. I ate with glorious abandon and loved every gluttonous minute. I consistently weighed 117-118 for about a month after that (didn't track food, didn't try to eat at a deficit). I stopped weighing for about a week (trip) and started again a few weeks ago. I'm back to consistently weighing 114-115.

The question: I figure at least part of the weight jump after my week of all the food was water from glycogen replenishment. But it persisted for 5+ weeks after before mysteriously dropping back down. I'm not concerned about it, but I'm quite curious. Does a water/glycogen increase gradually go away? Is that what happened? How else did I end up back at my maintenance weight without trying? I feel like I'm missing something here.

RaspberryTickleChicken

hmmmm very interesting question. I hope someone more sophisticated can answer because I'd be interested to know also.

But I will give it an amateur go. I think it depends on what you were consuming and how your body processes it.

For example, I have discovered & confirmed that my body, in particular, does NOT process simple starch / carbs well. If I have pizza, even in moderate portion I will gain 2-3 lbs and it will take about a week to resolve itself out of my system. I've repeatedly used myself as a guinea pig in this silly little experiment and have achieved consistent results.

SO my assumption is that it could be the higher sodium intake or higher fat ... some abundance of component that your body is just not as efficient at processing.

nxd10

I have exactly the same thing every time I go for a long trip. I travel for work so I'll go abroad a few times a year for a week or 3 at a time. Even though I do log everything and am under my calories, I gain 5 pounds. Even on a short trip and even when I've been on a deficit.

I am pretty positive it's air travel and salt. When I get off a long flight, my feet and ankles are always swollen. And it takes several weeks for them to be their normal boney selves again. At home my husband and I love to cook, but we're very low sodium. Eating out 3 meals a day when I'm traveling packs on the water from that too.

Note also, higher carbs make you bloat. And it just takes time to re-equilibrate. It's something I've just learned to expect. It always surprised me thought that it takes weeks, not days, to get back to normal.

stormyview

Ok, so it sounds like maybe it wasn't a real (fat) gain but maybe just water. I find it so bizarre that it could linger for more than a month and then just vanish!

nxd10

I have never understood it either. My mom suggest sitting in a hot bath and drinking ice water for losing water retention. It does tend to work. You might see if it helps.