Weight "glitch"

A

ahammad

New member
I started a whole "eating-healthy" and excercising routine about 4 months ago. I am happy to say that I went down from 276 to 236 as of yesterday afternoon. I've been hovering around the 236 mark for about a week or so...

I just got back from a 30 minute cardio session at the gym. I weighed myself right before I started, wearing the typical gym clothes that I always wear. It read a disappointing 244...

Going up 6 pounds in 1 day seems impossible to me. Is it? If so, what could cause a huge spike in the weight like that?

BTW, I always weigh myself right before I begin my excercising. I consume anywhere between 1300 and 1900 cals a day (I'm fairly certain of those boundaries). I've had 2 days in the 4 months where I ate over 2k calories, but those were a while back so I don't think that they matter.

I go to the gym consistently 4 times a week. I did not go the entire week 2 weeks ago because I had a car accident and I got injured. I also laid off the weights for now because of an elbow and a knee injury (I should resume next week...I hope). Those are the only things that are out of the usual routine...

Other than that little motivation-shattering weight spike, I think it's going well...:)
 
First advice to you would be ... walk away from the scale. :)

I can gain up to 10 pounds after I work out. First of all, your muscles retain fluid after a workout - it's part of the recovery process. Second of all, I drink about 1/2 gallon of water during and after a workout. Did you know a gallon of water weighs 8.5 lbs? Where do you think that weight goes when you drink it and before you pee or sweat it out?

Weighing after you workout when you normally weigh before is pretty much useless. The only thing that will give you (somewhat) consistent results is to weigh at the same time, in the same location, wearing the same clothes, and having eaten the same thing. And even then, your weight can be affected by how much salt you've had, the time of month (for women, anyway), the barometric pressure (seriously), and any of a dozen other factors.

But 6 lbs right after working out hard? Sounds perfectly normal to me.
 
KaraCooks said:
First advice to you would be ... walk away from the scale. :)

I can gain up to 10 pounds after I work out. First of all, your muscles retain fluid after a workout - it's part of the recovery process. Second of all, I drink about 1/2 gallon of water during and after a workout. Did you know a gallon of water weighs 8.5 lbs? Where do you think that weight goes when you drink it and before you pee or sweat it out?

Weighing after you workout when you normally weigh before is pretty much useless. The only thing that will give you (somewhat) consistent results is to weigh at the same time, in the same location, wearing the same clothes, and having eaten the same thing. And even then, your weight can be affected by how much salt you've had, the time of month (for women, anyway), the barometric pressure (seriously), and any of a dozen other factors.

But 6 lbs right after working out hard? Sounds perfectly normal to me.
Click to expand...


I actually weigh myself right before the workout, not right after...would it be possible for the weight to linger around for a whole day, meaning the additional 6lbs are a result of yesterday's work out?

I agree about the bit about the scale...the problem is it can be an excellent motivational tool when you see hard numbers in front of you...then again it could have the complete opposite effect when things like this happen.

I've come a long way since I've started...40lbs may not be as big a feat as some of the other members here have managed, but I've never gone this far before. I won't let the spikes in weight mess with me, but knowing the science behind it would help in keeping my head straight....

Thanks for the info, I wasn't aware that this was somewhat normal...
 
Oh, gotcha, gotcha. For some reason I misread your post as you weighed yourself AFTER your workout. I gotta read more carefully.

Ok, even so, it is entirely possible to have a 4-6 lb weight fluctuation.

To be honest, that's why I weigh first thing in the morning. I get up, use the bathroom, take a shower, and weigh myself naked. That way I don't have to worry about clothing, I don't have to worry about what I just ate or drank. I have a (reasonably) consistent weight to deal with.

Even so, if I ate salt the night before, if I drank a diet soda, if I worked out especially hard ... or any of a dozen other things ... I've seen fluctuations of anywhere from 2-7 lbs.

The other thing is that retained fluids in your muscles can stick around for a while. Sometimes 3-6 days even. Most of the time it's a lot shorter than that, but if you exercised particularly hard, or if your hormones are out of whack (even guys get monthly hormone fluctuations), or whatever ... it's possible for that weight to stick around.

I'm inclined to say that it's probably a fluke - a coincidence. Some kind of muscle retention, maybe with a higher salt intake from the day before - or something you ate or drank still weighing in your stomach.

Finally, keep in mind that to gain 6 lbs of fat, you'd have to eat 21,000 calories over and above your maintenance amount. :) I suspect you'd know it if you ate 21,000 calories.
 
I'm definitely not a "pro" to this weight loss thing (duh. that's why I'm not 130 pounds haha..YET!!) but I've learned to say "f*ck you scale!" over the past few months.

There were days where I was 248 then miraculously within less than 24 hours I weighed in at 234. Pfft If I can lose 14 pounds in 1 day, I'm going to write a damn book. So yeah, your weight can DEFINITELY fluctuate. Don't worry about it so much.
 
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