New To Lifting: Almost 13lb Weight Gain in a month? Is that normal? Help

NLud4118

Good Morning Fit Fam! I was looking to see if I could get some help or input. January of this year I changed from doing Beachbody workouts at home (T25, 21 day fix, P90X3 etc.) to going to the gym and have been using a 5-6 day lifting schedule that I found on bodybuilding.com with the 7th day as rest. I burn on average 450 per workout, more or less. I also upped my calories slightly because they were VERY low, but only by 100-200, nothing drastic. I don't eat candy or even that much fruit so my sugar intake is low, and I aim for a split of 50P/30C/20F for my macros. I'm concerned because since the end of January to now I've gained almost 13lbs. which seems like a hell of a lot. At first when the scale was going up I assumed it was because I was doing a new program and my body was adjusting. I know the scale isn't a good indicator of progress but seeing a number spike that drastic in such a short period of time has me concerned. I've take process pictures and don't really see too much of a difference if any at all. Can anyone help shed some light on what might be happening?

futuremanda

A middle-aged friend of mine gained 10 lbs when she started strength training. Around mid-Feb, I started a daily pilates schedule and put on 4 lbs just from that. Both of these examples are water, and came back off.

But it does seem to me that water retention from significantly changing your workout routine can be quite high. Couple that with the usual -- retention from diet, your cycle, changes in sleep, etc and I think it's likely to be mostly water. (And if it were fat, I think 13 lbs of it would show up in your progress pictures.)

Also, I don't know what "VERY low" is, but if your calories were truly so low, like starving yourself low, you can retain a lot of water when you first stop doing that.

Hopefully someone else has more direct experience or knowledge to offer.

bearmom09

Good job on the lifting plan NLud4118! Muscle is much denser and therefore heavier than fat, so besides possibly some water weight, that's the main reason for the increase on the scale. Just continue to focus on what your pictures look like and how your clothes fit, and less focus on the scale. And I agree with futuremanda, make sure your calorie count isn't too low for your body type and the lifting plan. You might want to increase the protein a little bit, to help feed the muscles as well as the fats. The carbs are good.

jennifershoo

We need more infos.
What are your stats (weight, age, height) and how many calories do you eat?
What exactly is your routine?
You say you burn 450 cals per workout, do you eat all of them back?
You might eat too much. Lifting does not burn as many calories as we think.

DeeTee68

bearmom09 wrote: »

Muscle is much denser and therefore heavier than fat,

Muscle is not heavier than fat. A pound of muscle weighs the same as a pound of fat no matter how dense. A pound of feathers weighs the same as a pound of lead. Etc Etc Etc.

squirrlt

If your tracking everything correctly, I do think it could be water retention or some kind of weird stress response. I used to lift 5+ days per week and I could NOT lose weight, I even gained! It didn't seem to matter what kind of deficit I was in. I was stuck for months. The moment I switched to 3 day per week and even lightened up a bit on my intensity, the weight started coming off steadily, same calorie intake. Super weird, can't explain, but that was my experience.

LeanButNotMean44

How long are your lifting workouts that you are burning 450 cals?

NLud4118

Thanks for the responses all. Regarding some of your questions:

I'm 5'7", 28 years old, and currently weigh 169.6 (starting was around 155 in January). My lifting sessions are about 45 mins. to an hour long which includes 10 mins of cardio (HIIT) at the end. My lifting schedule is roughly based the training routine at the bottom of this page http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/obese-to-beast-john-glaude-170-pound-weight-loss-journey.html with some modifications based on the equipment available at my gym. I wear a HRM when I workout, which I know can be off, but I use it to measure output and but on average I burn 450-650 calories depending on the muscle group.

Pertaining to calories, I was sitting at a low 1100 a day which I'm aware is abysmal so I've started to add calories back into my diet slowly to get back up to an acceptable level. From what I've read about reverse dieting, you shouldn't add too much too quickly or your body will respond poorly. Now I'm currently eating around 1350 calories a day at a split of 50P/30C/20F for my macros and I don't eat my workout calories back.

I hope this info helps! Thank you again for all the responses.

kandeye

Are you weighing/measuring your food? 15 pounds is quite a bit so I think it's safe to assume it's not all fat, but make sure your food diary is accurate as possible calorie wise.

lynnk1971

Oh... I feel your pain!!!! Im in exactly the same boat

PikaKnight

NLud4118 wrote: »

Thanks for the responses all. Regarding some of your questions:

I'm 5'7", 28 years old, and currently weigh 169.6 (starting was around 155 in January). My lifting sessions are about 45 mins. to an hour long which includes 10 mins of cardio (HIIT) at the end. My lifting schedule is roughly based the training routine at the bottom of this page http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/obese-to-beast-john-glaude-170-pound-weight-loss-journey.html with some modifications based on the equipment available at my gym. I wear a HRM when I workout, which I know can be off, but I use it to measure output and but on average I burn 450-650 calories depending on the muscle group.

Pertaining to calories, I was sitting at a low 1100 a day which I'm aware is abysmal so I've started to add calories back into my diet slowly to get back up to an acceptable level. From what I've read about reverse dieting, you shouldn't add too much too quickly or your body will respond poorly. Now I'm currently eating around 1350 calories a day at a split of 50P/30C/20F for my macros and I don't eat my workout calories back.

I hope this info helps! Thank you again for all the responses.

HRMs are for steady rate cardio only (like swimming or running)..not for HIIT, yoga, weight lifting etc.

When you use a HRM for weight lifting, you are going to get exaggerated burns. I know I managed to get mine to give me 800-900 calories a few times.

More than likely, you are burning more like 175-275 cals for that hour.

PikaKnight

Some links in regards to HRMs if interested:

http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/459580/polar-hrm-calorie-burn-estimate-accuracy-study/p1

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/blog/Azdak/view/the-real-facts-about-hrms-and-calories-what-you-need-to-know-before-purchasing-an-hrm-or-using-one-21472

http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/1044313/this-is-why-hrms-have-limited-use-for-tracking-calories/p1

CharlieBeansmomTracey

On 1350 calories a day you are not building that much muscle to weigh 13 lbs more. you can get newbie gains but it wouldnt be that much in a month.heck most likely it wouldnt be that in 6 months(women gain muscle slower than men). I dont even burn 450 calories for an hr of weight lifting and I lift heavy. Im 5' 6 1/2 ,40 yrs and 175 lbs. Im lucky to burn 250 calories weight lifting in an hr which is my time frame,even if I do hiit after for 10 min it would only be on average about 100 calories more if that. so for you to burn 450-650 calories sounds overestimated. maybe you are eating more than you think? are you weighing/measuring your food?

MysticRealm

DeeTee68 wrote: »

bearmom09 wrote: »

Muscle is much denser and therefore heavier than fat,

Muscle is not heavier than fat. A pound of muscle weighs the same as a pound of fat no matter how dense. A pound of feathers weighs the same as a pound of lead. Etc Etc Etc.

I always hate when people say this. YES muscle weighs more than fat. If you had 5 square inches of fat and 5 square inches of muscle, guess what will weigh more?
That'd be like saying a bowling ball weighs the same as a golf ball, because a pound of bowling ball and a pound of golf ball are the same weight.
The poster you quoted even made sure to not just say that muscle weighs more, but said that since muscle is denser (so takes up less room) it's heavier (which implies that she was saying that if you had the same volume of both muscle and fat the muscle would weigh more).

NLud4118

Thank you again everyone for the replies. To answer more questions:
1) Am I weighing my food? Yes I prep on Sundays and I measure everything out when dividing stuff up into my containers.
2) I had NO idea about the HRMs. That is awesome information to have so thank you for that.
3) I assumed the main issue was that I've been so low in calories for a long time that my metabolism has adjusted to that and it's now reacting to me adding more back in.

I guess my question still is, if I'm eating well and workout out 5-6 times a week lifting as heavy as I can with good form, doing small amounts of cardio, what could cause that large of a spike in my weight and how do you suggest I fix it?

I am so appreciative for these responses they've helped me a lot today. Thank you again

PikaKnight

NLud4118 wrote: »

Thank you again everyone for the replies. To answer more questions:
1) Am I weighing my food? Yes I prep on Sundays and I measure everything out when dividing stuff up into my containers.
2) I had NO idea about the HRMs. That is awesome information to have so thank you for that.
3) I assumed the main issue was that I've been so low in calories for a long time that my metabolism has adjusted to that and it's now reacting to me adding more back in.

I guess my question still is, if I'm eating well and workout out 5-6 times a week lifting as heavy as I can with good form, doing small amounts of cardio, what could cause that large of a spike in my weight and how do you suggest I fix it?

I am so appreciative for these responses they've helped me a lot today. Thank you again

Are you still losing inches or maintaining? Could you open up your diary? It may or may not help see things a bit better.

CharlieBeansmomTracey

the spike in your weight can be from retaining water from lifting if you are lifting that often.what I do is one hr of weight lifting(1-2 days heavy and 1-2 days of light weights) and then usually 30 min of cardio(hrs later though),but some days I just do weights and other days I just do cardio,I change it up . I give my muscles time to rest from lifting which does help. maybe do an hr of lifting earlier in the day and then later on do 30 min of cardio if possible.

I also make sure that after exercise my net calories are over 1200. Im eating 1780 without exercise. I usually burn close to 600 a day so that would put me below my net of 1200. so I eat some of my exercise calories back to where I am over 1200 net. make sure you are getting plenty of protein also. I just broke out of a plateau due to now working out twice a day and eating a little more but thats me, what works for one may not for another.

make sure you are eating enough and keep doing what you are doing, if you dont see any results say in the next month then see a dr as it may be a medical issue causing the weight gain

NLud4118

As of right now physically I look about the same in the two pictures I've take (one 1/19 the other today 3/5) however my weight itsef has gone up from 155 to 169. I should point out that I've noticed I'm getting stronger but I didn't realize that maybe I was doing too much too soon. I assumed the more the merrier and that's why I lift up to 6x a week with only 10 min of cardio at the end; I assumed (based on my HRM which I now know is wrong) that I was already burning a ton of calories and since I'm trying to fix my metabolism I didn't wanna back track. I liked the suggestion of cardio daily, and then lifting later on so I might try that and see what happens. I never thought that the weight gain was water due to a possible stress reaction or too much too fast but that makes sense now.

I've learned so much today. Please feel free to keep posting suggestions. Thank you all again!

PikaKnight

NLud4118 wrote: »

As of right now physically I look about the same in the two pictures I've take (one 1/19 the other today 3/5) however my weight itsef has gone up from 155 to 169. I should point out that I've noticed I'm getting stronger but I didn't realize that maybe I was doing too much too soon. I assumed the more the merrier and that's why I lift up to 6x a week with only 10 min of cardio at the end; I assumed (based on my HRM which I now know is wrong) that I was already burning a ton of calories and since I'm trying to fix my metabolism I didn't wanna back track. I liked the suggestion of cardio daily, and then lifting later on so I might try that and see what happens. I never thought that the weight gain was water due to a possible stress reaction or too much too fast but that makes sense now.

I've learned so much today. Please feel free to keep posting suggestions. Thank you all again!

If your goal is more aesthetic and strength oriented than I'd say no to doing cardio first. And there isn't a need to do cardio daily unless you like it (or we are talking about something like walking the dog type of deal).

There's a woman on here that only lifts 3x a week and absolutely no additional cardio workouts and she not only successfully bulks, cuts and maintains, but is also a competitive powerlifter. Basically, unless you are training for something specific or just like it - work smarter, not harder.

If your measurements are at least the same, then I wouldn't worry about the gain. Just keep watching your intake and switching from HRM calculations for weight training to MFP's for now. Cutting that down will probably get the scale moving again if you've been consistent with netting the deficit goal MFP gave you.

JodiVanMeter

I lift 5 days a week....cardio 1 day a week....I almost always gain weight when I first start a new routine....not sure why u gained that much....but when ur muscles tear and break down their instant response is to retain water to protect them....but this usually goes away after about a week.... I also change my diet often.... I was at high protein.... now I'm high carbs at 50% and 25 P and 25F.... I've responded well with this and in a few weeks I will go down to 40/30/30... I usually burn anywhere between 200-300 calories in a 40 min set....depending on what I'm working and how heavy i lift.

My advice would to maybe carb cycle for a few days and watch ur sodium intake....make sure ur eating every couple of hours....and make sure your eating enough....when u build muscle you burn more calories at rest.....my calorie intake is 2080 a day....so u may want to calculate exactly how many calories u should be eating.

cassie858

I agree with @PikaKnight.. no need for daily cardio, this could hinder your progress with the strength training, and excessive cardio could even cause burn out / fatigue.

It sounds as though everything you're doing is right, if you are eating the calories and macros you say you are. I would only comment that your carbs are a little low, do you feel fatigued at all? Carbs are very important for refuelling your muscles’ glycogen levels and flood your body with insulin, which has anti-catabolic effects (prevents muscle breakdown). I usually follow around 40C:35P:25F.. just tweak it a little until you find what works for you.

As said by @futuremanda and others, I believe that it is likely that you have gained weight due to water retention. I wouldn't watch the scale too much, measurements count for more and an accurate BF% calculation.

I also find it interesting what @Squirrlt said about stress responses and doing 'too much', because I myself have experienced that first hand. I now have a maximum of 3 training sessions per week, and maybe 1 maybe 2 cardio sessions (of about 20-30 min HIIT). I find my body responds much better now, however this is obviously my own personal experience and you just have to tweak until you find what's right for you!

Good luck on your journey

NLud4118

All of these are great suggestions. Thank you all for taking the time to answer. The only other thing that I didn't realize, until my friend brought it up was my pre-workout (C4). There is a small amount of creatine in it, and I take 2 scoops before I lift. I have read that this can cause water retention or bloating but I wasn't sure if that small dose would have those effects or not.

About my calorie intake, I have calculated out my caloric needs, however because I was eating at so low for so long, I've read you shouldn't bump things up quickly which is why I started by hopping up from 1100 to 1350 and will continue to add in as my training processes and my metabolism adjusts. I'll also look into what the last two posts said. I've heard of carb cycling before but have never practiced it. Someone else suggested I up my water so that'll be a goal of mine in the up and coming weeks.

Thank you all again!