One poor eating day - weight went up 3 pounds!

huv123
huv123 Posts: 54 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Why is it that one poor day caused me to gain 3 pounds, but I can go a whole week of very controlled eating and only lose a pound?
The other day I made some poor decisions because I went to someone's house and we had a multi-course meal that lasted 4 hours. The next day I woke up and weighed 3 extra pounds!? How is this possible?

Replies

  • ladiablo
    ladiablo Posts: 42 Member
    Could be water weight from excess sodium intake?
  • Jkn921
    Jkn921 Posts: 309 Member
    Unless you ate 10500 calories, it didn't.

    Return to your normal eating routine today and it will go right down to tomorrow and the next day etc.

    After Christmas day I was 145 then 144.8 then 143.2 then 142.6 (back to normal)
    Tip: don't trust the scale as the biggest measurement, how you feel is most important.
  • SweeDecadence92
    SweeDecadence92 Posts: 218 Member
    Adding to the other suggestions, if your a woman, it could easily be a hormonal thing. Weight fluctuations are pretty normal. Carry on as you were and see where your at next time your due to weigh.
  • GiveMeCoffee
    GiveMeCoffee Posts: 3,556 Member
    Because weight fluctuates daily, there was probably more sodium in the food. This is one of the reasons why they say don't weight frequently unless you can understand that your weight will bounce. I track mine daily because I like seeing the impact different foods have on my system and I'm a numbers geek. But I don't get upset if I the scale is up a couple pounds on some days, as long as my trend is downward I'm doing good.

    Did you eat 10,500 calories over your maintenance? If not, then it will bounce back down
  • Walter__
    Walter__ Posts: 518 Member
    It's just water weight. The less you worry about it the more sane you will remain. Give it 2-3 days and you'll be back to normal.
  • edwardkim85
    edwardkim85 Posts: 438 Member
    Why is it that one poor day caused me to gain 3 pounds, but I can go a whole week of very controlled eating and only lose a pound?
    The other day I made some poor decisions because I went to someone's house and we had a multi-course meal that lasted 4 hours. The next day I woke up and weighed 3 extra pounds!? How is this possible?

    You spent 4 hours sitting on a dining table eating... That's 1/4 of your waking hour eating one meal.

    Can't complain about a measly 3 pounds. Surprised you didn't gain more.

    On a brighter note, it takes 2-5 days for the weight to come off if you ate high sodium food or ate a lot of carbs. Body absorbs water like a sponge if you suddenly eat a lot of carbs.

    Drink lots of water(gallon + ) and it'll come off.

    I do this every 10 days or so with a 6k binge/cheat day. weight goes up 3-4 pounds, then in less than a week drops 5-7 pounds.
  • Kabijots
    Kabijots Posts: 218 Member
    It is unlikely that you gained. Either weigh yourself daily, under the same conditions and you will see that you weight fluctuates a lot (can be 5lbs either up or down). Almost nothing to do with what you are eating. Watch it go up and down and you will notice the way your body works which is completely normal.
    As long as it's on a downward trend over the course of the month you are on track!


    If you can't weigh daily, then weigh just once a month. You will not see the daily fluctuations which will not stress you out and you will see only the overall, hopefully, loss.

    Don't panic over one day.
  • jessicah36
    jessicah36 Posts: 11
    probably just because you had more sodium so your body retained more water
  • huv123
    huv123 Posts: 54 Member
    I didn't freak out. I just went back to eating normally and exercise the next day but it does stress me out. I weigh daily because normally I find it keeps me in line, but I would hate to have wasted the whole last week losing those 2-3 pounds.
  • babydiego87
    babydiego87 Posts: 905 Member
    Virtually impossible to do so. Quit weighing yourself every day, it'll drive you mad.
  • fushigi1988
    fushigi1988 Posts: 519 Member
    Water weight from eating more sodium, food in digestion tract, you might not have pooped yet, hormonal changes.
    Don't pay attention at the short term fluctuations, just look at the general line your weight goes.
  • ell_v131
    ell_v131 Posts: 349 Member
    It's water weight. To gain 3 pounds of fat you would have to overeat by 10500 calories, and I doubt your body will be able to oxidize all that fat in one day.

    It will be gone in a few days.
  • twixlepennie
    twixlepennie Posts: 1,074 Member
    You didn't actually gain 3lbs.
  • SunofaBeach14
    SunofaBeach14 Posts: 4,899 Member
    It's most certainly water. Did you eat saltier foods than normal? Salt is not bad if you're otherwise healthy, and the body does need it it, but extra doses will cause you to retain more water. My advice? Let it go and start focusing in the trend in your weight rather than daily fluctuations
  • acpgee
    acpgee Posts: 7,965 Member
    It will be glycogen stores being replenished (aka water weight). Nice explanation here:
    http://justinowings.com/understanding-bodyweight-and-glycogen-de/
  • BrainyBurro
    BrainyBurro Posts: 6,129 Member
    Why is it that one poor day caused me to gain 3 pounds, but I can go a whole week of very controlled eating and only lose a pound?
    The other day I made some poor decisions because I went to someone's house and we had a multi-course meal that lasted 4 hours. The next day I woke up and weighed 3 extra pounds!? How is this possible?

    duh. it's possible because you ate 12,000 calories yesterday!

    or if you didn't eat 12,000 calories, then it's because you are retaining some water.

    but most likely it's because you ate 12,000 calories. that's equivalent to 34 large slices of pepperoni pizza. that's how much you ate, right? because that's totally possible for an evening meal.

    :tongue:
  • huv123
    huv123 Posts: 54 Member
    ha - i did not eat 10,000 calories. But it is not the first time where I have had a large meal and then spent all week trying to go back to the weight I was before a meal. But I probably had 3,000 ish? I had smoked salmon, lots of salad (which was mainly garden salad, a broccoli salad that had a mayonnaise dressing, but no other fatty toppings like sour cream, bacon or nuts), 1 potato, a piece of shnitznel, apple compote, two after dinner mints, and when I go home, some chocolate and other stuff. I felt like I started off well, by choosing smoked salmon over the other fried fish options for the first course, filling my plate with a lettuce salad so there was only a little room for the other main course food, having apple compote instead of the cake and other dessert on offer. However I don't as a habit eat any fried food, or have bread or other calorie dense foods, but I couldn't stop myself when it was in front of me. And when I go home I had two chocolate pieces, some fruit nuggets and other stuff I was so disappointed in myself.
  • BrainyBurro
    BrainyBurro Posts: 6,129 Member
    ha - i did not eat 10,000 calories. But it is not the first time where I have had a large meal and then spent all week trying to go back to the weight I was before a meal. But I probably had 3,000 ish? I had smoked salmon, lots of salad (which was mainly garden salad, a broccoli salad that had a mayonnaise dressing, but no other fatty toppings like sour cream, bacon or nuts), 1 potato, a piece of shnitznel, apple compote, two after dinner mints, and when I go home, some chocolate and other stuff. I felt like I started off well, by choosing smoked salmon over the other fried fish options for the first course, filling my plate with a lettuce salad so there was only a little room for the other main course food, having apple compote instead of the cake and other dessert on offer. However I don't as a habit eat any fried food, or have bread or other calorie dense foods, but I couldn't stop myself when it was in front of me. And when I go home I had two chocolate pieces, some fruit nuggets and other stuff I was so disappointed in myself.

    you have your answer then! ...it's just water retention. :wink:
  • ILiftHeavyAcrylics
    ILiftHeavyAcrylics Posts: 27,732 Member
    I didn't freak out. I just went back to eating normally and exercise the next day but it does stress me out. I weigh daily because normally I find it keeps me in line, but I would hate to have wasted the whole last week losing those 2-3 pounds.

    It will serve you well to learn the difference between fat loss/gain and weight loss/gain. If you gain several pounds overnight it almost surely the result of water retention and food in your digestive tract. Also realize that weight fluctuates. I'm 1 lb heavier today than I was yesterday, but I know that I didn't gain a pound of fat because I logged accurately and ate within my calories.

    I am a daily weigher, but to me daily weighing just allows me to see those daily fluctuations so that they don't concern me. If weighing daily is going to stress you out then maybe stick to once per week.
  • robathealthsidekick
    robathealthsidekick Posts: 20
    your weight can move up or down for a variety of different reasons and one is you ate to much. the trick is to get to the truth and you do this by looking at your averages. I use healthsidekick to calculate because they give me all my averages so it is easy for me to differentiate the truth from the false and what it I ate to much and what is noise.
  • ILiftHeavyAcrylics
    ILiftHeavyAcrylics Posts: 27,732 Member
    Water weight can take a few days to go back down. That doesn't mean you lost all your progress.
  • MaryJane_8810002
    MaryJane_8810002 Posts: 2,082 Member
    Its water weight, it'll go down in a couple days. I just got rid of the X-mas water weight.
  • waytobeduck
    waytobeduck Posts: 82
    Why is it that one poor day caused me to gain 3 pounds, but I can go a whole week of very controlled eating and only lose a pound?
    The other day I made some poor decisions because I went to someone's house and we had a multi-course meal that lasted 4 hours. The next day I woke up and weighed 3 extra pounds!? How is this possible?

    duh. it's possible because you ate 12,000 calories yesterday!

    or if you didn't eat 12,000 calories, then it's because you are retaining some water.

    but most likely it's because you ate 12,000 calories. that's equivalent to 34 large slices of pepperoni pizza. that's how much you ate, right? because that's totally possible for an evening meal.

    :tongue:
    yum... sounds okay to me haha
  • makingamiracle
    makingamiracle Posts: 41 Member
    Could be poop (food still being digested). Also, if the meal truly lasted four hours, could be water retention due to muscle repair from lifting the arm and hand to the mouth repeatedly over a four hour period.
  • Ninkyou
    Ninkyou Posts: 6,666 Member
    Exercise, ovulation, time of the month, sodium etc will all cause water retention, all of which are temporary, and all of which you will see frequently. Sure it sucks to see on the scale, but after a while you'll start noticing the pattern and you'll be able to identify it on the scale, "Oh, my period is due in 2 days, and I'm up 1.5 lbs, so that's what that is" or "man that fettuccine alfredo was so awesome last night, but it must have had a ton of sodium to make the scale go up this much"... and etc. I think you get my point :)
  • ExtremePhobia
    ExtremePhobia Posts: 40
    Could be water weight from excess sodium intake?

    Almost certainly this. Generally, bad foods tend to also be loaded with sodium causing high water retention.

    One gallon of water is about 8.5 lbs (on average since). If you drink 8 cups of water in a day then that's over four pounds alone, not counting water taken in by anything you drank for pleasure (even soda counts) and consumed in foods (even bread or potatoes have water in it, let alone meats, cheeses and things cooked in sauces).

    Also, when you eat more processed foods, they tend to take longer to get through your system and you retain more of it for a longer period.

    Tomorrow, you'll probably lose a pound and then another 1.5 over the next 3-4 days as your body recovers to its normal state. By the end of the week, you'll notice a weight gain appropriate to how much you over ate by or likely a weight loss since you are probably eating a much larger deficit per week (probably -3500 calories) than you did in that one day surplus.
  • Fullsterkur_woman
    Fullsterkur_woman Posts: 2,712 Member
    Could be water weight from excess sodium intake?

    Almost certainly this. Generally, bad foods tend to also be loaded with sodium causing high water retention.

    One gallon of water is about 8.5 lbs (on average since). If you drink 8 cups of water in a day then that's over four pounds alone, not counting water taken in by anything you drank for pleasure (even soda counts) and consumed in foods (even bread or potatoes have water in it, let alone meats, cheeses and things cooked in sauces).

    Also, when you eat more processed foods, they tend to take longer to get through your system and you retain more of it for a longer period.

    Tomorrow, you'll probably lose a pound and then another 1.5 over the next 3-4 days as your body recovers to its normal state. By the end of the week, you'll notice a weight gain appropriate to how much you over ate by or likely a weight loss since you are probably eating a much larger deficit per week (probably -3500 calories) than you did in that one day surplus.
    Heh... *bad* food! Go sit in the corner!

    I think it's more accurate to say that high-sodium foods tend to be loaded with sodium. But then I'm not into food shaming either, so... :indifferent:

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