Weird weight gain

[Sera]

OK, something is really weird, I've gained 1 kg (~2 lbs) since last saturday and cant find any explanation for it.
It started when we went to a greek restaurant saturday evening, I didnt get enough veggies that evening, no question, because the salad i had ordered had some weird honeydressing which they never had before and to be quite honest i wasnt in the mood to fuss around so my bf ate it.

anyway i know when i eat a lot of meat i gain a bit and cant go to the toilet for a day or so...i know that and i can live with it because it always fixes itself.

this time i couldnt "go" for 3 days even though i had my veggies and fibre supplement (psyllium and inuline).

by now i am able to "go" again (once or twice a day) so that is fixed but i still havent lost that 1 kg.
I havent added anything to my diet, been eating at ~55 net carbs which worked fine for the 2 weeks before saturday...i kept losing, so no problem.

dont get me wrong, i know ups and downs are normal and i dont usually freak out because of it since i know whatever small amounts i gain, i lose in a few days...well not this time

can i gain fat that quickly? i figured it was water retention but where the heck is that coming from for so long?

here is what i ate during this last week (not all on one day ):

tomatoes, bell peppers, onions, kohlrabi, string beans, potatoes (only on sunday), brussels sprouts, grapes, blueberries, water melon and honey dew melon, pecans
i also eat a low carb bread made from nuts and seeds, full fat greek yogurt, cold meat and cheese every day, nothing in huge amounts.

now every single one of these foods has been tested and worked for me in the past and i never go crazy on the portion size.
the only thing thats a bit dodgy here is the cold meat (sodium) but the amounts i eat never exceed 1 oz per day, so that seems an unlikely reason for water retention.

i drink 3-4 liters of water every and 2-3 cups of tea with milk at work (again has never caused problems in the past).

TOM isnt close either and this cant be muscle gain because i havent done any sport in the last months due to being extremely exhausted all the time (my doc still hasnt figured out why, my blood looks absolutely great).
I know this isnt a good thing but

please tell me if im missing anything because this is driving me nuts.
i've been doing so well all the time, no cheating and i kept losing (even though not quickly).

[Elizellen]

Re: Weird weight gain

Your body may just be taking a break from weightloss
It sounds like water retention to me, so I would suggest just staying on plan and seeing if it works itself out in time.

[PinkWoman]

Re: Weird weight gain

Hi Sera-
I think this is totally normal!! My experiences are similar to yours, and I am beginning to accept it. I do weigh every day, and I am fine with the number no matter what. If I am down, I do an automatic happy dance! If I am the same or up, it is simply a reminder that I need to eat carefully, get all my water that day, and exercise every single day. I have noticed that my weight always goes up 1 to 3 pounds immediately before an even bigger loss the next day. All I care about is the net effect! We are in this for the long haul.

[Sera]

Re: Weird weight gain

thanks ladies.

I know the up and down after and before losses and wasnt really worried for the first days because even if im gaining here and there(compared to the last recorded loss), at least the weight starts to move downwards again before becoming an actual loss again.
since that is what im used to, only gaining without a postive development in sight does have me worried.
i get that i dont really have a choice than to wait and see but i just wanted to be sure im not missing anything that might have made me gain that (water)weight.

this situation does make me a bit mad because i really wanted to get to 75 before visiting my family for the easter weekend
not gonna happen, i guess ;/

[canIdoIT]

Re: Weird weight gain

what does TOM mean?

[kate58]

Re: Weird weight gain

Time Of Month or maybe

[Sera]

Re: Weird weight gain

sooo, I didn't get anywhere during the past 2 weeks...I mean how can you not lose simple water weight while staying on the diet?
I even dropped to around 40 net carbs hoping this would help but it didn't.
So yesterday I went down to induction carb level, ate 21 net carbs and what do you think....the damn water weight is gone (well almost, just a teeny tiny bit left).

I'll do another day just to see if there is any more water that should have gone but didn't and then back to around 50/55 net carbs again.

Anyway, doing this reminded me of the low carb program I followed before Atkins, they didn't have all the rung stuff and it wasn't really meant to be as long term as Atkins.
You started out with 1 week induction, meaning very low carb and then you could eat a greater variety of foods and go higher in carbs but it was still controlled.
But what they did on this plan was that they had 1 induction level day every week and I don't know what the actual purpose if this was since I didn't have much documentation.

So, I'm wondering now after this annoying situation and the fact that 1 induction level day fixed it, do you think it might be a bad idea to actually do this every week?

I'd still be consistent in my eating and there is not cheating but I'd make sure all unnecessary water is definitely gone

[not2late]

Re: Weird weight gain

If dropping back to Induction carbs just means you're going to lose water, it doesn't seem worth it to me. It seems more of a psychological thing than a real weight loss issue (ie fat loss).

But if it makes you feel better, go ahead. My only caution is that you don't get used to obsessing over water weight gain and feel the "need" to go on Induction just to lose a pound of water (that is easily 'regained' by drinking 16 ounces of water or any other fluid.)

[Sera]

Re: Weird weight gain

well its not the kind of "water weight" that you gain during the day by drinking and eating, that is logical and lol of course that will always be there.
compared to monday morning and the 2 weeks before I lost more than 1 kilo that just came out of nowhere, like you would when you just start a diet.

I mean ok, if everything is level again now and I continue like before without these in my opinion weird "weight" gains that just wont go away again, fine but to be honest I dont consider this a normal fluctuation.
before, my weight of course went up and down every day but I never just gained and couldnt get rid of it again.

I really wouldnt call myself obsessed with water weight gain hehe, only with this strange one
I couldnt even tell anymore if I was still losing actual fat and considering I'm doing OWL and was planning to move to the last rung soon, I would think its important to be sure I am not really stalled and found my limit.

Well anyway, if anything like that happens again, I know what to do and maybe I will give the once a week induction level a try...that plan worked quite well for me before I figured I would like Atkins better

[not2late]

Re: Weird weight gain

Dr. Atkins wrote that inches lost represented fat emptying from your cells. So if you are losing inches and the scale doesn't move, I wouldn't worry about it. There was a time during my OWL where I didn't lose a single pound, but I lost a couple of dress sizes. I was kind of depressed because it was spring and I had to buy some new spring clothing. I remember going into a store to buy some pants and getting terrified because none of the pants I tried on fit me. They didn't fit me because they were too big. I got smaller but the scale didn't reflect that at all.

As for water weight gain, I've "gained" 2 or 3 pounds after eating at a restaurant---legal food, but it undoubtedly contained more salt than what my body was used to. And it did take a few days to get rid of it.