We are pleased to announce that as of March 4, 2025, an updated Rich Text Editor has been introduced in the MyFitnessPal Community. To learn more about the changes, please click here. We look forward to sharing this new feature with you!
How Long Does it Take for Food to affect Weight

NonnyMary
Posts: 982 Member
If I eat a meal or several meals a day and I overeat too much fat, and too much sodium, when will that appear on me so that it will affect my weight, lets say it makes me gain. When will it appear? And how long will it take to disappear off my body?
the reason I am asking is that if I ate too much fat and sodium on Sunday, the next day it didn't seem to make a difference, but in one or two days it seems my weight fluctuated a few ounces. So I wonder if today's weight had to do with my eating over my nutrients on this past weekend. (you can check my diary if you want to see).
I pretty much stayed within my nutrients but I think the more food I ate may have finally settled in today, and wondering if thats the case, how long will it take to lose anything I may have overate?
Thank you kindly!
the reason I am asking is that if I ate too much fat and sodium on Sunday, the next day it didn't seem to make a difference, but in one or two days it seems my weight fluctuated a few ounces. So I wonder if today's weight had to do with my eating over my nutrients on this past weekend. (you can check my diary if you want to see).
I pretty much stayed within my nutrients but I think the more food I ate may have finally settled in today, and wondering if thats the case, how long will it take to lose anything I may have overate?
Thank you kindly!
0
Replies
-
Weight fluctuates on a daily basis. I can go to bed 6-7 lbs heavier than I woke up, depending on many factors. Fat won't affect you, sodium may, but if you are under your calorie goal anyways, you will only have water fluctuations. Drink some water, have a good poo, and the excess will work its way out.0
-
Don't sweat ounces. The average person has up to a 5 lb swing in weight during a 24 hour period based on waste in the body. If you stayed under budget or even under your maintenance budget then you wouldn't gain regardless of how much fat you ate. Fat does not make you fat! The sodium may cause some water retention for a short time but that rights itself.
Don't worry too much about macros, just stay in your food budget and all will be well.0 -
Everyone is different and everyones weight will flucuate on a daily basis multiple times in a day.
For me, sodium will hit me the very next day. If I am way up on sodium today the scale will reflect such tomorrow. Carbs usually 1-2 days.
If you know you over ate in the sodium dept take the next two days to drink a few extra glasses of water to flush it out! There are studies that show it can take upwards of 2 weeks for the body to adjust to food (gain or loss). So what you eat today, might not actually reflect on the scale for days or a couple weeks. Just monitor daily and be consistent.0 -
Everyone is different and everyones weight will flucuate on a daily basis multiple times in a day.
For me, sodium will hit me the very next day. If I am way up on sodium today the scale will reflect such tomorrow. Carbs usually 1-2 days.
If you know you over ate in the sodium dept take the next two days to drink a few extra glasses of water to flush it out! There are studies that show it can take upwards of 2 weeks for the body to adjust to food (gain or loss). So what you eat today, might not actually reflect on the scale for days or a couple weeks. Just monitor daily and be consistent.
two whole weeks sometimes? Can you explain why it could possibly take 2 weeks to show up on the scale? I thought it might take a couple days.0
This discussion has been closed.
Categories
- All Categories
- 1.4M Health, Wellness and Goals
- 391.6K Introduce Yourself
- 44K Getting Started
- 259.7K Health and Weight Loss
- 176.1K Food and Nutrition
- 47.3K Recipes
- 232.3K Fitness and Exercise
- 393 Sleep, Mindfulness and Overall Wellness
- 6.5K Goal: Maintaining Weight
- 8.5K Goal: Gaining Weight and Body Building
- 152.7K Motivation and Support
- 7.8K Challenges
- 1.3K Debate Club
- 96.3K Chit-Chat
- 2.5K Fun and Games
- 4K MyFitnessPal Information
- 16 News and Announcements
- 1.2K Feature Suggestions and Ideas
- 2.3K MyFitnessPal Tech Support Questions