No, you probably didn't gain weight...

Now I posted this in my blog but I wanted to post it here too... I think lots of people follow these scenario's and I just wanted to help shed some light. While it isn't a medical report, and It may not be one hundred percent fact, I think most people find that they can relate to this.
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So I see lots of people posting on the forums about how they worked out really hard and noticed that the scale went up in weight -/+ 2-5 pounds. I also see people freak about gaining weight during that "Time of the Month" Another common one is if they gained weight from eating a high sodium meal or had a bad weekend food wise.

I want to put an end to this fear, this worry, this anxiety of gaining weight. What we all really mean by gaining weight is that we gained FAT. This is certainly not the case.

THE MATH: It takes 3500 calories to lose a pound. It takes the same amount to gain a pound. Here is an example of what I mean.

Suzy a young vibrant 30 year old decides that she needs to lose a few pounds. Two kids has really done a number on her. A good friend suggested MFP to her. So she sets up her profile. Enters all her statistics; weight, age, activity level, loss per week., and MFP calculates her MAINTAINENCE calories at 1800. Meaning, If she were to eat 1800 calories she would neither gain weight or lose weight she would MAINTAIN. So to get that 1 pound per week loss MFP subtracts 500 calories from her MAINTAINENCE calories. making her daily caloric intake 1300 calories.

1800-500=1300 calories per day eaten

She will sucessfully lose weight (based on mathmatics alone) because she is eating 3500 calories less per week than her maintainence calories

-500 x7=-3500 calories deficit per week which equals 1 pound.

Suzy is all excited about this. She does really good the first two week and successfully loses 2 pounds. But on the weekend of her third week, her family threw a bbq and she just couldn't help her self, the yummy grilled bbq chicken and potato chips were just too much to handle so she indulges (can you blame her?). She already ate 1200 of her daily calories allotted for that day, so she knew that eating this 700 calorie meal was going to put her over her calories. YIKES! But still she indulges. The next day Suzy steps on the scale and notices that yesterdays weight of 180 pounds has now spiked up to 181 pounds!

Could she really have gained a whole pound from that one bad meal?? The answer is NO. No she did not. This is why.

In order for her to gain one pound she would have had to eat 3500 calories OVER her maintainence. Well did Suzy eat 3500 calories over her maintainence of 1800 calories? Lets see.

3500 calories over her maintainence would equal 5300 calories

3500 + 1800 =5300 calories; What she really ate was

1200 + 700 = 1900 calories: This is NO WHERE NEAR 5300 calories needed to gain that one pound.

So what made her scale raise that one pound? Chances are it was the sodium in the chips, the sugar and sodium in the BBQ sauce, if she had a pop there is sugar and sodium in that as well. Ingesting large amounts of sugar and sodium are sure fire ways to make your body retain water.

Another example of the weight gaining scenario is Jon for example. He decided he needed a really hard work out this week, so Monday he went to the gym, and pushed himself harder than he ever has before. He sweat buckets, beat his time running, and lifted an extra 10 pounds than usual. The next morning he gets on the scale and sees that yesterdays weight of 205 pounds now shows a gain of 2 pounds! YIKES! He ate his allotted 2000 calories maybe 100-200 more (his wifes cooking is just too good sometimes). WHAT HAPPENED!?

Well we know from suzies example that those extra 200 calories aren't the cause of his gain so what is it? The answer is simply water, when you stress your muscles to a point of exhaustion, or if your a body builder a point of tearing them, your muscles will naturally retain that water to help repair them. The more muscles you damage or work out, the more water your body will retain. (DO NOT MISTAKE THIS GAIN AS MUSCLE GAIN. It is practically impossible to gain muscle that quickly. It takes MONTHS to gain that kind of muscle). Lucky for Jon the extra 2 pounds of water retention will be gone in a few days when his muscles recover a little bit.

So to my reader (if there be any) Unless you ingest 3500 calories over your Maintainence calories, you did not gain a pound of fat. Unless you have been working out for months hitting the weight very hard, you did not gain muscle. Working out does not make you gain [fat] weight, and having one cheat meal if you are watching your weekly calories will not make you gain [fat] weight. Chance are its either water retention weight, or sodium/sugar water retention weight. This works the same for those ladies who gain weight during TOM, all it is, is water weight. So please quit stress, quit feeling the anxiety of the scale. in a couple days it will be back to normal. Just drink lots of water and give the scale a rest. All is well!

** But do remember, eating over your Maintainence will make you gain weight, Working out will result in building of muscle it is just a lot slower than we all would like to think.

I hope this sheds some light. and as always please comment and vote!



--Kayla