Water weight? WTH?

LATeagno

I'm grain and sugar free for the most part. On Thanksgiving, I ate "relatively" normal-- turkey, a teeny tiny bit of cranberries, maybe a half cup each (at most) of potatoes and stuffing. Basically, I just decided to indulge mostly sensibly. I skipped the bread and the marshmallow sweet potatoes. I picked my vices and ate them in moderation. After dinner, I had a slice of what i thought was sugar free cheesecake. I found out later I was given regular, high sugar cheesecake. It was a big slice-- not going to lie. I'd estimate it was about 650 calories and 75 grams of carbs. Estimating here, but I'm pretty good at that. So all in all, the meal had about 1300 calories and lets say 160 grams of carbs. I think I'm being generous with that. I didn't eat anything else the rest of the day.

OK... fast forward two days. I stayed off the scale yesterday because I knew the salt would hit me. My fingers feel swollen and so do my ankles-- I can usually tell when I am retaining water. This morning, thinking I may have dumped some of that water, I got on the scale.

I gained SEVEN pounds since Thanksgiving morning. How the &%$#&* does that happen in two days? Other than the carefully measured stuffing, I didn't eat any bread. Most of what I ate was sugar otherwise, aside from the carbs from the potatoes. How does this warrant a gain of seven pounds? Seriously? Am I that sensitive to carbs that I eat badly for one day and I undo almost three weeks of weight loss?

Even with all that said, I still didn't go over calories on Thanksgiving. With the breakfast I ate (egg omelet), I came in around 1650 calories. Grrr. I'm allowed up to 2000 calories (and i lose consistently on 1700 a day, so long as it's grain free), so I even had some room for error.

I assume most of this is water, but I'm just super annoyed with this. I drank a ton of green tea yesterday and was back to eating healthy. I know it'll come off, but does anyone know why some of us retain so much water so quickly?

LorinaLynn

The more carefully I watched my sodium the worse it hit me when I did have it. I never avoid grains, carbs or sugar, so that isn't a factor for me, but if you're always avoiding both, it probably shocks your body more than if you had it regularly. It's right in the name carboHYDRATE.

Two years ago, my brother had a pig roast with brined pork. At the time, I was trying to keep my sodium under 1500 most days, and after that weekend, I was up 8 pounds.

This summer, same party, same pork, but I haven't been focused on keeping my sodium low, and I was only up one pound after the same indulgences.

In both cases, the excess weight was gone in a few days.

Yanicka1

I never do low carbs but I remember people saying that higher carbs day can have a big rebound effect on weigh. Anyway it is water weight and should go down with time.

ipsamet

Honestly, I wouldn't worry too much about it - you know that there is no way you gained 7 pounds of fat overnight. Stick to good foods and lots of water and it should go away soon.

MichelleLaree13

I think some of it is just extra food weight in your intestines that you havent passed yet.

algebravoodoo

If it makes you feel any better, I had 10 @#$%^&* pounds appear out of nowhere, literally overnight!! I'm hoping a decent run or two and a few ounces extra water might flush things through.

nxd10

It's water and - if you're like me - you also haven't shed all the solids you ate. I have decided to go for another long walk. I was only over 96 calories on Thanksgiving and I often eat like that (we had a lovely healthy Thanksgiving). I'm still 3 pounds heavier.

But the food was higher in fat that I'm used to as well and lower in fiber.

californiagirl2012

I'm grain and sugar free for the most part. On Thanksgiving, I ate "relatively" normal-- turkey, a teeny tiny bit of cranberries, maybe a half cup each (at most) of potatoes and stuffing. Basically, I just decided to indulge mostly sensibly. I skipped the bread and the marshmallow sweet potatoes. I picked my vices and ate them in moderation. After dinner, I had a slice of what i thought was sugar free cheesecake. I found out later I was given regular, high sugar cheesecake. It was a big slice-- not going to lie. I'd estimate it was about 650 calories and 75 grams of carbs. Estimating here, but I'm pretty good at that. So all in all, the meal had about 1300 calories and lets say 160 grams of carbs. I think I'm being generous with that. I didn't eat anything else the rest of the day.

OK... fast forward two days. I stayed off the scale yesterday because I knew the salt would hit me. My fingers feel swollen and so do my ankles-- I can usually tell when I am retaining water. This morning, thinking I may have dumped some of that water, I got on the scale.

I gained SEVEN pounds since Thanksgiving morning. How the &%$#&* does that happen in two days? Other than the carefully measured stuffing, I didn't eat any bread. Most of what I ate was sugar otherwise, aside from the carbs from the potatoes. How does this warrant a gain of seven pounds? Seriously? Am I that sensitive to carbs that I eat badly for one day and I undo almost three weeks of weight loss?

Even with all that said, I still didn't go over calories on Thanksgiving. With the breakfast I ate (egg omelet), I came in around 1650 calories. Grrr. I'm allowed up to 2000 calories (and i lose consistently on 1700 a day, so long as it's grain free), so I even had some room for error.

I assume most of this is water, but I'm just super annoyed with this. I drank a ton of green tea yesterday and was back to eating healthy. I know it'll come off, but does anyone know why some of us retain so much water so quickly?

If you typically intake sodium at a certain rate your body adjusts, but if you make a sudden change then you will see a spike.

But there are many more reasons the water fluctuates:

Your body loses weight in chunks, not linear. I have found that you can do everything right and your weight loss seems to plateau but if you are patient and keep exercising and eating at a deficit (however slight) you will lose it, it will suddenly "whoosh". There are so many variables for the scale; water retention, digestion, hormones, allergies, sodium, carbs, water intake, DOMS, inflammation, the list goes on. People mistakenly think they lose or gain weight when they eat more or less because of these fluctuations.

Losing weight requires tremendous patience. You will not lose it when you want it or where you want it. The body does its thing. Some apparent plateaus can last a month or so. You cannot make it happen faster. You must focus on two things; calories and exercise. Nothing else matters. Scales and metrics don't matter. The day in and day out grind of exercise and calories are all that matters. It is not very exciting until things fall into place. You get your victories and you ride one victory to the next.

The scale is a trend tool. The scale is good but put it away and only check once a week and only use it as a trend tool. It will fluctuate, it does not matter. Take front side and back progress pictures at least once a month. You will see differences that the metrics won't tell you and it's that little bit of NSV that will keep you going until the next victory.

LATeagno

Thank you, everyone. I really appreciate your responses. I'm back at it, albeit frustrated, and I know it'll come off. I just have to wait it out!

Lipstickcherry

Californiagirl, thanks for your post, nobody else talks about losing "chunks". I know I need to exercise more. I don't lose in a linear fasion.

Phaedra2014

Sodium is a b**ch when in excess. I'm always amazed how slender my wrists and ankles are when I stick to low sodium eating.