Can I gain 5lbs from salt???

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Verity1111
Verity1111 Posts: 3,309 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
So yesterday I let myself eat what I wanted and I had fry nachos I guess you'd call it lol which is french fries with nacho toppings. Very unhealthy, greasy and delicious. It was fries with hot sauce, nacho cheese, lettuce, tomato, salsa, jalapenos and sour cream. Now I'm 4-5lbs heavier?!? Now I know they were calorie filled, but definitely not 17,500 calories. Lol. Could the major amount of salt have made me gain all that overnight?

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  • diannethegeek
    diannethegeek Posts: 14,776 Member
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    Yes, that sounds about right.
  • VintageFeline
    VintageFeline Posts: 6,771 Member
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    Yup. Alcohol does that to me too.
  • DoneWorking
    DoneWorking Posts: 247 Member
    edited July 2016
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    It's probably some of that, but mostly water and daily scale variances.
  • Alatariel75
    Alatariel75 Posts: 17,959 Member
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    Yup, I can gain (and lose) upwards of 6lbs overnight when I go crazy on the salt (movie popcorn, I'm looking at you!)
  • AngelinaB_
    AngelinaB_ Posts: 563 Member
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    Sure you can. Specially when what you have been eating is very low in salts. Sodium is a killer. But hey good news is that it goes away fast if you control yourself the day after.
  • kiariv
    kiariv Posts: 25 Member
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    Absolutely! Salt can do that. Potassium balance's sodium so I suggest you get in some good greens to counter that. Also, were you not eating a lot of carbs prior? An increase in carbohydrates can do that too. When I eat really high carb foods, I can gain 10-12 pounds of water weight over night. I load up on potassium, low sugar foods for the next few days and I'm back to dry weight.
  • ninerbuff
    ninerbuff Posts: 48,679 Member
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    Yes. Excessive salt can encourage water retention.

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  • hokiemom14
    hokiemom14 Posts: 105 Member
    edited July 2016
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    For sure! If you don't typically eat like that and then pound the salt/fat/carb content it could definitely do that :) It will go back down once you are back on track. I'm dealing with that right now because I was on vacation all week and had some foods I normally would not eat. Weight jumps on very quickly when you eat an extreme meal to what you typically eat. Don't worry, you'll probably be fine in a few days ;)
  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 32,763 Member
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    Yup. I've done it. You've got some fiber & food volume in there, too - some of that's likely still in your digestive tract adding weight, besides.

    Drink plenty of water, you'll lose the temporary effects pretty quickly - it'd be a couple of days, for me, but we're all a little different.
  • Verity1111
    Verity1111 Posts: 3,309 Member
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    Thank you all for everything! I hadn't been eating much for the few days before, so I guess that could make it worse. I appreciate the advice. :) I love water and finally got some bottled so I will drink a lot of that and hope it helps my body let go of the water retention from the salt...
  • xvolution
    xvolution Posts: 721 Member
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    Water retention is usually temporary, so if you cut your salt a bit it should go away.
  • jessicarobinson00
    jessicarobinson00 Posts: 414 Member
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    Yup! Movie theatre popcorn for me on Saturday: +5 lbs...and the water retention was completely gone by this morning...
  • AJF230
    AJF230 Posts: 81 Member
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    Remember, a pint of water is a pound. And a scale that is accurate to 1 pound in 200 is .5%. That's a lot to ask of an instrument you can buy for $20-50 at any store.
    So its quite feasible. My mother in law is always going on about being up 2 pounds from a salty meal. Its ridiculous. Weigh yourself every day, but record it, and look for TRENDS, not at any single data point. "Data discipline"
  • dubird
    dubird Posts: 1,849 Member
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    Sudden increase in sodium can cause water weight. 5 pounds of it isn't a ridiculous number, so that would be my suggestion. Increase in exercise also causes it. AJF is right, look for the trend of your weight, not every day's weight. Our weight fluctuates daily, so weighing every day is not going to see the results you want. Pick one time on one day of the week to weigh, like in the morning when you get up. Use that as your touch point to how you're doing. Once you've gotten a couple months of weight entries, pull up your graph here on MFP. If you can draw a line from start to finish and it's going down, you're fine. ^_^
  • Raptor2763
    Raptor2763 Posts: 387 Member
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    Salt is well known and notorious for weight gain. Only way I know to fix the problem is to flush your system with water - you should be back to normal in a couple days. ONE way to accelerate the flushing process is to put lemon juice in your water. Salt resides in places you wouldn't suspect, so be careful next time. A general rule of thumb is "if you didn't pick it or it didn't have a mother...don't eat it"
  • pattyandthemoos
    pattyandthemoos Posts: 79 Member
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    Yep. I've had that happen before. Drank a ton of water and it was gone by the end of the day.
  • Colorscheme
    Colorscheme Posts: 1,179 Member
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    Wow, and you didn't get heartburn or acid reflux? just curious because spicy things give me bad reflux. I also seem to have issues with eating too much fat :/

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