So my daughter graduated college and my mother saw me and said I lost weight,
I weighed in at 171 that day, first time I've been that low in months. I didn't really overeat at the party although I did drink some homemade beer and there were three desserts, spinach lasagna. I might add that I have been doing workouts that are 50 minutes, burning 600 calories, several times a week. Then Sunday we went shopping, and I got a bag of veggie chips, sodium was 280 I think, anyway today I weighed 178. That's huge!
I know you can gain a few pounds of water weight, but 7 pounds? In 4 days?
I think I have become overly sensitive to regular food. What's up?

A-ha.... SODIUM.... water-weight... oh yeah, 7 pounds in 4 days is totally doable. We had a Cinco de Mayo party last Saturday, which included several Mexican dips, chips, beers, margaritas, etc. TALK ABOUT SODIUM!!!

...my scale showed a SIX POUND GAIN OVERNIGHT. From 153 to 159!!

It will take me ALL WEEK to get this off. Here it is WEDNESDAY and I'm only down to 157. Ack. (but better than nothing!)

But OMG it was so worth it!!!! Great party! Good friends, lots of laughing! - and hey, I know it's not FAT WEIGHT. It's definitely the sodium and the sheer volume of food/drink I consumed. Plus, it's TOM for me, which is always a cause for scale increases.

My advice is to TRY with all your might to NOT sweat the small stuff. Yeah, this is small stuff. Continue on plan & that seven pounds will be gone before you know it.

depending on how restrrictive your food plan is, you probably HAVE becoe quite sensitive to "regular" food...... sodium, carbs, dairy, whatever... Overly restricting these things, and then indulging WILL throw your body's electrolytes and digestion completely outtawhack.... the result? masiive WATER retention. It goes away, things reach homeostsis again... it might take a week, or even two, with that large of a a gain, but the weight will come off, and in the meantime, as long as youre in a caloric deficit you will still be losing fat...so... losing fat, losing the water, in the end, you may end up lower than when you started
Just please try and keep in mind what happens when we overly restrict foods like those... your body willl retaliat ewith a massive rebound water weight gain.. EVERYTIME. If youre prepared, and ok with that, and understand it is normal and HAS to happen, than thats ok. If you arent prepared for that (even goin into maintenance, all the water weight youve lost WILL COME BACK) than either dont restrict things like sodium or carbs, or dont eat them at all, ever....

I've had the same thing happen to me a couple times. In a couple days if I up my water intake it usually goes right back down, but it's a week lost on my journey to my goal, after a while cheating starts to feel like it's really not worth it.

I gained 9 pounds in less than a week (vacation) - so yes, it is possible!! After all the water weight was gone (took about 5 days) I was only up a pound and a half.

is that what happens when you have chinese then? what foods are sodium in?

Chinese food is very high in sodium. Most processed foods, take away foods etc are high in sodium.

A good idea is to try to keep track of your sodium intake. I use the My Fitness Pal phone app which keeps track of all those things.

I gained 2.2 lbs overnight this past weekend, so seven pounds in four days is definitely doable. I just keep an eye on my sodium and up my water intake for the next couple of days after a gain like that. It will come back down.

I've gained 5 pounds in a day, so it's possible. In fact, my weight has fluctuated 3 pounds from morning to evening.

Our bodies contain a LOT of water. There is more room for fluctuation than you think.

Well thanks, I feel a little better now, but why oh why is it so easy to gain and so hard to lose???? I was also reading that the excessive exercise may make me gain. Throw in being almost 49, taking several medications and a low thyroid and its a disaster. I don't know maybe I was dehydrated when the scale said 171.

But yes, I think food sensitivity. We have been shopping at a health food store called "Mother Earth",, for quite some time now. I notice when I go to a restaurant and eat a "regular meal", I get bloating and a lot of stomach pain, and I'm sure to read a higher number on the scale. But I think those stupid "veggie chips" did me in, granted it was a small bag, (organic food always comes in small portions), I did eat the whole bag in two days and that's when I had the massive gain.

The thing is, in a mirror, I look much better, so I'm hoping I will get back on track. Tonight, I dropped two pounds, yay, but it sure is discouraging, to work out crazy and eat a special diet, and bam, 7 pounds!!!!!!

Watch out for veggie chips, the calories are just the same as regular chips, plus the sodium. Just because its organic does not mean its better. Actually the store actually has a lot of full fat foods, milk, cream cheese, dips, etc., and muffins.

Anything basically not fresh from the Earth it seems like!

I think most people have their definition of "regular food" and whatever the alternative is, mixed up!

There is nothing regular about what most people eat on a daily basis.

I have actually started to look better, circles under eyes, redness on face, are starting to disappear, since we have been eating only organic. I do actually eat a lot of produce, hardly any meat, and I do limit the junk, or I guess that would be my definition of regular food, anything processed. And that is the only store we go to all week.

To the OP about Chinese food, I haven't had any in over 10 years, I wouldn't touch it, we eat sushi.

Yep, still 176 today, going to take a lot of water.

I'm having a water weight moment right now -- weighed in at 215 this morning, but it's kinda weird because I've been on plan but since Tuesday my weight has been coming up. 212 on Tuesday, 213 yesterday, and 215 today. But it's also my TOM (that came in a day late..urgh) right now so I'm not really worried about it. I figure it's just water. Don't sweat it! It'll be gone soon.