Weekend warrior weight spikes

Every weekend for the last several years. Saturday’s are typically my long run day. Also my biggest food intake day. My weight is up usually 5-8 pounds on Sunday (then drops over the week). I have more of a jump after races (12+ pounds for a half marathon or longer).

I am the same way. My weight generally is 4-5 pounds more on Monday morning, then drops off during the week. Overall trend is about a 1/2 pound less Saturday morning over the previous week.

How much is each part is probably impossible to figure out.

Each g of carbs brings 4g water - so approx 110g carbs over and above your normal carb intake will lead to approx an extra pound of water. But then you need to account for how many of those carbs were during/before/used in activity.

Salt is a little harder to figure out because how much water retention depends on the balance with potassium-and also likely affected by activity and/or electrolyte replacements during/after activity.

For my 5-8 pounds I am up on Sunday AM, 3-5 of that is usually gone in the first couple of days, the rest slower over the rest of the week (although subject to additional fluctuations due to more workouts, weather, differences in intake, hormones, moon cycles, aliens...).

So I just make the global assumption that 3-5 pounds is due to additional food or water retention from carbs/salt (because it leaves quickly) and the remainder is for muscle repair (as I assume it takes longer to repair muscles-especially when I keep using them-than it takes for me to pee out a bunch of water.

I don’t drink so I don’t have any data points for alcohol.

Jthanmyfitnesspal wrote: »

concordancia wrote: »

Last week, I then proceeded to lose a pound a day for three days straight in the middle of the week.

On a more serious note: this is exactly what's happening to me this week. 176.4 on Monday morning, 174.0 this morning. Where does it come from and where does it go...?

My main question (hard to determine) is what is the main effect 1) Amount of food, 2) effects of alcohol (although I'm not exactly binging), 3) too much salt (not really paying attention, but eating out more), 4) swelling due to exercise.

The only way to know for sure which of those 4 factors is the biggest impact is to spend a few weeks only doing 1-3. Then a few more weeks doing 2-4. Etc etc. Likely all of those things are impacting weight. I wouldn't bother identifying exactly how much unless you plan on changing/ eliminating the cause.

My main question (hard to determine) is what is the main effect 1) Amount of food, 2) effects of alcohol (although I'm not exactly binging), 3) too much salt (not really paying attention, but eating out more), 4) swelling due to exercise.

Well, of course it's all of that. Does it really matter? Not really. Keep doing what you're doin' if the weight is stable long-term.

I notice this too, especially with strength training or strenuous activity involving multiple muscle groups (rock scrambling etc.). It feels counterintuitive because you've been sweating and burning calories, but for a day or two after exercise I will be around .7-1.5 pounds higher than expected. You're exactly right that it's due to muscle swelling and fluid retention (I don't know about you, but after harder workouts my muscles will actually feel more defined to the touch, simply because of the water they are holding onto as they heal). Mild dehydration also often goes along with hard training (despite one's best efforts), and I find my weight always tends to spike for a couple of days after being dehydrated, probably due to compensatory water retention.

I'm not logging/tracking that closely anymore, but back when I was racing I saw the same type of thing pretty routinely. Yes, a big race/workout/whatever will burn a ton of calories, but a huge post-race feed + sore muscles frequently led to big spikes on the scale that would level back out by mid-week.