How much water weight after going over your cals?

So I know when dieting, just one day of going over your calories and eating a lot of food will make you "gain weight", mostly from water weight. I'm just wondering how much of an increase people usually see. Yesterday I ate *a lot* of food and I just saw about 1.5 pounds increased. There are other times when I just go over a little bit for 2-3 days and it goes up for like 5 pounds. Then it takes me about 3-7+ days to go back to normal.
What do you guys see in your experience as far as going up right the next day and then bringing it back down?

Replies

  • TutuMom41
    TutuMom41 Posts: 278 Member
    weight typically fluctuates from day to day regardless I never consider water weight. Weight is weight
  • Eselte
    Eselte Posts: 49
    Don't step on the scale after a day of overeating! (I'm just kidding) :)
  • bebeXchyM
    bebeXchyM Posts: 32 Member
    'Guess we are all different
    i gain up to 5kilos during TOM(could be worse if i binge) and can hold on to it for over a week.
    When i remember that 7700kcal makes a kilo, i laugh over such gains and continue my life
  • SLLRunner
    SLLRunner Posts: 12,942 Member
    Weight naturally fluctuates, so trying to figure it all out is no use.
  • Hello,

    This week has been bad for me, I have seen a water increase of 4 pounds or so.
  • gypsy_spirit
    gypsy_spirit Posts: 2,107 Member
    Probably better to track what your body does with weight and fluctuations. We all have the fluctuations, but they vary from person to person.

    Track your calories, track your weight. Get a picture of how your body handles it. If that makes you too freaky - teach yourself to stop worrying about it so much. Weigh once a week.

    Look for the downward trend.

    Here's a great look at what weight loss looks like:

    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/blog/ihad/view/the-path-of-success-631437
  • al369
    al369 Posts: 170 Member
    My weight fluctuates like crazy. Sometimes going over a little in calories won't make me "gain" the next day...it's more to do with *what* I ate. Pizza, even if I was within cals, will make me go up 10 lbs the next day. And it takes 5ish days to go back to normal. Today, I'm up .8 lbs, but I don't count it unless it sticks around.
  • mike_ny
    mike_ny Posts: 351 Member
    I'm not exactly sure what you're asking, but when I travel I tend to pick up a lot of weight that falls off in a week or so after I get back. I just got back from an overseas trip for 10 days. Between flying, jet lag, eating out all of the time, and eating lots of food I don't normally eat (which included lots of salt and carbs), I gained 11 pounds.That was from weighing in when I got back Tuesday night. This morning (Saturday), I weighed in and am back at the same weight before I went on the trip. So, I gained 11 pounds in 10 days, and then lost 11 pounds in 4 days? Classic water weight compounded by traveling.

    I definitely did overeat and drink more while away, but also was extremely active and walked five or more miles a day (real easy to do in very walkable cities and not having a car), so I figured it would end up being a wash with little or no weight gain without counting any calories while away. I was definitely shocked to see the scale go up so much, that I weighed myself again to verify it was correct.

    The trick with water weight is to not let it freak you out. Weight can fluctuate a lot due to hydration and a change in foods you're used to eating. A lot of people would freak out and quit their dieting and go back to their old patterns of overeating and junk foods. Get back on your old diet with your regular foods and run a deficit and it really can drop very quickly.