Finding a good pair of pants is the shopper’s equivalent of playing Goldilocks. Some are too big, most are too small, and a few (if you’re lucky) are juuuust right. But, catch a woman on a “fat day,” and even the formerly good pants are cast aside in favor of sweats.
But wait—a “fat day”? According to Kelli Hughes, a clinical nutritionist at UVA, there really is such a thing. “The two most common causes,” she says, “would pertain to water weight.” Hughes says a high intake of sodium (especially if you ate out the night before) could be a factor. The other is water retention related to a woman’s menstrual cycle.
 The weight of water can tip the scale on certain days. |
“The five days leading up to a period, women tend to consume more calories and become bloated,” says Cynthia Moore, an assistant clinical nutrition manager at UVA.
Of course, it isn’t just women who feel this way. Hughes says anybody’s weight can change from day to day based on what they’ve been eating and fluid shifts. So much for that second helping of porridge.