Extreme Weight Gain.... Very Freaked!

 I started my period on Wednesday, My friend and I got rear ended Thursday night. I have nothing broken, just still very sore, and the accident aggravated the muscles in my back. Sense Wednesday I have gained 11 pounds! Now that's seriously ridiculous! Mind you I'm on Hydrocodone, and a muscle relaxer, so I'm thinking that I may be a little constipated due to the relaxer, and hydrocodone. I have never seen this # on the scale in over 3 years when I was losing my weight right after surgery. I need help. What in the heck is going on? I never let myself creep up like this. But this wasn't really creeping up it was all at once in less then 2 days! Anyone have any advise? I'm thinking about crash dieting for 2 days because this is really ridiculous!

Most likely is water retention due to injury and swelling - inflammation. Bet the pain killers not helping either. Hope you feel better soon. Breathe ....

Instead of doing an extreme, can you do the pre-op diet that many of us did? Two protein shakes and a healthful meal for dinner. Snack, if you must, on SF popsicles and Jello. Drink decaf teas and low sodium broth to keep the hungries at bay.

Good luck,
Hattie

Do you think you have taken in over 38,000 calories in 2 days?  That is the amount you would need to eat in order to gain 11 lbs.  Pretty unlikely.  Even at my best, Olympic eating days I don't think I could get in 38,000 calories in a few days.  And that is over the normal, maintaining amount of calories.  No, I don't think so.  Most likely it's constipation and fluid retention.  Stay off the scale until you feel normal.
I just had surgery on Wednesday and I knew I was constipated and retaining fluid.  I got on the scale to torture myself some more and I was up like 7 lbs.  My clothes were still fitting (except my bloated belly) so I knew it wasn't fat.  It's not fun to see on the scale but just try to be logical.  I'm still weighing myself but I just remind myself that I can't trust the numbers right now.  If you are like me, you can feel it.  Even without a scale I would know I was up because I just feel bloated and ugg.

A gallon of water weighs 8lbs. And when something gets swollen or inflamed, the body's natural reaction is to retain fluids in those areas, particularly in the skin and muscles. It is very, very likely that your body is swollen in various areas, either internally or externally, due to the accident, and if you're retaining a lot of extra fluid (water, lymph, blood), that could very easily make up for the excess weight.

Personally, I'd go visit my GP to check for any dangerous internal swelling of your organs or lymph nodes. That could indicate some trauma, and you never know what could happen when your insides get rattled.

I hope you feel better very soon!

after the car accident did you go to the ER?  If so, the IV fluids could cause you to gain weight.  If not, your period coudl cause atleast 5 or 6, I have seen that and constipation could cause another few.  I am pretty lucky, I have been on narcotics for about 20 years and no constipation, atleast not since the my surgery  = I have had chronic diarhea for teh past year for other reasons that I wont go into now

You might try to drink alot - I know it sounds crazy but it helps flush out your kidneys and makes them work better - also the fluids along with some fiber will help with the constipation.  This should help you lose the weight.

Make sure you are eating 5 or 6 small meals every 2 or 3 hours throughout the day - this increases your metabolism, maintains your blood sugar and decreases hunger = helping you to you to lose weight -or once at maintainence, you can maintain your weight.

good luck - you can't physiclaly gain 11 pounds in 1 week, it isn't possible  - 1 pound is 3500, so that is alot of calories

 Between water retention from your period an the body's natural response to send extra fluid to injured areas, it is almost certainly water weight alone.  As someone else pointed out, it would take eating around 30000 EXTRA calories to have that weight be from fat.

Relax, put the scale away for a few days, and just wait for it to pass.

Lora