What would cause such extreme fluctuations in weight?

KittenTamer91

Hey guys. So I've been having wild fluctuations in weight and idk why. At the same time I've been having unknown issues with my stomach like cramps and gas and bloating and bowel problems so I've been trying to eat as healthy as possible in hopes to fix it or at least manage it. I usually weigh daily and I'm noticing that the healthier I eat the more my weight will fluctuate the next day, always as a gain. For example when I stayed at my parents house for a few days and had healthy breakfasts of eggs and veggies, healthy lunches of salads, and healthy dinners of veggies and meats, I was a total of 10 pounds heavier within 3 days. Also my stomach felt awful, cramps and I looked 5 months pregnant. Mind you this was on a 1200 calorie daily budget. Another time when I went to my friend's house for a party and ate 3,000+ calories of junk foods I actually lost a pound and had a flat stomach the following morning. I thought these were flukes at first but I've been noticing a frequent pattern that the healthier I eat despite low calories, the more weight I gain and fast and my GI symptoms are at their worst. Whereas the unhealthier I eat, I can eat thousands of calories of junk food and not gain weight nor get symptomatic. What's the reason behind this? What's even scarier is there was this one week I ate very low calorie for an upcoming event. I ate piles of steamed nonstarchy veggies with a bit of lean meat. By the end of that week I was 18 pounds heavier. I like eating healthy because nutrients and so many recipes to make but I don't think healthy food likes me. And idk why. It also makes calorie counting confusing because of the crazy fast fluctuations. Thank you for your time.

globalhiker

I've experienced something like this. Women over 40 can have hormone imbalances that cause this. Kidney issues can cause this too. Hot weather outside causes me to retain 5-7 lbs automatically. Suggest discussing with a doctor or Nurse practitioner. What did help me: balancing sodium-potassium (less salt, more fruit, potato), drinking mineral water (no tap water with chlorine), eating a greek yogurt a day (bacteria helped reduce the tummy puffiness a lot). Watch the salt in salad dressings, hot sauces, salsas, it adds up fast. I ditched the soy sauce too.

spiriteagle99

Are you constipated on your "healthy" diet? You may not be getting enough fat to move things along. That will cause weight gain. The sugar and fat you ate with the junk food probably sent you to the bathroom, which emptied your stomach. You also eat a lot of fiber with the vegetables - which can contribute to bloating. Certain vegetables (i.e. broccoli and cauliflower) can cause serious gas issues in many people. Are you drinking enough water? Being dehydrated can cause you to retain water, and it will make constipation worse.

tulips_and_tea

I think you should start by eliminating food labels as "healthy" and "unhealthy" and focus on the SPECIFIC foods themselves. Keep careful track of what you eat and when. After a while you should be able to pinpoint which foods are causing you problems.

You may have intolerance(s) or even allergies to certain foods but NOT to all "healthy" food, as you stated.

camilledaisy

You might want to talk to your health care provider about the possibility of IBS. I started having the worst symptoms when I gave up “junk” and tried to eat really clean. It turns out most if the things causing the bloating, gas, cramps, indigestion, etc were healthy foods. Since I’ve cut back on those foods my digestion is a lot better. Hope you find a solution soon.

scaye103092

Honestly, the same thing happened to me a while ago. Turns out it was my body warning me I had Diverticulitis 🤷🏻‍♀️ too many veggies wreak havoc on my intestines. Took a trip to the ER thinking my appendix had burst to figure out what was wrong. Try to cut everything you know is triggering discomfort out and adding things back in little by little. It helps figuring out what your problem foods are without a possibly expensive trip to the doctor or a dietician. I’m not saying self diagnose, but definitely try out different things first so you can go to your doctor and tell them exactly what causes the issue so they can help you out more. Had I done that I would have saved myself a lot of money over YEARS of suffering. Got put on several different dietary restrictions I could have done myself without the constant office visits, abdominal scans, and suffering /:

VUA21

My personal record is almost 14lbs in one day.

I had a very salty dinner with a beer, started my TOM, was stressed out, changed my workout routine 2 days prior and got crappy sleep the night before. I was still in an overall deficit for the day and week, but somehow managed to gain nearly 14lbs overnight. It was ALL water retention.

Unless you ate 35,000 calories over your maintenance, there's no way that you gained 10lbs of fat.

As long as you're in a calorie deficit (properly logging all food) it's just the human body being weird, it's called water retention. Don't worry about it.