gaining 3lbs overnight weight fluctuation while on low carbs???
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If you weigh every day you have to be prepared for fluctuations which are perfectly natural...from hormones/ sodium / more carbs than usual/ DOMS from a new workout / being constipated.
You either get used to those fluctuations or you stick to weekly/fortnightly weigh ins.
I like regular weigh ins as they help me understand how my body works, each to their own
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day to day fluctuations happen and it can be very frustrating to gain 3 or 4lbs over night. As hard as it is you have to realize that each pound, if it were fat, was worth about 3500 calories, and most of us don't even eat that in day, so the idea you gained 3 or 4lbs which would be 10,500 calories of fat is crazy. Your body is just reacting to hormones or salt intake or exercise and is retaining water...
2 weeks ago I lost like 3lbs by my way in day, the next day I weighed and was like 4lbs heavier. I was initially upset, but after the first reaction I calmed down and realized it was all water weight, worked hard and stuck to my calorie goals all week and still only lost like .6lbs and my logs showed it should have been 2+lbs, shook it off and the next week I posted a 4lb weight loss, having changed nothing still doing the same calorie goals and still eating the same foods. Frustrating as heck to not see the numbers you want, but ya just got to shake it off and keep on keeping on lol0 -
123juliaj123 wrote: »Thanks so much everyone, I am beginning to understand quite a lot from all your help here
1)stop weighing daily and try to accept fluctuation is caused by simple water retention which can be a result of heavy exercize, sodium intake, etc
2)If I am at or below maintenance cals I can not gain weight so stop panicking
Im going to write this down and put it near my scales
You can weigh every day if you want, just do so with the mindset that you're looking at long-term trends, not day-to-day fluctuations.
Your water weight is always changing, and it can change far more within a day than your fat loss between days. Salt, electrolytes, glycogen, exercise, stress, hormones, all of them have effects on water balance, and basically the net effect is each day you weigh yourself with a random amount of water. You could easily gain 5-6 pounds within a day of just water, or you could lose that much. They aren't real gains and losses.
What you really care about is the long term trend of your weight. I like logging daily (always first thing in the AM after using the bathroom), but I accept there are days where my weight will jump up or down several pounds. The long term trend - the trend I see for the past weeks and months - is good, so I don't allow myself to be frustrated by daily fluctuations. Of course, the downward fluctuations are more fun than the upward 0 -
I didnt really realise how normal it was to have these big fluctuations, it feels a lot less unnerving now that I can see that so many others here are having them and knowing that it can not be fat due to the amount I am consuming etc.
I am certainly feeling a lot better about it now, thanks so much everyone who has replied Im now content to look at my weight in terms of the longer term trend and I can see that the scale on any given day is actually only showing roughly how its going plus or minus water etc
thanks 0 -
I was up 2lbs this morning . I eat low carb low calorie and I played hockey for an hour last night. Sometimes your body just wants to hang onto some water I guess. Given my workout I would have expected to be down, but I'm not going to stress. Weigh tomorrow it will probably be gone.0
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I don't eat low carb and my body fluctuates as well. Two days in a row I went mountain hiking up rough terrain.. Over 4 hours of intense hard work while enjoying beautiful scenery. I knew that I would fluctuate in weight before climbing.
Today the scale went up 2 pounds. This will drop down and will lose 3 or 4 pounds by Thursday or Friday. My lower body is very sore I'm feeling water retention and knew this would happen. Its the way my body works. So not a big deal to me.0 -
I don't understand. You've lost 50 pounds but you have never experienced weight fluctuations such as these? Insteresting.0
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No reason to cut salt unless you have elavated blood pressure, your kidneys keep it in balance and on restricted carbs you tend to lose more sodium in urine.
Weight does fluctuate +/- 2 lbs daily around an average as the body doesn't tightly regulate its water content. There are data smoothing apps and web sites that might make you feel better like trendweight.com and the Libra app.
This is good information. I don't know how low carb you are eating but increased salt and low carb kinda go together. Weather or not someone needs to increase salt depends on how low carb they are but decreasing salt is uncommon for low carbers.0 -
123juliaj123 wrote: »Thankyou for your reply thunder. I ate at the usual time yesterday or at least within an hour and didnt drink more fluids than usual yesterday night.
I have got so that I dare not just rely on getting weighed once a week because if my weight is up for some reason I am stressed that I have gained when I have stuck with my diet for a whole week til I get weighed again. I would prefer to just weigh weekly and hope to do that soon but atm it seems unreliable and leaves me not really knowing how Im doing
OP one thing that jumps out at me is you refer to this as "sticking with your diet" which to me tells me that the changes you've made you are looking at as temporary? If that is the case, and you don't intend to continue with the low carb approach forever, I think at some point you could be looking at a big jump back up anyway which may really be upsetting to you based on your reaction to the normal day to day fluctuations.
Also wanted to chime in that I find it helpful to accept that my weight is going to fluctuate within a certain range based on the time of day, day of week, and week of the month that I am weighing myself. I do weigh myself daily, sometimes twice daily, because in doing so I've identified these predictable patterns, and now I can tell you pretty much which day of the month and what weighing I am going to see the lowest point. But even with that, there are days when I'm just like, "huh - that doesn't make sense" and I make a mental note of it and move on. More often than not, even without a concentrated adjustment from me, the ship rights itself in a matter of a day or two.
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WinoGelato wrote: »123juliaj123 wrote: »Thankyou for your reply thunder. I ate at the usual time yesterday or at least within an hour and didnt drink more fluids than usual yesterday night.
I have got so that I dare not just rely on getting weighed once a week because if my weight is up for some reason I am stressed that I have gained when I have stuck with my diet for a whole week til I get weighed again. I would prefer to just weigh weekly and hope to do that soon but atm it seems unreliable and leaves me not really knowing how Im doing
OP one thing that jumps out at me is you refer to this as "sticking with your diet" which to me tells me that the changes you've made you are looking at as temporary? If that is the case, and you don't intend to continue with the low carb approach forever, I think at some point you could be looking at a big jump back up anyway which may really be upsetting to you based on your reaction to the normal day to day fluctuations.
Also wanted to chime in that I find it helpful to accept that my weight is going to fluctuate within a certain range based on the time of day, day of week, and week of the month that I am weighing myself. I do weigh myself daily, sometimes twice daily, because in doing so I've identified these predictable patterns, and now I can tell you pretty much which day of the month and what weighing I am going to see the lowest point. But even with that, there are days when I'm just like, "huh - that doesn't make sense" and I make a mental note of it and move on. More often than not, even without a concentrated adjustment from me, the ship rights itself in a matter of a day or two.
I agree with this person whole heartedly. It shouldn't be seen as something you're doing for a certain timeframe and then you get to stop. That's why I'm not a big fan of the low carb diets. Unless of course you plan on eating low carb forever. Otherwise you should train yourself to eat like you're going to be eating forever. As far as the weight fluctuations....If I know I'm sticking to my plan I don't let the fluctuations bother me at all. Like she said the ship eventually right itself. If I know I've been messing up and haven't been sticking to my plan than it encourages me to get back on track.0 -
Thank-you 123juliaj123 for this post. I really needed to read all of these replies right now.
At the end of last week I ate way over my normal calories (+450) for two days in a row as well as doing a lot of extra walking and seemed to gain 2lb after having been constantly losing for three months.
I know the 2lb weight gain is mostly due to achey muscles and normal fluctuations and can't possibly be a 2lb fat gain but it's hard not to feel panicked. I'm also feeling really thirsty which I think is down to having saltier foods these last few days.
I will breathe a huge sigh of relief when those 2lb are gone again.0 -
WinoGelato wrote: »123juliaj123 wrote: »Thankyou for your reply thunder. I ate at the usual time yesterday or at least within an hour and didnt drink more fluids than usual yesterday night.
I have got so that I dare not just rely on getting weighed once a week because if my weight is up for some reason I am stressed that I have gained when I have stuck with my diet for a whole week til I get weighed again. I would prefer to just weigh weekly and hope to do that soon but atm it seems unreliable and leaves me not really knowing how Im doing
OP one thing that jumps out at me is you refer to this as "sticking with your diet" which to me tells me that the changes you've made you are looking at as temporary? If that is the case, and you don't intend to continue with the low carb approach forever, I think at some point you could be looking at a big jump back up anyway which may really be upsetting to you based on your reaction to the normal day to day fluctuations.
What I meant by sticking with my diet is that I had not had more calories than I intended. I will be staying on low carb and have changed my lifestyle quite a lot in general and dont crave carbs anymore or even want them really.
thanks for your advice
Also wanted to chime in that I find it helpful to accept that my weight is going to fluctuate within a certain range based on the time of day, day of week, and week of the month that I am weighing myself. I do weigh myself daily, sometimes twice daily, because in doing so I've identified these predictable patterns, and now I can tell you pretty much which day of the month and what weighing I am going to see the lowest point. But even with that, there are days when I'm just like, "huh - that doesn't make sense" and I make a mental note of it and move on. More often than not, even without a concentrated adjustment from me, the ship rights itself in a matter of a day or two. I am working on my attitude to what the scale says and its reassuring to know that others are managing this very logically and well 0 -
Fluctuations happen. If they bother you, start weighing once a week or monthly.0
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At the end of last week I ate way over my normal calories (+450) for two days in a row as well as doing a lot of extra walking and seemed to gain 2lb after having been constantly losing for three months.
This is probably two things:
1. When you increase your caloric intake, your body will store more glycogen, its short-term energy storage molecule (basically the animal equivalent of starch). When you're at a modest deficit, at least some of your glycogen stores are likely depleted at any given time, except perhaps just after meals. Your body has about 1 to 1.5 pounds of maximum glycogen reserves. Each pound of glycogen, though, causes you to retain four pounds of water to maintain osmotic balance (so your cells don't explode or implode - kinda important!).
2. Muscle tissue swells a bit as it repairs itself from strenuous exercise. That swelling - which again is about osmotic balance - is water retention as well.0
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