Why the hell did I gain weight? I did everything right!!!
It is very easy while trying to lose weight, to step on a scale and see a disappointing number even though you did everything right. If this has happened to you, you can remember the strong sense of disappointment and maybe even anger as you just didn’t understand why this was happening to you. Today I’m hoping to explain a few reasons why this can happen, and why one or two bad weigh ins shouldn’t even phase you. Hopefully I might even convince a few people that the number on the scale isn’t always the most important thing to be worried about.
I came across this awesome picture on Instagram today and it inspired me to write a little bit about this topic so shout out to Syattfitness for posting the image that inspired me. It is an extremely well done and informative Instagram page and website and I would strongly recommend checking out his stuff.
Key Point before we get started (Weight vs. Fat)
A lot of times I hear people confuse the terms fat and weight. I can gain 10 pounds in a day by drinking and eating a ridiculous amount, but I will have gained no fat by the end of the day. It is important when weighing yourself to be more concerned about fat than weight. More times than not weird fluctuations are a result of a change in weight and not a change in fat. These are the cases you don’t need to worry about. I’m not trying to say the scale is not important at all, but if your weight is trending down over the week or the month, that is much more important than day to day fluctuations.
Reasons your weight can fluctuate so much
Eating later than usual
- This can mean that there will be more food in your stomach the next morning when you weigh in. Nothing to do with fat or body composition, you just literally have more food in your body than normal.
Weighing yourself earlier
- This could mean that similar to the last reason, you have more food content in your stomach. This increases your weight, but has nothing to do with your fat levels or body composition.
You lifted weights yesterday
- Lifting causes tears in the muscle that need to be repaired by the body. When repairing these tiny tears the body tends to retain more water and nutrients in the affected muscles in order to help them recover. This obviously can cause a fluctuation in weight.
You ate a lot of carbs or salty food yesterday
- Consuming lots of carbs and salt can also cause your body to retain more water than usual. This can increase your weigh-ins
You’re stressed out
- When you're stressed out your body tends to want to hold onto more water weight which can make you bloated and heavier. One reason why women often gain weight (not fat) on their period.
You need to take a dump
- I feel like this is pretty self-explanatory as to why you’d be heavier. This can honestly be pretty common though. It happens to me a couple times a month.
A few tips on how to weigh yourself
- Be consistent with your timing, preferably when you wake up so your stomach is the most empty. When you are consistent with what time you weigh yourself it is easier to see a clearer picture of your weight/fat loss.
- Take an average of your weight for the week to prevent obsession over daily weigh ins. If your week averages are going down, that’s all that matters.
- Weigh yourself as often as you can to get the most accurate average for the week possible
Thanks for reading! Let me know what you think in the comments
