Vacation Weight "Gain"

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etherealanwar
etherealanwar Posts: 465 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
So I am back from a week long vacation and I am up 7 lbs. Now I know this is not all weight gain if any and it's most likely water retention. I hope it does not take too long to drop off. So my question is, what is the most you have gone up on the scale after a vacation? How long did it take to go back to your pre-vacation weight?
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  • SuzySunshine99
    SuzySunshine99 Posts: 2,984 Member
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    I maintain my weight between 125-130. Before leaving for a week-long vacation, I weighed myself at 126. After my trip, I weighed myself at 136. Here were the main factors for water and fluid retention in my case:

    -Air travel: 6 hours of flying each way.
    -Eating out at restaurants: Sodium and carb-heavy foods, alcohol.
    -Increased exercise: Strenuous mountain hikes.
    -Injury: Got flipped out of a raft into whitewater and slammed against rocks. Bruising and swelling.
    -Dehydration: Was probably not drinking enough water for the amount of activity.

    So, after returning from the trip, I got back to my regular eating habits, rested, and drank a ton of water. The 10 pounds was gone a week later.
  • NovusDies
    NovusDies Posts: 8,940 Member
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    Oh and don't do anything to try and speed up your vacation water weight drop. Frequent urination can play havoc on your electrolytes... trust me I know. Just let it happen when it happens.
  • etherealanwar
    etherealanwar Posts: 465 Member
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    NovusDies wrote: »
    19.4 pounds - It took 8 days to return to pre-vacation weight.

    Because of my very large amount of fat loss I seem able to retain a lot more water than normal.

    Wow that is an insane amount! And I am going back to my regular diet and not trying to do anything to speed up the process. It usually takes me longer than usual to get back to where I was after a spike in water weight. Anywhere from 1-2 weeks sadly :(

  • NovusDies
    NovusDies Posts: 8,940 Member
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    etherealanwar wrote: »
    NovusDies wrote: »
    19.4 pounds - It took 8 days to return to pre-vacation weight.

    Because of my very large amount of fat loss I seem able to retain a lot more water than normal.

    Wow that is an insane amount! And I am going back to my regular diet and not trying to do anything to speed up the process. It usually takes me longer than usual to get back to where I was after a spike in water weight. Anywhere from 1-2 weeks sadly :(

    lol... aren't you glad you only have a measly 7 pounds to deal with?

    I say that but the reality is it is no fun to spike up on water and 7 pounds can make you feel miserable at times. It sucks but it is how our bodies operate.

    Obviously in my 8 days I experienced quite a bit of unloading. Luckily only one day was really high - 5 pounds. The rest of the big days were just short of 3 pounds.

    In the end my numbers (which I track closely) showed I only regained .5 lb of actual fat. Considering I ate enough for 2 pounds of gain that was a great end result for me.
  • brittlb07
    brittlb07 Posts: 313 Member
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    I came back from vacation about five pounds heavier and dropped it within a week. And I am only 122 mind you so that seemed like a lot!
  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 32,195 Member
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    I wrote a post about a similar experience here, with full detail of calories/weights:

    https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10603949/big-overfeed-ruins-everything-nope

    Quick summary: Up 6.4 pounds between Thursday and following Monday; back down below starting weight by that week Friday, without doing anything extreme, just back to a slight deficit I'd been using at the time before the crazy-eating long weekend.
  • grimendale
    grimendale Posts: 2,154 Member
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    Spent a day in Asheville and ate my face off. I'd done a long run the night before, so I actually stayed in my calories, but I ate a lot of food in a small window, which was a lot richer and saltier than usual, so I gained about 10 lbs overnight. It's been 8 days, and it's come off at about 1-1.5 lbs/day.
  • netitheyeti
    netitheyeti Posts: 539 Member
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    About 15lbs, after a 16 day vacation and a full day of travelling in the middle of a heat wave - I'm only 5'2 so I was shocked when I weighed myself (granted, I was about 40lbs heavier back then than my current weight to begin with). I dropped all but 2lbs of that weight in about a week after I got home - I could tell it was water retention because my shoes and socks felt too tight
  • etherealanwar
    etherealanwar Posts: 465 Member
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    Well it's been 2 weeks and I am STILL not back to pre-vacation weight, sitting 2 lbs away from it. This must mean I actually gained a few lbs from vacation which seems wild since I did not go crazy with the food and it was only one week. Sigh.
  • Gisel2015
    Gisel2015 Posts: 4,141 Member
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    I am very careful of what and how much I eat when I am on vacation, since I don't weigh or log anything unless I am home and cook the meal myself. I don't drink alcohol and I don't have a sweet tooth, so I save a lot of calories. The other thing that I do is to eat at a deficit for few weeks before vacation (I am in maintenance), and try to lose a couple of lbs. So if I get home with extra weight, I know that a couple of lbs are due to water retention, and the rest is part of my maintenance range.
  • Hannahwalksfar
    Hannahwalksfar Posts: 572 Member
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    I went from 75 to 81kg in two weeks. Took a week to get to 76.5 and then I knew that that bit was fat.
  • LyndaBSS
    LyndaBSS Posts: 6,964 Member
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    My mom used to tell me "don't sweat the small stuff".

    Compared to the entire weight loss journey, vacation water retention is small stuff. 😉
  • brenn24179
    brenn24179 Posts: 2,144 Member
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    i have gained as much as 7 lbs, first vacation i gained 4. The next vacation I decided to not drink soft drinks and to eat more protein and leave buffets alone and did not gain any weight. I also made sure I did not go too long without eating and then eat everything in sight.
  • whmscll
    whmscll Posts: 2,254 Member
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    I’m going to France in a month and am a bit afraid of how much I will gain, as I am already drooling over cheese, baguettes and macarons. Not necessarily in that order!
  • etherealanwar
    etherealanwar Posts: 465 Member
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    NovusDies wrote: »
    etherealanwar wrote: »
    Well it's been 2 weeks and I am STILL not back to pre-vacation weight, sitting 2 lbs away from it. This must mean I actually gained a few lbs from vacation which seems wild since I did not go crazy with the food and it was only one week. Sigh.

    Not necessarily. It could just mean you have a second cause for water retention that overlapped the first. Have faith for a little longer that any weight gain was probably less than half a pound.

    I really hope that is the case! Trying not to let it get to me too much.
  • pierinifitness
    pierinifitness Posts: 2,231 Member
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    whmscll wrote: »
    I’m going to France in a month and am a bit afraid of how much I will gain, as I am already drooling over cheese, baguettes and macarons. Not necessarily in that order!

    If it’s of any comfort to you, I always lost weight on my extended European travels despite eating like I was on the high school football team. The extra activity and lots of walking cancelled out the big eating.

    Bons voyages.

  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 32,195 Member
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    etherealanwar wrote: »
    NovusDies wrote: »
    etherealanwar wrote: »
    Well it's been 2 weeks and I am STILL not back to pre-vacation weight, sitting 2 lbs away from it. This must mean I actually gained a few lbs from vacation which seems wild since I did not go crazy with the food and it was only one week. Sigh.

    Not necessarily. It could just mean you have a second cause for water retention that overlapped the first. Have faith for a little longer that any weight gain was probably less than half a pound.

    I really hope that is the case! Trying not to let it get to me too much.

    No reason to let it get you down: I always say that the wisest sign in the world is the one you see everywhere . . . it says "you are here". ;) Current reality is non-negotiable, future malleable.

    You'll be fine. If you're truly up, you know how to lose. 2 pounds is trivial. All is well. Hang in there! :flowerforyou:

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