How long after eating too much does the scale show?

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isadoc
isadoc Posts: 19
in Health and Weight Loss
Just wondering... how soon after you have a "slip-up" and eat a bit too much do you see it on the scale? Is it right away or a few days after? I know there are daily fluctuations, but I still wonder...

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  • CeleryStalker
    CeleryStalker Posts: 665 Member
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    Depends on your eating plan. If you are low carbing, then you are familiar with the rapid weight loss the first week, most of which is water weight shed. This is from going into ketosis. If you slip up and consume enough carbs to come out of ketosis, you're looking at gaining back the water weight and see a 3-5# spike on the scale. Generally, it takes 3-7 days of low carbing to get back into ketosis and shed that water again.

    If you aren't low carbing, then you aren't throwing your scale off with water weight based on carb consumption, and unless you REALLY overdid it, you'll most likely see that spike go away in a few days, after youve returned to a caloric deficit and taken a couple of nice healthy poops ;)
  • CeleryStalker
    CeleryStalker Posts: 665 Member
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    oh, and i just realized i read your question backwards, lol. so much for multi tasking! if you ate a boatload of food (think:buffet) and stepped on the scale, of course youd see it immediately.

    if you ate, say, a a bunch of sugary crap that doesnt weigh a whole lot but contributes to consuming more calories than burning, unless you were previously in ketosis, it's not likely you are going to see any difference on the scale. You'd need to eat 3500 calories more than you've burned that day just to gain a pound. Hmm, I suppose a quick trip to the state fair might be an easy way to do that, lol
  • Sparksfly
    Sparksfly Posts: 470 Member
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    It depends how much you overate. If you overate by 500 calories, you might see a slight increase the next day (water weight). It takes an extra 3500 calories OVER your maintenance cals to gain an actual pound of fat. If your maintenance is 1800 calories, you would have to eat a total of 5300 calories in one day to gain an extra pound of fat. Just to put everything in perspective! I doubt you overate by that much. Good luck with your journey!
  • aippolito1
    aippolito1 Posts: 4,894 Member
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    If you consumed too much sodium, you'll see it immediately. Same thing with going over SUBSTANTIALLY (the amount of your deficit and/or more). Just make sure to drink a lot of water and get back to eating healthy!
  • Ellem86
    Ellem86 Posts: 204
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    From experience I would say when I overeat on one day, eat a bit less than usual on the following day, on the third day I won't have seen a gain - if anything, I would have seen a loss. I actually do this on purpose as a way of zig zagging calories. However, on Friday I went crazy and ate 2,200 calories, overnight I gained 1.25 pounds in water weight, it was all gone by this morning after a big poop like the poster above said!
  • Ellem86
    Ellem86 Posts: 204
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    p.s. Congrats on reaching your August 30th goal!
  • headstoes
    headstoes Posts: 25 Member
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    I too would like to know the answer to this. One day I binged about 6000 calories, no joke, and I gained nothing the next day, about 0.5kg the day after, but then the next day it was gone and I was back to losing?

    Freebie or what?
  • isadoc
    isadoc Posts: 19
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    great answers guys... I find that before I wouldn't really have cared about overeating -maybe not realizing that "portion size" are often way too big. But now that I have the red numbers, even if I'm over only by 100, I feel bad...

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