Extreme Weight Fluctuations after drinking

Bulldogs1717
Bulldogs1717 Posts: 47 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Hello

I drank beer last night with very minimal food to try and eliminate bloat but I gained 7 lbs overnight when I stepped on the scale this morning. I’m concerned that this is abnormal to retain water this much. It often happens to me after tough workouts as well. Has anyone else experienced this? What can I do to offset it?

Replies

  • nanastaci2020
    nanastaci2020 Posts: 1,072 Member
    Normal. Time will eliminate bloat.
  • springlering62
    springlering62 Posts: 8,390 Member
    I’m not a drinker, so can’t speak to drink bloat, but I’d be willing to bet there was salty snacks along with that beer.....
  • Theoldguy1
    Theoldguy1 Posts: 2,494 Member
    Back in college when we'd binge drink on the weekend I'd be 10 pound lighter on Saturday morning after Friday from dehydration.

    Of course by Monday back to normal.
  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 34,162 Member
    Bulldogs1717 wrote: »
    Hello

    I drank beer last night with very minimal food to try and eliminate bloat but I gained 7 lbs overnight when I stepped on the scale this morning. I’m concerned that this is abnormal to retain water this much. It often happens to me after tough workouts as well. Has anyone else experienced this? What can I do to offset it?

    Normal - or at least within the range of normal, since some of these reactions are a bit individual. Next time, you could try drinking an equal-sized glass of water between each round of beer, and see if that helps the scale weight the next day. Might. Might not, too. There's one effect it *will* have while you're doing it, that you can predict, of course.

    What to do? Recognize that your actual fat gain/loss will be proportional to your calorie intake, at least roughly, when averaged over multi-week/month time periods. Scale weight day to day, not so much. Short term big changes are water or digestive contents, generally, if you didn't eat enough calories over maintenance to account for them (3500 per pound, approximately). And the fat gain from overconsumption doesn't usually seem to show up the next day: Complete digestion/storage takes time.

    What to do? Go back to your normal, healthy routine, and wait for it to balance out.

    While you're waiting, read the article linked below. It's educational.

    https://physiqonomics.com/the-weird-and-highly-annoying-world-of-scale-weight-and-fluctuations

    Whatever else, try to stay calm about all of this . . . stress can cause water retention, too, y'know? 😉
  • lgfrie
    lgfrie Posts: 1,449 Member
    I used to get dehydrated when I drank (like in college, a long time ago). So I'd be 4-6 lbs lighter the next day. For some reason, now when I drink I bloat up - 4-6 pounds heavier the next day. Not sure there's much of a predictable pattern to it, other than that excessive drinking is not good for dieting B) I greatly reduced my alcohol intake when I started dieting, but it does happen occasionally, and then I super-bloat up because I'm usually at the low end of my weight range from dieting. Add the pretzels and chips, and I can be looking at 11-12 pounds, which takes 5 days to zero out.

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