If weight loss is NOT linear, why does it seem weight gain is?

Kimblesnbits13

Anyone else notice when they gain that it is linear? Because i did in the past. Does it have to do with water weight never going back down if you're always at a caloric surplus? What have been your experiences with "real" weight gain compared to weight loss linearity?

tinkerbellang83

I've never really noticed weight gain until it's too late

quiksylver296

Yeah. I definitely did not weigh daily when I was gaining weight, because I didn't want to know. So, no idea if it was linear or not. I suspect not.

cwolfman13

I gain about 8-10 Lbs every winter...it's never linear and it's always very slow.

When I started gaining weight in my early 30s, it took 8 years to put on about 40 Lbs...took about 9 months to take it off.

LAWoman72

Are you sure weight gain is linear? It's predictable over time, but then again, so generally is weight loss given a consistent deficit.

I went up and up over time by overeating but I know for sure there were days that I gorged and weighed up and other days that I gorged and didn't show a gain at all the next day...but maybe showed a week later or something. It was no more exactly consistent than my weight loss has been.

sardelsa

My weight gain was not really linear especially at the beginning. At the end I got lazy and only logged high weigh ins. Water still fluctuates and food volume changes etc.

jemhh

I don't see weight gain as being linear at all. For both of the past two winters I have gained weight and neither time have the weekly (or daily) gains been in even increments.

steph2strong

My weight gain was not linear at all. It happened exactly how my weight loss happens. I would stay within a certain range and then all of a sudden one day I would be 2 lbs higher. I would then stay in that range for a while and then all of a sudden 2 lbs higher. I weigh every day during gain or loss.

Running_and_Coffee

I've come back from a vacation the same weight I started at (sometimes lower!) and then the next week, despite eating normally, am up.

BlueSkyShoal

It does seem to happen more consistently and rapidly than weight loss, but maybe that's perception bias?

This weekend I was visiting my childhood town and didn't even try to stay within my usual calorie goals because, by god, this was a rare chance to eat at my favorite local burger place. I ate there two days in a row.

As I expected, I gained some weight. But, it wasn't exactly linear.

First weight gain (having eating regular cheeseburger, butterscotch shake, and small fries the day before): gained 1.6 pounds.

Second weight gain (having eaten a larger burger with bacon and ham, a salted caramel shake, and small fries the day before): gained 0.2 pounds.

I definitely consumed more calories the second day, both from the fast food meal and the other things I ate. (I was still logging.) But I gained less. So some it must have been water weight the first day.

The day after I ate about 1500 calories and had dropped a pound the next morning.

Edit: It just occurred to me that one reason weight gain might seem more consistent is because a big meal immediately adds the weight of the food to your digestive system. However, you won't necessarily retain all that weight 'on your body' in the long run.