Unexplained weight gain -- frustrating!
Rannoch3908
Posts: 177 Member
Well guess I spoke to soon the other day when I was 1/2 a pound away from being the 200's for the first time since high school.
Somehow I'm all the way up to 305 today - just a few short days later.
Been eating at or under my calories every day.
No idea what the hell happened but not happy about it. Was very hard to see the scale move that far in one day in wrong direction. Normally now is when I would quit - but I am going to keep pushing and hope it doesn't keep moving the wrong way for me.
Somehow I'm all the way up to 305 today - just a few short days later.
Been eating at or under my calories every day.
No idea what the hell happened but not happy about it. Was very hard to see the scale move that far in one day in wrong direction. Normally now is when I would quit - but I am going to keep pushing and hope it doesn't keep moving the wrong way for me.
12
Replies
-
Weight loss is a lot of two steps forward, one step back. Don't be too concerned about what the scale says day to day to day. As long as you're trending in the right direction over a longer period of time then you're doing well, and based on your previous threads that's exactly what's happening. Keep doing what you're doing and you'll keep seeing long term progress.8
-
Take a deep breath & stay calm. Could be anything from water weight to a messed up scale. Keep to your plan & you will continue to make progress!5
-
Rannoch3908 wrote: »Well guess I spoke to soon the other day when I was 1/2 a pound away from being the 200's for the first time since high school.
Somehow I'm all the way up to 305 today - just a few short days later.
Been eating at or under my calories every day.
No idea what the hell happened but not happy about it. Was very hard to see the scale move that far in one day in wrong direction. Normally now is when I would quit - but I am going to keep pushing and hope it doesn't keep moving the wrong way for me.
How do the measurements compare, where have they gone up?1 -
How do I take measurements? Like with a tape measure?1
-
Yes you can take your measurements with a soft measuring tape. Bust, waist, tummy (under belly button) hips, arms and thigh ..log that then check them again periodically..it could show up there if not with weight.5
-
Just a fact to keep in mind - hence my comment about measurements.
Fat is not fast, lost or gained.
The fact it happened over a few days proves it's not fat actually.
To gain or lose a pound of fat you need a difference of about 3500 calories between what you eat and burn.
4.5 lbs gained x 3500 / 3 days say = 5250 daily difference.
Did you eat 5250 calories ABOVE your maintenance calories for each of 3 days?
Did you even eat anywhere near 5250 calories in total each of those days?
Then it wasn't fat weight.
Tape measure would have proved that, also might have given clue where water weight was added - 4 lbs likely shows up somewhere.10 -
Could your scale need new batteries? Is your scale missing feet on the bottom of it? My old scale was off by 10lbs ..I thought I had lost 44 lbs ...when I got my withings scale I had only lost 33 still not bad but I like the 44 better .... Wishing you the very best
3 -
First: only use 1 scale. My gym has 2 scales and they are 2 lbs apart. I go by my home scale. Make sure you have new batteries if it's electric. I normally weigh myself at the same time every WEEK (saturday mornings) Depending on how much you ate/drank it can affect it just by not being digested0
-
It happens to many of us. Don’t give up! One of these days you’ll have a big woosh. Keep on doing what you’ve been doing. It will get better. Stick the course, you’ll see!1
-
Do you weigh at the same time of day, in the same level of clothing? Such as first thing in the morning, after using the bathroom and before eating or drinking? If one weigh in was later in the day after food/drink then the two data points are not comparable.
Did you start a new or more intense workout in the past couple of days? Do you have any muscle soreness going on? Did you eat higher than usual yesterday in sodium or carbs?
These are just some examples of the variances possible.4 -
I weigh in the same exact clothes at the same exact time every other day.
Only eating within calorie goal.
No exercise really yet - occasionally walk the dogs around block.
I eat the exact same thing every single day (meal plan breakfast, lunch, dinner for the week).2 -
Your weight will go up as well as down, and the variation can be several pounds. I have found it really helpful to keep a track of my average weight in each month so that I can see my overall trend. That makes it less worrying when the daily weigh-in (or every two days) goes up. There are apps that can do that for you, but I set up a spreadsheet.1
-
Your weight will go up as wel las down, and the variation can be several pounds. I have found it really helpful to keep a track of my average weight in each month so that I can see my overall trend. That makes it less worrying when the daily weigh-in (or every two days) goes up. There are apps that can do that for you, but I set up a spreadsheet.
I do the same thing, except weekly.1 -
It took me 18 months to lose 115lbs and it was a constant yo-yo feeling. I do a weekly average and use that now (as a competitive bodybuilder) - it's made an ENORMOUS difference instead of looking at and lamenting the daily scale weight.2
-
14 -
This chart says a lot and helps prepare me for what is ahead.
Maybe I should just weigh in every 1st of the month or 30th of the month or something.
I just like seeing the results - it helps me stay on track and makes me want to keep going.3 -
Rannoch3908 wrote: »This chart says a lot and helps prepare me for what is ahead.
Maybe I should just weigh in every 1st of the month or 30th of the month or something.
I just like seeing the results - it helps me stay on track and makes me want to keep going.
This will be something you have to figure out for yourself, but I like to weigh every morning. I’m fully aware that the scale will move around but even a 1/2 pound loss (smallest my scale registers) keeps me motivated, even if the next morning it is back up 1/2 pound.
Fluid intake, food waste in our system, a salty meal that makes us retain fluid, hormonal changes for women, there are many things that can make the scale move up instead of down. Just remember it really takes A LOT of extra food to create a gain of actual fat. For most of us that just isn’t possible in a day or two.
6 -
Rannoch3908 wrote: »This chart says a lot and helps prepare me for what is ahead.
Maybe I should just weigh in every 1st of the month or 30th of the month or something.
I just like seeing the results - it helps me stay on track and makes me want to keep going.
I could pick out times in my weight loss when if I picked just the wrong dates a month apart, I'd still think I wasn't losing, when I was.
The chart above is spot on. Different people do best with different weigh-in schedules, but what works best for me is daily, because fluctuations don't stress me out (I know they're random), and it helps me understand how my body behaves in varying conditions.
Even when eating and exercising in the same way, there are ways scale weight can do unexpected things. Examples: Seasonal allergy. Fighting off a minor infection/virus. Constipation. Hot weather. Air travel. And much, much more.
If you haven't read it, this article would be informative, and maybe calming:
https://physiqonomics.com/the-weird-and-highly-annoying-world-of-scale-weight-and-fluctuations
If your eating and exercise is on point, the results will show up on the scale eventually.2 -
Rannoch3908 wrote: »This chart says a lot and helps prepare me for what is ahead.
Maybe I should just weigh in every 1st of the month or 30th of the month or something.
I just like seeing the results - it helps me stay on track and makes me want to keep going.
Weighing once per month may work for some, but it was a disaster for me, lol.
Are you using a trending app like Happy Scale? These smooth out the fluctuations. The important thing is not any individual weight, but the trend, or, if you use Happy Scale, that you are in the green.4 -
kshama2001 wrote: »Rannoch3908 wrote: »This chart says a lot and helps prepare me for what is ahead.
Maybe I should just weigh in every 1st of the month or 30th of the month or something.
I just like seeing the results - it helps me stay on track and makes me want to keep going.
Weighing once per month may work for some, but it was a disaster for me, lol.
Are you using a trending app like Happy Scale? These smooth out the fluctuations. The important thing is not any individual weight, but the trend, or, if you use Happy Scale, that you are in the green.
+1 for a trend app or website. It's really an eye-opener, and allows to relativize the annoying spikes.3 -
kshama2001 wrote: »Rannoch3908 wrote: »This chart says a lot and helps prepare me for what is ahead.
Maybe I should just weigh in every 1st of the month or 30th of the month or something.
I just like seeing the results - it helps me stay on track and makes me want to keep going.
Weighing once per month may work for some, but it was a disaster for me, lol.
Are you using a trending app like Happy Scale? These smooth out the fluctuations. The important thing is not any individual weight, but the trend, or, if you use Happy Scale, that you are in the green.
+1 for a trend app or website. It's really an eye-opener, and allows to relativize the annoying spikes.
Another +1 for trend apps/websites. I use trendweight and seriously, whenever I feel moody about my actual numbers I log onto there and see that my trend coming down and it makes me feel better. And yes, I do wish that my trend weight would catch up a bit with my actual weight, but when I have those days where it spikes up, I am so glad for that lagging value.
(btw I'm another daily weigher)3 -
I also agree on the tracking your trends. I am a daily weigher (I like ot know where I am) but it is my graph and monthly averages that tell me what is going on below the daily ups and downs.0
-
I will check out happy scale.
WHAT THINGS MAKE YOU GAIN WEIGHT (not fat)?
WHAT THINGS MAKE YOU SAY RETAIN WATER (OR LOSE WATER)?0 -
I would also 100% recommend reading the link that AnnPT77 posted:[snipped]
If you haven't read it, this article would be informative, and maybe calming:
https://physiqonomics.com/the-weird-and-highly-annoying-world-of-scale-weight-and-fluctuations
[snipped]
0 -
Rannoch3908 wrote: »I will check out happy scale.
WHAT THINGS MAKE YOU GAIN WEIGHT (not fat)?
WHAT THINGS MAKE YOU SAY RETAIN WATER (OR LOSE WATER)?
Water retention can be caused by hormones and also by eating foods higher in sodium. It can also be caused by high blood pressure. If you lift weights, you will retain water for muscle recovery. Hypothyroidism is another condition that causes water retention.
And while this might sound weird: to help with water retention, drink more water. Dehydration makes your body hold onto that water weight, so being well hydrated will help to flush it out.
Water retention makes it appear that you have gained weight when you haven’t. Certain medications can increase weight gain, lack of sleep, hormones, certain medical conditions etc.0 -
Rannoch3908 wrote: »I will check out happy scale.
WHAT THINGS MAKE YOU GAIN WEIGHT (not fat)?
WHAT THINGS MAKE YOU SAY RETAIN WATER (OR LOSE WATER)?
To add to gain weight not fat - a day or big meal of above normal for you fibrous foods that are absorbed with water in the gut before making their way out.
To that point about sodium, if always on higher end of sodium eating may not see much fluctuation on this, but when doing low sodium gives more room for increase. And that can increase overnight, but take days to drop back down.
Also increasing cardio where more blood volume is desired for cooling and extra sweating.
Increasing cardio where the body stores more carbs in muscle with attached water, even if during a diet these aren't totally topped off.
The wedding cake syndrome.
Bridal party has starved themselves all week to make sure they fit in their dresses.
At reception they have a piece of cake and a little alchy perhaps but want to keep their new low weight.
They gain 5 lbs by Sun morning.
The cake they ate didn't even weigh 1 lb.
The calories they ate didn't even go above 3500.3 -
Rannoch3908 wrote: »I will check out happy scale.
WHAT THINGS MAKE YOU GAIN WEIGHT (not fat)?
WHAT THINGS MAKE YOU SAY RETAIN WATER (OR LOSE WATER)?
Read the article I posted upthread, that someone else already reposted. It addresses exactly those questions.
https://physiqonomics.com/the-weird-and-highly-annoying-world-of-scale-weight-and-fluctuations1 -
Even trend apps/websites can be misleading. I think it's important to realize this. It's important to understand how bodies behave.
If you're in a stage of high-rate loss, and very consistent intake/exercise, misleading trend lines are less likely. If you're in maintenance, or losing very slowly, it can happen. But if I'm losing half a pound a week, and get a head cold for a couple of weeks (inflammation + congestion = water weight) then up my exercise, I'll have most of a month of "gain" that isn't actual fat gain.
How do I know? In the time of Corona self-limited eating out, I'm whittling away at vanity pounds in maintenance, at a ridiculously slow rate, quarter to half a pound a week, on average. It's a very clear long term losing trend. I've been logging/tracking for 5+ years now. I'm very confident that my loggoing accuracy is reasonable. Nonetheless, I've had very clear periods when the trending app (on default settings, so 7-day trend) thinks I'm gaining, for a week or even more, even though the longer trend is very clearly down, down, down. (In most cases, I know why I had the temporary scale gain that misled the app. At this point, the trend increasing doesn't bother me. I trust the logging process.)
It's a great tool. It helps me. It's not a magically correct insight.
Here's the graph, below. The vertical lines connect the daily weigh-ins to the trend line, which is the connected slightly downhill-ish one. Look at July: Slow gain for two weeks, it thinks. No. I resumed regular strength training, added the couple of water pounds I always see when that happens. Eventually, the slow fat loss in the background overtook that water weight, and loss started showing up on the scale again. Normal.
6
Categories
- All Categories
- 1.4M Health, Wellness and Goals
- 393.3K Introduce Yourself
- 43.8K Getting Started
- 260.2K Health and Weight Loss
- 175.9K Food and Nutrition
- 47.4K Recipes
- 232.5K Fitness and Exercise
- 424 Sleep, Mindfulness and Overall Wellness
- 6.5K Goal: Maintaining Weight
- 8.5K Goal: Gaining Weight and Body Building
- 153K Motivation and Support
- 8K Challenges
- 1.3K Debate Club
- 96.3K Chit-Chat
- 2.5K Fun and Games
- 3.7K MyFitnessPal Information
- 24 News and Announcements
- 1.1K Feature Suggestions and Ideas
- 2.6K MyFitnessPal Tech Support Questions