Antibiotics and weight fluctuations

jelleigh

Hey folks
So I'm just trying to keep focused on my CICO eating plan but was a little discouraged when I weighed in today at the same amount as June 1st. I was expecting a nice woosh this week correlated to TOM but instead I'm up. (3-5lbs?). I started taking antibiotics a few days ago and have just been reading that it cancause weight fluctuations. Some suits say it's just water retention in which case I guess it would be gone a few days after I stop taking them? Other sites seem to say that they actually cause weight gain by interfering with how your body processes calories and food which I have never heard before but may be woo? It's no secret that certain meds have weight gain as a side effect but I had always assumed it was either due to water retention or increased hunger which led to increased CI. Anyone have any experience with this?

MikePTY

Very highly likely to be water weight. As far as I know "interfering with how your body processes food" isn't really a thing. It's possible that some medication could have a small impact on metabolism, but that would cause small gains over a long period of time, not rapid gains over a few days.

As you stated, most medication that cause "weight gain" do so from either water retention or increased appetite. I imagine your readings will be somewhat skewed while you are on the antibiotics so I wouldn't worry about it. It is not long term weight gain.

eb8566

I took an antibiotic a few months ago and retained fluid during treatment - from either the antibiotic or the infection, or both. It went away after I finished the antibiotics along with the weight I had lost along the way.