Imagine using this approach in other aspects of life: there’s only 1 route to your work, you only like 1 type of food, if your Fran time is sub 4 minutes, only then you are a good crossfitter.
This may sound weird and extreme, but it happens often when people who are dieting step on the scale. Two days ago you weighed 75 kilograms, today you weigh 78. Numbers that lead you to think this is an epic diet fail.
You body isn’t a machine or a calculator. There are many variables that influence you weight on a daily basis and need to be taken into account.
So why did I gain 3 kilos?
Your body doesn’t only store fat (although a lot of people seem to think so). Actually, it stores a lot of things and there are 2 that are closely related to dieting:
1) Glycogen
This is a form of glucose (carbohydrates), stored mainly in the liver and muscles. Your muscles use it for energy. For example, after long lasting activities like long-distance running when glycogen runs out, athletes experience the so called “hitting the wall” moment. Great, you say, but what does this have to do with my weight loss stall?
The thing with glycogen is, that your body absorbs it way faster than fat. Fat levels go up at a slow pace, while glycogen levels can sky-rocket (and drop) in a matter of hours. It’s an easy, accessible source of energy, and your body likes that. At the same time, glycogen also has a water-binding effect. For every gram of glycogen, about 3 grams of water binds it. Remember that weekend you binged on cakes and chocolates? The “weight gain” you experienced after that, was simply “water gain”.
The problem with excess water is that it makes you look bloated (more than if you would gain fat), so when you looked in the mirror that Monday, you probably had a little panic attack.
Now, don’t think that from now on all the weight gain can be written off as water gain. If you consistently consume more calories than you burn, you will gain fat. But this doesn’t happen overnight, as most of us seem to think.
Tip: Don’t weigh yourself after falling off the diet-wagon, but wait a day or 2.
2) Water (sodium related)
If that same binge weekend also included a medium meat-lovers pizza, chances are your sodium intake was higher than normal as well. Your body adjusts itself by trying to level out sodium intake with water, so the more sodium you consume, the more water you will retain.
This doesn’t mean that cutting sodium completely out of you diet is a good idea, since it does play a vital role in blood pressure and blood volume for example.
For the ladies: menstrual cycle
During a menstrual cycle, hormone levels change. A lot. About 1 week before your period, your progesterone levels rise, causing the kidneys to retain more sodium and water. A way to manage this as much as possible, is to avoid processed foods, keep sodium intake low during the time and drink a lot of water.
Progesterone is also responsible for increasing your appetite and enlargement in breast tissue (it all makes sense now, right?)
Ladies, try to weigh yourself only once a month, at a set time and day. This will be hard for some of you, but will save you from a lot of frustrations.
To conclude
Don’t just use the scale as the final assessment of your weight-loss success or fail, but use other, more useful tools as well:
- Body measurements – both with a tape-measure and your clothing.
- Photos – take before, during and after pictures.
- Compliments – do your friends, colleagues and family say that you are looking better? Then something must be going right!
Images courtesy of: FreeDigitalPhotos.net, wikipedia.org
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