How long does it take to gain weight after eating bad?

Belle8312

Hey everyone, I just have a quick question. I ate kinda crappy last Friday and Saturday, but since Sunday, I have my calorie intake back on track and have been burning more calories than normal with my exercise routine. However, I weighed myself yesterday morning and the scale said 181.2. I weighed myself again this morning and the scale said 183.4 How is it possible that I gained over 2 pounds in one day? Is it the bad food I ate over the weekend or is it water weight or something? It's really bugging me! Does anyone know why this would happen? Thanks!!!

Mande_G

It's my understanding that exercising more than normal may cause your muscles to hold onto water and glycogen, which would result in a temporary weight gain. Also, if you consumed a lot of sodium, it can cause you to hold onto more water. Make sure you're drinking at least 8 cups of water per day to flush all of that crap out of your system!

Deweypc20

If I have a weekend of eating bad and/or drinking with friends, I will gain within the next day or two.

I'm guessing for me it could be water retention from the beer, but I'd think sodium and other crap doesn't help!

Nikki_Marz

Generally I see my weight gain 2-3 days afterward, but it has more to do with what was in the food, than just the amount of food I ate. Processed foods will take longer for the body to break down, so remain in the body longer than non-processed foods, as well as things like potassium and sodium will increase the amount of water your body is holding onto, and it usually takes a good 3 days after high sodium intakes for it to be flushed out of your system again (assuming you're getting enough water during the days after).

You also shouldn't be weighing yourself daily. Once a week is recommended at most as daily fluctuations occur, and changing hormones will also impact weight from day to day. I've weighed myself daily before for 2 weeks (just to see the differences) and I've seen myself gain as much as 5 pounds overnight, to losing 7 pounds the next day. It's not an accurate measure to look at on a daily basis.

So you may have nothing to worry about. In order to lose or gain a pound of weight you have to eat or burn over 3000 calories, so for you to have gained 2 pounds, thats close to 7000 extra calories that you would have had to consume (that's on top of your daily regular calories), which is really hard for most people to do even if they wanted in that short a time. I say just wait it out and weight yourself less often to get a more accurate picture