In the fitness world, there are three groups of people. Some are ready to do anything in order to lose weight, others that no matter how much they eat, can’t seem to put on any sort of weight, and of course, the last group just wants to maintain their same build. If you’re reading this, then you’re probably part of one of these groups. No matter what your goal is, weighing yourself and seeing the opposite of what you are working towards can demotivate you and build up a lot of insecurities, especially about the way you look. With that being said, can you notice a 10-pound weight gain?
Whether or not you can notice a 10-pound weight gain entirely depends on your height, build, and the way your body distributes fat. But generally speaking, 10 pounds of weight gain isn’t noticeable for taller people with an average weight and it’s slightly noticeable for short skinny people.
In this article, we’ll talk more in-depth about if you can notice a 10-pound weight gain and if it can be considered a large amount of weight.
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Can You Notice a 10-Pound Weight Gain?
Before answering this question, let’s imagine a scenario where we have 3 people that are all going through their own weight gain/loss transformation journey.
One of them is pretty tall with an average weight and wants to build a lot of muscle mass, the other one is short and also has an average weight and wants to gain it a little bit, and the last one has an average height, overweight, and is looking to cut down on his fat.
In your opinion, if all three of them gained 10 pounds, who do you think will notice the most difference in himself? If your answer is the short guy with the average weight, then you’re absolutely correct.
The short guy will automatically have smaller limbs and body parts. This means that they only need a tiny amount of fat in order for them to look bigger hence why the majority of short people can gain weight pretty easily.
Based on this little experiment alone, you now understand that there are at least two factors that control whether or not a certain weight (in this case 10 pounds) is noticeable, height and starting weight. Let’s break them down and explain all other determining factors:
Height
Let’s start off with the most obvious one. Height plays a huge role in determining whether or not a certain amount of weight will be noticeable. As I mentioned earlier, the shorter you are, the smaller your limbs and body parts will be, and thus, needing less fat in order to look big.
Let’s take a look at this graph from the United Nations University, the black line represents height velocity which is just a fancy way of saying “how tall are you”. The blue line represents weight velocity. As you can see, the taller you are, the harder it is for you to gain weight and the harder it is for you to notice it.
As a general rule of thumb:
- If you’re above 5 foot 6, then 10 pounds of weight gain will not be noticeable.
- If you’re under 5 foot 6, then 10 pounds of weight gain will be noticeable.
Starting Weight
The starting weight or build represents what you used to weigh before the weight gain happened.
If we go back to the last scenario, the reason why the guy that had an average weight (above 5 foot 6) didn’t notice his weight gain is his starting weight. Since he was already overweight, a mere 10 pounds won’t make any difference so it won’t be noticeable.
If you’re wondering why overweight people continue to add on extra pounds is because past a certain point in terms of weight, you barely start to notice any difference. The pounds start to accumulate slowly but surely so you end up being fat without feeling it until one day you realize your situation and you think that it’s too late.
Here is the breakdown:
- If you’re underweight (can’t specify the weight since it varies based on height but you can calculate it using a BMI calculator), then 10 pounds of weight will be slightly noticeable.
- If you’re overweight, 10 pounds of weight won’t be noticeable.
Fat Distribution
The human body is such a complex and interesting system that’s capable of doing a lot of amazing things. One of these things is dictating how fat is distributed across all your different body parts and limbs.
There are some types of people that have a body that distributes fat equally so it takes a lot of extra pounds before the weight gain starts to get noticed, and there are others that have a body that stores fat in a single area like the belly or the face so it’s really easy for them to start noticing those extra pounds.
If you’re wondering about how you can control this fat distribution, well… You can’t. According to the Journal of Lipid Research, the only determining factors that control how your body distributes fat across its different body parts are sex hormones, age, and genetics.
- If your body distributes fat equally, then 10 pounds of weight gain isn’t noticeable.
- If your body stores fat in a single area, especially if it’s the face or the belly, then 10 pounds will be noticeable.
Is 10 Pounds of Weight Gain a Lot?
It highly depends on how long it took you to gain that much, but generally speaking, If your main goal is to cut down weight or maintain it, then 10 pounds of weight gain isn’t a lot since it can be cut down pretty easily with a proper diet and exercise.
However, since you managed to gain 10 pounds, what’s stopping you from gaining 20, 30, or even 50 pounds? Always pay close attention to your daily habits and see if there is something that’s causing those extra pounds to pile up.
If you want to get rid of the extra weight as soon as possible, follow the right diet plan that provides all the essential nutrients to your body (proteins, carbs, and healthy fats) and get rid of all types of junk food, have a calorie deficit (eating less than what your body needs so that the extra fat stored in your body is used as energy instead) every single day until you reach your weight goal, and make sure to hit those weekly cardio sessions and maybe consider other forms of training like weight-lifting.
Conclusion:
If you ever wake up one day, weigh yourself, and notice that your weight is going the opposite way of where you want it to be, don’t stress out about it since everybody gains/loses weight every now and then due to different circumstances and it’s something that you can’t avoid.
Instead, you should focus on what you can do, if you want to gain weight, make sure to get those calories in and consider weight-lifting, if you want to lose weight, follow the right diet, avoid all junk food, and stick to your cardio sessions.
