How long does it take for the weight gain to show up?

veggiehottie
veggiehottie Posts: 590 Member
edited February 6 in Health and Weight Loss
Ok. So let's see you've been bad. Really bad.

The good thing is, you continued to log!

By estimate, you should have gained at least 6 pounds. (Don't judge, going through a breakup.)

But the scale still does not show a gain.

My question is, how long does it take to show up? To turn into fat? Shouldn't it be immediate? Or will it appear in a few weeks when I am back on track?

Replies

  • veggiehottie
    veggiehottie Posts: 590 Member
    Bump!
  • howardheilweil
    howardheilweil Posts: 604 Member
    You do realize that you need to have consumed 3500 calories above your maintenance for each pound, don't you?
  • pwittek10
    pwittek10 Posts: 723 Member
    what?
    3500 pounds above you normal amount?
    Is this true?
    I never eat 3500 calories but my weight does go up.
  • mikeykhan2003
    mikeykhan2003 Posts: 177
    It's an estimate but yes, but it's not daily. If you eat around 500 calories over what you burn a day for 7 days, you can expect to gain a pound. Just like eating 500 calories under what you burn every day will likely lose a lb over a week.

    It's not quite that simple, but it's close enough to work.
  • echofm1
    echofm1 Posts: 471 Member
    what?
    3500 pounds above you normal amount?
    Is this true?
    I never eat 3500 calories but my weight does go up.

    Not 3500 above every day. They are cumulative.

    Also, keep in mind that you have to go over maintenance, not over your MFP losing goal. For instance, MFP tells me to eat roughly 2000 calories a day, losing a pound and a half a week. This means that I need to eat 2700 to stay at my hefty weight of 303. Now, if I consistently eat 2800 calories, I'll slowly (quite slowly) gain weight.

    Also, it's possible that your MFP calculation was off. Maybe you're not "sedentary" like you listed. I lost 3 pounds a week at first instead of the pound and a half just because I was more active than I initially gave myself credit for. It could be a similar situation.

    You might see those pounds, you might never see them. It never hurts to get back on the wagon though.
  • rosemary98
    rosemary98 Posts: 632
    Ok. So let's see you've been bad. Really bad.

    The good thing is, you continued to log!

    By estimate, you should have gained at least 6 pounds. (Don't judge, going through a breakup.)

    But the scale still does not show a gain.

    My question is, how long does it take to show up? To turn into fat? Shouldn't it be immediate? Or will it appear in a few weeks when I am back on track?

    I have often wondered the same thing. We don't even need to be talking about 3500 calories, let's say you had a bad saturday and consumed 2000 calories plus maintenance calories (not impossible to do in a day)...would your weight increase the next day (by however many ounces that breaks down to?) Or, is there a lag time.
  • HeyGoRun
    HeyGoRun Posts: 550 Member
    From experience i was 115 in march 2011, there i stopped caring about life!
    once i came back to reality I was at 156 in april 2013
    Ate whatever and no workouts, so in reality took a while....
  • Hildy_J
    Hildy_J Posts: 1,050 Member
    I think you can eat what you want during a break up and not gain. I have no explanation for this other than that there HAS to be a silver lining.

    Is it the nervous energy, is it all the stuff churning around... do feelings burn calories? Crying has to - it's superb for the core muscles, if you do it properly, ie lying face-down on the floor for a couple of hours.
  • veggiehottie
    veggiehottie Posts: 590 Member
    I think you can eat what you want during a break up and not gain. I have no explanation for this other than that there HAS to be a silver lining.

    Is it the nervous energy, is it all the stuff churning around... do feelings burn calories? Crying has to - it's superb for the core muscles, if you do it properly, ie lying face-down on the floor for a couple of hours.

    Ha! Best answer yet. Thanks for the laugh.

    Echofm, thanks for the info. I plan on getting back on the wagon, soon. It has been a month since the breakup and I need to be over it!

    For the others... Yes, I know how many calories it takes to gain a pound. And I know it is extra calories above and beyond maintenance. That was not the question.
  • Francl27
    Francl27 Posts: 26,368 Member
    I think you can eat what you want during a break up and not gain. I have no explanation for this other than that there HAS to be a silver lining.

    Is it the nervous energy, is it all the stuff churning around... do feelings burn calories? Crying has to - it's superb for the core muscles, if you do it properly, ie lying face-down on the floor for a couple of hours.

    :laugh:

    You got a point.

    Honestly sometimes it just seems random. Sorry for your break up, glad you didn't gain weight!
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