If You're Gaining Weight on a Calorie Deficit 🥲

26 May 2026 · 1 min

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In this short monologue, Eric Roberts addresses the puzzling experience of gaining weight while supposedly being in a calorie deficit. He uses a dirty sponge under running water as a metaphor: the sponge’s dirt represents body fat being removed, while the sponge simultaneously soaks up water, becoming denser. The water represents retained or added body water and muscle mass, which the scale measures. Consequently, the scale may show the same weight or even an increase, even though the body is becoming cleaner, stronger, and healthier. Roberts emphasizes that the scale only reflects total mass (including water) and cannot reveal internal composition changes, urging viewers to focus on body composition rather than the number on the scale.

Chapters

I've been perfect. How did I gain weight? Think of a dirty sponge under running water. You're kind of scrubbing the sponge and you can see the dirt leaving the sponge. The dirt is your fat. But the whole time, the sponge is actually soaking up the water and it's actually getting thicker and more dense. So if you were to pick up the sponge, it actually weighs the same, Maybe even more. But a bigger, stronger, more clean sponge is exactly what you wanted and you were trying to do. The scale only weighs the water. It can't see what's happening inside.