Brenda Nolen

Once I began this journey (and finally figured out what food my body did and didn’t like) one of the most frustrating things was magically gaining 2 pounds overnight. It happened so much that, at one point, I stopped weighing myself every day (choosing to only weigh myself once a week). I became obsessed with my daily weight, weighing (and limiting) my food and increasing my daily activity so I would lose those mysterious pounds again. Even though I have now adopted a broader view of my weight (I weigh every day but my focus is typically how I am doing over the course of the week). I never really looked into the why of it all. This year, with my renewed focus on my health, this is what I decided to do.
I have been tracking all of my food in My Fitness Pal since June. I had been using a different app on my phone but thankfully, someone told me how to work the app on my phone. I am loving it even more than before, especially since it has a UPC scanner! I am even able to scan a store-brand food item (from a local store) and it pulled up all the information on it! The idea of having to input (or rely on someone’s sketchy input) always made me tired. If you haven’t used it, try it! Grab that family pack of steaks and scan it with the app. It’s (almost) a miracle!
So, I have been going about my business, losing or gaining a pound, and usually I could attribute it to some specific food item, until two days ago. I had an especially busy day and hadn’t eaten as much as usual but what I did eat was typical. The next day, I had gained 2 pounds. The first thing I did was go over my food. Nope, that couldn’t do it. What about fluids? Nope, I drank my usual amount. I did notice, however, that my breathing was a bit off and I felt a bit “swollen.” That’s when I remembered all the dang reading I had done for so many years: my weight gain was caused by inflammation.
One of the biggest issues that is typically addressed within the low carb/paleo/gluten-free community of experts is how some carbohydrates (it seems to mostly be grains but we all know every body is different) cause inflammation within the body. It is usually that inflammation that wreaks havoc on our bodies, causing all sorts of illnesses/health issues. So, if you ate great all day but decide to eat that burger on a hamburger bun and gain 2 pounds overnight, it’s not simply the gluten or carbohydrates (or corn syrup) that caused that weight gain. It could be the inflammation caused by one (or all) of those properties of the hamburger bun that did it.
Or, if you ate fantastic all day, yet still gained that weight, what happened? After thinking everything over and going through my activities of the day, I figured out my weight gain was due to allergies. I had decided to tear apart the front room because it is that time of year when mice are wanting to come inside and I one had boldly walked through the house into that room. I vacuumed everything, rearranging what I could to make it easier for me to move things to clean (storing my son’s items in this tiny house is a bit of a challenge). Two of the things I am still allergic to are dust mites (check) and mice (check).
If I had been lifting heavy things (like lugging buckets of river rocks from one side of the yard to the other) or actual weight training, I could have gained water weight due to my muscles retaining extra water. The point of this post is, unless you truly ate garbage the day before you “magically” gained weight, it could be any number of things that caused that temporary weight gain. There is no need to beat yourself up, starve yourself, or overdose on water. 9 times out of 10, that weight will be “magically’ gone in a day or two, so just breathe. You are doing great!