Gained 1 pounds, strict diet for a day, and gained another .5 pound next day!

azhoops101
azhoops101 Posts: 6 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
I weighed myself two days ago and noticed that I was 1 pound over that morning. Fine, not a big deal, but it bothered me so I did a strict diet (no alcohol, veggies and fruits and some carbs), and exercise (1 hour cardio), so my consumption of food probably totaled less than 1000 calories. I weighted myself today to see if it made a change, and it said I gained 0.5 pounds!

Not sure how I gained weight-- I know 1-5 pound fluctuations are normal, but from my previous weight measurements, when I diet a lot for a day, my weight usually goes down by 0.5-1 pound the next day. In this case, it said I GAINED!

Thoughts on why this may be?

Replies

  • zoeysasha37
    zoeysasha37 Posts: 7,088 Member
    Weight loss isn't linear. My scale can jump up 8 lbs in a day or two.

    The only way your going to really gain is if you ate at a caloric surplus . did you eat at a surplus ? Are you using a food scale to weigh all your solids ?
  • Mentali
    Mentali Posts: 352 Member
    Was your exercise higher than a normal day? That can cause water retention. Which is 100% what's going on there.
  • HealthierRayne
    HealthierRayne Posts: 268 Member
    edited April 2016
    You mentioned that your food probably totaled less than 1000 calories (which is far too low unless you are very very short). Things add up quickly when you don't track, weigh, measure food.

    There are a lot of factors that could play into it - it could be as simple as you drank some water before you weighed in. Given that it was only two days apart I wouldn't worry - weight loss is not a linear thing, you will lose and you will gain and as you mentioned, fluctuations are totally normal.

    Check your weight in a week - that will represent truthfully how you did.
  • TeaBea
    TeaBea Posts: 14,517 Member
    Weight fluctuates daily, this is normal (waste, higher sodium, sore muscles, hormones, etc). Strict diet for 1 day should NOT yield results.

    1 pound = 3,500 calories. Unless you are very (very) tall and very (very) heavy, you can't reach this deficit in 1 day even if you ate nothing. Most people can lose at most, 1 pound a week. More than 75 pounds overweight ....then 2 pounds a week.

    Due to exercise your muscle may be retaining water.

    You don't need to eat less than 1,000 calories. In fact you shouldn't. This is unhealthy unless you are an extremely short woman.
  • azhoops101
    azhoops101 Posts: 6 Member
    Thanks!

    my exercise was higher than normal

    And I did not track- perhaps I did eat something that had more calories than intended

    I weighed myself after using the bathroom in the morning and before drinking anything for both days.
  • meritage4
    meritage4 Posts: 1,441 Member
    Track your food. Give it more than 1 day. Eat at least 1200 calories.
  • azhoops101
    azhoops101 Posts: 6 Member
    For more context- I try to do 1200 calories/ per day. I am 5'7", and as of this morning, 148.9 pounds.
  • Btheodore138
    Btheodore138 Posts: 182 Member
    I wouldn't worry if the scale goes up a pound or two in a day. Some days you're retaining water, or you haven't *ahem* emptied your bowels yet. Weighing yourself every day will drive you crazy if you aren't tracking it. I have an app and it shows me the average for the week, since your weight won't be the same every day.
  • bhunter428
    bhunter428 Posts: 17 Member
    I like to remind myself that I didn't get this way overnight, so why should I expect to reverse it in a day or even a week? It's the overall picture and goal of improving health and feeling better about my success at controlling food and not letting food control me. I'm on always successful, but I'm always trying and that makes me feel pretty good.

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