How could I have gained 3 pounds while I was sick?

Question

I thought most people lost weight when they were sick, but somehow I have gain around 3 pounds being sick. What is with that?

Answer 1

Well, lets observe what makes you gain and lose weight.

1) Calorie intake = Weight gain. If you consume more calories than you are burning off, you gain weight. If you are burning more calories than you are consuming, you will lose weight. Simple enough.

2) Water weight. This is temporary weight. Between well hydrated an dehydrated, you might gain or lose easily 5 pounds, even 10 pounds. Boxers and wrestlers toy with water weight all the time to make weight requirements.

If you are an active person, sickness probably lowered your level of activity. In turn, your body was use to consuming more calories in a given period, and so while you were down and not as physical as you usually were, you consumed more calories than your body burned off. If you ate fairly normally during the sickness, and were an active person before the sickness, this is possibly true.

Otherwise, most people lose weight in water weight. Lets face it when we're sick we don't want to eat or drink, we just want to sleep. Most people become dehydrated while sick (Which actually makes the sickness last even longer, and more miserable), and so they easily drop a few pounds of water weight. If you were drinking a lot of fluids, eating soups, and so on you likely hydrated yourself well, and possibly gained a few pounds of water weight.

If you were only sick for a few days, chances are good it's mostly water weight. Water weight can fluxuate upwards of 10 pounds in a matter of a day or two. Most people don't understand this, so when they suddenly see a shock increase of a few pounds or loss of a few pounds, they wonder how it could have occured.

Truth is, you can drop 10 pounds in water weight in under 48 hours. Or gain it, in the same timeframe. Most small change (2-5 pounds) weight loss and gain is almost entirely the result of water loss/gain.

Answer 2

Three pounds is NOT very much. It could be several things. But the key to gaining weight is what you eat, not how you feel. If you didn't feel well enough to have normal activity, but still ate nearly normal, then I wouldn't be surprised if you gained weight.
More likely, you laid around in bed and sat around doing very little, but still ate a little. You could have easily accumulated 3 pounds in your intestines and colon. If you ate a lot of soup and drank plenty of fluids, you could have a lot of water weight. Read the label on a can of soup. Most soups have a LOT of sodium (salt) in them which makes the body retain more fluid.
You will probably find that your weight returns to normal when you resume normal diet and normal activity.

Answer 3

It is quite often considering that of you no longer consuming competently that you simply obtained unwell to start with. Your immune method is shot. You are hitting that age in which your weight goes to move up and down from week to week. You rather have to recover from this worry of gaining a pound or two, it isn't healthful.

Answer 4

When you are sick, you usually drink a lot of water. Ergo, water weight. Give it a few days and your weight will drop back down.

Answer 5

It is probably just water retention due to not moving around as much. You will lose the water as you become more active again.

Answer 6

That's debatable and there are basically multiple possible answers to this question

Answer 7

Depends on what kind of illness you had. Its possible it could be water retention.