4lbs gained in 2 days after being under calorie goal for at least 7

MeganHennessey27
MeganHennessey27 Posts: 5 Member
edited November 2024 in Health and Weight Loss
This is probably a common post but I'm struggling with this myself right now. I've been under my goal calories by at least 400 for the last week or so, 2nd "full week" of my lifestyle change, and I've gained 2 lbs each day on the last two days. I'm sure it's water weight, but it's shooting my confidence down that I'm doing the right things, and I'm weighing myself every day in case I have a binge so I can keep track and be aware. Anyone else have these issues at the beginning and how did you overcome it mentally?

Replies

  • MeganHennessey27
    MeganHennessey27 Posts: 5 Member
    In the past I have had/and still have a very unhealthy relationship with food, often eating waaay more than I should without realizing it. I read somewhere that if your someone who has binges (I have not had one yet sense I started again) should look at their weight daily so they can be conscious of what that binge will do to your weight. So even though I have not binged yet I still have been weighing daily
  • MeganHennessey27
    MeganHennessey27 Posts: 5 Member
    Just came off my period like a week and a half ago
  • vismal
    vismal Posts: 2,463 Member
    Weighing daily is fine, I actually think it's a good thing, but not because the daily results themselves are meaningful. They aren't. Your daily weight isn't really a reflection of fat gains or losses from the previous day, it's more a reflection of hydration status, how much food you have (or don't have) in your GI tract, and how much salt you ate the night before. So if the individual daily weights are meaningless as far as fat loss is concerned why is weighing daily a good thing? The answer is to establish a trend. Take all the daily weights and put them into something like trendweight.com or another site/app that will give you a trend of your weights. After a few weeks just pay attention to the trendline, not the daily weights. It's MUCH more telling of how you are actually progressing vs looking at daily weights and comparing to the previous day.

    Gaining 4 lbs in two days is always going to be mostly water weight. To gain 4 lbs of fat in two days you'd need to have been over maintenance calories by about 14,000 calories which is hard to do even if you were purposely trying. This demonstrates why tracking a weight trend is so much more valuable then comparing daily weights.
  • MeganHennessey27
    MeganHennessey27 Posts: 5 Member
    quiksylver296 wrote: »
    MeganHennessey27 wrote: »
    Just came off my period like a week and a half ago

    Ok. Many things cause water weight

    1. High temperatures outside
    2. More sodium than usual
    3. More carbs than usual
    4. Flying/travel
    5. TOM/ovulation
    6. New types of exercise
    7. And more...

    That tells me something, it's been very hot here and I did spend the last few days in the sun with my niece and nephew, and I am also concerned I'm eating too much sodium. I'll try and keep an eye on that
  • MeganHennessey27
    MeganHennessey27 Posts: 5 Member
    cwolfman13 wrote: »
    Why are you trying to be 400 calories below your GOAL which is already likely to be a substantial deficit? A GOAL is something to be met/achieved.

    I'm not necessarily trying to be at 400 below, but there are other things at play mentally that I think are affecting me, and it's something I'm working on personally. But I wanted advice so I figured I would give the full honest picture hoping to not be judged for it, not saying that you are.
  • Jthanmyfitnesspal
    Jthanmyfitnesspal Posts: 3,793 Member
    Hang in there-- I know it's a bummer when the scale doesn't go down. It won't do that every day. Note that a two liter soda bottle contains 4lbs of liquid. Most people could drink or pee that much in a day, swinging your weight proportionally.
  • DX2JX2
    DX2JX2 Posts: 1,921 Member
    edited August 2017
    Also for perspective...since you now know that you need a calorie deficit of about 14000 to lose 4 pounds, you also know that it would take a calorie excess of 14000 calories to really gain 4 pounds.

    Unless you took part in a weird eating contest or something, eating to a 14000 calorie excess is 2 days is highly unlikely. It might be really fun trying but it would be really hard to pull off without consciously trying to do it.
  • capaul42
    capaul42 Posts: 1,390 Member
    I've been a daily weigher since day one. And I don't bother with those trending apps. Just enter every morning. But, the first day I did an experiment and weighed every two hours for the full day. Eye opening to see how much our weight fluctuates in a day and what may have caused it.

    This really helped me to keep daily fluctuations in perspective. The largest difference I had from first morning weigh in was about an hour after lunch when my weight was +8lbs from my starting weight. It dropped almost 4lbs at my next weigh in.
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