I gained 3 lbs over the holiday weekend?!?!

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It was a holiday weekend. I had Friday off from work. I hadn't had a day off in awhile. Needless to say, I went a little wild this weekend.
Over the course of my weekend I had several vodka drinks, a ENTIRE half of a pizza, a whole chocolate bunny filled with peanut butter, those delicious flavored triscuits, some caramel cadburry eggs, and my favorite, peanut butter pancakes with reeses pieces. My Saturday run turned into a Saturday speed walk.
Thursday before the weekend: 167
Monday after the weekend: 170
WHAT?! I GAINED 3 LBS?!
Now what I did next might surprise you...
I didn't panic. I didn't give up. I didn't cry. I didn't stop eating.
I just returned to my normal routine. On Monday and Tuesday, I ate at my regular deficit, exercised and drank about 10 cups of water each day.
Went for a little run this morning, had a cup of tea, took a shower and weighed myself.
The scale read 166.6 :laugh: Surprise! I didn't gain 3 lbs of fat in 3 days! Who knew?!

Hopefully this post will show up when people start searching how it's possible that they gained over the weekend or while they were on vacation. I know I've seen a lot of nervous statuses popping up on my news feed.
If you gained weight over the holiday weekend... Don't worry. You probably had a great time and ate lots of delicious food. Just go back to eating at your normal deficit, maybe drink a little more water and realize that you'll be fine! Good luck! :flowerforyou:

Replies

  • _KitKat_
    _KitKat_ Posts: 1,066 Member
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    LMAO, when I saw this I was about to comment how I am sure you did not eat 3500 calories over TDEE each of the 3 days, so you did not gain fat. I love this post and I hope many others see it :flowerforyou:
  • Aaron_K123
    Aaron_K123 Posts: 7,122 Member
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    Yup when people eat "junk" food and gain weight the next day they blame eating unhealthily but really what is happening is most "junk" food or any processed food typically has a high amount of sodium. By going from their controlled diet to eating those sorts of food their sodium intake spikes and with sodium comes water. 400mg of sodium with retain 2 pounds of water in your body and its pretty easy to get an extra 1200mg of sodium.

    Drink some water, return to your normal diet which likely has less sodium and that water weight will shed in a couple of days. Not fat, just water.
  • JengaJess
    JengaJess Posts: 109 Member
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    Yup when people eat "junk" food and gain weight the next day they blame eating unhealthily but really what is happening is most "junk" food or any processed food typically has a high amount of sodium. By going from their controlled diet to eating those sorts of food their sodium intake spikes and with sodium comes water. 400mg of sodium with retain 2 pounds of water in your body and its pretty easy to get an extra 1200mg of sodium.

    Drink some water, return to your normal diet which likely has less sodium and that water weight will shed in a couple of days. Not fat, just water.

    The amount of sodium in that pizza I ate :sick: i don't even want to think about it...
    However, worth every delicious bite.
    It's taken me awhile to really understand water retention and normal weight fluctuations. I won't lie. I can't pretend I wasn't once someone who would beat myself up because I thought I gained 2 lbs of fat after I got drunk and ate a whole bag of Doritos... But I'm so grateful MFP exists because I've learnt so much about how weight loss really works and how to give my body what it needs. Y'all rock!