Going out on a limb here but I am going to predict how Monday morning is going to go for you right now...
- You wake up, go to the bathroom, brush your teeth, and then step on the scale.
- You probably yell some profanity because you see a 2lb weight jump from your weekend.
“DON’T PANIC!!”
Please! I am begging you here!
Let’s talk about the logic instead:
There is no way you gained 2lbs of PURE body fat in two days. Remember you would have to eat 7,000 calories over what your body burns to gain this fast. Highly unlikely that actually happened!
So where does that weight increase come from?
Water Retention! Also known as “Bloat”!
Water retention can happen for many reasons, but below are three main ones I see happen with people over the weekend.
- They eat more carbohydrates (holiday foods, desserts, snacks, restaurant food, etc). Carbohydrates LOVE water. When you eat more carbohydrates they are stored in your muscle as “glycogen”. For each gram of glycogen stored, we hold on to 3g of water weight. Thus, this leads to the scale going up.
- They eat more sodium through processed food items (holiday foods, restaurant foods, etc). For our bodies to function properly, we need to have the right ratio of sodium to water in our system. Your body is constantly trying to balance this out to manage blood pressure. So, when you increase your sodium intake over the weekend through more processed food items like restaurant or fast food meals, your body is naturally going to hold onto more water weight.
- They drink more alcohol. You have a couple glasses of wine and hard seltzers on a Saturday night with some friends. You wake up Sunday morning dehydrated and you do not take the time to hydrate well the rest of the day. When your body is dehydrated, it wants to hold on to as much fluids as possible to counteract the dehydration. This causes water retention/bloat to occur and the scale to go up.
Those three reasons alone are not the only answer to why the scale could be moving upwards. We also know that hormones, medication, stress, and bowel movements play into what the scale is saying as well.
So, again, please don't give up on your goals. You have not failed if you see the scale go up a few over the weekend!
The only way to get this 2lbs off is to jump right back on track with healthy eating, hitting your protein goals, hydrating, exercising, and sleeping! Remember, one meal doesn't make you gain fat just like one meal does not make you lose fat! It is the inconsistency before and after these times that cause true fat gain.!
Do you feel better after reading this blog post?? I hope it eases some of your anxiety tomorrow morning and you go out and conquer your week!!! PS- even go a step further and DO NOT step on the scale. I promise you will feel better!
If you are finally wanting to get off the “diet train”, I highly recommend checking out my Gray30 course HERE!
xx-Emily