Weight variations: what are the main causes?

Verified on 04/13/2024 by Alexane Flament, Editor

In addition to diet, there are other reasons for weight gain. Likewise, sometimes weight fluctuations aren’t entirely related to what’s on your plate. We will explain everything to you.

8 reasons why weight increases

Unwanted weight gain is rarely good news. This may be due to:

And snacking ;
A food impulse;
A diet that is too restrictive or a food ban. The more you forbid yourself from certain foods, the more likely you are to gain back as much, or even more, weight than you lost. This is the famous yoyo effect.

But it also happens that weight gain is not linked to diet. There are several explanations for this:

A family predisposition to weight gain;
A significant sedentary lifestyle;
The stress ;
The Depression ;
Certain medications;
A hormonal imbalance;
Age.

But in most cases, the weight changes are due to diet. Most of the time, we forget the quantity of food ingested. This is the case for snacking.

It may also be due to a lack of awareness of the caloric content of certain foods or a poor assessment of portions.

Finally, we sometimes forget to count the calories provided by certain sugary or alcoholic drinks.

Why does my weight fluctuate from day to day?

The body is a living organism where several phenomena take place throughout the day. This can cause weight to vary from day to day.

Thus, the ingestion of food increases body mass. A meal (between 700 and 900 g on average) requires a certain amount of digestion time before elimination. Your weight is like this higher at the end of the day than in the morning.

Then, hormones cause weight changes. This is why some women feel like they are “bloating” at certain times in their cycle. This is actually water retention.