Gaining weight in one day

mimstero

So, yesterday I went on a huge bike ride and according to my HRM I burned 1100 calories. I netted only about 800 calories total and had over 500 left. When I weighed myself this morning, I had gained 2 pounds! Any ideas on why? That's nuts!!

lin7604

it's just water retention. when you work you muscles they try to repair themself.

mimstero

Thanks! I really hope you are right....this was very discouraging.

ElviraCross

why are you only netting 800 calories?

lin7604

i forgot to ask that as well... if you net under 1200 cals when you are burning that much, it isn't good... you need to net at least 1200.. you will gain weigh also if you arn't eating enough. I know how frustrating it is when you see the scale go up and i also know how hard it is to figure out what is the right number of cals to eat a day to lose.... but going under 1200 isn't healthy especially with burning that many cals.

DanaDark

Because you ate 7000 calories.

No, it's water retention. Working the legs muscles caused them to retain more water to aid in filling back up with energy stores and nutrients as well as repairs. Don't fret.

Best thing to do is the day before the morning you weigh in, make sure everything is constant as it was last time you did. So, same sodium intake, exercises, clothes, etc.

mmapags

it's just water retention. when you work you muscles they try to repair themself.

This! You didn't eat 7000 calories over TDEE did you? These things will happen. If you live and die by the scale, you'll die a thousand deaths. Take some baseline body measurements and check those from time to time. The scale in a hard mistress!

kingofcrunk

... you need to net at least 1200.. you will gain weigh also if you arn't eating enough.

You won't gain weight if you aren't eating enough. It is impossible.

I've experienced the same thing as you. For me the mystery weight generally comes off after a couple of days, I think it must be the water retention/ muscle repair as everyone else said.

lin7604

... you need to net at least 1200.. you will gain weigh also if you arn't eating enough.

You won't gain weight if you aren't eating enough. It is impossible.

I've experienced the same thing as you. For me the mystery weight generally comes off after a couple of days, I think it must be the water retention/ muscle repair as everyone else said.

i have been told by tons of people on here that you can gain weight if your not eating enough as your body will hold onto what ever it has... kinda like the starvation mode that everyone talks about.

kingofcrunk

... you need to net at least 1200.. you will gain weigh also if you arn't eating enough.

You won't gain weight if you aren't eating enough. It is impossible.

I've experienced the same thing as you. For me the mystery weight generally comes off after a couple of days, I think it must be the water retention/ muscle repair as everyone else said.

i have been told by tons of people on here that you can gain weight if your not eating enough as your body will hold onto what ever it has... kinda like the starvation mode that everyone talks about.

Where would your body get the extra weight from? If its in a deficit? People love to give themselves excuses to eat more...hence the whole 'you'll gain weight if you eat too little myth' - you won't. It might not do you any good but you won't gain weight.

lin7604

i don't know, i have been told by so many on here that it's true. so what's with this starvation myth then? why is everyone so concerned about it then? i was told that i wasn't eating enough in the beginning too and that is why i wasn't losing buy tons of people..... i figured since so many are saying the same and many of them were trainers that it must be true.. whether it's just water weight it's holding on to or not, it still holds onto something which is what changes the scale...

ElviraCross

I increased my calories by 400 each day and lost weight.

78Octane

You will lose weight by not eating. Absolutely you will lose weight by not eating. But you will lose lean muscle mass about at the same rate as you lose fat by not eating.

The goal should be to lose body fat and keep your lean muscle mass. The only way to do this is to fuel your body to support your current muscle mass by eating.

These people who say they lose weight eating only 500 calories a day.....no *kitten*. You'll lose weight and you'll lose weight quick. But your body will start cannibalizing it's own muscle mass to survive and function. Not a way I want to live. Aim for a realistic goal of losing 1 - 2 pounds a week and fuel your body. Eating too few calories hurts you metabolism and makes it drop to accommodate your intake. When you start eating normally again, your body is not going to be able to burn off the calories because your metabolism is so used to only getting 500 or so calories. This will cause to gain the weight you lost back, plus more.

To make a long story short, forget about what the scale says. Base your goals on how you feel about yourself, how your clothes are fitting, and body measurements. The scale is just one tool out of many and in my opinion, a pretty useless tool in the grand scheme of things.

fitQueenbeast

You will lose weight by not eating. Absolutely you will lose weight by not eating. But you will lose lean muscle mass about at the same rate as you lose fat by not eating.

The goal should be to lose body fat and keep your lean muscle mass. The only way to do this is to fuel your body to support your current muscle mass by eating.

These people who say they lose weight eating only 500 calories a day.....no *kitten*. You'll lose weight and you'll lose weight quick. But your body will start cannibalizing it's own muscle mass to survive and function. Not a way I want to live. Aim for a realistic goal of losing 1 - 2 pounds a week and fuel your body. Eating too few calories hurts you metabolism and makes it drop to accommodate your intake. When you start eating normally again, your body is not going to be able to burn off the calories because your metabolism is so used to only getting 500 or so calories. This will cause to gain the weight you lost back, plus more.

To make a long story short, forget about what the scale says. Base your goals on how you feel about yourself, how your clothes are fitting, and body measurements. The scale is just one tool out of many and in my opinion, a pretty useless tool in the grand scheme of things.

This is EXACTLY what I was going to say. GREAT POST AND RIGHT ON TARGET.

Erica

confettibetti

Thanks! I really hope you are right....this was very discouraging.

Dont get discouraged, and don't net anything less than 1200 and drink LOTS of water! cheers!

Sabine_Stroehm

Water. Happens every time I go skiing.

KaidaKantri

Sounds like water retention. Try drinking more water.

cocolo89

same thing happened to me! I went running a few days ago and next day I was up 1lb. I didn't even bother weighing today. I will wait a few days until the extra water releases. It usually will go away within a few days. I stayed right on track with calories so whatever my body does will level off soon enough.

StoutGirl09

Weigh yourself EVRYDAY but that number is always +- 3 lbs. Right it down on a calendar and then look at it from Mon-Mon, Tue-Tue, so on, your weight will change everyday because of water weight.

isis2triple0

You will lose weight by not eating. Absolutely you will lose weight by not eating. But you will lose lean muscle mass about at the same rate as you lose fat by not eating.

The goal should be to lose body fat and keep your lean muscle mass. The only way to do this is to fuel your body to support your current muscle mass by eating.

These people who say they lose weight eating only 500 calories a day.....no *kitten*. You'll lose weight and you'll lose weight quick. But your body will start cannibalizing it's own muscle mass to survive and function. Not a way I want to live. Aim for a realistic goal of losing 1 - 2 pounds a week and fuel your body. Eating too few calories hurts you metabolism and makes it drop to accommodate your intake. When you start eating normally again, your body is not going to be able to burn off the calories because your metabolism is so used to only getting 500 or so calories. This will cause to gain the weight you lost back, plus more.

To make a long story short, forget about what the scale says. Base your goals on how you feel about yourself, how your clothes are fitting, and body measurements. The scale is just one tool out of many and in my opinion, a pretty useless tool in the grand scheme of things.

Well said!!!

firstsip

Maybe you're pregnant?

Mischievous_Rascal

You will lose weight by not eating. Absolutely you will lose weight by not eating. But you will lose lean muscle mass about at the same rate as you lose fat by not eating.

The goal should be to lose body fat and keep your lean muscle mass. The only way to do this is to fuel your body to support your current muscle mass by eating.

These people who say they lose weight eating only 500 calories a day.....no *kitten*. You'll lose weight and you'll lose weight quick. But your body will start cannibalizing it's own muscle mass to survive and function. Not a way I want to live. Aim for a realistic goal of losing 1 - 2 pounds a week and fuel your body. Eating too few calories hurts you metabolism and makes it drop to accommodate your intake. When you start eating normally again, your body is not going to be able to burn off the calories because your metabolism is so used to only getting 500 or so calories. This will cause to gain the weight you lost back, plus more.

To make a long story short, forget about what the scale says. Base your goals on how you feel about yourself, how your clothes are fitting, and body measurements. The scale is just one tool out of many and in my opinion, a pretty useless tool in the grand scheme of things.

Exactly - thank you! I lost like crazy at 1200 per day minus my exercise calories (so less than 1200 per day) until I abruptly stopped and started gaining again, even though I didn't change anything. I upped my calories to 1400 and I eat half to all my exercise calories back and after a week the scale is going down again, but I can tell my muscle mass is increasing and my tummy is MUCH happier. Good luck!

veganbaum

i don't know, i have been told by so many on here that it's true. so what's with this starvation myth then? why is everyone so concerned about it then? i was told that i wasn't eating enough in the beginning too and that is why i wasn't losing buy tons of people..... i figured since so many are saying the same and many of them were trainers that it must be true.. whether it's just water weight it's holding on to or not, it still holds onto something which is what changes the scale...

You might find this helpful to understand what *some* people are talking about -

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/3047-700-calories-a-day-and-not-losing

It's about the slowing down of metabolism after a long period of undereating (we're talking many months, not a day here or there or a few weeks).

whiteheaddg

Weigh yourself EVRYDAY but that number is always +- 3 lbs. Right it down on a calendar and then look at it from Mon-Mon, Tue-Tue, so on, your weight will change everyday because of water weight.

Great advice here - you are looking for averages and trends - e.g. "I notice that my weight is always slightly higher the day after I ____".

78Octane

Weigh yourself EVRYDAY but that number is always +- 3 lbs. Right it down on a calendar and then look at it from Mon-Mon, Tue-Tue, so on, your weight will change everyday because of water weight.

Why does 3 digits on a scale mean so much to people?

onyxgirl17

People drive me crazy with the "you ate too low calories, so you gained weight!"

No. No. That is impossible!!! I get for a long period of time due to metabolic slowdown... but not one day or two.

mmapags

You will lose weight by not eating. Absolutely you will lose weight by not eating. But you will lose lean muscle mass about at the same rate as you lose fat by not eating.

The goal should be to lose body fat and keep your lean muscle mass. The only way to do this is to fuel your body to support your current muscle mass by eating.

These people who say they lose weight eating only 500 calories a day.....no *kitten*. You'll lose weight and you'll lose weight quick. But your body will start cannibalizing it's own muscle mass to survive and function. Not a way I want to live. Aim for a realistic goal of losing 1 - 2 pounds a week and fuel your body. Eating too few calories hurts you metabolism and makes it drop to accommodate your intake. When you start eating normally again, your body is not going to be able to burn off the calories because your metabolism is so used to only getting 500 or so calories. This will cause to gain the weight you lost back, plus more.

To make a long story short, forget about what the scale says. Base your goals on how you feel about yourself, how your clothes are fitting, and body measurements. The scale is just one tool out of many and in my opinion, a pretty useless tool in the grand scheme of things.

Post number 37 and you may never reach this height again. One of the best posts I've read in a year and a half on this site! Awesome man! I could not agree with you more and you have said what I have tried to say from time to time so much better than I ever did or could. clap, clap, clap........ The sound of applause!

Ke22yB

I have been doing this over 4 years now and the one thing that is fairly certain for me is that i will retain fluids after a hard run I soak up the water i drink after the run especially if it is a few hours like a sponge and despite how much I have sweated I am heavier the next day or two. I sometimes eat back all my calories and sometimes not so my net can be over or under my goal day to day
This does not cause me to gain weight
You are retaining some water it will pass so dont lets get hysterical here about getting to low on ONEday net calories

beekuzz

Weigh yourself EVRYDAY but that number is always +- 3 lbs. Right it down on a calendar and then look at it from Mon-Mon, Tue-Tue, so on, your weight will change everyday because of water weight.

Great advice here - you are looking for averages and trends - e.g. "I notice that my weight is always slightly higher the day after I ____".

Agree with these. I weigh every morning and it really shows me the pattern of ups and downs. I do not eat back my exercise. I eat as close to 1200 calories period. I've have swings of 2 lbs or more throughout, but I know that it's just water. When I used to do Weight Watchers, it was very disappointing when we weighed once a week and ended up with a gain. They never explained what these folks here are explaining. We would work out really hard the day before we weighed and then gain 2 lbs. Next week we would be down on ourselves and actually lose 5 - and none of it made any sense. Not until now. 55 days in, 24 lbs down - it really works.

Just keep doing what you're doing. I wish I could run. I've seen runners lose a ton of weight.

Good luck.

deagh93

It's water retention, as others have said. I gained 3lbs the day after I started working out, and it took several days to flush that out of my system.

Oh, and one day of netting low calories isn't a big deal (at least, that's what my doctor told me when I talked to her about the day I went on a mountain hike and burned 1400 calories in a day and as such only netted 900) That isn't going to lower your base metabolic rate. (That's the "starvation mode" that people talk about). It's doing that every day that will do that.

78Octane

You will lose weight by not eating. Absolutely you will lose weight by not eating. But you will lose lean muscle mass about at the same rate as you lose fat by not eating.

The goal should be to lose body fat and keep your lean muscle mass. The only way to do this is to fuel your body to support your current muscle mass by eating.

These people who say they lose weight eating only 500 calories a day.....no *kitten*. You'll lose weight and you'll lose weight quick. But your body will start cannibalizing it's own muscle mass to survive and function. Not a way I want to live. Aim for a realistic goal of losing 1 - 2 pounds a week and fuel your body. Eating too few calories hurts you metabolism and makes it drop to accommodate your intake. When you start eating normally again, your body is not going to be able to burn off the calories because your metabolism is so used to only getting 500 or so calories. This will cause to gain the weight you lost back, plus more.

To make a long story short, forget about what the scale says. Base your goals on how you feel about yourself, how your clothes are fitting, and body measurements. The scale is just one tool out of many and in my opinion, a pretty useless tool in the grand scheme of things.

Post number 37 and you may never reach this height again. One of the best posts I've read in a year and a half on this site! Awesome man! I could not agree with you more and you have said what I have tried to say from time to time so much better than I ever did or could. clap, clap, clap........ The sound of applause!

Thank you. People make losing weight so much harder than it is. Don't get me wrong, it is hard, but the science is the science. Some people refuse to accept fact and believe whatever makes them feel good.