When you come back from your weekend and see that the scale has gone
up, don’t panic. If you consume more calories, carbohydrates, and
sodium on the weekend, you’ll also retain more water in your muscles
and under your skin.
Weekend weight gain is mostly water. Of course, if you really overate,
you will have gained some fat, but not 5 pounds of fat – not in a
single weekend.
After all, as you know, it takes 3500 calories to store a pound of
fat. And there are 540 calories in a Big Mac. So to gain a pound,
you’d have to overeat by the equivalent of over SIX Big Macs…and
to gain 5 pounds in a long weekend, you’d have to overeat your needs
by the equivalent of over 30 Big Macs.
That’s really tough to do. So relax…and wait to weigh yourself
until Wednesday…that’s when you’ll get a more accurate measure.
Craig Ballantyne, CSCS, MS
Author, Turbulence Training