Whats going on?

[MrsRiggins]

I'd had been steadily losing weight (calorie counting and boosting my exercise) over the past 2 weeks. I started at 10st 7 and went down to 10st 3... but since the weekend I've been steadily going back up... 10st 4, then 5, ... until this morning I'm back to 10st 7 .

I'm a bit worried that I've managed to put on 4 pounds in 4 days. I had a BBQ at home on Sat, so didn't count calories that day (but also, in all honesty, didn't pig out either) but I went for a 5k run on Sunday, exceeding my step target every day and not been pigging out.

When my weight has fluctuated its normally been a couple of pounds, but this is 4 very quickly... can anyone tell me if this is normal?

Water retention
Gaining muscle
Period due?

So I should also mention that I've got scales which tell me fat% (and water, but I never look at that). I know my fat% has also gone beyond what it was (from 31% down to 29% up to 33% today) so it seems unlikely to be muscle (this was my first theory too, especially with the amount of running I've been doing).

No idea about water retention... legs and ankles look fine. Stomach is protruding the normal amount.

Could be period. I've just come off the contraceptive implant and awaiting my first period... although I don't recall weight gain being part of my previous pre-period symptoms.

Could just be 2kg of glycogen+water coming off and then going back on again, or differences in hydration between this week and last.

V unlikely to be muscle. It's incredibly difficult to gain lean tissue, especially from cardio as opposed to resistance exercise (in fact running can lead to muscle loss). A woman lifting heavy several times a week would be doing well to gain 2kg of lean tissue in a month

Unless you ate 12,000 calories too many (unlikely), there's no way you could have gained 4lbs of fat between Sunday and today. That said, it's also quite likely that the 4lbs you lost initially werent all fat as well- probably at least 50% glycogen and water.

All said, keep going and it'll probably settle down.

Glycogen storage needs a lot of water so when you see lots of pounds loss at the beginnning of a diet, this is what had been lost and not fat. Once the stores have gone you can start burning fat, but it sounds like you've just put this weight back on. Also periods cause me to gain 3-4 pounds.

Thanks both. Thats reassuring and helpful. I know I'm moving in the right direction, just need to persevere.