No room for treats at all.... (gain, sigh...!)

Yeah, when people go over their calorie goals it often leads to temporary water retention. Or if they eat foods that are higher in sodium.

Yes, but it's usually water weight fluctuations from things like increasing carbs or sodium. It's not 4 pounds of fat gain. That's why I only weigh once a week (or even once a month), so the normal fluctuations don't get me down.

http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10084670/it-is-unlikely-that-you-will-lose-weight-consistently-i-e-weight-loss-is-not-linear

http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10196160/scale-stress-syndrome/p1

If you gained 4 pounds because of one cheat day, you'll lose most of them within a few days.

kittymou wrote: »

Thanks for the tip. I think it might be water retention, as I have had quite a lot of sodium this week.

There are a bundle of other things that may cause water weight, too, for some people: Time of month, for women (ovulation & menstruation are some points where some see water gain); starting a new workout or other activity that requires muscle repair; eating at/over maintenance calories when you've been in a calorie deficit for a while; eating a higher than usual proportion of carbs when you've been mostly lower; or (as you mention) sodium. I believe I've experienced all of these at one time or another (except time of month - I'm menopausal).

If you haven't eaten 14000 calories above your maintenance calorie level (roughly 3500 calories in a pound X 4 pounds added on the scale) during this time period, it's very unlikely that you have a real gain of 4 fat pounds.

Keep in mind, too, that the weight of food/drink still in your digestive system will show up on the scale, as well, so this could be a factor if you weighed at a different time of day; or after eating/drinking unusually late in the previous day; or after eating higher-than-normal residue foods (like extra high in fiber, for example).

It's quite simple. When you first start your (let's not use the diet word..) healthy plan you drop water weight which is water and glucose from muscle and tissue cells yes? When you eat at maintaince, they fill back up again with the water and glucose again hence it seems if you eat over you gain. That's why to stay at target, you need to actually get to about 3-5 lbs under it to sit at it when your water returns! This knowledge stopped me from going psycho and made me understand my fluctuations properly, believe me you can eat some treats time to time!

kittymou wrote: »

Does anyone else find that if they have even 1 day of eating unhealthy foods, they have a gain? I have put on 4 lbs in a week. Had a bad day this week eating cakes and a jacket potato loaded with butter and cheese. Also had a few chocolate biscuits during the week. Felt like I'd had an okay day today but haven't had chance to exercise so I'm over on calories. I work antisocial hours so it is sometimes hard to fit in exercise without overdoing it. Went to the gym for an hour before work last week but then was absolutely exhausted and threw my back out. Oh it is such a balancing act....

Where are you in your menstrual cycle? I gain water weight at ovulation and right before my TOM.

CeeBeeSlim wrote: »

I'm confused a bit. So will your SCALE weight ever show true loss if you decide to never go over your daily calorie goal for weight loss but you don't want to give up your nightly chips fix? Will the sodium in those less healthy foods always hide what you may be truly losing in fat (not weight) loss?

Yes, it will eventually show loss.

Say you gain a pound or two of water weight. If you eat more chips, you're not going to gain an additional pound or two of water weight, then some more on top of that the next day if you have more chips, ad infinitum.

If you eat some normal (for you) amount of salt, you're going to hold on to some normal (for you) amount of water weight. Even if you keep hanging onto it, but you also stay within a calorie deficit, you'll eventually lose more fat than the water weight you're holding onto.

But water weight doesn't keep growing, and it doesn't normally persist and persist. You may add a little when you eat more-than-usual salt (or at time of month or whatever), then when the unusual conditions pass, the water weight will drop off, too. So you get ups & downs from water weight that kind of temporarily mask the gradual, uneven downward scale movement coming from fat loss (assuming you stick to your deficit).

And don't stop drinking water to avoid it. That won't work. If anything, drink a little more water.

log calories then no need for worry!