Gaining weight after one night of indulgence?

kaylyantle
kaylyantle Posts: 2 Member
edited December 3 in Health and Weight Loss
I have been using mfp now for about 2 weeks and have been under my calorie goal anywhere from 50-1000 calories every day (depending on exercise) and I've lost 5 pounds and have been really enjoying myself but last night I went out to supper and I didn't eat that bad but I was 500 calories over my goal for that day (with no exercise) I did drink a lot of water yesterday but today when I weighted I had gained 2 pounds! I definitely didn't eat enough to gain that, am I retaining water weight or is this being skewed in some way??

Replies

  • 3dogsrunning
    3dogsrunning Posts: 27,167 Member
    Totally normal (although sometimes people see a drop in weight after an indulgence). It can be a combination of a higher carb intake (stored in muscles which requires water so it is often referred to as "water weight") and/or higher sodium in take (also water weight). Bottomline, it is mostly water weight and will drop off in a couple of days.
  • Marss86
    Marss86 Posts: 33 Member
    After a couple days of your normal dieting again, it will come right off.
  • Vegplotter
    Vegplotter Posts: 265 Member
    2lbs is a very normal range up or down depending on your level of hydration and how full your body is. Just keep going. 1lb of weight is supposed to be 3500 extra calories. So your tiny binge won't have done too much harm.
    Make sure you are eating enough fibre. Constipation will make the scales shoot up!
  • LivingtheLeanDream
    LivingtheLeanDream Posts: 13,342 Member
    Give it a few days back eating at your allowance again and you'll find its just water weight from the extra calories.
  • Kelley0519
    Kelley0519 Posts: 254 Member
    I had 1 day of indulging and the scale said I gained 5 lbs the next day...just drink plenty of water and it should get back to normal!
  • cinnag4225
    cinnag4225 Posts: 126 Member
    Water weight or simply the weight of the undigested food. Breads and cheese are especially evil culprits for myself until I have a bm. As long as you maintain good habits, an indulgence here and there won't undo your hard work. :-)
  • Raptor2763
    Raptor2763 Posts: 387 Member
    My guess is the spices and preservatives used in the food you ate at the restaurant contributed to your fluid retention. Next time, you might want to tell the waiter "no spices" on whatever you're ordering. In the meantime, you can flush out the retained fluid by drinking water with LOTS of lemon juice (I use 3 parts water, 1 part lemon juice). Should be flushed out in the next day or two.
  • 3dogsrunning
    3dogsrunning Posts: 27,167 Member
    Raptor2763 wrote: »
    My guess is the spices and preservatives used in the food you ate at the restaurant contributed to your fluid retention. Next time, you might want to tell the waiter "no spices" on whatever you're ordering. In the meantime, you can flush out the retained fluid by drinking water with LOTS of lemon juice (I use 3 parts water, 1 part lemon juice). Should be flushed out in the next day or two.

    Spices?

    I use spices everyday. Who wants to eat bland food when indulging?
    It's not really a big deal, it's simply water weight.
  • sheenasamdog681
    sheenasamdog681 Posts: 37 Member
    So annoying as you need that break but don't worry it will as the others have said go in a couple of days. I find its best not to jump on the scales after a night out. Keep going life's to short not to have fun, Sheena UK
  • heartofplastic
    heartofplastic Posts: 68 Member
    Haha don't worry, my poop weighs 2 lbs so I don't even weigh myself after I've indulged
  • queenliz99
    queenliz99 Posts: 15,317 Member
    3dogsrunning wrote: »
    Raptor2763 wrote: »
    My guess is the spices and preservatives used in the food you ate at the restaurant contributed to your fluid retention. Next time, you might want to tell the waiter "no spices" on whatever you're ordering. In the meantime, you can flush out the retained fluid by drinking water with LOTS of lemon juice (I use 3 parts water, 1 part lemon juice). Should be flushed out in the next day or two.

    Spices?

    I use spices everyday. Who wants to eat bland food when indulging?
    It's not really a big deal, it's simply water weight.

    I go into restaurants all the time and tell the chef not to add any spices to my order. I love bland Indian food. <roll eyes>
  • AmberSpamber
    AmberSpamber Posts: 391 Member
    Raptor2763 wrote: »
    My guess is the spices and preservatives used in the food you ate at the restaurant contributed to your fluid retention. Next time, you might want to tell the waiter "no spices" on whatever you're ordering. In the meantime, you can flush out the retained fluid by drinking water with LOTS of lemon juice (I use 3 parts water, 1 part lemon juice). Should be flushed out in the next day or two.

    Spices are just herbs, and all the ones I use have 0 calories. It could however be added salt in the food. They tend to load up on salt to flavor their food. Give it a couple days. Water retention is normal, and you will fluctuate often on your journey.
  • leejoyce31
    leejoyce31 Posts: 794 Member
    I'm the "unlucky" one. It can take me up to 10 days sometimes for my weight to normalize after an indulgence. So, don't get too discouraged if it takes a little longer than a couple of days. But if you resume your normal eating, the water weight will come off. :)
  • Nappingcat97
    Nappingcat97 Posts: 21 Member
    Everyone's been there! I like the "hasn't been processed out" statement. Eloquently put, and true. For me, when this happens I always trace it to heavier salt intake. Eating out always means a lot of salt, and that means water. Scales are good, but not the most reliable. Think of them as advisors. And just keep in mind that to really gain 2 pounds in a day, or a week, you have to eat 7000 EXTRA calories. Maybe you did...but if you did, I doubt you'd have been surpri
    sed by the scale!
  • kaylyantle
    kaylyantle Posts: 2 Member
    Thanks you guy! This really out my mind at ease :) I was worried that my one day of having a little extra might have just ruined my whole last week :P
  • Ricksh1000
    Ricksh1000 Posts: 88 Member
    heartofplastic wrote: »
    Haha don't worry, my poop weighs 2 lbs so I don't even weigh myself after I've indulged

    Too much information!!!!

    :D:D:D
  • MiMi_5151
    MiMi_5151 Posts: 41 Member
    Ditto regarding the high salt content in your restaurant meal. Take a look at most restaurants' nutrition information (if available) and you will see a days' worth of sodium (or more) in most items!
  • kprimaverab
    kprimaverab Posts: 32 Member
    I have a cheat meal once per week. It's really nothing to worry about. Your body probably held onto water from an excess of sodium.
  • leanjogreen18
    leanjogreen18 Posts: 2,492 Member
    I ate something salty last night and I'm up 1.8 lbs today. It's just water retention.
  • leajas1
    leajas1 Posts: 823 Member
    http://www.healthdiscovery.net/articles/scale_lies.htm
  • kellyiris6
    kellyiris6 Posts: 69 Member
    This past weekend I just didn't keep track, terrible.... I know! I just wanted eat pizza, tater totes, drink beer and not worry about tracking for a night with my friends. I feel the guilt now, I stepped on the scale and gained 5 lbs. I feel like you and had to go to this forum and see if there were similar experiences. I feel better after reading the comments, thank you everyone. I know my weight fluctuates 1-3 but 5 lbs freaked me out. The biggest thing for me is to get back on my horse, right now I feel so discouraged (I was at 16 lbs weight loss, now I'm at 11 lbs). Hoping my weight will go normal which I think it will once I go back to my routine.
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,865 Member
    Body weight fluctuates for numerous reasons.
  • bwogilvie
    bwogilvie Posts: 2,130 Member
    My body weight can fluctuate 2 pounds from day to day without indulging, depending on heat, humidity, how active I've been, and how much sodium is in the food I eat. It's water weight; nothing to worry about.
  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 34,622 Member
    kellyiris6 wrote: »
    This past weekend I just didn't keep track, terrible.... I know! I just wanted eat pizza, tater totes, drink beer and not worry about tracking for a night with my friends. I feel the guilt now, I stepped on the scale and gained 5 lbs. I feel like you and had to go to this forum and see if there were similar experiences. I feel better after reading the comments, thank you everyone. I know my weight fluctuates 1-3 but 5 lbs freaked me out. The biggest thing for me is to get back on my horse, right now I feel so discouraged (I was at 16 lbs weight loss, now I'm at 11 lbs). Hoping my weight will go normal which I think it will once I go back to my routine.

    If a person has a mini-freak-out over something like this, I'd suggest estimating logging from memory, using some of the (higher-side) MFP database entries for similar foods, and guessing high on portions as well. It'll provide a sort of "worst case impact" number. For most of us, it's difficult in one meal to get to the 3500 over maintenance calories that it takes to gain one pound for real, let alone 7000 over maintenance to gain two.

    Personally, I prefer to log all days, even over-calorie-goal days (I don't consider it cheating, so I won't call it that). If I don't feel like logging at the time (<cough> prolly cuz of the craft beer <cough>), I just scribble some stuff down on a notepad for later, and do some estimating. It's led to some useful post-event thinking about which things are worth it, and which aren't.

    But it's fine just to realize that if this sort of thing doesn't happen very often, and one gets back on a healthy track as soon as possible, it's going to have negligible effect on reaching one's long-term goals. Self-recrimination and drama about it aren't helpful.
  • kellyiris6
    kellyiris6 Posts: 69 Member
    Thanks @AnnPT77 I appreciate the feedback, I can be hard on myself. I shouldn't, because like you said, it is not helpful in the long run. I didn't plug in my Saturday night calories, but I will now just to get idea for future decisions and to see how much in general I consumed.
  • jdhcm2006
    jdhcm2006 Posts: 2,254 Member
    It's so normal. And just a heads up, when your cycle comes you're going to gain water weight then too. I always do, and it doesn't help that I always crave Chinese food during my TOM.

    It's no big deal. It all evens out. Look at the overall trend of weight loss and let that be your guide. As long as you have an overall downward trend, you're doing great. A good website to use is trendweight.com.
  • WinoGelato
    WinoGelato Posts: 13,454 Member
    Raptor2763 wrote: »
    My guess is the spices and preservatives used in the food you ate at the restaurant contributed to your fluid retention. Next time, you might want to tell the waiter "no spices" on whatever you're ordering. In the meantime, you can flush out the retained fluid by drinking water with LOTS of lemon juice (I use 3 parts water, 1 part lemon juice). Should be flushed out in the next day or two.

    All of this is totally unnecessary... Why would anyone want to take the flavor out of their food by telling the servers at a restaurant to have the chef omit the spices?

    OP and others, this is totally normal water weight fluctuations. You didn't eat 7000 cals above your maintenance level so you didn't gain 2 lbs of fat from one meal. The longer you do this the more you will get used to your body's natural fluctuations from things like TOM, restaurant meals, hormones, etc. I'm in maintenance and my weight fluctuates 2-3 lbs every single week, still.
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