Someone rationalize for me

_EndGame_
_EndGame_ Posts: 770 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
OK, so all last week I was ill. I had a stomach bug, I didn't eat anything for 4 days, then all I ate for 3 days were scrambled eggs on toast (kept under 800 calories, couldn't stomach anything more) and last week I lost near enough 8LBS!

Now I'm back to normal. Back to eating my daily allowance and then up to half of my exercise calories back. I weighed myself this morning, and I have put 2LBS back on, despite cardio exercises (treadmill, punch bag) and I know it's probably just water weight, due to not eating properly, but I just need someone to rationalize it for me! I get so pissed off sometimes when the scales go the wrong way. Don't get me wrong, I'm not on the verge of rushing to KFC to binge on a bucket of chicken, but I am a bit disheartened.

Has this happened to anybody else? Have you been ill, dropped weight, then put it back on, despite eating at a deficit?

Will this weight I gained really just be water weight? There is nothing worse than seeing the scale go the wrong way!

Replies

  • anglyn1
    anglyn1 Posts: 1,802 Member
    When you have a stomach bug you get dehydrated so a lot of those 8 lbs. were water! It's only natural that once you can hold food down you'll gain that water back! Don't stress about it! :)
  • rainbowbow
    rainbowbow Posts: 7,490 Member
    bro... bro.... it's two pounds.

    my **** fluctuates within 5 pounds every day, and if i lift the night before i weigh in 3 pounds heavier in the morning EVERY time.

    it happens.

    just think of it as water weight and move on. Dont just assume every pound you lose is fat. :)
  • chandanista
    chandanista Posts: 986 Member
    You were ill. You had nothing remaining in your digestive tract. Now you have food that's moving through at a reasonable pace. That food weighs a little something.
  • AJ_G
    AJ_G Posts: 4,158 Member
    Multiple days of eating almost nothing depletes your stored glycogen in your muscles and in your liver. Each gram of stored glycogen binds to 3 grams of water, so once you eat normally again, especially carbs, you refill your glycogen stores, and take on a bunch of water weight that you had lost. Same thing happens to people that go on low carb diets and then come off of them.
  • _EndGame_
    _EndGame_ Posts: 770 Member
    Gotcha!

    I pretty much knew it was water weight, I just needed to hear it from others!
  • taso42
    taso42 Posts: 8,980 Member
    weight fluctuates. 2 lbs is nothing. don't worry girl, you'll be fine.
  • SoDamnHungry
    SoDamnHungry Posts: 6,998 Member
    Mix of water weight and actually having food back in your stomach. Unless you were at a deficit of 28,000 calories that week (which we can just assume you were not), you didn't really lose 8 pounds anyway.
  • neandermagnon
    neandermagnon Posts: 7,436 Member
    Multiple days of eating almost nothing depletes your stored glycogen in your muscles and in your liver. Each gram of stored glycogen binds to 3 grams of water, so once you eat normally again, especially carbs, you refill your glycogen stores, and take on a bunch of water weight that you had lost. Same thing happens to people that go on low carb diets and then come off of them.

    ^^^^ this

    I lost 6lb in 2 days with a nasty stomach bug, followed by regaining it all again in the next few days, without even eating that much (because I was still recovering and couldn't eat my normal amount of food).

    Glycogen is your body's emergency energy store, to be used if you're ill, burning a lot more calories than usual (e.g, running a marathon), or if you go longer than expected before the next meal. You regain the weight as soon as you eat normally again. It's not fat you lost, and not fat you're regaining. You may have lost a little fat as well, which you won't regain if you continue eating at a deficit after you recover. But there's a limit to how much fat the human body can burn at any one time, big weight losses in a short time are from water/glycogen.
  • climbamnt
    climbamnt Posts: 190 Member
    weight fluctuates. 2 lbs is nothing. don't worry girl, you'll be fine.

    lol pretty sure he is guy....
  • Korkor90
    Korkor90 Posts: 13 Member
    you know things like that have happened to me before.But the reason why you gained weight is because now that you are eating the way you should your body may be in a way making up for all the nutrients and vitamins you lost. Also water weight sucks but its there. Any whos i know for a certain that unless you are doing purely cardio you sometimes don't see scale change because the fat you are losing is turning into muscle and muscle usually , always weighs more. The best place to look and judge your progress is in the mirror. When you wear clothes see if its tight on you or lose or just the way it feels as opposed to before. Then you can get a better picture.
  • MB_Positif
    MB_Positif Posts: 8,897 Member
    Eat some fiber. You'll poop and the 2 pounds will be gone. Problem solved.

    /thread.
  • corgicake
    corgicake Posts: 846 Member
    Consider those eight pounds to have never happened - stomach bugs dehydrate pretty much as a rule and sometimes land people in the hospital for that very reason.
  • _EndGame_
    _EndGame_ Posts: 770 Member
    Consider those eight pounds to have never happened - stomach bugs dehydrate pretty much as a rule and sometimes land people in the hospital for that very reason.

    Funny you should mention that. I ended up at the hospital on the 3rd day due to severe dehydration, had to be put on a drip for 4 hours - couldn't hold water down, it was horrendous.

    so yah, I'm going to put this down to fluctuations then, and just carry on carrying on!

    Thanks for the advise people.

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