Water Weight Gain - STOP PANICKING!

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  • Justbesilly
    Justbesilly Posts: 1 Member
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    My frustration lately is that I won't see a lot of change on the scale for a couple weeks, then it will show a sudden drop of a couple pounds over a period of two or three days. I get so excited!! (I don't have a lot of weight to lose, so a couple pounds is very significant). But then over a couple more days it climbs up again and I'm (almost) back where I started. I get really bummed about it. I assume it's fluctuations in water retention, but, dammit, I hate the let down!
  • yolohunter
    yolohunter Posts: 79 Member
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    Yep. struggling with this now because it is near my TOM and I have gained a pound or two this week instead of losing. don't know why i'm freaking out because this was the drama i lived last week, so i should be used to it by now:
    saturday AM: 212.8 woohoo, two pounds less than the week before :)
    weekend: ate a LOT of salty food and drank a good amount of alcohol, also worked out
    monday: 221.8 :(
    tues: 219
    wed: 217
    Thur: 215
    Fri: 213
    sat: 210.4 lowest weight in years!

    now it's a week later and i'm at 211-212 and i'm freaking out AGAIN because i think i gained even though i'm just 1-2 days away from getting my period. smh. why does the scale have so much power over my brain??
  • sabal20
    sabal20 Posts: 39 Member
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    1.2kg / 2.5lb up on yesterday. Yeah right. But same as beginning of the week. I've not gained 1.2kg in a day just as I hadnt lost 1.2kg fat from Monday to yesterday. Slightly frustrating but hey, this is a long process! Daily weigh ins are a huge motivator for me. So long as the general trend is down I'm staying positive
  • twdlove89
    twdlove89 Posts: 95 Member
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    I’ve gained some water weight as I’ve just weighed myself at my father in laws, gonna stop weighing myself altogether cuz today is the first day I’ve worn my UK size8 leather jacket, ive felt great all day then I’ve weighed myself an now feel like poop so NO MORE SCALES!
  • blackrazberry
    blackrazberry Posts: 2 Member
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    Great post! But how do you all explain a 5lb weight gain that happens after a week of tracking everything on the app, eating mindfully, working out (cardio) AND eliminating alcohol for the first week of Dry January? This is the exact opposite of what I expected to happen. I don't get it! Any ideas? I'm being VERY honest about consumption.
  • CSARdiver
    CSARdiver Posts: 6,252 Member
    edited January 2020
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    blackrazberry wrote: »
    Great post! But how do you all explain a 5lb weight gain that happens after a week of tracking everything on the app, eating mindfully, working out (cardio) AND eliminating alcohol for the first week of Dry January? This is the exact opposite of what I expected to happen. I don't get it! Any ideas? I'm being VERY honest about consumption.

    A mix of hormone shift and glycogen following an intense workout?

    We tend to do a horrid job of analyzing our own activity. I put on 12 lbs following a few high salt meals and back to back Spartan races. All resolved after about a week.
  • SuzySunshine99
    SuzySunshine99 Posts: 2,984 Member
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    blackrazberry wrote: »
    Great post! But how do you all explain a 5lb weight gain that happens after a week of tracking everything on the app, eating mindfully, working out (cardio) AND eliminating alcohol for the first week of Dry January? This is the exact opposite of what I expected to happen. I don't get it! Any ideas? I'm being VERY honest about consumption.

    Is the exercise new/more than before?
    Hormones? Many women gain water weight at various points in their cycle.
    If none of the above, sometimes weight fluctuations can't be explained, but as long as you know you did not eat 17,000 calories above maintainence, then you know you didn't gain 5 pounds of fat.
  • fdlewenstein
    fdlewenstein Posts: 231 Member
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    I understand why some individuals do panic when they gain weight, regardless of understanding there are factors that contribute to water retention. When you are being compliant, have a growth mindset, and are committed to eating clean any fluctuation of weight can be stressful. When you want to hit your goal weight so badly anything small or big seems like a setback.

    Everyone has a different perspective on weight and there may be a history that we are not aware of (those of us who comment on a post), so continue to educate the rest of us. Hopefully one day we can all relax when the scale goes up and down due to water retention. (This includes me!)
  • liftingbro
    liftingbro Posts: 2,029 Member
    edited January 2020
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    Yeah, people don't realize that when you are on point with diet and exercise you are prone to bloat a bit when you have a bad day or three.

    #1- Typically when you go off the rails it's an increase in salt and carbs.
    #2- If you exercise hard you deplete or significantly low glycogen stores in the muscle.
    #3- With a sudden increase in carbs, you refill the gylcogen which is made up partially of water.
    #4- Increased salt intake makes for more water bloat too.
    #5- More food= more fecal content.

    Yes, it's possible to gain a small amount of fat over a few days but I can bloat up 10lbs and three days later be down 9.5.

    This is even more extreme if you are low carb person that goes nuts on carbs over Christmas, but again mostly water weight.

    Also, if you don't lift weights and start to lift you may see weight go up for the first week or two. It seems a lot of people retain more water when they start lifting.
  • PAV8888
    PAV8888 Posts: 13,649 Member
    edited January 2020
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    It takes AT LEAST 3,500 Cal over and above maintenance to GAIN 1lb of fat.
    Conversely, it takes AT LEAST 3,500 Cal of a deficit from maintenance to LOSE 1lb of fat).

    REGARDLESS of whether you can READILY explain a scale weight difference, IT CANNOT BE FAT if the difference is substantially more than what the calories indicate would be possible.

    --hormonal water retention
    --food in transit
    --glycogen changes (especially applicable to keto and exercisers)
    --start and stop of new exercise programs, or changes to intensity and duration of exercise or daily living activities
    --sodium intake changes which sometimes sneak in unsuspected via foods or drinks we don't expect
    --medical issues resulting in more or less water retention in our bodies
    --scale positioning and floor flex, dirt in sensors, batteries
    --"local low" or "local high" in weight curve which would be smoothed out if viewed as a trend
    --more, I am sure!
  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 32,178 Member
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    blackrazberry wrote: »
    Great post! But how do you all explain a 5lb weight gain that happens after a week of tracking everything on the app, eating mindfully, working out (cardio) AND eliminating alcohol for the first week of Dry January? This is the exact opposite of what I expected to happen. I don't get it! Any ideas? I'm being VERY honest about consumption.

    I don't know, but it's probably in this article somewhere:

    https://physiqonomics.com/the-weird-and-highly-annoying-world-of-scale-weight-and-fluctuations

    Cortisol/stress and muscle repair would be high on my guess list, but it'd only be a guess. Might be coming down with some minor bug (inflammation/immune response). Could be a combination of things.

    Like others said, if you didn't eat enough calories to gain that much fat (or get so exhausted you cut that many calories out of your activity), then it's water weight or digestive system contents.

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