When you’re working toward a weight-loss goal, you watch the number on the scale like a hawk. You wait for that number to go down, even the tiniest bit. But if you’ve been tracking your weight for weeks or months, you definitely see fluctuations. And my recent experience has been frustrating to see while I’m working hard to get into better shape, and health, and weight.
It’s extremely unwelcome to see the scale jump up. Now I know that weight changes from one day to the next are generally temporary and, according to experts, they don’t mean I’m not making progress. But I decided to go on the hunt for reasons my weight is spiking in the wrong direction. I looked at nutritionists, trainers, and diet experts. I discovered that many things have nothing to do with gaining fat.
- Drinking too much water: It’s true that staying well-hydrated is a good move if you’re trying to lose weight, but occasionally an uptick in consumption can mean your body is hydrating. When you’re dehydrated, you actually weigh less, but that doesn’t mean you are healthier. So if don’t drink much water one day, and the next morning you wake up and your weight is down. Then you drink a ton of water and the next day it looks like you gained two pounds. That does not mean you gained two pounds of fat, it just means that your body was depleted of water the day before.
- You ate too much sodium: There are a number of foods that can affect your weight, and sodium is one that can have an immediate impact. It’s temporary, but you still feel it. Sodium causes you to retain water, and that results in a bloated belly and a higher number on the scale. The good news is that it usually goes away within a day or two. To avoid this problem, several nutritionists recommended focusing on whole foods and using herbs and spices to season meals (instead of salt).
- You ate too many carbs: Though carbohydrates are not the enemy of weight loss, eating an unusual amount of them over the course of one day or even a few days can make it seem like you’ve gained weight. Carbohydrates are another type of food that can result in water weight showing up on the scale. Its the reason why people lose weight faster initially on a lower-carbohydrate diet. The body doesn’t hold onto the extra water. It’s also why people gain weight quickly when they eventually go off that lower-carbohydrate diet – that water weight comes back and the scale bounces up!
- Not going to the bathroom: No need for TMI or getting into the nitty gritty here, but if you’re constipated, you’ll see that reflected on the scale. If you aren’t going to the bathroom regularly and getting rid of waste, that is going to cause your weight to fluctuate. That’s the painful reality.
- The weekend effect: Yes, this is real. Studies have sown that Monday-Friday workers’ weight tended to go down during the workweek, with the lowest on Friday mornings. The weights went up over the weekend. I’m not sure how this applies to a mostly retired, works at home, broken person. But it’s worth thinking about.
- The day after weigh-in: Sometimes yesterday’s weight can affect today’s weight for reasons that are all in your head. We judge ourselves by the number on the scale. It’s the success or failure emotions and how we resolve those feelings. If the number is up, people decide they have failed, feel bad and resolve to eat less and work out more. If the number is down, they decide they are a success, feel great, and decide they can eat more and work out less. Ideally, I should behave the same each day when dieting – over time, my weight would start to trend downward, despite the normal fluctuations, but for sure, this is easier said than done.