5 pound gain overnight?

Tmochava
Tmochava Posts: 41 Member
edited November 15 in Health and Weight Loss
My mother told me today that she gained 5 pounds overnight and of course she's upset about it. I asked her what did she eat yesterday and she told me a slice of pizza, 2 crab cakes and corn on the cob. Could the sodium content in the pizza and crab cakes caused her to retain water?

She doesn't count calories and she's taking HCG injections to aid in her weight loss. So I'm also assuming maybe this has something to do with it?

Replies

  • DemoraFairy
    DemoraFairy Posts: 1,806 Member
    Could be to do with the injections, but we all fluctuated and for some people 5lbs is perfectly normal, especially if they've eaten salty things like pizza the night before. It's not unusual, it'll probably be gone in a day or two.
  • sgthaggard
    sgthaggard Posts: 581 Member
    Unless she ate 17,500 extra calories, she can rest assured that it's not fat.
  • HeySwoleSister
    HeySwoleSister Posts: 1,938 Member
    Maybe tell her that's what she gets for doing something stupid like HCG shots?

    Sorry, that wouldn't be nice. But, I'm in a mood today, and those injections are really foolish.
  • overlook237
    overlook237 Posts: 160 Member
    It's been my experience that when I've had a sodium-heavy day, I wake up several pounds heavier the next morning. I make sure to keep drinking plenty of water and usually with a few days, that weight comes off. That might work for her. As far as the HCG injections, I have no idea, but it's certainly something she could talk to her doctor about at her next visit. Hope that helps!
  • LAWoman72
    LAWoman72 Posts: 2,846 Member
    sgthaggard wrote: »
    Unless she ate 17,500 extra calories, she can rest assured that it's not fat.

    This. :)

  • 999tigger
    999tigger Posts: 5,235 Member
    What they said, just remind your mum she hasnt eaten that much and it is quite natural for a person to clutcuate 1-5lbs during the day, water retention etc and the injections.

    One thing that might help is if she charts her weight readings then she could see the fluctuations and be less woried as its the trend that matters.
  • Tmochava
    Tmochava Posts: 41 Member
    Thanks for the input. I just told her to drink plenty of water to flush it out and hopefully she'll back to her weight before the 5lb gain.
  • Sassy_xo
    Sassy_xo Posts: 44
    It's probably just water retention from eating foods higher on the sodium content side. Drinking at least 64 ounces of water throughout the day today should help, and a workout to sweat some of that sodium out should help as well. Also, remind her that it is normal for the scale to fluctuate quite a bit from day to day, and even from morning to evening depending on multiple factors such as fluids and foods consumed, water retention, whether or not you've had a bowel movement recently, and for women also depending on where you are in your monthly cycle. I was told by my dietician that for women weight can actually fluctuate anywhere within a 7 pound range within a weeks time and still be considered maintaining because of the many factors that go into it. This is why she recommended to me to do weekly weigh in's instead of daily ones, and to always weigh myself without clothing on, first thing in the morning, after emptying my bladder.
  • vismal
    vismal Posts: 2,463 Member
    Ask you mom what would happen to the number on the scale if someone handed them a gallon of water while standing on the scale. It's water, pure and simple. As others said above, unless she ate 17,500 calories above her maintenance (she didn't), the gains are mostly water.
  • camtrader9
    camtrader9 Posts: 3 Member
    Hi Tmochava, if your mom is taking HCG then no way should she be eating those carbs and fats under any circumstances. If she wants to do the hcg protocol (it works, btw) she will have to thoroughly understand what she can and can't eat while taking hcg. It is very unforgiving and yes, she will gain weight overnight if she doesn't follow the eating plan just as she will lose weight rapidly if she does follow it strictly. She can do a search on the internet and find the protocol and lots of help and instructions if she wants to do it. If this is a "loading day" (where you can eat what you want)--no worries, she will lose it back very fast as she follows the program.
  • jessicapk
    jessicapk Posts: 574 Member
    My experience has shown that I tend to go up in weight the day after the really low calorie days. As soon as I have a normal meal or a larger than normal meal, it's like a huge woosh of water weight the next day and I'll usually drop below where I started. The key is DON'T WEIGH YOURSELF DAILY UNLESS YOU UNDERSTAND AND CAN COPE WITH FLUCTUATIONS. There.
  • Karley_Chochard
    Karley_Chochard Posts: 55 Member
    HCG is not proven to work. Most HCG marketed is not actually the real thing anyways. The sodium could jump the weight like that. i gain exactly that much every time i eat chipotle. and it takes a week to get it back off.
  • JasonH_DFW
    JasonH_DFW Posts: 63 Member
    No way to gain 5 pounds of fat in a night, now way. Hard ot even gain a pound. Think abotu it you'd have to eat 3500x5 cals over your tdee. Lets say thats 2k cals, so 2k + (3500x5) so 19500 cals. Not sure thats even possibel to comsume but at a certain point you're getting gasteric empting, ie pushing undigested food into the intestine.

    As mentioned this is part fat, part muscle gain (even if not working out), but mostly water.
  • jofjltncb6
    jofjltncb6 Posts: 34,415 Member
    I've had many days with 6 pound variations in 24 hours. High sodium food is one very good possibility, but there are numerous other factors. Another common one is just that some scales aren't consistent and are affected by things such as humidity and temperature.

    Regardless of the cause, there is nothing to be gained by making any changes because of a 24 hour change in weight (in either direction). It's just noise and is entirely inconsequential.
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