Thread: Gaining weight on up days

Hey all! Ok so I know they say you aren't supposed to weigh yourself everyday but I couldn't help it! I just wondered if anyone else dis the same thing and what kind of pattern they saw?

Basically I think the reccomended 1800 cals on an up day for me is way too high, and I end up like a pound or so heavier the day after an up day, I'm not all that sure why. I am going to try and decrease the limit and see if I can find the best up day cal limit.

It's just annoying as i seem to lose a pound on the dd's so I'm forever going one step forward and one step back (thus trying the 2dd then 1ud plan!

Hope you all are well xx

It's best to weigh just once a week then you get a good idea of actual loss. You will show a gain after an ud, mostly to do with water/salt retention not fat. Try not to weigh everyday it'll just drive you crazy lol! I know it's hard to stay away from the scales, we're all scale addicts, but they can be our enemy as much as our friend. Just get them out once a week after a dd and you'll see results for what they are

Good luck hun xxx

I do tend to weigh most days and expect to see a slight gain after UDs. Sometimes I seem to stay the same for ages going up a pound and down a pound for a few days and then finally it goes down. If I gain it is always a sign for me that I have overdone the cals for my personal limit (and I usually know I have!) or it is water gain with time of the month.

I think so much depends on your own metabolic rate and the exercise you are getting. If you want to see that in the extreme then visit BrightAngel's diary and see how few calories and how much exercise that lady has to do just to maintain weightloss.

It is a good idea to work out the cal requirements on the Johnson site - I have found that the most accurate site. Apparently I can have around 1400 with my resting metabolic rate and then up to 1700 taking into account my minimal activity levels. But some sites say as much as 2100 which I think is way too much. So my DD cals would be 350 if doing it the strict 20% that Johnson suggests and I notice that when I stick to that then I do lose about 2lbs a week. But 350 cals is very hard if you like milk in tea and coffee as that accounts for about 100 cals. It's hard to make 250 cals go very far so I sometimes end up eating about 400-450. But I do notice the weight loss is better and more regular when I am strict and keep it around 350 on DDs. If I really want to go for it and feel okay and not deprived then I will occasionally also limit my UDs to 1400.

When you calculate the maths it does seem to work out - as one pound of fat is equal to about 3500 cals and so you need to be eating about 7000 less than your output each week to lose 2lbs.

You could, of course, do that by reducing each day by 1000 which is pretty drastic but JUDDDing allows us to have alternate normal days. General calorie reduction every day does not have the health benefits of alternate day calorie restriction such as the expression of the SIRT1 gene. JUDDDing also mobilises stored fat to be burned more efficiently so is more effective than general calorie reduction every day.

I make sure not to limit myself in what kind of foods I eat on UDs (and some DDs too!) That is important so we don't feel deprived and can do this long term but I do limit the quantity. Hope this helps SarahBee!

I've seen increases after up days of as much as 5 pounds. But I'm still making progress. If you cant help but weight yourself every day, just don't let it affect your attitude. A graph of your weight loss should look like a stock market chart, but trending downwards over time.

Im not on this particular diet, but i think i can explain whats going on with the up days. Its all to do with the body's store of glycogen, and how your body reacts to high/low insulin swings.

When you initially lose weight, your body first uses up its store of glycogen, before anything else. You carry around 150grm of glycogen in your 'normal' state, but each molecule of glycogen requires 4 molecules of water to be stored in various cells in your body. So when you intially lose the glycogen, you also lose 4 times its volume in water. That 150grms accounts for 750grms of weight, almost 2lbs, even more for some people.

When you eat a more 'normal' amount of food, the first thing your body does is replenish the glycogen and the associated water, hence the gains you are seeing the day after. Its not fat, its 'fluid retention' and it will go again as soon as you cut down.

It does mean however that at some future point, during maintenance of your total weight loss, your body will put the glycogen back, so you will have to lose another 2lb after target to retain your target weight.

I hope this helps.

Yes this is spot on Lynn and actually it is probably more accurate to weigh after an UD - but not as motivating! I agree we likely need to lose an extra 2lb after target to balance out. Just need to keep the faith after an UD and know it will fall away again.