7 common reasons for when it’s not obvious why you’ve added pounds, here’s what might be going on…..
The following written content by Melissa Matthews
Sometimes, you don’t have to think too hard about why you picked up a few extra pounds. Like all those “special occasions” (hey, it’s Tuesday night!) that involve special-occasion foods like wings and brownies. Or a crushing workload at the office or at home that doesn’t give you time to get up and move around. It’s super common. Small fluctuations in weight are rarely anything to worry about.
But other times, you accumulate some extra weight and don’t have a good explanation. You’re really at a loss to explain where those pounds came from. If you’ve packed on 5 pounds or more in a matter of weeks—or even days—it’s time to take notice. “For a guy, five pounds is kind of—ding-ding—something’s going on here,” says Lawrence Cheskin, MD, director of the Johns Hopkins Weight Management Center.
Cheskin explains that weight fluctuations of five pounds or more are fairly typical among women, but not so much among men. Especially if your weight has been stable for months or years. What could be the cause of this sudden weight gain? Here are seven common explanations.
You’re Eating Too Much Salt
Sodium consumption causes your body to retain water, Cheskin says. Water has weight and volume. So if you eat a lot of salty food several days in a row, you may suddenly gain weight, he says.
Restaurant food—and especially fast food—tends to be loaded with sodium. So if you’ve recently filled your days with takeout and restaurant meals, that could account for your abrupt influx of pounds. Keep in mind, however, that plenty of foods you eat at home are sodium motherlodes as well. Bread, sandwiches, cold cuts and cured meats are some of the top sources of sodium in the American diet. (Check out more of them here.)
You’re Taking a New Medication
“There are many medications that may cause weight gain,” says W. Scott Butsch, M.D., director of obesity medicine in the Bariatric and Metabolic Institute at the Cleveland Clinic. In fact, medication may cause up to 15 percent of obesity cases, he says. Read more from Men’s Health.
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