I gained 4 pounds in one day. What gives?

Hi Ariane,

After taking two hours of boot camp and three hours of acrobatics in 28 hours, I stepped on the scale this morning to find a 4lb weight gain. I'm not super concerned because my stomach looks nearly flat (!), but I'm curious what might have caused it. The possible answers I came up with:

- I worked out so much, I also drank much more water than usual

- I got home late last night and ate "dinner" (1/3 c cottage cheese) at about midnight

- muscle gain (that quick?)

- the day before yesterday I had a cheat after dinner (a cookie following a healthy dinner), and it's showing up now.

Any ideas?  I'm curious.

Thanks! Doing the back-to-back boot camps wasn't so bad after all....

Sarah

Hi Sarah, 

the four pounds are definitely not anything to worry about. You can't put on that much fat in one day, nor muscle. So, only water weight remains as an explanation. Putting on muscle takes quite a bit of work and time and you can't gain 4 lbs in 28 hours. It can't be water retention from a little cookie because for every gram of sugar/starch you eat you retain about 3-4 grams of water, but that wouldn't account for 4 lbs.

The fact that you drank more water may explain some of it but not all because drinking a lot also flushes out your system. Your body is quite effective at regulating your fluid household and drinking lots of water wouldn't add four pounds to your body. 

Are you sure you are comparing your weight to the same time of day from the previous day? You can easily weigh 4-5 lbs more at the end of the day than in the morning due to water retention, digestion, food you ate, etc. So, pick one time of day at which you weigh yourself and then use that as your measure of progress. 

In all likelihood you exhausted your muscles so much that your body went into inflammation mode. This helps heal the microscopic damage in your muscles and in the process drew in a lot of water to help with the healing. Also, you may have been dehydrated and your body tried to regulate it by holding on to water. I'm sure in two days you're back to normal. Stop weighing yourself and instead rely on your clothes as feedback.

Also, is there any chance you might be coming up on your period? That can easily explain 4 lbs of weight gained....

Hi Ariane,

thanks. Inflammation makes sense--I took a rest day yesterday and just did some stretching, and today my weight is back to normal. I also thought that because I ate more carbs, including some starches, on Tuesday (3-egg omelet, a piece of whole wheat bread, and another piece of bread at lunch) that could factor in as well and show up on Wednesday. No more Wednesday weigh-ins! I had to buy a new belt!

Thanks, Sarah