.png)
I get a ton of questions about fitness and health but this question is hands-down the most asked:
"I'm doing everything right, why did my weight go up?"
And it's a great question! Body weight can sometimes make a sporadic upward jump, even when you're doing everything right. Usually weight goes up quick, too. It can seem like a 2 pound jump overnight and it might go back down just as fast. Pretty much anyone who is struggling with losing weight has experienced this scenario:
You diet hard for a few weeks, keeping all your calories in check and your exercise on point. You're not binging on the weekends and sabotaging your efforts, but suddenly your weight jumps up by a few pounds! What gives?
You start thinking about everything you've done lately - was it right? Did you make a mistake somewhere? Should you not have had that second helping of broccoli?
I'm here to tell you: Don't Panic. Everything is fine.
Let's talk about the million little things that make up body weight, and why the scale can swing back and forth like a musical metronome.
The Symphony of Weight
Like a musical symphony, your body is composed of many different parts all orchestrated together to work in harmony. It has many different instruments all playing at the same time (Okay, enough of the music analogies.)
Your body weight is the result of many different functions and important things. And surprisingly, your body weight can fluctuate as much as 5 pounds in a single day! Some professional athletes are known for pushing the boundaries of what their body can handle and can manipulate even more weight in a short time.
But it should be made very clear from the onset - this change in body weight has nothing to do with body FAT. These two terms are not interchangeable. They are different.
Body FAT is the amount of fat mass under the skin and between the organs. The jiggly stuff most people want to get rid of.
Body WEIGHT is a sum of everything from your head to your toes including:
Your hair
Your skin
Any clothes you're wearing
Your muscle mass
Yesterday's dinner
Your muscle mass
Your fat mass
Glycogen
And, wait for it...
Water weight!
Yes, water weight. The catch-all term used to explain otherwise inexplicable weight changes. But water weight is actually a thing. Water weight is usually the first few pounds lost during a fitness program and also responsible for the occasional uptick.
Water weight is the magical buffer before actual fat loss, and it's the majority of early (or sudden) weight changes.
What Is Water Weight?
Water is heavy. If you've ever carried around a gallon of water you'll notice it weighs approximately 128 ounces. That's 8 pounds.
This shouldn't be news to anybody.
If you were to suddenly drink a gallon of water (don't do that) while standing on a scale, your body weight would increase by about 8 pounds instantly. You would also make a funny sloshing sound as you walk. As that water passes through you, your body weight would slowly decrease back to normal. This is an extreme example of what happens every day with water, salt, glycogen, and food.
WATER
Because your body is upward of 60% water, there's a lot of room to fluctuate up and down. Some research suggests that the "average" person is currently 2% - 5% dehydrated at any given time and doesn't even realize it.
This means that a 200lb person can consist of ~120lbs of water. If that person is 5% dehydrated, that's a difference of up to 6-10 pounds. Or something like that. Math eludes me.
Now imaging that average 200lb person suddenly realizing he's dehydrated and generally unhealthy. To fix this he starts a workout program and starts drinking more water. After a couple of days of not behind dehydrated, he's 6 pounds heavier. Ack! Frustration!
SALT
Salt adds to this frustration equation. Salt in the form of sodium is an important mineral in the body - but it needs to be regulated. Your body likes to have a balanced salt-to-water ratio and if your salt levels increase from too much chips and salsa, your water levels rise to meet it.
Oh and by the way, water is in almost everything you eat and drink. So is salt because it makes food taste good.
Salt by itself doesn't make you fat, but it can increase your water ratios which leads to excess volume of stuff in the blood, which increases your blood pressure. This is why doctors and health professionals recommend reducing salt levels if you have high blood pressure.
And if you've been regularly eating health meals but one day decide to give in to that salty delicious snack, you should expect an equally delicious water-weight increase.
But again, it's not body fat.
GLYCOGEN
Glycogen is stored energy. It's what's created when you break down food and store it for future use, but not like body fat. Glycogen is your body's way of storing energy for short-term use (fat stores are for long-term use).
If I were to use closet space as an analogy, glycogen is stored in the body much like you would store something in your house closet. You don't need it right away, but maybe soon. Fat, on the other hand, is like storing something in the attic or basement. You may need it eventually, but it's probably just going to build up over time and be forgotten.
Glycogen is stored in the muscle and liver. It's part packaged-glucose and part water, and this water is like the plastic storage container you use to pack it away. It helps keep it usable for the future.
If you stopped eating completely, your glycogen stores would last for about a day. After that, your body would start breaking down fat cells for energy use. Likewise, if your glycogen stores are depleted, it's one of the first things to be replenished when eating food.
Glycogen stores can be depleted by up to 50-75% with vigorous exercise, but exercise has another neat effect on glycogen stores: It increases the total available amount. The more fit you are, the more glycogen stores you have - meaning the more potential water weight you can hold.
Untrained people who begin a fitness program increase their glycogen stores and increase the capacity to hold more energy and water. This is another reason exercisers may notice a "sudden" increase in weight after starting a healthy regiment.
It's not fat, but it's not muscle either. It's considered "lean mass".
FOOD
The last of our big four weight-influencers is food. The stuff you eat everyday. As you can probably guess, food has physical weight to it just like our water example above. Eating and digesting food can be a long, complicated process. It doesn't magically disappear after you swallow it.
Food can sit in your digestive system for a long time - anywhere from 24-72 hours. The types of food can also affect how long it takes to digest. Carbohydrates are more easily digested than proteins and fats, which can sit in your system for a longer time.
Any salt present in the food will help you absorb and retain more water. Combined with glycogen stores being replenished after a tough workout and the food slowly making it's way through you, you can see how your body weight may fluctuate considerably during a 24 hour period.
DON'T PANIC!
Your body weight goes up and down. No matter how hard you diet and exercise, there will be peaks and valleys. If you're weighing yourself on a regular basis (I recommend once per week or less), it's important to recognize this and not compare your peaks to your valleys.
Compare peaks to peaks and valleys to valleys. Or don't weigh at all. Use a different measuring system altogether. Say, for example, progress photos!
MORE Information
Comments