Just looking for some perspectives...
I went out of town and from Wednesday to Monday weigh ins, I gained 7.6 lbs. My head says this is ~21kcal of overeating vs maintenance. Wed-Fri I tracked and was below maintenance each day, so the two "cheat" days I didn't track were Saturday and Sunday, so its near impossible that I had that kind of excess from just those two days maybe 5-8k across 2 days would really feel like a lot. But, if this follows my prior patterns, it will take me weeks of doing all my "right" things to get back where I was going down 1-2 lbs per week. I've read and been told that times like these were temporary fluctuations, but it seems like "temporary" should be a bit more temporary than having to work just as hard for a longer time.. I expected to gain some, and I know weight gain isn't only tied to the calories to lbs conversions, but that's exactly why I said I was looking for perspectives on anything else I should consider that I might not be thinking about.

Football season is coming up, and I want to make sure my head is in the right place because it becomes a common pattern of bad splurging weekends during football!

GeorgiAg said:

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That sounds like a lot of weight to "gain" in such a short period. 7.6 lbs sounds a little too precise. There could be water weight involved, so I wouldn't get too bent out of shape about it. With water weight, I've fluctuated a few pounds just on that from day to day. Water weight is especially a thing if you are doing keto - you lose a ton of weight on keto but some of that is water. When you come off keto, the water weight comes back.

Also Wed to Monday is not a "cheat day." That's like a cheat week.

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I'm not actively doing keto, but its possible some of just my normal eating would be keto-like. I wouldn't say I'm out of shape about it, really just trying to understand more, and especially around how water weight would present itself in these situations, because that is what I keep telling myself, but still have trouble rationalizing it. Seems like if it was just water weight, it would drop off faster as I get back into my normal routine. Based on past experiences, I'm expecting it to be at least two weeks or more to get back where I was, and that's mentally frustrating, especially when I'd like to get to a maintenance mode and not feel like I'm constantly in deficit mode.

Wed through Monday just meant my two weigh in days, same scale, same time of day, same conditions. Sat/Sun were the only days I did not track and would have been above maintenance.

This is me, especially at dinner. Something salty at night can lead to a 2 pound variance in the morning

I bounce all around from day to day. Salts and carbs will affect how much water you retain. If I have a lot of carbs or salty food, I'll be heavy the next day by a couple of pounds, but it is just water. With weight, you have to look at average trends.

I had a doctors visit on a Thursday and weighed 230, that Sunday I ate a ribeye and a baked potato. I had a doctors visit the following day at 1pm for a physical. I weighed 240 when I woke up. I drank a bunch of lemon water and a cup of coffee and weighed 232 by the time I was at the doctor at 1pm. Salt and water make up a lot of weight.

Salt was definitely something I didn't factor in... even though I tracked from wed-fri, it was probably heavier salt foods than i'm used to eating. I'll have to keep an eye on that too.

I'm going to see what the next few days look like too. Maybe it will go back down faster, but that just was never the pattern in the past. Just hard to get to a "maintenance mode" when there are so many ups and downs. Got all this weight off, and now I'm probably overly paranoid about putting it back on if I stop paying attention.

Dr. Horrible said:

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Salt was definitely something I didn't factor in... even though I tracked from wed-fri, it was probably heavier salt foods than i'm used to eating. I'll have to keep an eye on that too.

I'm going to see what the next few days look like too. Maybe it will go back down faster, but that just was never the pattern in the past. Just hard to get to a "maintenance mode" when there are so many ups and downs. Got all this weight off, and now I'm probably overly paranoid about putting it back on if I stop paying attention.

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Drink two glasses of lemon water each morning and you will see a noticeable decrease in weight by Thursday.

also a noticeable decline in tooth enamel

10andBOUNCE said:

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also a noticeable decline in tooth enamel

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Haha yes if you do not brush right after.

VP at Pierce and Pierce said:

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Dr. Horrible said:

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Salt was definitely something I didn't factor in... even though I tracked from wed-fri, it was probably heavier salt foods than i'm used to eating. I'll have to keep an eye on that too.

I'm going to see what the next few days look like too. Maybe it will go back down faster, but that just was never the pattern in the past. Just hard to get to a "maintenance mode" when there are so many ups and downs. Got all this weight off, and now I'm probably overly paranoid about putting it back on if I stop paying attention.

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Drink two glasses of lemon water each morning and you will see a noticeable decrease in weight by Thursday.

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So how do you propose this helps with overall health? You're just manipulating a number on the scale

True Anomaly said:

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VP at Pierce and Pierce said:

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Dr. Horrible said:

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Salt was definitely something I didn't factor in... even though I tracked from wed-fri, it was probably heavier salt foods than i'm used to eating. I'll have to keep an eye on that too.

I'm going to see what the next few days look like too. Maybe it will go back down faster, but that just was never the pattern in the past. Just hard to get to a "maintenance mode" when there are so many ups and downs. Got all this weight off, and now I'm probably overly paranoid about putting it back on if I stop paying attention.

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Drink two glasses of lemon water each morning and you will see a noticeable decrease in weight by Thursday.

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So how do you propose this helps with overall health? You're just manipulating a number on the scale

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It flushes more out of me and speeds up my metabolism each morning as well as aids in digestion. Just a part of a healthier lifestyle.

True Anomaly said:

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VP at Pierce and Pierce said:

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True Anomaly said:

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VP at Pierce and Pierce said:

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Dr. Horrible said:

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Salt was definitely something I didn't factor in... even though I tracked from wed-fri, it was probably heavier salt foods than i'm used to eating. I'll have to keep an eye on that too.

I'm going to see what the next few days look like too. Maybe it will go back down faster, but that just was never the pattern in the past. Just hard to get to a "maintenance mode" when there are so many ups and downs. Got all this weight off, and now I'm probably overly paranoid about putting it back on if I stop paying attention.

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Drink two glasses of lemon water each morning and you will see a noticeable decrease in weight by Thursday.

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So how do you propose this helps with overall health? You're just manipulating a number on the scale

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It flushes more out of me and speeds up my metabolism each morning as well as aids in digestion. Just a part of a healthier lifestyle.

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My man, your kidneys do more than enough to flush you out. And there's no actual way that lemon water does anything to your metabolism

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Ok thanks

A pint's a pound the world round. I drink a 32oz glass of water every morning within 30 minutes of waking up. That's two pounds.

I almost always gain a few pounds over the weekend but always fast until dinner and drink a gallon of water on Monday (and every day) and am usually back to my Friday weight by Tuesday morning.

Remember - 1 gram of carbs equal about 4 grams of water retention. So if you had carbs this weekend - you are going to retain water. Couple that with salt - your weight gain is completely understandable. In my experience, it takes a couple of day to flush the excess water out. I know when I have a cheat day, the next 2-3 days, I am pizzing every 5 minutes it seems.

Weighing yourself when you're dehydrated is a great way to make yourself depressed a few days later.

Hoosegow said:

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Remember - 1 gram of carbs equal about 4 grams of water retention. So if you had carbs this weekend - you are going to retain water. Couple that with salt - your weight gain is completely understandable. In my experience, it takes a couple of day to flush the excess water out. I know when I have a cheat day, the next 2-3 days, I am pizzing every 5 minutes it seems.

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Also remember, 2 lbs of sweat contains about 1 g of sodium chloride. So, if you're not working out and sweating, a high sodium diet will just cause water retention, similar to a saline IV. If you've ever had one, remember how much you had to pee for the next few days?

Haha, so true.

Despite consistently weighing on Fridays around noon, my mid to late summer weigh-ins seem to be most variable due to all the comments above regarding water.

Nice thread.

Hoosegow said:

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Remember - 1 gram of carbs equal about 4 grams of water retention. So if you had carbs this weekend - you are going to retain water. Couple that with salt - your weight gain is completely understandable. In my experience, it takes a couple of day to flush the excess water out. I know when I have a cheat day, the next 2-3 days, I am pizzing every 5 minutes it seems.

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This is definitely interesting... had never heard the relationship between grams of carbs and water retention... love getting to add that to my knowledge base, and part of why I started this thread. Even though I was at a deficit yesterday, I was still decently heavier in carbs than I typically am, so that will probably slow down the loss too.

That is why you can lose so much weight quickly when going on a low carb diet. 90 grams of carbs - or 360 calories from carbs ends up being a total of 1 pound of water weight - 1 pound =453 grams=90 grams of carbs = 360 calories at 4 carbs/gram of carb.

All rough estimate.

Still tracking and wanted to post a couple follow ups, after everyone was so helpful... Trying to understand my body better to see what these major triggers are. It's crazy to me to think that losing weight actually felt easier than trying to maintain weight.

This week, I've stuck to 1k calorie deficit, met all my workout goals, and as expected both from water weight and calorie deficit, I'm down 3 lbs from when I originally started this thread. Since some mentioned tracking averages instead of specific days, my average for this week is 5.5 lbs over my average from last week. That still feels higher than I would like, especially going into another weekend where it would be nice to take my foot off the gas an relax a bit, because I wouldn't want to have a similar jump again, and be even further away from where I started.

It seems like if it was primarily water weight, it would come off faster than I'm seeing, but I'm also new to paying attention to this. (no, I didn't try the lemon water trick, maybe I should! lol)
My average carbs for this week have been about 159g, which is possibly a bit high when compared to the last couple weeks of 160/120/133. That might be something I pay more attention to, and especially if I have the cheat days.

Thanks again everyone

Better than my week! I had two meals out (Mexican then bar burger) and splurged and popped up 4 lbs even with my steady workout and low cal lunch.

Ah well next week is a new week haha

Every week is a new week...

For some of us, it has been a lifelong struggle.