Major gain overnight.

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jufrasin
jufrasin Posts: 40 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
I have been steadily losing 2lb a week for the last 6 weeks having a diet of around 1200 calories 6 days a week and once a week I up it to 1800 calories so I don't feel too deprived. This has been working for me but after having my increased calorie day yesterday I weighed myself this morning to see I have gained 3lb overnight! I had one beer with dinner yesterday could that cause this? I can't get my head round it as this has never happened before. My increased calorie days have never resulted in a gain before. Feel absolutely demoralised.

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  • Alatariel75
    Alatariel75 Posts: 17,959 Member
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    You didn't gain 3lbs pf fat overnight. Most likely culprit is sodium, or hormones. Is your period due?
  • jufrasin
    jufrasin Posts: 40 Member
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    I have had a hysterectomy so no period due. Would sodium account for such a big leap?
  • ladyreva78
    ladyreva78 Posts: 4,080 Member
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    Alatariel75 wrote: »
    You didn't gain 3lbs pf fat overnight. Most likely culprit is sodium, or hormones. Is your period due?

    Or recent addition of exercise / change of exercise routine.

    3lbs is within a normal range of water fluctuation. If the constellations are good (meaning, my period is due, I ate saltier and more carb heavy than usual and just changed my exercise routine) I can pack on 10lbs overnight. None of that is actual fat and usually disappears again within a few days.

    I suggest a weight trending app to even out such fluctuations:

    libra on android
    Happyscale on apple
    trendweight.com if you have a fitbit account
  • ladyreva78
    ladyreva78 Posts: 4,080 Member
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    jufrasin wrote: »
    I have had a hysterectomy so no period due. Would sodium account for such a big leap?

    If you had higher than usual, yes.
  • Nony_Mouse
    Nony_Mouse Posts: 5,646 Member
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    Agreeing with water weight, possibly also food bulk from higher volume day. Fluctuations are perfectly normal. You know you didn't overeat, so no need to panic :)
  • PAV8888
    PAV8888 Posts: 13,940 Member
    edited February 2017
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    We really need an FAQ on this.
    There is a reason the phrase weight loss is not linear exists.

    You gain and lose weight for a multitude of reasons having mostly to do with water weight fluctuations (glycogen, time of month, sodium content of recent food, muscle recovery from exercise, injuries, inflammation, oedema), And on top of that you have to consider the weight of food in your system, the batteries in your scale. The calibration of your scale. The state of the floor where your scale resides. Whether your scale employs fake consistency and you just tipped past the magic number. and... and...

    So please use a weight trend application or web site.

    You can use www.trendweight.com, www.weightgrapher.com, Libra for Android, Happy Scale for iPhone.

    They all allow you to look at your weight level over time as opposed to concentrating on day to day irrelevant variations and they also help you avoid falling in the trap of taking weight snapshots infrequently which can also backfire because of a "local low" or "local high"

    So keep on weighing yourself; but plug the numbers into one of the above apps or web sites!

    Have fun and good luck.
  • ladyreva78
    ladyreva78 Posts: 4,080 Member
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    As a example. This is my weight for the last few months:
    xthcd2mf6uio.png

    You can see where Christmas was (didn't give much of a damn what I ate) and also that the effect on the scale was about a week later. Coupled with that I started on the pill again. Hormones can be a *kitten*.

    You can see where I over did it for a few days in January and the trend (red line) went back up. But you can also see how my weight fluctuates in February (gray line) but the trend stays downwards. I'm up-down by up to 0.5kg on a daily basis and much much more given the right circumstances.
  • jufrasin
    jufrasin Posts: 40 Member
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    Thanks guys for all the replies. I just went into a state of panic when I saw the figures on the scale.
  • RuNaRoUnDaFiEld
    RuNaRoUnDaFiEld Posts: 5,864 Member
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    I gained 2lb over night, completely normal as I ate higher calorie yesterday and I worked my *kitten* off exercise wise. It will drop off, it's water weight.

    You would have to have over eaten by 10500 calories for it to be body fat.
  • courtneyfabulous
    courtneyfabulous Posts: 1,863 Member
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    It's just retained water. Alcohol can cause a bloating effect yes- wine does it to me bad, I gain a few pounds, get a big round belly, and it takes a couple days to go away. I imagine the effects from beer would be similar or worse. Also excess carbs can cause water retention, and excess salt too of course.
  • courtneyfabulous
    courtneyfabulous Posts: 1,863 Member
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    But water weight dissipates in a few days- just weigh again in a week you should be fine. In the future I recommend never weighing yourself after a refeed day, especially if it messes with your emotions and self worth to see the scale go up.
  • ajoseph5
    ajoseph5 Posts: 25 Member
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    The best advice I can offer is lose the beer with supper
  • LivingtheLeanDream
    LivingtheLeanDream Posts: 13,342 Member
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    Weight fluctuates normally so I'm surprised you haven't found this happen before. All it takes is a little extra food still in the body / high sodium day/ high carbs for me personally show fluctuation up in the scale for a few days/ hormones. These fluctuations will always happen. Any water weight is temporary and will last a few days if even.
  • prattiger65
    prattiger65 Posts: 1,657 Member
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    You ate more food, that food weighs something and it will take a day or two for it to move through your system. More food means more water retention for your system to work. If said food was high in sodium that could cause even more water retention. A quart of water weighs @ 2 pounds...let that sink in......You are doing just fine and you will have days where you lose 3 pounds overnight.

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