Can I gain 5lbs from salt???

Verity1111

So yesterday I let myself eat what I wanted and I had fry nachos I guess you'd call it lol which is french fries with nacho toppings. Very unhealthy, greasy and delicious. It was fries with hot sauce, nacho cheese, lettuce, tomato, salsa, jalapenos and sour cream. Now I'm 4-5lbs heavier?!? Now I know they were calorie filled, but definitely not 17,500 calories. Lol. Could the major amount of salt have made me gain all that overnight?

diannethegeek

Yes, that sounds about right.

VintageFeline

Yup. Alcohol does that to me too.

DoneWorking

It's probably some of that, but mostly water and daily scale variances.

Alatariel75

Yup, I can gain (and lose) upwards of 6lbs overnight when I go crazy on the salt (movie popcorn, I'm looking at you!)

AngelinaB_

Sure you can. Specially when what you have been eating is very low in salts. Sodium is a killer. But hey good news is that it goes away fast if you control yourself the day after.

kiariv

Absolutely! Salt can do that. Potassium balance's sodium so I suggest you get in some good greens to counter that. Also, were you not eating a lot of carbs prior? An increase in carbohydrates can do that too. When I eat really high carb foods, I can gain 10-12 pounds of water weight over night. I load up on potassium, low sugar foods for the next few days and I'm back to dry weight.

ninerbuff

Yes. Excessive salt can encourage water retention.

A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
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Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition

hokiemom14

For sure! If you don't typically eat like that and then pound the salt/fat/carb content it could definitely do that It will go back down once you are back on track. I'm dealing with that right now because I was on vacation all week and had some foods I normally would not eat. Weight jumps on very quickly when you eat an extreme meal to what you typically eat. Don't worry, you'll probably be fine in a few days

AnnPT77

Yup. I've done it. You've got some fiber & food volume in there, too - some of that's likely still in your digestive tract adding weight, besides.

Drink plenty of water, you'll lose the temporary effects pretty quickly - it'd be a couple of days, for me, but we're all a little different.

Verity1111

Thank you all for everything! I hadn't been eating much for the few days before, so I guess that could make it worse. I appreciate the advice. I love water and finally got some bottled so I will drink a lot of that and hope it helps my body let go of the water retention from the salt...

xvolution

Water retention is usually temporary, so if you cut your salt a bit it should go away.

jessicarobinson00

Yup! Movie theatre popcorn for me on Saturday: +5 lbs...and the water retention was completely gone by this morning...

AJF230

Remember, a pint of water is a pound. And a scale that is accurate to 1 pound in 200 is .5%. That's a lot to ask of an instrument you can buy for $20-50 at any store.
So its quite feasible. My mother in law is always going on about being up 2 pounds from a salty meal. Its ridiculous. Weigh yourself every day, but record it, and look for TRENDS, not at any single data point. "Data discipline"

dubird

Sudden increase in sodium can cause water weight. 5 pounds of it isn't a ridiculous number, so that would be my suggestion. Increase in exercise also causes it. AJF is right, look for the trend of your weight, not every day's weight. Our weight fluctuates daily, so weighing every day is not going to see the results you want. Pick one time on one day of the week to weigh, like in the morning when you get up. Use that as your touch point to how you're doing. Once you've gotten a couple months of weight entries, pull up your graph here on MFP. If you can draw a line from start to finish and it's going down, you're fine. ^_^

Raptor2763

Salt is well known and notorious for weight gain. Only way I know to fix the problem is to flush your system with water - you should be back to normal in a couple days. ONE way to accelerate the flushing process is to put lemon juice in your water. Salt resides in places you wouldn't suspect, so be careful next time. A general rule of thumb is "if you didn't pick it or it didn't have a mother...don't eat it"

pattyandthemoos

Yep. I've had that happen before. Drank a ton of water and it was gone by the end of the day.

Colorscheme

Wow, and you didn't get heartburn or acid reflux? just curious because spicy things give me bad reflux. I also seem to have issues with eating too much fat