Ridiculous weight gain in a day

lundchelsea14
lundchelsea14 Posts: 2 Member
edited November 17 in Health and Weight Loss
Hello I started my weight loss journey a few months ago, and I recently started exercising about a week ago and I eat very clean. When I checked my weight yesterdAy to when I checked my weight today it said that I had gained 8 pounds. I don't understand how this is possible. And I am getting very discouraged. Any ideas would help.

Replies

  • cmtigger
    cmtigger Posts: 1,450 Member
    It's probably not possible. Some could be water weight. It could be weight fluctuations due to the time of day (did you weigh at the same time yesterday). The scale could have been moved, need batteries, or he s different scale. That time of the month could be coming up.... or any combo of the above or more.
  • mudonthetires856
    mudonthetires856 Posts: 79 Member
    New exercise routines also cause water retention. It can show a pretty significant bump on the scale but it will come back down in a week or 2. Maybe even sooner. I lose in starts and stops. Might gain for a week, maintain for a week and then drop a few more pounds.
  • shadus
    shadus Posts: 424 Member
    1) Do not weigh yourself daily. Really. Weight loss is NOT linear, but a trend line. Weighing yourself daily actually tells you NOTHING about how you're doing. Weekly is a far far better metric because that is the time frame you're normally looking at to see the loss of pounds. Weight can naturally fluctuate in a daily period by 5% of body weight easily absolutely unrelated to anything to do with your exercise and food consumption.

    2) Whenever you weigh yourself it needs to be dressed the same, same time of the day, and after the same routine (eg: morning, after you SS&S (*kitten*, shower, and shave), naked or whatever routine works for you.)

    3) It takes 3500 calories of calorie reduction or exercise above your caloric intake to lose 1 lb of fat. This is NOT something that can be done in single days unless you're doing an activity like hiking the AT or PCT or training for a sporting event at a competitive level (and then you're likely to be eating that entire quantity and maybe more back to gain muscle/strength/endurance.)

    4) You need to weigh your food if you've never done this before (and probably even if you have) people are lousy at estimating portions correctly. Containers lie about how much they contain. If you're not accurately gauging how much you're consuming you have no idea if you're losing what you should be or not.

    All that said, likely since you started a new exercise routine-- you're likely slightly dehydrated (when you're dehydrated your body holds onto more water in the tissues), muscles are repairing themselves, your electrolytes might be off too, or if you're female... your period is about to start.

    Get in the habit of weighing yourself every Monday at 6am, before shower, after BM&Urination, make sure you drank plenty of water sunday. You'll get fairly consistent results on the scale that way.

    (Even better yet if you're confident that you're doing everything right is weighing yourself once a month, but most people don't have that kinda patience (*raises hand*) and degree of self confidence in their routine.)
  • Silentpadna
    Silentpadna Posts: 1,306 Member
    It's fluid retention. If you can't handle fluctuations, don't weigh yourself as often. Your fluid retention cycles as your body regulates it based on whatever it needs. You could have weighed yourself initially at a time where you were carrying lower than normal amounts or slightly dehydrated, then followed at a time after a strength workout where muscle repair initiates a demand for fluid or after a higher than normal sodium intake or other factors. Those cycles do not time themselves at regular intervals. You will drive yourself nuts trying to regulate that.

    Further, you could not have possibly gained 8 pounds in fat. Fat is the part you have control over (not so much with respect to water retention) if you are maintaining a deficit. The scale can fool you. Don't trust individual weigh-ins, trust the trend - with enough time to see fat loss being greater than the magnitude of fluid fluctuations. Depending on your fat loss rate, the time to see the trend could be 6-8 weeks or more.

    It's an exercise in patience. I know I was very patient seeing my weight go up. I have to talk myself into being patient working on it to go back down.
  • lundchelsea14
    lundchelsea14 Posts: 2 Member
    Thanks guys I really needed the insight I have started a more vigorous routine with my workout the last two days by adding dumb bells. I drink about 80oz+ daily of water. I know I am taking the steps to a healthier me. I think i will have my fiance hide the scale and bring it out 1x a week for weigh in and I will write that on my calendar.
  • CharlieBeansmomTracey
    CharlieBeansmomTracey Posts: 7,682 Member
    lundchelsea14 wrote: »
    Hello I started my weight loss journey a few months ago, and I recently started exercising about a week ago and I eat very clean. When I checked my weight yesterdAy to when I checked my weight today it said that I had gained 8 pounds. I don't understand how this is possible. And I am getting very discouraged. Any ideas would help.

    clean eating means squat when it comes to weight loss,if you arent in a deficit you wont lose weight.I agree with others it could be water weight,but it could also be you are eating more than you are burning. how do you monitor your caloric intake? do you weigh food on a scale? do you eat any exercise calories back? it could be many things causing the gain and not just water retention.
  • fitmom4lifemfp
    fitmom4lifemfp Posts: 1,572 Member
    lundchelsea14 wrote: »
    Hello I started my weight loss journey a few months ago, and I recently started exercising about a week ago and I eat very clean. When I checked my weight yesterdAy to when I checked my weight today it said that I had gained 8 pounds. I don't understand how this is possible. And I am getting very discouraged. Any ideas would help.

    Are you saying that the scale showed an 8 pound gain in 24 hours? I doubt that's the case. What's your height/weight?

    You say you eat "clean", but are you logging your food here, weighing everything correctly? How many calories are you eating each day?

    Also, if this is a digital scale, keep in mind that they go wacko if you move them. I hate them for that reason, but they are useful for the other measurements.
  • PragatiV2016
    PragatiV2016 Posts: 18 Member
    8 lbs in 1 day is a little stretched.Did you check yourself on the same scale, and at the same time? But I also believe in weighing myself everyday. While I understand small fluctuations, it keeps me in check and provides the required motivation.
  • PAV8888
    PAV8888 Posts: 14,303 Member
    shadus wrote: »
    1) Do not weigh yourself daily. Really. Weight loss is NOT linear, but a trend line. Weighing yourself daily actually tells you NOTHING about how you're doing. Weekly is a far far better metric because that is the time frame you're normally looking at to see the loss of pounds. Weight can naturally fluctuate in a daily period by 5% of body weight easily absolutely unrelated to anything to do with your exercise and food consumption.

    2) Whenever you weigh yourself it needs to be dressed the same, same time of the day, and after the same routine (eg: morning, after you SS&S (*kitten*, shower, and shave), naked or whatever routine works for you.)

    3) It takes 3500 calories of calorie reduction or exercise above your caloric intake to lose 1 lb of fat. This is NOT something that can be done in single days unless you're doing an activity like hiking the AT or PCT or training for a sporting event at a competitive level (and then you're likely to be eating that entire quantity and maybe more back to gain muscle/strength/endurance.)

    4) You need to weigh your food if you've never done this before (and probably even if you have) people are lousy at estimating portions correctly. Containers lie about how much they contain. If you're not accurately gauging how much you're consuming you have no idea if you're losing what you should be or not.

    All that said, likely since you started a new exercise routine-- you're likely slightly dehydrated (when you're dehydrated your body holds onto more water in the tissues), muscles are repairing themselves, your electrolytes might be off too, or if you're female... your period is about to start.

    Get in the habit of weighing yourself every Monday at 6am, before shower, after BM&Urination, make sure you drank plenty of water sunday. You'll get fairly consistent results on the scale that way.

    (Even better yet if you're confident that you're doing everything right is weighing yourself once a month, but most people don't have that kinda patience (*raises hand*) and degree of self confidence in their routine.)

    While I agree with 90% of what you say, your choice of weighing weekly on Monday morning is inconsistent with the rest of your advice.

    To best see a trend you take multiple samples, not singular observations that are widely separated. Once a month would be even worse. Just not enough snapshots to make a movie!

    You would be better off to weigh every day under as similar conditions as you can, hence first thing in the morning after using the washroom and before you eat or drink, dressed the same way, at the same spot, etc, etc.

    Then you plug the values in a trending weight web site or app.

    If you choose to weigh yourself once a week, Thursday or Friday mornings are more consistent weigh in times for most people as compared to Monday.

    Reason being that many people tend to eat out or have social engagements that involve food over the weekend.

  • Jirachii
    Jirachii Posts: 152 Member
    I wouldn't be scared of weighing yourself daily as long as you recognize that it is a trend. I weigh myself three times a week, Sunday, Wednesday, and Friday mornings. I always use the bathroom right after I wake up, and I weigh myself before I eat, always in pajamas, never in full clothes. Often times, even 3 times a week I see a gain/lose trend that scared me at first. (If you eat a big meal the night before, you'll see it on the scale in the morning. Don't fret.) I'll admit it's kind of exciting to weigh yourself, which is why I do it.

    Out of curiosity, I weighed myself later in the day in my clothes after my lunch to see the difference, and it went up 8 pounds. That's why it's so important to weigh yourself in the same conditions. What's important, is even with that 8 pounds, I'm still under where I started in my pajamas. =)

    Also, don't freak if you abruptly hit a plateau. Keep doing what you're doing and see what happens over a week or two. Sometimes the body likes to procrastinate. Only mentioning this because if you're scared of a one day gain, imagine a 2 week period of no loss/bouncing around.
  • cerise_noir
    cerise_noir Posts: 5,468 Member
    It is entirely possible. A couple of months ago, I shot up 13lbs from a combo of TOM, high sodium food and extra lifting. It took a week or so to see a drop. I weigh daily and use happy scale to record my fluctuations.
  • heiliskrimsli
    heiliskrimsli Posts: 735 Member
    lundchelsea14 wrote: »
    Hello I started my weight loss journey a few months ago, and I recently started exercising about a week ago and I eat very clean. When I checked my weight yesterdAy to when I checked my weight today it said that I had gained 8 pounds. I don't understand how this is possible. And I am getting very discouraged. Any ideas would help.

    The liquids you consumed, the food you ate, all of that actually weighs something and if it hasn't come back out yet it can make you 'appear' to have gained weight. Did you eat 28000 calories above your maintenance in one day? I sincerely doubt it, so there's no way this represents an actual gain in mass.
  • hlblakeley
    hlblakeley Posts: 55 Member
    I have been struggling with what appear to be huge ups and downs as well. While I'm sure some of it is water weight, I think I also need to replace my scale (cheap, spring, analog type) with something that will be a little more reliable. It showed a 24lb difference from one day to the next. I started weighing daily to try and see what my trends are because I seemed to be going down then up then down weighing weekly. I have tightened up on my logging, starting to weigh everything where before I was using cups and spoons. I also know that since I'm working on some strength training there will be water retention from that. My biggest question is how do you know what's water weight? Is it simply because it's almost physically impossible to eat enough in a day to put multiple pounds of fat back on?
  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 34,600 Member
    hlblakeley wrote: »
    I have been struggling with what appear to be huge ups and downs as well. While I'm sure some of it is water weight, I think I also need to replace my scale (cheap, spring, analog type) with something that will be a little more reliable. It showed a 24lb difference from one day to the next. I started weighing daily to try and see what my trends are because I seemed to be going down then up then down weighing weekly. I have tightened up on my logging, starting to weigh everything where before I was using cups and spoons. I also know that since I'm working on some strength training there will be water retention from that. My biggest question is how do you know what's water weight? Is it simply because it's almost physically impossible to eat enough in a day to put multiple pounds of fat back on?

    If you're tracking your intake carefully (weighing food, not skipping days, etc.), estimating your exercise conservatively/consistently, and have been doing it for a month or more while weighing yourself regularly/consistently (I'd argue for daily, first thing), then the math will tell you.

    One has to eat roughl 3500 calories over one's maintenance calories (not just over one's MFP weight-loss calorie goal) in order to gain a pound of fat. If you haven't done that (approximately), then you haven't gained a pound of fat. If the scale shows more pounds, it's something else, broadly it's likely either digestive contents or water weight.

    One of the reasons I prefer daily weighing (after bathroom, same clothing, before eating/drinking) is that after a while, one gets a very good experiential understanding of weight fluctuations - what causes them, how long until they're gone. For me, it takes the drama out of the scale reading. I have a pretty good guess what the scale will say before I even weigh myself.

    For OP: In order to gain 8 pounds of fat, you'd have to have eaten about ** 28,000 ** calories more than your maintenance calories, not necessarily all in one day, but - if the loss shows up suddenly one day - pretty close to it. Unless you're sleep-eating and hiding the evidence really well, you should have a pretty good idea whether you've done that.
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