Pasta Problems

Sodium.

A lot of pasta and pasta sauces have high sodium the way they are prepared. If you injest sodium it takes a large amount of water to solubilize it to the appropriate ionic strength your body can tolerate. The result is if you eat a lot of salt your body will retain a lot of water. Eat pasta, get sodium, retain water, gain "weight". Has nothing to do with the levels of fat in your body though so wouldn't worry about it as long as you aren't exceeding calories for the day.

1 serving of pasta will not make you gain a pound. You're math is off somewhere. On another note, I could eat an entire pound of pasta on my own. Ugh, the carb rush is incredible.

1 serving of pasta will most definitely make you gain a pound if the salt content is high, its a pound of water but the scale can't tell the difference.

Pasta barely has any sodium in it. If the OP is using sauces of some sort, then we might have a cause for the weight gain. But honestly, I am more inclined to believe that her measurements are off on something else. Is there any known number for how much water sodium actually retains?

"Is there any known number for how much water sodium actually retains?"

I'm sure its calculatable. It would be based on the ionic strength of blood serum vs the amount of dilution of NaCl to achieve that ionic strength. My guess is that you'd be surprised how little sodium equates to 1 pound of water.

"Pasta barely has any sodium in it."

True, but the way most pasta is prepared with sauces and salt added to the water during cooking it CAN be quite high. If the OP finds that everytime she eats pasta her weight goes up the next day it could be due to sodium content.

I don't know much about sodium, is 400mg in the sauce a lot?

Answer above, apparently! As long as your calories are fine, don't worry about water weight fluctuation.

"Consuming 400 milligrams of sodium, the amount in a single gram of table salt, causes your body to retain an extra 4 cups of water, which equals roughly 2 pounds. "

Ohh dear! That's nuts.

Please do not take this to mean you should avoid sodium, salt is part of a healthy diet (just not in excess of something like 2300mg a day). Its just water, don't focus too much on your scale weight.

This is the reason though that you can't trust your scale weight day to day as indicating whether or not you are losing fat. To track fat loss with a scale takes months to see a trend, your weight day to day will fluctuate a lot due to things like salt.

I have finally concluded I have a problem with pasta. I doesn't matter if I eat 1600 calories or 1000 calories that day or what is on the pasta, it never fails I gain a pound every single time. Why? What does it mean?
FYI It is always just 1 serving.

You gain a pound overnight or for the week? If you weigh every day, it's probably water weight. Carbs retain water.

It depends what you're eating normally. If you're cutting carbs and then have a small indulgence you will gain weight because carbs make you hold water weight especially when youre cutting them on certain days.

I'm a 'carbavore'. I love all things carbs, so no cutting there.

Again, water weight so don't stress it. What matters is you eat at a slight deficit so you lose fat. Your weight will fluctuate by many pounds day to day due to differences in water, don't let that confuse or discourage you.

1 serving of pasta will not make you gain a pound. You're math is off somewhere. On another note, I could eat an entire pound of pasta on my own. Ugh, the carb rush is incredible.

1 serving of pasta will most definitely make you gain a pound if the salt content is high, its a pound of water but the scale can't tell the difference.

Pasta barely has any sodium in it. If the OP is using sauces of some sort, then we might have a cause for the weight gain. But honestly, I am more inclined to believe that her measurements are off on something else. Is there any known number for how much water sodium actually retains?

You're right that pasta itself doesn't have salt, but if you read the directions on the package it says to boil in salted water. The pasta absorbs the salt in cooking. You can not add salt, but the pasta may not be as tasty. Also remember 1 serving of pasta is 100g dry weight. This is alot for most people. I eat 50g dry weight at a time, and it's plenty.

Look. Basically whenever a poster posts a comment saying "OMG I gained X pounds in one day what is happening to me!" the answer is almost always that they just had a little extra salt the previous day. It really doesn't take much salt to make a big difference in your scale weight.

Which is why people shouldn't weigh daily (unless they understand about fluctuations and it doesn't bother them).

I never add salt to water when I make pasta. Mine tastes just fine.