5 Reasons Why You Might Experience Weight Gain Overnight

No matter how healthy of a life you lead, chances are you experience weight fluctuations which, for the record, are completely normal. Even if you exercise regularly and eat a balanced diet, you’ll still notice some changes to your weight for a number of reasons including lifestyle factors and standard biology.

One of the most common times you might experience weight gain is in the morning, after a full night of sleep. The most common culprit is simply water retention — commonly referred to as “water weight” — which happens to everyone. Here are five reasons why you might be experiencing overnight weight gain.

You Haven’t Consumed Enough Water

If you’re not consuming enough water and try to compensate for this by guzzling a bunch of liquid, it could play havoc with your weight. This is because your kidneys attempt to conserve the liquid to protect your from dehydration, which can lead to an increase in water weight. Thankfully, once you hydrate your kidneys properly for a few days in a row, this will balance out again and the water weight should subside.

You Went Heavy in the Gym

Building muscle through weight training is great for your health as it boosts your metabolism, supports heart health and protects your joints and bones but if you’ve had a particularly heavy workout session at the gym, this could be why you weigh a little more in the following days. As you build more muscle, you can experience small weight fluctuations but, once your muscles recover from the exercise, it should all level out.

You’re Due For Your Period

People who menstruate experience a number of hormonal fluctuations across a month and as you near your period, this can also increase fluid retention in the body. “You may notice that your base weight is a bit higher than normal on the first day of your period,” says Healthline. “Your daily weight should go back to average within a few days of your cycle beginning.”

You Consumed Alcohol

Unlike other food and drinks, alcohol isn’t processed as smoothly by your system and it can take longer for it to be eliminated from your system, which in turn, can cause water retention and thus, a slight increase in your weight. And, given that you largely consume alcohol in the evenings, this can result in an overnight weight gain.

Also, as Healthline points out, “alcohol contains extra calories that you may not be accounting for in your overall diet. You may also pay less attention to your overall calorie intake while drinking alcoholic beverages.”

You Consumed a Lot of Salt

While it tastes pretty delicious, sodium can also result in water retention. If you’ve had a day of consuming a lot of high-sodium foods, it can cause slight weight changes thanks to your body holding onto water. Eating an abundance of salty foods can also cause constipation in some people, which could also cause the overnight weight gain.