Gained ten pounds in a week--it's not real, it's not real, it's not real

You are probably adding muscle too. It weighs more than fat. When I ramped up workouts I saw the scale rise yet lost an inch at the waist. That kind of change is positive.

I get it. I put on 22 lb in two weeks a month back just from eating a little above usual. Dropped ten of those pounds fast and can usually shed two or three pounds a day once I return to my normal deficit. The whole situation feels absurd.

Still discouraging even when I remind myself it is not actual gain. Impressed you ride the bike to the gym though.

That added weight is muscle. Do not worry about it because it is beneficial long term. Extra muscle will help burn more fat later. Have you tried a scale that also reads body composition? It can ease the focus on the plain number.

Could be PMS or lots of other reasons for the jump. Do not let it wreck your weekend. Body composition is probably shifting in a helpful way toward your goal.

Scales can really mess with your head. Not real gain but still frustrating.

After a big sushi carb day I woke up seven pounds heavier. It is glycogen plus the water it pulls in. Leg day burns it off and the scale drops again. Over the week I still trend down in a deficit. Learned this pattern after two years on keto then adding carb cycling around workouts.

The actual density difference between fat and muscle is only about fifteen percent. Water adds far more weight.

Episodes like this make me consider a body-composition scale. Regular scales give useful but sometimes misleading numbers. Good ones cost a lot though.

After low-carb eating glycogen stores are low. Adding carbs refills them in the liver and each gram pulls several grams of water. A fast ten-pound change without huge calorie intake has to be water. You cannot add that much muscle in a week or two and fat would require far more calories. It is basically the reverse of what happens when a diet starts.

Sounds like body recomposition. I am trying to focus less on total weight and more on measurements and whether muscle is trending up. Gym four or five days a week and hitting protein goals but the medication makes eating difficult.

This happens often when activity jumps suddenly after weight loss. New exercise causes tiny muscle tears and fluid moves in to repair them. At the same time glycogen stores refill and each gram holds three to four grams of water. Saltier meals add more retention. Weighing at night also shows several extra pounds from the day's food and fluids.

No need to panic. I have stayed at the same weight on the new medication yet can see visible change and needed a smaller belt. The body is still reshaping even without scale movement. After big initial loss it makes sense that priorities shift from storage to using energy.

Started lifting again the same weekend I ate Chinese food three days straight. Both caused water retention that showed as eight pounds on the scale.

Salty meals really do cause surprising temporary gains. Same idea as the opposite of starting a diet where twenty pounds can drop in a week that is not all fat.

I only weigh first thing in the morning after using the bathroom with no clothes on for the lowest reading. Salt alone can add two to five pounds right away.

Had eight straight weeks of losses then saw a half-kilo increase. Real weekly change is only one or two hundred grams so random swings are larger than actual progress. A five-kilo jump would feel awful.