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Answered in 9 episodes

Will I gain weight when I start eating more?

Answered by Nikkiey Stott and her guests · Updated

The short answer

Probably a little, and that's expected. Nikkiey explains that when you start eating more during a retrain or reverse diet, your weight will usually fluctuate about two to five pounds from water, glycogen, food volume and salt, not fat. If the gain keeps climbing or holds around five pounds, the increase was likely too fast.

Hear it from the show

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  1. Nikkiey on the normal 2 to 5 pound fluctuation and why it isn't fat

    Plays from 23:28 · Ep. 284: Reverse Dieting for Women Over 40: Do You Need One?

  2. How much gain is okay during a retrain and when to hold an extra week

    Plays from 23:14 · Ep. 372: How to Retrain Your Metabolism After Years of Dieting

  3. What the scale jump actually is: water, glycogen, salt, food volume

    Plays from 5:17 · Ep. 307: Why Your Reverse Diet Didn't Work and How Long It Takes

  4. Debra on gaining about five pounds in retrain and trusting the process

    Plays from 20:46 · Ep. 258: Losing 30 Pounds After Menopause by Eating More at 57

  5. Ya'el on tight jeans, buying a bigger pair, then moving into a cut

    Plays from 36:25 · Ep. 384: Can You Lose Fat by Eating More at 60? Ya'el's Story

The full answer

On Ep. 307, Nikkiey is blunt that seeing the scale go up is not failure. It's your metabolism coming back to life after years of under-eating. The small jump is water weight, food volume, glycogen, salt, muscles refilling and digestion working again. The risk is panicking and going back to eating less, which interrupts the process. She also adds a caveat: eating more doesn't mean eating anything in any amount. There is a method to it, and adding the wrong foods or too much too fast is where real gain happens.

On Ep. 372 and Ep. 284 she explains when to adjust:

  • A two to four pound jump is normal and not all fat.
  • If you've gained around five pounds, or it's rising too fast over about three weeks, first be honest about your tracking. She asks for 80 to 90 percent accuracy, and skipped days mean you repeat the step.
  • If you are tracking accurately, hold at that step for a week or two until it levels out. On Ep. 284 she says if the gain holds steady, the increase was too much too quick and calories get pulled back.
  • Watch more than the scale: energy, sleep, hunger, mood, strength and digestion should be improving.

The women on the show describe what this feels like. On Ep. 258, Debra went from about 1,200 to roughly 2,200 calories over eight to nine months and gained about five pounds. She says it was uncomfortable but trusted her body needed it to recover. On Ep. 384, Ya'el's jeans got tight, so she bought a bigger pair and moved into a short cut a few months later. On Ep. 299, Kristy gained a little at first and it quickly started coming back down.

Nikkiey's point is that the discomfort is often mental, because old beliefs about eating less are being challenged. Your body was never the problem. The plan was.

From The WarriorBabe Show with Nikkiey Stott. For education, not medical advice: talk to your doctor about your own health.

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