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#125 - The Scale Went Up...What To Do Next
37 Plays18 days ago
Ever stepped on the scale and nearly panicked? The good news it’s rarely a bunch of fat gain. Today, I’ll show you what’s really happening when the number shoots up and what to do about it.
What You'll Learn
- Why scale spikes are usually water retention—not fat gain and what actually causes them.
- The main triggers behind sudden weight jumps (carbs, salt, alcohol, stress, sleep, workouts, digestion).
- Practical strategies to bounce back without detoxes, crash diets, or punishment workouts.
- How to measure real progress beyond the scale so these moments don’t derail your motivation.
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Transcript
Introduction to the Fit-ish Project
00:00:03
Speaker
Welcome back to the Fit-ish Project with your host, Lathan Bass, where we make fitness and health simple for regular people like you and I. We got a weekly episode coming at you, as we always do. Before I get into this, if you can leave a review, if you have not done so, just continue to get this out to more people who need this information.
00:00:22
Speaker
I do appreciate that.
Post-Vacation Reflections
00:00:24
Speaker
With this week's podcast episode, so I just got back from a little vacation. i went down to Miami, Florida for a buddy's birthday.
00:00:33
Speaker
with some friends. And as I typically do on vacation, I had some alcohol, had some food that I typically would not eat a ton of, didn't get a ton of very good sleep. And only worked out one time, was there for four days and only worked out once. And pretty typical for me when I come back from some sort of vacation where I've done these things like just lack of sleep, drink more alcohol, more food, more carbs, more salt, things like that.
00:01:00
Speaker
The scale for me will typically go up anywhere between 10, sometimes even 15 pounds. And I know for a lot of people, if they were to see something like that, see one of these really big spikes on the scale, they would be freaking out, which I did too, the very first time that this happened to
Understanding Weight Fluctuations
00:01:16
Speaker
me. But being that I've been doing this for a while and I know this routine and I know what's actually going on from a science perspective and what I actually need to do to kind of get back on track and get back to where I was before I left, I figured I would do a
00:01:31
Speaker
episode and just share a little bit about what is going on, why the scale does spike so much, and then ultimately some things and some strategies that you can use to get back on track. Because I know every single one of us has had that moment where you step on the scale and that number is not what you want it to be.
00:01:47
Speaker
And I think there's a lot to be said for not getting too attached to what that specific number is on the scale. But typically we have a general idea of where we want a range to be for our body weight and just how we look and how we feel and all those things. And so I think the scale can be useful, but you don't want to get too attached for it just because a number isn't specifically what you want to see.
00:02:07
Speaker
But with that being said, I also know that it is a tool that a lot of us use to measure progress and to just make sure that we're sort of staying on track. And when you see those spikes, it can be frustrating. It can be discouraging.
00:02:19
Speaker
It can be a lot of different things and a lot of different emotions that come with that scale. And so I want to just Share a little bit about that, what's actually going on, a couple of personal experiences that I have, different experiences that other clients have had, and then give you some practical strategies about what to actually do when this does happen. Because I can promise you, if you have a weight loss goal or if you're just somebody who just wants to track your body weight to just make sure you're maintaining and staying in a good range, you're going to have some spikes on the scale.
00:02:47
Speaker
It might not be as drastic as what I have because different people have different experiences when it comes to the scale. Some people fluctuate a lot in a single day. My weight can fluctuate anywhere between three to seven pounds in a single 12-hour period.
00:03:03
Speaker
Other people will not fluctuate quite as much and they kind of stay steady. But Regardless, you're going to see some spikes. You're going to see some dips on that scale. And so let's get into talking about what you can actually do
Causes of Water Retention
00:03:14
Speaker
with this. And so as I said, I just got back from vacation and I stepped on the scale and that scale was up about 12 pounds.
00:03:20
Speaker
Again, this is not something that is new to me. And so I don't freak out about it anymore. I know how to handle this. And I even had one weekend where I gained 17 pounds in a single weekend. So in a 48 hour span, I gained 17 pounds because my body was holding on to so much water.
00:03:38
Speaker
And so if you've ever had that scale jump up, it could be for so many different reasons. It could be after you had a bunch of carbs. It could be after you had a bunch of salty food. It could be after you had a night out. Maybe you had some cocktails. You had some different foods that you wouldn't normally eat. Maybe you didn't get a ton of sleep. Maybe you're super stressed. There's a lot of different reasons that your body will hold on to water. And that's exactly what's happening here.
00:04:03
Speaker
It's not that you're gaining a bunch of fat overnight. So when you step on that scale and that scale is spiked up two, three, five pounds, it's not like your body just packed on five pounds of fat within that six to seven to eight hour period that you were sleeping.
00:04:16
Speaker
The body does not work like that. And so the first thing you need to realize is that water retention is very different from gain. And something that really helped me out when i actually went through this for the first time was when I started actually thinking about this logically.
00:04:31
Speaker
And so to gain one single pound of weight, you need to eat in excess of 3,500 calories if you eat in excess of that on top of your maintenance calories So maybe your maintenance calories for ah single day is around 2500 in order to gain one pound of fat You would have to eat that 2500 calories per day and then an extra 3500 throughout the week and everything else stay the same and you would gain one pound And so when we think about this for me to gain 10 pounds in a single weekend means that I would have had to eat
00:05:07
Speaker
35,000 extra calories on top of my normal 3000 calories a day so closer to 40,000 calories within a three to four day span and I can throw down i can eat a lot of food but i know for certain that I was not eating 40,000 calories in that short time period and so when you start to actually think about this logically when you put some numbers to it it can ease your mind a little bit and actually understand what's going on and so If we look at a more common example, let's say that scale spikes up two or three pounds overnight, that would mean that you're eating an extra seven to 10,000 calories on top of your normal meals.
00:05:43
Speaker
And for most people, it's possible to do that. Like you could have 7,000 or 5,000 calories in a single day. Like people do that sometimes. But the likelihood of people doing that super often and that being the reason that that scale is spiked up so much is not super high. And so, again, when you put some numbers to it, when you start to think about this a little bit more logically, then you can start to react a little bit better and not be so emotional about it because I highly doubt that.
00:06:11
Speaker
most of you out there eating crazy amounts of food like this, even if you have some days where you overeat, maybe you overdo it, you have more calories than you wanted to, or maybe you do just like, you know, it's a holiday or it's a party or it's something like that. And you really do just eat a ton of extra food.
00:06:27
Speaker
Even with that, like if you're eating an extra 3000, 4000 calories in a single day, you're not gaining 10 pounds of body fat, even if that scale is spiked up five, seven, 10
The Science Behind Weight Gain and Loss
00:06:37
Speaker
pounds. And so the first thing to understand is that weight gain and fat gain are two very different things and so that weight gain can be happening because of that water retention that we talked about and that's typically what's going on here with these spikes it's just your body's fluctuations between how much water it's holding versus how much it is releasing and since your body is primarily made of water that can fluctuate a lot in a single day and one example that i always give is when you think about
00:07:06
Speaker
Fighters or like combat sports where weight classes are a thing, wrestlers, things like that. Those guys can drop crazy amounts of weight in a very short time period, not because they're losing a bunch of fat within two, three, even five days. It's because they're really good at manipulating water in their body. And so it's not uncommon for a fighter to lose 10, 15, even 20 pounds of water weight leading up to their fight so they can make their weights. And then when they refuel, when they get water back in their system, they gain a bunch of that weight right back.
00:07:38
Speaker
I read a book a while back about this guy who was a competitor in powerlifting and they have weight classes in powerlifting. And he was really trying to make this certain weight class so that he could break a bunch of world records.
00:07:49
Speaker
And he came in much heavier than he wanted to be, but he had to keep his weight up throughout training so that he could stay really strong. When it came up to this competition, he lost 40 pounds of water leading up to this competition. Obviously not very safe because there is a lot of health issues that can go wrong, but I think it just goes to show you how much fluids that we have in our body and how much that can be manipulated.
00:08:11
Speaker
And so when you see these little swings of two pounds, three pounds, five pounds, things like that, it's really not that big of a deal in the grand scheme of things. Your body can fluctuate quite a bit in short time periods. And this is another reason why it's really important to look at trends over time, rather than just looking at day to day.
00:08:29
Speaker
And also rather than just like stepping on the scale randomly every so often, because it's really hard to know what's actually going on. If you're somebody who is worried about like gaining fat, or you're wanting to lose fat, you have specific goals around that.
00:08:41
Speaker
It's hard to know if you don't really check those numbers and you're not really focusing on different things and so understanding some of that and just having a better approach to this stuff and understanding a little bit of why it happens and why it matters i think is important and so that's a little bit about like water retention and comparing that versus fat gain because they are two very different things and then just talking about some of the reasons why that scale might spike i mentioned some of those things with like carbs and salt and alcohol and some of those things so Anytime you're eating more carbohydrates in your diet, so you're eating more potatoes, you're eating more rice, you're eating more whole grains, things that have more carbs in them, carbs will cause your body to hold more water. So the more carbs that you are eating, the more water that your body actually holds.
00:09:27
Speaker
If you've ever heard of like endurance athletes or just athletes in general who carb load, it's because they're eating these carbs and eating more carbs increases your glycogen storage, which essentially is just a fancy way to say you're giving your body some excess energy by storing some of those carbs and glycogen in your system. And when you do that, this also increases the water that's in your body. So if you're eating tons of carbs, your weight is naturally going to go up because you're retaining more water.
00:09:54
Speaker
When you're having more salt within your diet, more salt causes your body to also hang on to excess water. So if you're eating out a lot or you're having meals that are prepared at a restaurant or things like that, typically a lot of times those will be a lot saltier just based on the different things that they use because salt is tasty to a lot of people. And so you get a lot of excess salt in foods that are prepared in restaurants and things like that. So That could be another common thing. Alcohol is another one which it dehydrates us and then ultimately ends up making us retain more water because if we're dehydrated, then our body wants to get some of that fluid back. so
00:10:31
Speaker
Having alcohol is a big one and I know that one affects me quite a bit. Like if I do have some drinks, I will notice that I'm just more dehydrated and my body tends to hold on to more water. So that's pretty common one as well.
00:10:43
Speaker
When you're just eating more food, if you have more food in your system, that can also cause you to hold on to more water. Then another one that I think not many people really think about is things like sleep and stress. So when your cortisol levels are starting to get affected from poor sleep or maybe you're just very stressed those things can start to have an effect on the fluid balance within your body as well and so your body could be retaining more water than it normally does just based on stress levels and sleep and hormones and things like that and so like for females when they're on their menstrual cycle and their hormones are a little bit different they typically will start to hold more water they're more bloated those sorts of things and so that stuff also plays role as well and even something as simple as like exercise
00:11:24
Speaker
If you have a really hard workout and your muscles are a little bit inflamed, you have a little bit of inflammation going on in your body, which isn't necessarily a bad thing. Doing exercise and lifting weights and things like that causes some minor inflammation, which ultimately leads to a good thing.
00:11:39
Speaker
but In the short term, those things can cause some extra fluid retention. And so again, it's all just water. It's all just your body hanging on to more water than it typically would.
Managing Post-Vacation Weight
00:11:49
Speaker
And so not freaking out about that and actually having a little bit of an understanding of what's going on, I think can be helpful when you do have these spikes. and then Finally, just getting into, okay, like I know, I understand why this fluid retention happens, why this water retention is going on and some things that might be causing it. And once you understand that and you can kind of manage those expectations a little bit better, I think it takes some of the pressure off and again, gets you kind of out of the emotional state.
00:12:16
Speaker
And then you can just be practical about it. Like what are some things that I can actually do going into this? And so The first thing I would tell you is just don't panic. Understand, again, just being able to know why this is happening. Like just because your body is weighing more and you're holding onto water, it doesn't mean that you packed on a bunch of fat overnight or over the last weekend or even over the last week.
00:12:38
Speaker
Scale swings from two pounds, three pounds, even as much as 10 pounds are normal. And they typically will resolve pretty quickly when you get back to your normal routine. If you are somebody who does have some weight loss goals, I think it is a really good idea to measure your progress in other ways so that you can better handle these spikes and know that you are continuing to make progress because sometimes seeing that fat loss show up on the scale takes two weeks, three weeks, four weeks.
00:13:04
Speaker
And so if you're waiting that entire time and you're not really seeing that progress that you wanna see, you're not really trending in the right direction, it can be really helpful to have some other indicators to let you know that you are making progress. so Just because that scale isn't moving a ton, if your clothes are starting to fit better, if your body measurements are starting to go down, if your progress pictures are starting to improve, then you are trending in the right direction and you are losing fat. Just because that scale isn't necessarily showing that as much or as quickly as you like doesn't mean that you aren't making progress. So having other ways to measure progress, I think can be really helpful too.
00:13:39
Speaker
Some actual strategies when it comes to like getting back on track. You don't need to overreact. You don't need to do like a bunch of detoxes. You don't need to fast. You don't need to do a bunch of extra cardio. You don't have to do anything that's crazy extreme.
00:13:53
Speaker
You can just get back to your normal routine. And so for me, some of the things that I will typically do when I come back from vacation or I've had one of these spikes is I just get back to hydrating a lot, which you want to make sure that you're drinking quite a bit of water so that you can start to flush out some of that excess water. i know it might seem a little backwards, but if your body is holding on to a bunch of water, then just drinking more water and really hydrating will help you start to flush some of that water out of your system and get back to feeling where you were before and looking more similar to where you were
00:14:25
Speaker
eating just whole foods. And so for me, I typically would just go with super simple stuff. I'll eat a lot of lean proteins. I'll eat a lot of fruits, a lot of vegetables, things like that that are just highly nutritious meals that just make me feel good and just help to just get you back on track and just eating the things that are going to help you get to your goals, feel good, look good, all that different stuff.
00:14:47
Speaker
Exercising and sweating can definitely be helpful and again you don't have to do like a bunch of extra hours of cardio or do any crazy do anything crazy like that you have access to a sauna that can help with just sweating.
00:14:58
Speaker
ah Walking and just exercising and just starting to just get back into your normal routine can also help with just getting some of that water retention out and then the last thing so As I mentioned, sleep and stress can cause your body to hold water. And so just better managing those things. And so focusing on getting your seven to eight hours of sleep and then just managing stress can both help with reducing some of that fluid retention that is going on. And so it's not anything crazy. It's not anything groundbreaking. You don't have to do anything extreme and just understand that it's not this huge, big deal. And so there's no reason to get discouraged about that scale spiking up.
00:15:40
Speaker
ah couple of pounds here, a couple of pounds there, even as much as 10 pounds, like most of that that is showing up on the scale is not from fat gain. Even if you did go on vacation, even if you did have extra food, extra calories, things like that, most of the weight that you're seeing is a majority of water.
00:15:58
Speaker
And I've had multiple clients that have had the same experience. And I always have to reassure them before they go on their trip or their vacation, because a lot of people are nervous about that. Same situation, because when you think about it, if it takes you a month to lose five pounds and then you come back from vacation or even from a weekend and that scale is up 10 pounds, not only do you feel like you just ruined all your progress, but now you feel like you dug yourself in a hole. So you're twice as far back than when you started. And so it took you a month of effort and workouts and tracking calories and eating well, and you feel like you just ruined it in this one to two days.
00:16:35
Speaker
But again, that is not what is going on. So you really have to understand this, you really have to take a step back and look at this more logically, so that you don't get so discouraged, so that you don't quit, so that you don't end up doing a bunch of stupid things that get you caught in this cycle of like detoxing or fasting or doing these things that you don't really want to be doing because you're spinning your wheels and you feel like you lost all your
Balancing Fitness and Life Enjoyment
00:16:56
Speaker
progress. That is not what has been going on. And that's not how this whole thing works. So Understand what's going on, get back to your normal routine, drink water, sleep well, eat some good quality meals, get your exercise in all that good stuff. And it really is just as simple as that.
00:17:14
Speaker
You didn't make all your progress in a couple of days. or even a week and you're not going to lose it in a couple of days or even in a week. Finding this balance of being able to enjoy yourself, go on some vacations, maybe have a weekend where you go out to eat and do some extra things, have some cocktails, different things like that, like being able to include that into your lifestyle without it derailing you super far and without it throwing you completely off track to where you feel discouraged and it causes you to fall off, not just for a couple of days, but for several weeks or several months, that's what really gets people into trouble. So understanding this from a more logical perspective, I think is the first step.
00:17:54
Speaker
to actually helping you out and making this a more permanent lifestyle and just really being able to find that balance between fitness and health but also just living life and enjoying experiences and having a social life and all that different kind of stuff and so hopefully this was helpful hopefully this was able to ease your mind a little bit and then also just give you some practical strategies about what to do when that scale spikes because i can promise you it will spike from time to time But with that being said, that is all I have this little bit shorter of an episode, but I thought it was necessary because I get this question a lot. And I know this hurts a lot of people. This causes a lot of people to throw away a lot of really good progress because they've been doing really well for several weeks, several months and seeing good progress. And then they have one episode like this where they feel like they ruined everything. And then they just say, screw it.
00:18:42
Speaker
And That is the last thing that I want you to do. And so having this here and just understanding this, hopefully this is helpful. And so the next time you do step on that scale and it is up a little bit, you do see a spike on
Personalized Coaching Offer
00:18:53
Speaker
that scale. You realize that, first of all, you didn't ruin all your progress. And second of all, all you have to do is get back to the normal routine and just keep doing all the things that you know you need to be doing.
00:19:02
Speaker
And you're going to be well on your way to continuing to make progress and hit all those goals that you want to hit, feel better, look better, all that good stuff. And so with that being said, one-on-one coaching link is in the show notes. As always, if you are a person who wants a little bit of extra hands-on help with this stuff, losing fat, building muscle, looking your best, feeling your best, all that good stuff, you can check out that link.
00:19:24
Speaker
But I appreciate you listening and we will see you next week.