I look & feel fatter after I ate?

KillerDolphin9
KillerDolphin9 Posts: 6
in Health and Weight Loss
I'm a bit new to actually dieting. I've been wanting to for a while but haven't gotten myself to do it. Well I'm getting serious now. It's the beginning of my diet. I started like two days ago. Well this morning I woke up and looked and felt just slightly thinner. But then I ate lunch and felt larger and looked a little larger. Is this normal? Will this get under control as I continue to diet?

Also when is the best time to weigh myself? I was thinking at the end of the week. Like every Sunday. But should I weigh myself in the morning? In the afternoon? At night? Should I weigh myself right as I wake up or right before I sleep? Or whenever is farthest away from my meals? Thanks!

Replies

  • xenu01
    xenu01 Posts: 117 Member
    If you can afford it, you might find it helpful to go to a nutritionist and discuss healthy eating. I am worried, reading your post, that you're teetering into the realm of ED.
  • graciiekim
    graciiekim Posts: 72 Member
    You should weigh yourself in the morning, because the food and water you consume throughout the day can cause your weight to fluctuate about 2 lbs daily. I usually weight myself once every week on Fridays just to see my general progress.
  • KillerDolphin9
    KillerDolphin9 Posts: 6
    If you can afford it, you might find it helpful to go to a nutritionist and discuss healthy eating. I am worried, reading your post, that you're teetering into the realm of ED.

    What exactly is ED...?
  • desidieter
    desidieter Posts: 195
    Your stomach is designed to expand when you eat/drink. Even if you're eating perfectly normal portions, it's natural for your stomach to adjust.

    Personally, I don't think there's a best time to weigh yourself. I just wouldn't recommend weighing every day, because your weight is bound to fluctuate, and if you're paying very close attention to the scale, that can be discouraging. But remember, weight loss is about so much more than what the scale says. Weighing yourself regularly is fine, but don't let it dictate your journey.
  • graciiekim
    graciiekim Posts: 72 Member
    ED stands for eating disorder
  • rosebette
    rosebette Posts: 1,660 Member
    Doesn't everyone? It's called feeling full.
  • northbanu
    northbanu Posts: 366 Member
    The feeling of fullness (or lack thereof) is not a feeling of fatness or skinniness, it's just a feeling of food in your stomach. If you eat a pound of food and drink a pound of water (2 8oz glasses) you will weigh 2 pounds heavier until you pass or burn the food.

    Having said that, I weigh myself in the morning, after using the restroom and taking my shower and before I'm dressed. I know this is is sorta like my "starting weight", and am well aware that I am going to gain 2-4 pounds in water and food weight.

    I weigh myself everyday because I'm just curious but I certainly don't care too much what the scale reads, because there are mornings that I'm 2 lbs heavier than the morning before. I don't care tho, because the numbers average out over the course of time.

    Lot's of folks only weigh themselves once a month or once a week, because they find watching the scale go up and down daily to be a bit nerve racking.
  • Kalikel
    Kalikel Posts: 9,603 Member
    Even people who have always been thin feel bigger and tend to look down or pat their bellies and say, "Ugh" or "I'm so fat." That's very common.

    If you feel guilty because you ate (or overate), that's an emotional issue. Maybe you can work it out or maybe a therapist could help you work it out.

    Other than taste preferences, food shouldn't involve mental or emotional issues.
  • LaReinaDeCorazones
    LaReinaDeCorazones Posts: 274 Member
    I always feel fatter after I eat, even if all that I eat is a salad, baked potato n some fake meat...
  • amusedmonkey
    amusedmonkey Posts: 10,330 Member
    It's normal to "feel thinner" when you aren't eating and "feel fatter" after you have. It's not necessarily as dramatic as stepping into eating disorder territory, but most of it is in your head. A full stomach MAY push your belly out a bit after a meal, and your weight may go up as much as a few pounds right after a meal, but remember that your head tends to magnify the effect 10x. That's something you will have to get used to ignoring or it may cause you to obsess or feel bad after you have eaten. Feeling bad about eating is the worst thing you can do for your long term weight loss. It would create a nonstop cycle of guilt and self punishment (through binging or quitting).

    Many times you may be tempted to feel fat. You may feel fat in certain outfits. You may feel fat if you are expecting to fit into a certain outfit after losing a certain amount, but you don't. You may feel fat if the numbers on the scale are not reflected well enough in your looks, or if the opposite happens - you are retaining water and the scale is refusing to move, or if you are around thinner people, or if you start fixating on a certain body part.. or.. well, you get the idea. That's alright, it's called being human. Humans have expectations and make comparisons by nature. It's when you allow these emotions to be more than just a passing thought that problems start, from simple things like not being able to stick to your diet to very serious ones like ED (eating disorders).

    As for weighing yourself the general rule is to do it right after you wake up, in your underwear or clothes similar to your previous weigh-in and preferably after going to the bathroom. There are two ways to go about it:

    1. De-synthesize yourself to the numbers on the scale by weighing yourself every day. This will allow you to get an idea how certain things affect you like sodium, food, hormones, constipation, change in calories, exercise, dehydration.. etc. You could use a mobile app like "Libra" or a website like trendweight.com to note your weight trend over a period of time regardless of these daily fluctuations.

    2. If the first method causes you to feel bad about these natural fluctuations causing you to obsess do it once a week, or even better, once a month (since your weight could appear to stall from week to week when in reality you just happened to retain water that second week)
  • missiontofitness
    missiontofitness Posts: 4,059 Member
    I rock my food baby after I eat. Happens to everyone!
  • SrJoben
    SrJoben Posts: 484 Member
    I'm a bit new to actually dieting. I've been wanting to for a while but haven't gotten myself to do it. Well I'm getting serious now. It's the beginning of my diet. I started like two days ago. Well this morning I woke up and looked and felt just slightly thinner. But then I ate lunch and felt larger and looked a little larger. Is this normal? Will this get under control as I continue to diet?

    A-Are you asking if it's normal that your stomach is bigger after you put things inside?

    Ummm Yes. Yes it is. This is pretty noticeable on anyone who isn't obese.
  • RebeccaMae1983
    RebeccaMae1983 Posts: 35 Member
    I rock my food baby after I eat. Happens to everyone!

    :laugh:

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