Gaining weight eating high carbs???
sammyj19902015
Posts: 63 Member
I’m wondering if there are any experts on here that can tell me why I gain so much weight by eating carbs??
I’ve been doing low carb diet and lost 5lb last week. I know this is water weight but still a good loss for me. Kept to it all last week until yesterday, I had a huge carb craving which then made me eat 1 round of white bread, lots of chocolate then had a small portion of lasagne and a small portion of shepherds pie for dinner. Got up this morning for my weigh in and I have gained 2.5lb. I’m back in focus on low carb now but just wondering if anyone knows why carbs just DONT agree with me? I have tested previously that eating a bowl of pasta can make me gain up to 5lb after I’ve eaten it? Anyone have any idea why? Thanks
I’ve been doing low carb diet and lost 5lb last week. I know this is water weight but still a good loss for me. Kept to it all last week until yesterday, I had a huge carb craving which then made me eat 1 round of white bread, lots of chocolate then had a small portion of lasagne and a small portion of shepherds pie for dinner. Got up this morning for my weigh in and I have gained 2.5lb. I’m back in focus on low carb now but just wondering if anyone knows why carbs just DONT agree with me? I have tested previously that eating a bowl of pasta can make me gain up to 5lb after I’ve eaten it? Anyone have any idea why? Thanks
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Replies
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Weight can vary up to 5 pounds daily, and in some cases even more. Weight loss is all calories, doesn't matter where those calories come from. If you gain weight on high carbs, it's because your high carb meals had too many calories.
In this case, putting on 2.5 pounds of fat overnight is simply impossible. You said you lost 5 pounds last week, that was mostly water, now you just gained that water weight back which is normal. End result: You probably actually lost about 2.5 pounds or less.I have tested previously that eating a bowl of pasta can make me gain up to 5lb after I’ve eaten it?
Of course eating food then weighing yourself is a bad idea. Different types of food retain more water and stay in you longer especially high sodium foods. The scale is just a number and does not clearly represent loss of fat.
Stop focusing on the scale and just count your calories.10 -
It's probably not that they "don't agree with you" - just normal human physiology.
Carbs get broken down to glucose and then stored in the form of glycogen.
That's is primarily in the liver and muscles but the thing that creates the water weight fluctuations is that each gram of glycogen is stored with approx 4g of water.
Deplete your carbs and you get a water weight drop out of proportion to the calories, then when that is reversed when you restore your glycogen reserves by eating carbs you get a water weight gain out of proportion to your calories.
BTW - I lost my weight eating a lot of carbs and didn't get those fluctuations at all.
Have a think if low carbing is suitable for you as a diet (verb) and/or long term way of eating (diet as a noun). Depriving yourself of foods you enjoy isn't helpful to long term success.12 -
It isn’t but I’ve done this while doing slimming world, which isn’t low carb and I eat pasta and bang it just bloats me and I gain a lot on the scales so it isn’t just while I do low carb it happens whatever diet I do7
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there is a documentary on youtube called Fat Head i suggest you watch it, it will probably answer your question pretty well28
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sammyj19902015 wrote: »I had a huge carb craving which then made me eat 1 round of white bread, lots of chocolate then had a small portion of lasagne and a small portion of shepherds pie for dinner.[/b] Got up this morning for my weigh in and I have gained 2.5lb.
Of course you're going to put on weight after eating all that. It had nothing to do with it being carbs, you ate a lot of calories. Did you log all the food you ate that day? How many calories was it?sammyj19902015 wrote: »I have tested previously that eating a bowl of pasta can make me gain up to 5lb after I’ve eaten it? Anyone have any idea why? Thanks
If you weigh yourself after eating a lot of food it will show on the scales, just like if you weigh yourself undressed then dressed it will be different.
It sounds to me you need to stop weighing yourself after eating and just weigh yourself once a day at the same time everyday to get an idea of how your weight fluctuates. And count calories logging all the food you eat on here (if you don't already) then see if you have gone over in calories when your weight goes up, not the carbs.
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its water weight...
you lose quickly when you cut carbs, and then you gain quickly when you eat carbs again...
water weight.8 -
Why do you feel a water weight loss is something you are happy about? It didn't reduce your body fat. It is not any kind of permanent change to your body composition that improves your health or body shape.8
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Because there are so many f**king know it alls I actually don’t know who to believe!! I’ve dieted or ‘healthy eaten’ since I was 16 I’m now 28 and I’m still struggling with my weight. I’ve done Cambridge diet, weightwatchers, slimming world, low carb, calorie counting and tried to healthy eat on my own so come on tell me what actually works?? I don’t weigh myself straight after I’ve eaten I’m not that thick?! But when I went slimming world I had pasta for my lunch and weighed in at 5lb heavier so stop telling me things I already know, I’m trying to find what suits me and atm most of you are telling what I already know. Don’t tell me that I don’t want it hard enough because trust me in my heart of hearts I know I do but I can’t help but ‘binge eat’ and what I really need to do is find out why I do that! No it’s not stress, no it’s not emotional, no it’s not restrictive diets. I’m addicted to food, I have the same feeling over food when I want it as I do with a cigarette and until I have it it won’t subside. So someone now help me??18
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sammyj19902015 wrote: »I had a huge carb craving which then made me eat 1 round of white bread, lots of chocolate then had a small portion of lasagne and a small portion of shepherds pie for dinner.[/b] Got up this morning for my weigh in and I have gained 2.5lb.
Of course you're going to put on weight after eating all that. It had nothing to do with it being carbs, you ate a lot of calories. Did you log all the food you ate that day? How many calories was it?sammyj19902015 wrote: »I have tested previously that eating a bowl of pasta can make me gain up to 5lb after I’ve eaten it? Anyone have any idea why? Thanks
If you weigh yourself after eating a lot of food it will show on the scales, just like if you weigh yourself undressed then dressed it will be different.
It sounds to me you need to stop weighing yourself after eating and just weigh yourself once a day at the same time everyday to get an idea of how your weight fluctuates. And count calories logging all the food you eat on here (if you don't already) then see if you have gone over in calories when your weight goes up, not the carbs.
That was throughout the day and yes I was still within my calorie allowance......
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sammyj19902015 wrote: »Because there are so many f**king know it alls I actually don’t know who to believe!! I’ve dieted or ‘healthy eaten’ since I was 16 I’m now 28 and I’m still struggling with my weight. I’ve done Cambridge diet, weightwatchers, slimming world, low carb, calorie counting and tried to healthy eat on my own so come on tell me what actually works?? I don’t weigh myself straight after I’ve eaten I’m not that thick?! But when I went slimming world I had pasta for my lunch and weighed in at 5lb heavier so stop telling me things I already know, I’m trying to find what suits me and atm most of you are telling what I already know. Don’t tell me that I don’t want it hard enough because trust me in my heart of hearts I know I do but I can’t help but ‘binge eat’ and what I really need to do is find out why I do that! No it’s not stress, no it’s not emotional, no it’s not restrictive diets. I’m addicted to food, I have the same feeling over food when I want it as I do with a cigarette and until I have it it won’t subside. So someone now help me??
Well, @sijomial is right.It's probably not that they "don't agree with you" - just normal human physiology.
Carbs get broken down to glucose and then stored in the form of glycogen.
That's is primarily in the liver and muscles but the thing that creates the water weight fluctuations is that each gram of glycogen is stored with approx 4g of water.
Deplete your carbs and you get a water weight drop out of proportion to the calories, then when that is reversed when you restore your glycogen reserves by eating carbs you get a water weight gain out of proportion to your calories.
BTW - I lost my weight eating a lot of carbs and didn't get those fluctuations at all.
Have a think if low carbing is suitable for you as a diet (verb) and/or long term way of eating (diet as a noun). Depriving yourself of foods you enjoy isn't helpful to long term success.
But you still need to track your calories, whether you chose low carb, regular carb or high carb.6 -
I track my calories everyday and have been well below them until yesterday which I was on my allowance0
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sammyj19902015 wrote: »I track my calories everyday and have been well below them until yesterday which I was on my allowance
Then it's the glycogen replacement that @sijomial talks about. Go back to your regular way of eating. It'll drop off in a couple days.6 -
when you cut carbs you drop water weight and deplete glycogen stores...this shows as a reduction in weight on the scale.
when you eat more carbs you retain more water and replenish glycogen stores...this shows as an increase in weight on the scale.
Not to mention, body weight fluctuates naturally all on it's own...2.5 Lbs is well within the realm of natural body weight fluctuations. You need to look at long term trends and get out of the day to day minutia or you're going to drive yourself bat *kitten* crazy...
What weight loss looks like...
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I weigh once a week so ignoring this one and going back to eating normally, well calorie counting. I just want to lose this baby weight, I’ve lost 1st 5lb so far but hit a plateau hence trying a new diet, been overweight all my life and bullied about it, I’m not bothered if it comes off 1lb a week as long as it comes off but atm it’s not2
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You can't base your entire weight loss strategy on one weigh in on the scale. Look at the overall trend vs one day. In two weeks time, you've lost 3.5 lbs, that's a great trend.It's probably not that they "don't agree with you" - just normal human physiology.
Carbs get broken down to glucose and then stored in the form of glycogen.
That's is primarily in the liver and muscles but the thing that creates the water weight fluctuations is that each gram of glycogen is stored with approx 4g of water.
Deplete your carbs and you get a water weight drop out of proportion to the calories, then when that is reversed when you restore your glycogen reserves by eating carbs you get a water weight gain out of proportion to your calories.
BTW - I lost my weight eating a lot of carbs and didn't get those fluctuations at all.
Have a think if low carbing is suitable for you as a diet (verb) and/or long term way of eating (diet as a noun). Depriving yourself of foods you enjoy isn't helpful to long term success.
This is the correct "know it all" you should be listening to. It's very typical for people to go low carb and lose a lot of weight and then gain it back when going back to carbs. Your body doesn't disagree with it, your body is functioning exactly how it should.18 -
OP, as people have said in your other threads - Jumping from one diet to another where you are over-restricting and then stress binging in response will cause your weight to jump all over the place. And going from low carb to moderate carb will cause additional weight fluctuations. You CANNOT judge progress from one day to the next. It happens over weeks and months.
You've gotten a lot of consistent explanation for your weight fluctuations and consistent advice on what you should do. Until you can apply some patience and realistic goals, you are going to continue to be frustrated. Really read all the replies you've gotten from all your threads, especially the veterans with thousands of posts who have already been successful and are just here trying to help. The answers are there if you want them. Good luck.14 -
I agree with others - definitely just a normal water-weight fluctuation as a response to your diet change.
Simple calorie counting is the way to go. You don't need to follow a restrictive diet plan to lose the weight.
I'm losing weight consistently while still eating fast food, desserts, ice cream, chocolate... almost every day. It's all about accurately tracking all your intake (food scale for solids, measuring cups/spoons for liquids) and sticking to a reasonable calorie deficit.
No need to overcomplicate.
Good luck. 3 -
sammyj19902015 wrote: »I’m wondering if there are any experts on here that can tell me why I gain so much weight by eating carbs??
I’ve been doing low carb diet and lost 5lb last week. I know this is water weight but still a good loss for me. Kept to it all last week until yesterday, I had a huge carb craving which then made me eat 1 round of white bread, lots of chocolate then had a small portion of lasagne and a small portion of shepherds pie for dinner. Got up this morning for my weigh in and I have gained 2.5lb. I’m back in focus on low carb now but just wondering if anyone knows why carbs just DONT agree with me? I have tested previously that eating a bowl of pasta can make me gain up to 5lb after I’ve eaten it? Anyone have any idea why? Thanks
I mean it has nothing to do with carbs, unless their deliciousness is what causes you to overeat, but your question is literally answered in your post.
You know you lost only water weight from going low carb, ate a crap load of craps and added that water back. Just pick a diet and stick with it for more than a week, and drink enough water (or liquid of choice).
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OP, as people have said in your other threads - Jumping from one diet to another where you are over-restricting and then stress binging in response will cause your weight to jump all over the place. And going from low carb to moderate carb will cause additional weight fluctuations. You CANNOT judge progress from one day to the next. It happens over weeks and months.
You've gotten a lot of consistent explanation for your weight fluctuations and consistent advice on what you should do. Until you can apply some patience and realistic goals, you are going to continue to be frustrated. Really read all the replies you've gotten from all your threads, especially the veterans with thousands of posts who have already been successful and are just here trying to help. The answers are there if you want them. Good luck.
Sorry just got a bit frustrated with people on other posts too telling me that if I really wanted to lose weight I would of done it, and really I hate myself the way I am but always struggled to lose weight. There is nothing more I’d love to do is be the size I’ve always wanted but never got to. I’ve been on mfp now for 3 years and done it on and off for 3 years so I know what to do it’s just when I don’t see a loss it kind of gives part of my brain the go ahead to eat *kitten* food when I know I don’t want to. Really hard to explain to people but my auntie is the only one who seems to experience what I do
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Also they only way you gain 5lbs after eating a bowl of pasta is if that bowl of pasta weighs 5lbs. There are probably around 20 servings of pasta in 5lbs of cooked pasta and at around 200 calories a serving that would be 4000 calories. If your story is true, carbs aren't the problem...
If you drink 5lbs of water with out going to the bathroom you will gain 5lbs, do you blame water for your weight gain?
Sometimes we have to look at things logically instead of panicking and blaming everything under the sun instead of watching what we eat.4 -
You've gotten a lot of consistent explanation for your weight fluctuations and consistent advice on what you should do. Until you can apply some patience and realistic goals, you are going to continue to be frustrated. Really read all the replies you've gotten from all your threads, especially the veterans with thousands of posts who have already been successful and are just here trying to help. The answers are there if you want them. Good luck.
QFT.5 -
Also they only way you gain 5lbs after eating a bowl of pasta is if that bowl of pasta weighs 5lbs. There are probably around 20 servings of pasta in 5lbs of cooked pasta and at around 200 calories a serving that would be 4000 calories. If your story is true, carbs aren't the problem...
If you drink 5lbs of water with out going to the bathroom you will gain 5lbs, do you blame water for your weight gain?
Sometimes we have to look at things logically instead of panicking and blaming everything under the sun instead of watching what we eat.
I had a packet pasta of batchelors pasta n sauce made with water only, I’m not saying it’s made me gain ‘fat’ I was just wondering why pasta could make me bloated and gain on scales (again only know what I weighed after because I went to slimming world to get my weekly weigh in done)
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sammyj19902015 wrote: »Also they only way you gain 5lbs after eating a bowl of pasta is if that bowl of pasta weighs 5lbs. There are probably around 20 servings of pasta in 5lbs of cooked pasta and at around 200 calories a serving that would be 4000 calories. If your story is true, carbs aren't the problem...
If you drink 5lbs of water with out going to the bathroom you will gain 5lbs, do you blame water for your weight gain?
Sometimes we have to look at things logically instead of panicking and blaming everything under the sun instead of watching what we eat.
I had a packet pasta of batchelors pasta n sauce made with water only, I’m not saying it’s made me gain ‘fat’ I was just wondering why pasta could make me bloated and gain on scales (again only know what I weighed after because I went to slimming world to get my weekly weigh in done)
Because pasta + water in sauce + sauce + water that you probably drank with your meal + maybe not having gone to the bathroom since breakfast = 5 lbs of "waste" (aka urine and poop), water, and pasta. Literally you probably ate and drank 5 lbs worth of food and water.
If you cooked your pasta properly, there was salt in the water, salt in the sauce, and salt on the pasta after you cooked it. SODIUM. MAKES. YOU. RETAIN. WATER. Water has weight too.
BONUS: is the slimming world the SAME scale you used as your before AND after? Because scales are NOT ALL THE SAME.8 -
sammyj19902015 wrote: »Also they only way you gain 5lbs after eating a bowl of pasta is if that bowl of pasta weighs 5lbs. There are probably around 20 servings of pasta in 5lbs of cooked pasta and at around 200 calories a serving that would be 4000 calories. If your story is true, carbs aren't the problem...
If you drink 5lbs of water with out going to the bathroom you will gain 5lbs, do you blame water for your weight gain?
Sometimes we have to look at things logically instead of panicking and blaming everything under the sun instead of watching what we eat.
I had a packet pasta of batchelors pasta n sauce made with water only, I’m not saying it’s made me gain ‘fat’ I was just wondering why pasta could make me bloated and gain on scales (again only know what I weighed after because I went to slimming world to get my weekly weigh in done)
It was explained very well further upthread. Every molecule of carbohydrate is accompanied by 3-4 molecules of water. If you've been eating low-carb, you've depleted your glycogen stores, and they were replenished by eating the carbs, which created water weight gain. You didn't gain fat, you gained weight in the form of water/glycogen. Which is both perfectly normal and temporary.
It's the exact same mechanism by which low-carb diets create a relatively high rate of weight loss in the initial stages and fool people into thinking that they're magical - eating low-carb depletes your water/glycogen stores and you quickly lose water weight - but as with above, you didn't lose fat, you just lost water. Over the long term, low-carb diets have no advantage over any other diet in terms of the rate/amount of actual weight loss - it still all comes down to calories.3 -
Low GI carbs don't agree with me. I have some insulin resistance and it bumps up my BG too much, I end up with some stomach or BM issues more frequently, and I get a lot of headaches. I tend to minimize carbs in my diet because of that. For me, a diet without bagels or many other refined carbs is healthier.
If carbs make losing weight harder, and not just the water weight, you can lower them or mostly skip them. If you can moderate carbs while losing then continue to eat them. Do what works best for you.2 -
Weight fluctuates. Get an app that trends your fluctuations, weigh at the same time of the day, on the same scale, on the same spot on the floor, in the same clothes, having gone (or not gone) to the bathroom. Nothing else is going to be apples to apples.
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sammyj19902015 wrote: »Also they only way you gain 5lbs after eating a bowl of pasta is if that bowl of pasta weighs 5lbs. There are probably around 20 servings of pasta in 5lbs of cooked pasta and at around 200 calories a serving that would be 4000 calories. If your story is true, carbs aren't the problem...
If you drink 5lbs of water with out going to the bathroom you will gain 5lbs, do you blame water for your weight gain?
Sometimes we have to look at things logically instead of panicking and blaming everything under the sun instead of watching what we eat.
I had a packet pasta of batchelors pasta n sauce made with water only, I’m not saying it’s made me gain ‘fat’ I was just wondering why pasta could make me bloated and gain on scales (again only know what I weighed after because I went to slimming world to get my weekly weigh in done)
Why not try taking pictures and seeing if there is visual change rather than comparing a scale weight? Or try using a trend app like Libra or Happyscale so instead of having the wild swings in weight (due to so many reasons besides eating carbs) you can see where it trends.1 -
you aren't eating high carb.
You had ONE carby meal. There is a distinct difference. Stop panicking- go back to eating the way you were and you'll be fine.5 -
I'm not saying anything about fat. The only way you can instantly gain 5lbs is if you put 5lbs in your body.0
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sammyj19902015 wrote: »I track my calories everyday and have been well below them until yesterday which I was on my allowance
Regarding your comment about trying to figure out why you "binge eat," maybe this is your answer. If you set MFP to lose weight, you should be aiming to reach your calorie goal (provided you are logging accurately). If you are consistently "well below" your goal, and you are tracking correctly, you may be creating too big of a deficit and then eating more to compensate because your body actually needs more.7
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