Injury weight gain

Deviette

This morning I stood on my scales for the first time in a couple of weeks and looked at a number that was almost exactly the same as it was previously. This isn't exactly a huge surprise as I have had a (mostly planned) up and down couple of weeks, however the last section of which involved me throwing my knee out playing 5 a side football last Thursday (first bloody week back as well!!). I'm hopeful it's not too bad and I'm finally able to straighten my knee again but it's still swollen and can't take too much weight still, I was just finally getting back onto my fitness level I was pre-pandemic.

Anyway rant aside, I know that injuries generally mean you end up retaining much more water than normal and what I was wondering is:
How have you found injury affected your scale readings?

rosebarnalice

Where injury usually gets me is in the reduced activity and comfort eating.

Chieflrg

I rarely if ever pay attention to the scale so I can't answer that directly.

I will state that I would look at the long term trend aa far as weight fluctuations. If the scale goes up from water retention, why be concerned about a temporary thing?

AnnPT77

Your knee is swollen, as part of its healing process - natural and normal. That swelling is mostly water. That water (plus a little other cellular stuff in there) has a weight. That weight affects the scale.

You don't want to artificially suppress that swelling (water pills or whatever), because it's a natural part of healing, i.e. beneficial.

Have you lost bodyfat while healing, hidden by the added water? That depends on your calorie intake and how it balances with your (possibly injury-reduced) activity level. If you're level in scale readings, with the swelling, you probably have lost fat.

When your body doesn't need the swelling any more, it'll dissipate, and you'll see where you've netted out weight-wise. I get a that the scale part of it is frustrating, and sympathize.

BTW: Personally, I'd suggest not having a steep calorie deficit while in the acute phase of healing from any significant injury.

Even surprisingly small amounts of inflammation can show up on the scale, sometimes. Visible swelling like you're describing for sure can.

Hang in there, heal well, feel better soon!

AnnPT77

P.S. My scale weight stayed up for the better part of a couple weeks after laparoscopic gallbladder surgery, despite no visible external swelling noticeable.

HoneyBadger302

Shoot, a good workout that leaves me sore will uptick the scale for a couple/few days, and total switches to my workout routines will uptick the scale and mask weight loss for up to 3 weeks.

Injuries can be even worse.

Honestly, unless you're going to be laid up for more than a couple weeks, I wouldn't worry about it. Just eat at maintenance during that time so you can heal, with plenty of protein, and then think about it again when you're feeling better.

NerdyScienceGrl

I’m currently recovering from an injury and have seen some pretty dramatic weight fluctuations — to the point of not weighing myself after the first week until recently as my activity slowly increases. I assume that the weight fluctuations are a combination of a few things — inflammation and water retention, primarily, from being much more sedentary.