I gained 2lbs - How is this possible?

mgobluetx12

I don't understand how I could have gained weight since my last weigh in. It's not TOM, it's not because I did a hard workout and my body is retaining water. I haven't eaten over 1400 cals, been working out moderately and drinking a ton of water. How could I possibly GAIN weight if the calories aren't there?

dhakiyya

water weight fluctuations. how much sodium did you eat yesterday? If it was more than usual then the 2lb is water retention because of sodium. It's not fat, don't stress about it. Just don't eat too much sodium and if you do cheat meals, bear in mind that most cheat meals are high in sodium so they'll probably make you gain water weight overnight.

If you only ate 1400 cals yesterday it's not physically possible for you to have gained 2lb of fat unless you went sleepwalking and sleep eating and ate 7000 calories.

To get sodium out of your system drink water and eat fruit and veg especially bananas.

Also don't focus on scale weight, and focus on fat. Monitor inch measurements and observing what you look like in the mirror is a good way to see if you're losing fat. Re weight, look for a trend in the right direction, and don't stress about day to day fluctuations, as these are water, not fat. As you lose fat your weight will slowly go down, you will still get fluctuations but the overall pattern is your weight going down.

Turtlehurdle

"One of the most frustrating moments for many dieters is the weekly weigh-in.

Sometimes, the results on your scales seem to bear very little relation to the week you’ve just had.

Maybe you’ve been really good – but not lost anything. Or you’ve had a couple of meals out, and eaten more than a few candy bars – and yet you’ve dropped a pound.

What the heck’s going on?

If you weren’t dieting and weighed yourself every day, you’d still find that your weight wasn’t steady: it might fluctuate by as much as several pounds.

These fluctuations in body weight are commonly due to 3 factors:

Water retention
Glycogen stores
The amount you’ve eaten
Water Retention
Water retention is caused by drinking too little water, or eating too much salt.

If you don’t drink enough water, your body will cling onto its water supplies; make sure you’re drinking enough. And if you eat too much salt, your kidneys hold onto water instead of excreting it.

Women commonly retain water during the few days of the month just before their period. This “phantom” few pounds will drop off as quickly as it went on. Some medications can also cause water retention.

Glycogen Stores
Glycogen – sugar – is carbohydrate stored in the liver and muscles; usually more than a pound in total, along with three or four pounds of water. This is your body’s energy reserve, and gets used up during the day if you’re not taking in enough carbohydrates to supply your energy needs.

When you eat, your body replaces the glycogen store and the water that goes with it – leading to a weight gain on the scales, even if you’ve only eaten a moderately-sized meal. This is absolutely normal and should not put you off eating carbohydrates!

The Amount You’ve Eaten
Don’t think about the meal you’ve just eaten in terms of calories – think in terms of weight.

You could stuff yourself with pounds of fruit or salad for under a few hundred calories – but these pounds will show up if you stand on the scales straight after a meal. (Just imagine weighing yourself with all that food in your hands.)

Once your body’s had a chance to digest it, that food will disappear. The same applies with water – which has 0 calories, but definitely weighs something!

nxd10

How good is your scale? Mine can go up and down 5 pounds a day. Some of it is me (I'm tall and 5 lbs is a lot less on 5'10" than on 5'), but part of it is my scale. I can wiggle my feet and move up and down 3.

More seriously, how often do you weigh in? I think of my weight as kind of like a ball on a spring. It goes up and down a bit every day, but over time, the lows get consistently lower and lower and lower. I don't think of a weight as 'real' until it's dropped down for several days in a row.

mgobluetx12

Wow, thank you. I didn't have a cheat meal or anything with a lot of sodium and I weighed this much yesterday AND today, so I didn't drop the weight overnight. I did eat some jellybeans, but they were within my calories for the day, so that shouldn't be it, but it could be the sugar?

mgobluetx12

My scale is pretty decent, and I just put new batteries in it, so I don't think that's the problem. I'm tall too! I'm 6'2, so the 15lbs (was 17) that I lost haven't made much of a difference so far.

MMMendoza007

I always, no matter what I've eaten or exercised or how good I've been, gain weight around the time of my monthly. Any chance this could be it?

(sorry men.)

nxd10

Not the sugar if it's within your calories - and it takes a lot of calories to put on two pounds (7000?)

But it could be water or going to the bathroom (not to put too fine a point on it) or - really - how you scale is sitting on the floor or what temperature it is. Everybody holds water in the heat and air conditioning does funny things to water retention.

Potassium levels change electrolyte balances as well as sodium.

We're a very complicated system.

now_or_never12

Weight naturally fluctuates... unfortunately we won't lose weight each week. Keep with it and it will go away soon! Don't fret over every little gain.

Treesy72

I also gained 2lbs overnight. I know my sodium was high over the last 2 days so it must be that. I had my first "cheat day" since I started on mfp but I stayed within my calorie goal. I'm not going to freak out, I'll just wait and see what happens over the next few days

Scarletfire1970

My weight can fluctuate by a few pounds DAILY. Yup, I can weight a few pounds more or less at the end of the day then at the beginning.

Weight alone is a bad way to measure your progress. Take measurements every few weeks. Go by your measurements, how you look and feel and how your clothes fit to judge your progress.

mgobluetx12

I only measured myself in 3 places, but I have lost 5 inches in the past week. How is it possible to lose inches, but not pounds?