Can You Gain 4 lbs Over Night???

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butterflygurl89
butterflygurl89 Posts: 45
in Motivation and Support
I got so upset today. I know I didn't behave myself yesterday... Ate 300 calories over my limit even with exercise added in.

But still... I got on the scale this morning and it said I was 150.1 lbs????
The morning before yesterday it said I was at 145.8! I was so sure I would never be in the 150's again.

What do I even make of this?? I'm pretty sure my diary is public so feel free to look or give tips... I'm really upset about that crazy number this morning. :/
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Replies

  • juicemoogan
    juicemoogan Posts: 999 Member
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    Can You Gain 4 lbs Over Night???


    No.

    Period.


    end of thread.
  • SHBoss1673
    SHBoss1673 Posts: 7,161 Member
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    sure you can, drink a lot of water, and eat some salty food, you'll gain 4 lbs no problem. Can you gain 4 lbs of fat? No. Impossible. OK maybe not impossible, but you'd need to eat 14000 calories of crap.
  • blaquebutterfly75
    blaquebutterfly75 Posts: 136 Member
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    You ate almost 4,000mg of sodium. That's twice what is recommended for any human. You are retaining water weight.
  • brandiuntz
    brandiuntz Posts: 2,717 Member
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    You didn't gain 4 pounds of fat. 300 calories over is, at most, close to maintenance. Certainly, not true overeating.

    People naturally fluctuate throughout the week. Fluid retention, hormones, sodium levels, etc.

    Perhaps you should weigh yourself no more than once a week so you see fewer natural fluctuation.
  • Erika1962
    Erika1962 Posts: 187 Member
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    You ate almost 4,000mg of sodium. That's twice what is recommended for any human. You are retaining water weight.

    ^^^This
  • MissAnjy
    MissAnjy Posts: 2,480 Member
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    Yes.

    You can Gain 4lbs of WATER weight over night.
  • Tappanga
    Tappanga Posts: 7
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    You ate almost 4,000mg of sodium. That's twice what is recommended for any human. You are retaining water weight.

    This. I can always tell if I've gone over my sodium because my rings will be too tight.
  • heybales
    heybales Posts: 18,842 Member
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    I got so upset today. I know I didn't behave myself yesterday... Ate 300 calories over my limit even with exercise added in.

    But still... I got on the scale this morning and it said I was 150.1 lbs????
    The morning before yesterday it said I was at 145.8! I was so sure I would never be in the 150's again.

    What do I even make of this?? I'm pretty sure my diary is public so feel free to look or give tips... I'm really upset about that crazy number this morning. :/

    Sure.

    If you were severely glucose depleted due to low diet and high intensity exercise, and finally ate enough carbs. There's 2 lbs there easy.

    That's the reason for the "gained 2 lbs from a slice of wedding cake last night" problems. Cake weight 10 oz's, but the icing and such made it 1000 calories of almost pure sugar. Plus the salted peanuts and mints, ect.

    500 cal glucose stored with water is 1lb.

    Add a little salt for water retention, take away some water at previous weigh-in so false loss then, you got yourself a false 4lb weight gain.
  • LorinaLynn
    LorinaLynn Posts: 13,247 Member
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    You ate almost 4,000mg of sodium. That's twice what is recommended for any human. You are retaining water weight.

    Yep. You're retaining fluid from the sodium. It's temporary.

    I've gained as much as 8 pounds overnight. Gone in three days or less.
  • MamaTillson
    MamaTillson Posts: 7
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    You ate almost 4,000mg of sodium. That's twice what is recommended for any human. You are retaining water weight.

    ^ Spot on^^^^
  • pixelberry
    pixelberry Posts: 167 Member
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    You ate almost 4,000mg of sodium. That's twice what is recommended for any human. You are retaining water weight.


    ^^^This. Drink more water, flush the sodium out of your system.
  • butterflygurl89
    butterflygurl89 Posts: 45
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    You ate almost 4,000mg of sodium. That's twice what is recommended for any human. You are retaining water weight.

    Yep. You're retaining fluid from the sodium. It's temporary.

    I've gained as much as 8 pounds overnight. Gone in three days or less.

    THANK YOU!!! I feel so dumb for not even thinking about the water weight. And I did eat fries last night which are obviously loaded with salt. :embarassed:
    Thanks to everyone for explaining something that should have been so elementary. lol. And thank you also for most of you even being so nice about it! :smile:
  • davert123
    davert123 Posts: 1,568 Member
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    Its got to be water. The salt wont help - you could be picking up a virus or something else - could be TOM as well. Don't worry just carry on :-)
  • ronaroth
    ronaroth Posts: 7
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    A small increase in salt intake can cause a person to retain quit a bit more water. I would think that this is what has caused an overnight gain of 5 pounds. Think about what was eaten the day before. It may have very well contained salt.
  • ggcat
    ggcat Posts: 313 Member
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    The human body can fluctuate between 2-5 pounds on a daily basis. I average my weight at the end of the week. Sodium is the devil!
  • sugarlips1980
    sugarlips1980 Posts: 361 Member
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    Agree it's water weight. We all have to learn to stop panicking over stuff like this! Your body weight fluctuates. It's more about what you weigh month by month. You can weigh yourself week by week of course but don't read too much into it, and especially not your daily weigh in. Be patient, this is a long-term thing. Dont freak out if you eat a little over one day. You're human. One 'bad' meal or even day will not make you pile on the weight. Read this: https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=nerd+fitness+get+over+it&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&hl=en&client=safari
  • KF500T
    KF500T Posts: 28 Member
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    It is 100% normal for a body to fluctuate about 5 pounds up or down throughout the day.
  • sammyjo0402
    sammyjo0402 Posts: 106 Member
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    I honestly didn't bother reading anything other than the topic but let me ask you this.... Can you eat 12,000 calories over your daily intake?
    If so, then you might stand a chance to yes.
  • sammyjo0402
    sammyjo0402 Posts: 106 Member
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    Ha, and now I did bother to read what you said though... your weight naturally fluctuates a few pounds everyday due largely to water weight and if you're exercising muscle gain/toning/losing fat... etc. Don't worry about it. I ate 4000 (literally) calories over my daily intake sunday evening so have been ridistributing my calories each day since and for the next little while to make up for that. It's been working fine so as little as 300 isn't going to harm you.
  • musiche
    musiche Posts: 214 Member
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    Lol, ABSOLUTELY!!!

    When I was losing the majority of my weight - 65lbs, I would fluctuate horribly. The most I ever gained OVER NIGHT, was 8 POUNDS. And that was with a calorie deficit every day too. It seemed impossible and totally unrealistic at the time, but it wasn't the only time. On many occasions, I would gain 6 pounds over night, then lost two the next day and lost 6 the next. So, over time, I went down, but it was like: Lose, gain, lose lose, gain, lose lose lose, gain gain gain, lose, gain gain... etc... Total roller coaster. Over time, the cumulative effect was more lost than gained, so I'm glad I stuck with it. 8 pounds overnight is pretty disheartening!!! But I knew it wasn't possible to gain even a pound of fat overnight, so it had to be something else.

    Once a month, my weight increases by about 4 pounds now, and then I lose it a few days after. When I eat a salty meal, I gain (water) weight for a day or two after and only lose it if I go right back to not costuming much salt (which is normal for me). I also retain water when I workout - muscle swelling - and the degree of retention depends on the severity of my workouts and seems to correlate directly to how much my DOMS hurts. For example, yesterday I did a killer workout and today my thighs are so sore it's hard to walk, and I gained 2 pounds over night and had a slight deficit yesterday (of about 100 cal). The day after my rest day, I always lose a couple of pounds (when my muscles are no longer swollen and sore). When I don't drink enough to the point of slight dehydration (dry mouth/lips, thirst, etc..), I tend to gain a pound or so (i guess my body hangs on to whatever it has).

    So... water. Water water water.... We are 90-something % water, so it makes sense.

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