7 Reasons Why Body Weight Can Fluctuate Constantly

Why Your Body Weight Fluctuates?

It is normal that the weight fluctuates in plus (and minus) during the day. Plus, 0.3 – 0.5 kg per day is a physiological norm for a healthy person who eats, drinks fluids and, breathes. In addition to these daily fluctuations, your weight can also increase or decrease by 1 kg or even a little more during the week due to some other factors.

Ideally, to determine your weight, it is best to weigh yourself at a strictly allotted time in light home clothes. For example, it’s usually a good idea to weigh yourself in the morning, after you go to the bathroom, but before having breakfast.

But even in this case, the weight can fluctuate by 0.5-1 kg in any direction for reasons that have nothing to do with either a deficit or an excess of calories. Here are some reasons why weight can change daily.

1.      You Are Dehydrated

When you are dehydrated, your body loses water, which leads to weight loss. As tempting as it is to consider this weight loss, and whoever tells you that this is how fat is burned, these losses have nothing to do with actual burning fat. Once your body restores the water level, you will regain the lost weight.

Tip: To get rid of dehydration, you need to regularly drink water to bring your weight back to normal.

2.      You Sweat A Lot

If you weigh yourself before and after an intense workout, comparing the results, you’ll see a difference of several hundred grams downward. It is again due to a lack of water in the body and nothing else.

On average, a person loses 0.8 to 1.4 liters of water per hour of training, which is 0.5 to 1.5 kilograms. This loss is completely water-related, which means that you will need to replenish the lost fluid or you risk becoming dehydrated.

Tip: Do not monitor your weight so seriously before and after training – it is useless because it does not show the amount of fat burned. This process will start a little later.

3.      You Drank A Lot Of Alcohol The Night Before

It takes longer for your body to process alcohol, which means it stays in your body longer. It also slows down digestion and also causes water retention, which in turn means your weight will be slightly higher than usual after drinking overnight. If you are really conscious about your body weight, then you should give up alcoholism.

There is no shame in getting help from professionals for this matter. Besides, you can get either an inpatient rehab treatment for alcoholism or outpatient treatment, based on your health condition. Consult a doctor to getter better advice.

Tip: Drinking alcohol is harmful, and if you do drink, do it in moderation. Within a few days, the weight will return to normal.

4.      You Ate Too Many Carbohydrates

As with salt, carbohydrates can retain water in the body, resulting in temporary weight gain. The reason for this phenomenon is that glycogen, the body’s storage of carbohydrates in the liver and muscles, contains about three grams of water for every gram of carbohydrates.

Tip: Eat fewer hamburgers, fast food, white bread, white rice, and sweets.

But there is a nuance here – not all carbohydrates are bad. Some useful carbohydrates are present in vegetables, nuts, and fruits. Thus, cut out bad foods and consume healthy ones.

5.      You Do Excessive Training

If you wake up with muscle soreness after a hard workout, the chances are that the scale will move slightly higher than usual. This is due to the fact that hard training causes more micro-damage in the muscles, which then needs to be healed.

These micro-tears are actually a good thing, as they will help your muscles grow and get stronger. However, during the healing process, your body will require excess fluid that will be retained in the muscles.

Tip: Take a training time-out for three or four days and as soon as you stop feeling pain and fatigue – rush into battle again.

6.      You Haven’t Gone To The Toilet

If you suffer from constipation, it means that a lot of waste is in your body. This is not only unpleasant and generally bad, but it can also lead to weight gain. At least until the moment, you go to the toilet.

There are a number of reasons why you may develop constipation. For example, a low fiber diet, a sedentary lifestyle, change in daily routine, eating a lot of dairy products, and dehydration may cause constipation.

But even when things are going well, food (temporarily) adds weight to your body. Generally speaking, it takes six to eight hours to digest food and about 36 hours to process it out into the environment.

Tip: Do not avoid going to the toilet and avoid eating foods that may cause constipation.

7.      You Eat Salty Foods

If recently you ate a lot of semi-finished products, this can lead to a slight increase in your weight since sodium tends to retain excess water. And this will inevitably lead to excess weight.

Given the amount of sodium in processed foods, keeping track of your salt intake can be tricky. The recommended daily sodium intake is 2.3 grams per day or about a teaspoon.

Tip: Reducing the amount of salt will lead to the fact that the weight will return to normal very quickly, with the removal of excess water.

Summing Up

The above-mentioned reasons may cause bodyweight fluctuation throughout the day. We mentioned some tips that can help you avoid such temporary changes in weight. Hopefully, you can act upon them and live healthily.