I dont get it??

Excess carbohydrate stored as glycogen holds quite a bit of water with it - 200 calories is 50g of carbs with maybe 5g water per g of carbs would get you to about 300g so not outside the realms of possibility.

Your diet is low in proteins and fats if you're logging correctly. Bread and jam with fruit isn't great nutrition.

Why dont you just eat well all the time instead of 'dieting'. Just eat a good amount of protein, veg and some decent quality carbs (NOT bread) from things like brown rice and sweet potatos.

1lb sounds like the margin of error on a typical home scale.

I agree and if you do have to have bread, make it yourself. It's not hard at all and wholemeal bread flour is very inexpensive. According to an article about overindulging in Health and Fitness Magazine August 2012 issue:

A study by Oxford University has discovered that about three hours after a big meal, most of the fat you ingest will have settled around your waist. Previous research suggested weight gain was much more gradual, with food molecules moving into the blood stream for energy and any excess being stored as fat. But the new study shows fat droplets attach themselves to the adipose tissue around your waist within hours.


So that is probably why

if it was me.............your diet needs a complete overhaul

what's with all the carbs? are you an endurance athelete or actually trying to gain weight?

your protein and fat are low and your carbs are way too high

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Im just not that saintly i guess. I'm okay for the most part but im a carb junkie and seriously guilty of comfort eating. I wish i were that disciplined but the thought of never eating bread ever or cake?? HELL!!
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You don't have to never eat bread or cake, just reduce what you eat. So limit yourself to 1 (maybe 2) slice(s) of bread per day or every other day and if cake is being served eat half of what you would normally have. I am definately a bread and cake lover but I slowly limited my intake and it's been fine. I don't miss it because I haven't cut it out completely and I feel better about my eating choices. Plus, I lost weight.

I've been dieting for a long time. I lost 8st with slimming world 10 years ago (YAY) and then slowly a stone crept back on. Over the last 10 years this stone and i have met and parted so many times it feels like family. My problem is if i go over my calorie allowance for the day by more than 200 calories then next day it shows on the scale by a 1lb increase(its always a pound no more no less). It really is that instant and then i spend the next three days trying to get rid of it again. Yet science and common sense tells me you need considerably more calories than this to gain a pound so how come i do? its not like its a fluctuation because it goes on and stays on until i diet it back down again. Help??

the overnight weight gains from 200 cals over are not fat. they're water/glycogen weight increases. I have cheat meals fairly regularly and though I only weigh myself weekly I once as an experiment weighed myself the day after a cheat meal (which I'd eaten on my normal weigh in day) - I put on 2lb overnight. I knew this wasn't fat, it was just water weight because the cheat meal was full of salt. After a couple of days of eating healthy, it was gone (because low sodium, high potassium foods e.g. fruit (especially bananas) and veg help to get rid of retained water from too much sodium)

Change your focus from weight loss to fat loss. Don't stress about these overnight gains or day to day fluctuations, these are caused by water, not fat. Weigh yourself weekly because fat comes off slowly and you will barely notice anything day to day. Some people do weigh themselves daily and mentally compensate for the fluctuations, and monitor a trend in the right direction while not stressing/obsessing about the ups and downs day to day. Either way, the focus is on long term trends in the right direction.

Also, losing fat slowly by having only a small deficit, aiming for slow and steady loss, even maybe as slow as 0.5lb a week - this really makes it a lot easier to stick to long term, and makes maintenance much easier. A lot of people who lose weight then put it on then lose it then put it on etc, they're losing it quickly while being too strict with themselves, so it's hard to stick to long term. It's not an all or nothing thing, i.e. it's not "on the diet" then "off the diet" - it's about healthy lifestyle changes that you can stick to in the long term. MFP enables you to track what you're eating, which is as much about avoiding undereating (which can harm your long term progress) as it is about avoiding overeating. When you're consistently eating the right amount of calories then you slowly lose the fat and it may not seem like anything to write home about, 1lb loss one week, 0.5lb the next.... but it all adds up over time and because you're doing through healthy choices that you'll stick to... it stays off long term.

I've been dieting for a long time. I lost 8st with slimming world 10 years ago (YAY) and then slowly a stone crept back on. Over the last 10 years this stone and i have met and parted so many times it feels like family. My problem is if i go over my calorie allowance for the day by more than 200 calories then next day it shows on the scale by a 1lb increase(its always a pound no more no less). It really is that instant and then i spend the next three days trying to get rid of it again. Yet science and common sense tells me you need considerably more calories than this to gain a pound so how come i do? its not like its a fluctuation because it goes on and stays on until i diet it back down again. Help??

the overnight weight gains from 200 cals over are not fat. they're water/glycogen weight increases. I have cheat meals fairly regularly and though I only weigh myself weekly I once as an experiment weighed myself the day after a cheat meal (which I'd eaten on my normal weigh in day) - I put on 2lb overnight. I knew this wasn't fat, it was just water weight because the cheat meal was full of salt. After a couple of days of eating healthy, it was gone (because low sodium, high potassium foods e.g. fruit (especially bananas) and veg help to get rid of retained water from too much sodium)

Change your focus from weight loss to fat loss. Don't stress about these overnight gains or day to day fluctuations, these are caused by water, not fat. Weigh yourself weekly because fat comes off slowly and you will barely notice anything day to day. Some people do weigh themselves daily and mentally compensate for the fluctuations, and monitor a trend in the right direction while not stressing/obsessing about the ups and downs day to day. Either way, the focus is on long term trends in the right direction.

Also, losing fat slowly by having only a small deficit, aiming for slow and steady loss, even maybe as slow as 0.5lb a week - this really makes it a lot easier to stick to long term, and makes maintenance much easier. A lot of people who lose weight then put it on then lose it then put it on etc, they're losing it quickly while being too strict with themselves, so it's hard to stick to long term. It's not an all or nothing thing, i.e. it's not "on the diet" then "off the diet" - it's about healthy lifestyle changes that you can stick to in the long term. MFP enables you to track what you're eating, which is as much about avoiding undereating (which can harm your long term progress) as it is about avoiding overeating. When you're consistently eating the right amount of calories then you slowly lose the fat and it may not seem like anything to write home about, 1lb loss one week, 0.5lb the next.... but it all adds up over time and because you're doing through healthy choices that you'll stick to... it stays off long term.

Great response! Very true...scales are evil - hard to stay away!

I don't have any idea why this happens, but just wanted to say - don't take the judgemental comments about your diet to heart. You're doing really well and sometimes it feels like there isn't any logic to what you gain or lose, which can be disheartening.

Good luck

I don't have any idea why this happens, but just wanted to say - don't take the judgemental comments about your diet to heart. You're doing really well and sometimes it feels like there isn't any logic to what you gain or lose, which can be disheartening.

Good luck

It may 'feel' like there isnt any logic, but there usually IS logic to it, which is why people ask others to have a look at their diaries. Its not unkind, its helpful suggestions.