Water weight?

FitnessFreak1821
FitnessFreak1821 Posts: 242 Member
edited December 2021 in Health and Weight Loss
Is it possible to gain 2-3 pounds of water weight over in 4days? I'm very sore from working out this week and I did eat some high salt meals yesterday but I can't see how I gained that much in short time being I have truly been in a deficiency. I'm hoping the number goes down if it truly is water weight.

Replies

  • JBanx256
    JBanx256 Posts: 1,479 Member
    I've quite literally "gained" 4 pounds in < 24 hours and then had it all vanish within the next day, so yeah it's possible.
  • FitnessFreak1821
    FitnessFreak1821 Posts: 242 Member
    SuzySunshine99 wrote: »
    Absolutely, yes.

    You have two huge factors in water/fluid retention. You are sore from working out, which means your muscles are healing and retaining fluid. You ate some high-sodium meals, which increases water retention.

    Given both of these factors, it's actually impressive that you are up only 2-3 pounds. Many people in your situation would be up more than that.

    Give it time, drink your normal intake of water, and it will likely go away.

    As a note, even if you didn't have these clear reasons for water retention, you should not obsess over scale fluctuations of a few pounds. Weight fluctuates constantly, sometimes for unknown reasons. Stay on your plan, and pay attention to the trend over time, not the day-to-day numbers.

    Thank you! I know I definitely to cool it with the scale. I was weighing in everyday but haven't this week and today I just had too even though I knew it would most likely be up not down yet lol
  • SuzySunshine99
    SuzySunshine99 Posts: 2,989 Member
    XoXashleighXoX wrote: »
    SuzySunshine99 wrote: »
    Absolutely, yes.

    You have two huge factors in water/fluid retention. You are sore from working out, which means your muscles are healing and retaining fluid. You ate some high-sodium meals, which increases water retention.

    Given both of these factors, it's actually impressive that you are up only 2-3 pounds. Many people in your situation would be up more than that.

    Give it time, drink your normal intake of water, and it will likely go away.

    As a note, even if you didn't have these clear reasons for water retention, you should not obsess over scale fluctuations of a few pounds. Weight fluctuates constantly, sometimes for unknown reasons. Stay on your plan, and pay attention to the trend over time, not the day-to-day numbers.

    Thank you! I know I definitely to cool it with the scale. I was weighing in everyday but haven't this week and today I just had too even though I knew it would most likely be up not down yet lol

    Weighing every day is not necessarily a bad thing, and can actually be helpful in understanding the fluctuations. If you can take some of the emotion out of it and just treat it as data points, it can help you see that downward trend over time.
  • zippie2223
    zippie2223 Posts: 37 Member
    I gain 3 or 4 lbs after I eat rice. That last 2 days or so.
  • Xellercin
    Xellercin Posts: 924 Member
    edited December 2021
    Yep, you can gain A LOT more than a few pounds from water weight, depending on your size. And it can take a lot more than a day or two to go away as well.

    Be patient. If your eating is on point and has produced a predictable, steady loss, then stick with that and see what happens in a few weeks.

    Never adjust your eating based on short term scale feedback.
  • FitnessFreak1821
    FitnessFreak1821 Posts: 242 Member
    Thanks everyone for the insightful advice! I am doing my best to stay on track so I shouldn't be so hard on myself.
  • ninerbuff
    ninerbuff Posts: 49,028 Member
    Can be done in ONE DAY.

    A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
    IDEA Fitness member
    Kickboxing Certified Instructor
    Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition
    9285851.png
  • sijomial
    sijomial Posts: 19,809 Member
    If you flip your question around then you KNOW that 3lb gain can't be FAT gain without eating in a five figure calorie surplus in a few days. Knowing what it cannot be might help settle your anxiety?
    You of course also know it's not muscle or bone gained so that really just leaves water or food in transit.

    For me a Chinese meal but eating around maintenance calories I would expect a 4lb jump.
    Day after a 100 mile bike ride and a massive calorie deficit I would expect a 3lb jump upwards just from the soreness.

    That's normal for me, the trick is to discover what is normal (or within a range of possibily) for you.
  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 34,617 Member
    I've had bigger overnight gains/losses than that, and I'm not an especially big person, so 3 pounds would be almost 2.5% of my bodyweight.

    Sijomial's right: If you didn't eat roughly 10,500 calories above your maintenance calories during those few days, or move that much less, or some combination, there's no way it's fat, and about the only thing it can be is water or digestive contents on their way to becoming waste. (I'm not even sure it's possible to move 10,500 calories less in a few days, for an average person! For sure, if you ate that much above maintenance, you would've noticed.)

    Relax, give it a week or two to settle out - maybe even a month, for premenopausal women - things will be fine.

    I second the idea that weighing daily is fine, unless doing so is too stressful or obsessive-feeling for you personally. (People differ.) I've weighed myself daily for years, nowadays put that weight in my weight-trending app, but have always paid attention to the multi-week trend, not the daily jumps up and down. Seeing those jumps has helped me, in fact, by educating me about what causes them, how long they usually last, and that sort of thing - that's calming knowledge, for me. YMMV.
  • ChickenKillerPuppy
    ChickenKillerPuppy Posts: 297 Member
    edited December 2021
    sijomial wrote: »
    If you flip your question around then you KNOW that 3lb gain can't be FAT gain without eating in a five figure calorie surplus in a few days.

    This is what gets me through fluctuations. If I know it takes roughly 3,500 calories ABOVE MAINTENANCE to gain a pound, I think about the number of calories I have consumed, and assuming I have confidence that my logging is accurate, I feel comfort knowing that there is no way I actually consumed enough calories to gain a pound (or more) of fat.
  • musicfan68
    musicfan68 Posts: 1,143 Member
    2-3 lbs is nothing. I gained 7 over a holiday weekend because of eating out a few times. Was gone about 10 days later.
  • age_is_just_a_number
    age_is_just_a_number Posts: 631 Member
    Scale fluctuations are 100% normal. Read this funny analogy on why.
  • wunderkindking
    wunderkindking Posts: 1,615 Member
    I gain 4 lbs between getting up in the morning and going to bed again on MOST days, so yeah. Totally possible.
  • russellholtslander1
    russellholtslander1 Posts: 285 Member
    I lost 5 lbs. since yesterday. The body has a lot of water, and can go up or down based on what you do.

    Salty food can cause water weight gain, and so can working out. The body deals with it, and you excrete the excess water weight, as you balance out, if you don't repeat it today.

    We often hear of 3-4 lb. drops in a day, so why not a 3-4 lb. gain.. simply by doing the reverse.. I lose weight on low carb, but if I eat off plan, I gain it right back.

    This is normal. We all overdo salt, carbs, even drink too much water, but it is temporary. When carbs turn to glycogen, they bond with water, instead of letting it go through the body. When you burn off the glycogen, the water molecules are free, and gone when you use the bathroom. Exercise causes us to store more glycogen, in preparation for the next workout.. bigger muscles store more glycogen. So more water.. but this is temporary.

    Bodyfat may be more permanent, and hold more water as cells grow in size. A large cell may hold 20x as much water as a small fat cell. This is why low carbers lose so quickly, burning their body fat, releasing stored water.

    Lean bodyweight varies much less. Don't worry about a few lbs. They usually disappear as fast as you gain them, as long as you aren't repeatedly doing what caused the gain. You think you know why.. if true, if you skip a day, before you work out, and eat less salt in your diet, you should see a drop on the scale soon.

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