Scale went up 2 pounds overnight!

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amysambora
amysambora Posts: 219
in Health and Weight Loss
I'm so frustrated! I weigh myself every day and this has never happened to me before. I've fluctuated a little bit but only tiny amounts - not even half a pound. I'm just so disappointed because I've done so well this week - I had a work Christmas party full of all the bad food you can imagine and I didn't touch ANY of it! Not a thing! And my weight goes up 2 pounds? I don't get it!

It's just a little disheartening to jump up such a huge amount - since I started MFP I've lost about a pound a week, so to jump up two in one day freaks me out. I'm so scared of hitting that dreaded plateau! I had a crazy shift at work this morning and have another one coming up this afternoon, I'm about ready to eat a horse but I don't want to now thanks to my weigh-in this morning :(

Looking back over what I've eaten these past few days, my protein has been quite low and my carbs quite high. I also haven't been drinking as much water as I should. Could the extra weight be water retention? And does this often happen to anyone else???

Replies

  • snrose
    snrose Posts: 233 Member
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    you could have taken in some extra sodium which could possibly be retaining water weight. this has definitely happened to me too before. just don't let it get you down! even when you are maintaining i'm sure the scale will jump! :)--note: i try to weigh once a week--it's a little less disheartening than the possible frustration of watching your weight fluctuate from day to day. within one day i believe your weight can fluctuate 2-3lbs? if i'm wrong on that someone correct me
  • edorice
    edorice Posts: 4,519 Member
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    sodium
  • HeatherBunnell
    HeatherBunnell Posts: 26
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    It's happened to me a few times. I think water is definitely an issue. If I don't drink enough, I go up.
    Kick the scale, then try again. That has also worked for me. :)

    My weighing routine:
    Get out of bed
    Go to bathroom, pray for a poopie
    Strip
    Position scale exactly how it was yesterday
    Weigh self
    If weight is up, kick scale
    Weigh self again
    Smile and go get dressed (or grumble...depending on whether or not the kick worked...)

    Hope that helps!
  • OnionCookie
    OnionCookie Posts: 272 Member
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    Definitely sodium. Be sure to get your water in and watch the sodium intake.
  • HeatherBunnell
    HeatherBunnell Posts: 26
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    sodium

    yea, that too :P
  • rnroadrunner
    rnroadrunner Posts: 402 Member
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    check out this post. you would have consumed 7000 calories to gain 2lbs of fat.

    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/132724-scales-can-lie?hl=scales+lie?#posts-1802249

    focus on non scale verifications
  • Cristy_AZ
    Cristy_AZ Posts: 986
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    sodium and water are definately factors
    and yes, I also have read that a persons weight can fluctuate 2-3 pounds.
    I hid my scale under a stack of boxes in the back of my closet (really, I did) so I would not weigh myself daily.
    promised myself to weigh in once a week at the "Dr. style" scale at the gym.
    it's just too frustrating to be up 1/2 pound, down a pound, up a pound and 1/2, makes me crazy!
    Hopefully the weekly weigh ins (an idea from some people on here) will give me a better idea of how I'm doing
    Hope that helps
  • cbirdso
    cbirdso Posts: 465 Member
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    It is definitely water weight but water gain can be caused by many other things than just sodium. For example: an abnormally (for you) hard workout, food stuffs that cause inflammation like corn, wheat, alcohol, diary, etc., and stress. My weight can fluctuate by as much as five pounds if I have the wrong kind of food, even if it is within my calorie limit.
  • rnroadrunner
    rnroadrunner Posts: 402 Member
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    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/133344-body-fat-vs-scale-weight?hl=body+fat+percentage+vs+scale#posts-1812036

    this is also a great article
  • CuteMommy88
    CuteMommy88 Posts: 538 Member
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    It happens!! dont let it bother you. Women retain water and you should really weigh yourself only once a week and at the same time of day so you get an accurate number! you are not going to gain two pounds over night LOL (just water---Im sure)
  • Godsflower1789
    Godsflower1789 Posts: 90
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    STRESS IS AN IMPORTANT FACTOR TOO. ESPECIALLY FOR WOMEN
  • srsimon
    srsimon Posts: 60 Member
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    Don't stress too much about it, this morning I weighed over 3lbs more than yesterday. Yeah it's frustrating to get on and see 144 instead of the 140 I was hoping to see, but I didn't take it to heart. Throughout today I haven't been feeling great and I've noticed I'm bloated, I'm chalking my gain up to those two factors.

    However, I did eat out a lot yesterday (even though I stayed in my cals). So my decision for today was to make it a "low cal" day. I eat yogurt and cereal and lighter foods instead of anything too heavy.

    I weigh myself every day, but I only really pay attention to if the weight stays the same for more than a few day at a time.
  • amysambora
    amysambora Posts: 219
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    It's happened to me a few times. I think water is definitely an issue. If I don't drink enough, I go up.
    Kick the scale, then try again. That has also worked for me. :)

    My weighing routine:
    Get out of bed
    Go to bathroom, pray for a poopie
    Strip
    Position scale exactly how it was yesterday
    Weigh self
    If weight is up, kick scale
    Weigh self again
    Smile and go get dressed (or grumble...depending on whether or not the kick worked...)

    Hope that helps!

    LOL!!! I love it :)

    Thanks for the advice everyone. I'm definitely going to up my water intake and watch my sodium. I'm not sure if I can kick the habit of weighing every day...like Sam, I don't consider myself to have actually 'lost' until I see the same number consistently for a few days.
  • bosanka
    bosanka Posts: 336 Member
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    well it does happen - and i think i have the worst example ever.. few years ago- was on ww.. every week i would lose about 1-2 lbs or so- so in about 4 plus months i was almost 30 lbs down..
    so i need to get my " 30 lbs blue ribbon" and i'm giving that week my 110% - food, workout. water you name it i wanted that minus on the scale so bad..
    well i had a horror weigh in- overnight i have gained 9 lbs.. i had no explanation and still to this day i don't have it. Watched sodium etc- like i said it was my " top week " of doing everything right- and there you have it 9 lbs !?!? i don't know how that was possible but it was- it took me a week to get 7 of t hem down- they did go down but i had to workout like a maniac- .. not fair- but it happens.
    2 lbs- no big deal to freak out about it. Keep going.
  • bosanka
    bosanka Posts: 336 Member
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    As a " lo ng year- scale addict " i used to weigh myself 3-5 x a day - every day for quiet a few years. - so i " know ' what it feels like and what it means to be chained to the scale.
    But- i also can tell you - i'm slowly working my way out of it. It has not worked for so many years, why would it start working now ? All i have been is miserable. If it was up for few oz.. i would get upset, if it was down- i wouldn't trust it cause in a few hours it would be up again.. so what is the poing ? There is no way of keeping the exact same weight for every single day - you have to drink etc.. so why punish yourself with those little things?
    How will you know that you actually lost ?

    Pick a day of the week-
    stick to that day- no matter what
    wheigh yourself- in the same routine you alwasy do - but only on that day
    if for 2-3 weeks you have the same weight- you have been able to maintain it.. than you loose another 1-2 lbs- and you keep it off for 1-2 weeks- you are ok..

    I'm saying this because i know how much that thing has regulated my life- it's no life.. i was a slave of the scale- never happy, always obsessing and - like Dr. Phil would say " how's that working for you ? ' not at all - i have not reached my goal no matter how many times i weight myself- i only went backwards..
    please , consider my advice- try to step away from that and try to have " a life " that is not regulated by the scale.
    My mood- would depend of the scale- so it was dictating how i'm going to live that day- good mood or bad- mostly bad mood ..
    life is too short to let a scale rule it !
    Do your best you can , follow your plan the best you can and hope for some results- once a week
    Good luck :)
  • mariasheehan
    mariasheehan Posts: 335
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    Unless you ate 7,000 calories above your BMR (3,500 cals = 1 lb of fat) then you couldn't possibly have put on 2lbs of real weight (fat), it's fluid retention, just a normal fluctuation, you haven't been drinking enough water. Go get a big jug of water and start drinking flush out all that extra fluid, in a couple of days you'll be back to normal. Don't get disheartened, you're doing great.
  • heatypablo
    heatypablo Posts: 221
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    That happened to me on Monday... scale jumped 4lbs! I had a lot of sodium so I dranks lots of water and I'm down where I was Sunday...even a bit less! :)
  • love2sign
    love2sign Posts: 15
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    thats y u only weigh once a week....of course if your eating that day its going to show some weight...u put food into
    your body....you have to have time to digest and rid some of it.......
  • americansugar80
    americansugar80 Posts: 12
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    been there done that, i dont know why it did though, ive been on this site for 10 days at the time and it i gained 2 pounds overnight too, a friend told me to wait it out a couple days, after the weekend, so i did and lost the 2 pounds i gained and then a bit after that it went down 3 more pounds.

    hope it helps and works out for you.
  • pinkyslippers
    pinkyslippers Posts: 188 Member
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    I'm just bumping this so it is there for me to read when this happens! great replies xoxo

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