gained a pound...????

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erinl84
erinl84 Posts: 90 Member
in Motivation and Support
so this is my first week and i usually weigh myself each morning although i dont log it each day on here. this morning i gained a pound since yesterday. all day yesterday i felt so full but had a very hard time eating enough calories for the day. why the heck am i gaining weight???

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  • DanaKinney
    DanaKinney Posts: 10 Member
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    Awe, that is discouraging isn't it. When I tell people that I am up a pound or something, they always tell me not to weigh everyday. That's easy to say if you are not a "weigher" and I am. I am going to say something that sounds bad, but I weigh myself often so I am speaking from having been on the roller-coaster. If you are going to weigh everyday then you have to cut yourself some slack about the results. We all know that our bodies make all kinds of adjustments and there are a lot of things that can change our weight. Just remember that if you are exercising and logging - then you couldn't have gained a pound of fat - that takes eating an extra 3,500 calories on top of your maintenance amount. I wish you every success on your weight loss journey. DanaKinney
  • hiker282
    hiker282 Posts: 983 Member
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    Give your body some time to adjust to what you're doing. As long as you're eating well, working out, and eating back your exercise calories, the weight will start coming off. I was fluctuating within the same 4-5 pounds for a good three weeks before the weight started going down. Sometimes you need to convince your body that you're serious about what you're doing.
  • shenitamo
    shenitamo Posts: 147 Member
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    Same here...I can't help but weight myself everyday! Slight weight gain will happen from time to time. Bloating from your cycle, water weight, muscle gain, etc. Don't fret! Just keep moving and eat healthy.
    Best of luck!
  • vjrose
    vjrose Posts: 809 Member
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    Give yourself some time and this may sound odd but when you change your lifestyle suddenly you can become "irregular" so lots of fiber and water can often get rid of that bloated feeling and even out those temporary body process weight gain. Also track your sodium, if you have a high sodium (over 2500) you will likely have a water retention gain the next day. Lol, there are so many things that can make you think you are gaining. Oh and after an intense workout day you will likely for awhile retain water the next day as your body repairs your muscles. So, be patient and diligent and the scale will start to go down.
  • LaurenJn83
    LaurenJn83 Posts: 46
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    Hi there! I weigh myself EVERY day (morning and night). A lot of people say not too or you get discouraged, but I don't find that to be the case for me. It helps me stay on track. That being said... from day to day, your weight will fluctuate - even up while you're losing. There is a lot going on. Possible water retention that day (did you get a lot of salt that day), possible muscle gain from working out. Could be from constipation (I know, gross). So, just know that one or two pounds fluctuating up and down is going to happen, not to worry :)
    Some people only weigh theirselves once a week - there is NO way I could wait that long!
  • Amy_nz
    Amy_nz Posts: 145
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    As a bit of an experiment I weighed myself every day for a couple of weeks once. (And sometimes more than once a day.) There was no rhyme or reason - one day I had lost a kilo, the next day (having had very healthy food) I had gained a kilo and a half. By the end of the day that was all gone and I was back to normal.

    Our weight fluctuates incredibly every day. All sorts of things can have an impact including our cycle (I gain about a kilo every month!). You're probably not gaining weight, your body is just doing its thing.

    I agree with the poster above - if you're going to weigh yourself every day, don't take it as gospel.
  • Teliooo
    Teliooo Posts: 725 Member
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    A pound? You can't gage our weight each day. Your weight can majorly fluctuate. You will not weigh the same everyday. Don't panic.
  • Thomasm198
    Thomasm198 Posts: 3,189 Member
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    You didn't gain a pound overnight. Our weight fluctuates from day to day and also throughout the day.

    Have a read of this topic. It is very informative and detailed.

    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/350212--why-scales-lie
  • dklimek86
    dklimek86 Posts: 14
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    Watching the scale everyday is going to hurt you more than help you...too many variables (how much you've ate, drank, used the bathroom etc) to factor in to get a REAL weight. I would recommend doing it every two weeks at the same time of the day (say right when you wake up every Saturday before food or drink), this way you have a realistic way to judge your weight and you remove many variables. Also, if you are working out you will be burning fat but gaining some muscle mass, so resorting to pictures is VERY important. You may never notice because you see yourself EVERY day in the mirror, but when you look back in a month at those pictures (taken at the same distance & location) you should see changes.

    Try to stick to this because you don't want to lose motivation rushing yourself!
  • Amy_nz
    Amy_nz Posts: 145
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    Some people only weigh theirselves once a week - there is NO way I could wait that long!

    I weigh myself every week or two - basically whenever I remember to! I do try on my too-small clothes every now and then though, that's always fun!
  • erinl84
    erinl84 Posts: 90 Member
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    ok, thank you everyone! i guess im just paranoid about the whole idea of being so full yesterday and not wanting to eat anymore but did just to fill up my daily calories.. but everyone keeps saying how important it is to make sure i eat those calories so that is what im doing. i just really want this to work this time around. i see all these success stories/pictures and i cannot wait to get there. well, im hoping to get there!
  • MaximalLife
    MaximalLife Posts: 2,447 Member
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    so this is my first week and i usually weigh myself each morning although i dont log it each day on here. this morning i gained a pound since yesterday. all day yesterday i felt so full but had a very hard time eating enough calories for the day. why the heck am i gaining weight???
    Ladies' weight can fluctuate day to day for all those female reasons related to cycles and such.
    Worry NOT!

    Just record your weight on MFP when you lose a pound or so 2 days in a row, and don't stress over any gains unless the trend is creeping up all week for 2 weeks straight.

    You're doing fine!
    Just take a breath and calm thyself:smile:

    There is no crisis here.
  • carrie564
    carrie564 Posts: 44 Member
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    Defnitely don't weigh every day, as tempting as it is. Try to do only once per week at the exact same time, it'll be the most accurate, and you'll feel SO much happier because it'll reflect exactly what you accomplished in that week (so you'll KNOW there's a pound missing because you BURNED that pound, and can be PROUD).

    As for gaining weight, I notice it's usually when I overdid the carbs. Carbs retain three times as much water as other types of calories. So you feeling full is probably being bloated & holding onto a bunch of water. If you watch your starchy carbs (bready things & potatoes, corn, etc) over the next two days or so- like only one or two per day, then fill up the rest of your calories with vegetables and proteins- you'll probably see the weight fall right off.
  • ncw89
    ncw89 Posts: 61 Member
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    You're never going to have a perfect downward-sloping weightloss chart, esp. if you weigh every single day. There's always going to be small fluctuations in your body that can contribute to gaining or losing, and you might see yourself down a pound for a day, down half a pound, up half a pound, down one, up one down one...for example...so you'll see some days where you've gained from the previous day but over the course of a week you're down in total.
    I find it drives me insane to weigh every day because I get too discouraged when I feel I've worked really hard and deprived myself then I see I've gained anyway. But I've seen said that you need to eat 3500 cals on top of maintenance to gain a lb so it's unlikely you've done that since yesterday x)
    So don't worry too much: as I say, you'll never get a perfect chart. You need to view it over a longer period of time, so either stop weighing every day or just keep check and accept the gains along with the losses as long as there's an overall loss over a greater length of time :)
  • gatecityradio
    gatecityradio Posts: 401
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    I've lost 8 pounds in the first week and a half, and yesterday I didn't lose any weight for the first time and today my scale said I gained 1.2 pounds. I haven't changed my diet or my exercise routine, but yesterday I felt like I was forcing myself to eat to keep up with my calories. The only thing I can figure out is maybe I wasn't as active as I normally am at work yesterday, so maybe I shouldn't of forced the extra food and just ate until I was comfortable.
  • choirgirl1130
    choirgirl1130 Posts: 80 Member
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    don't be discouraged....sometimes it can simply be what we ate the day before and you are retaining water...water is a by-product of carb metabolism....that is why people feel bloated after eating a carb-rich meal, particularly pasta, rice, breads. your body may just be trying to adjust to something new, even if it is good and healthy. i know when i change my eating habits, my body will "freak out" for a short time, especially if i am trying to eat very regimented.
    also, don't forget you may have large shifts in you weight prior to your period :0) i have just learned NOT to weigh myself the week before and wait a day or two after i start to check my weight...just remember to stay on track!
    remember losing weight is just a math game...you need to consume less calories than you use :0)
    BEST WISHES TO YOU!!!
  • JacksMom12
    JacksMom12 Posts: 1,044 Member
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    You need to eat an EXCESS of 3,500 calories to gain a real pound- of fat. 3500 on top of maintenance, which is probably around 1800. You would have had to theoretically have eaten 5,300 calories approx. Yesterday to gain hypothetically "gain a pound in one day" Considering you ate 900 calories total yesterday, I'd say you did not actually gain a pound.

    Yes, i know it doesn't exactly work like this because it takes longer than a day for it to show up and whatever but sometimes I have to remind myself of the logic when I freak out over the scale.

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