Weight gain when exercising

Floydo2014

I put on about 9lbs when I started exercising more last year and haven't been able to to shift it. For the first time in a year I've finally shifted 5lbs by calorie counting but I also haven't been exercising so much over the last couple of weeks so I'm not sure if it's muscle loss. My favorite sport is cycling and I want to go out for a ride tomorrow but I know that if I do and I eat more to fuel I will put on weight. Why is this when I'm burning up to 2000 cal's a time?! I don't want to lose fitness but I also don't want to regain the weight. Any tips gratefully received 😀

frannybdestiny

1. If you eat in a calorie deficit while exercising, you will lose weight. Keep calorie counting and you will be fine!

2. The reason you gained weight when you exercised previously is either a) you were eating in a calorie surplus (eating more than your body burned) or b) you gained muscle (muscle weighs more than fat).

3. Remember the scale is only one way to track your progress. Scale weight can be unreliable because it can be affected by a range of factors e.g. water retention, bowel movements, etc There are other ways to track progress like body fat percentage and progress photos.

Hope this helps!

TavistockToad

You're confusing water weight with fat/muscle loss or gain

Floydo2014

Thanks 😀

elisa123gal

i don't think you lost five pounds of muscle in a few weeks of calorie counting. Why not use tight clothes or measurements to track your progress as well. Don't get stuck on a scale number. some on MFP here started lifting weights after they met their goal.. and look smaller more fit yet gained "scale weight." in the process.

sijomial

Don't confuse short term weight fluctuations out of line with calorie balance with fat or muscle loss - water variations are far more likely to be the reason.
No you don't suddenly lose muscle mass unless you are inactive for an extended period of weeks causing atrophy (or have a prolonged and excessive deficit).

Your 9lb gain last year indicates you were in a significant calorie surplus despite exercising more. Whether that was just fat or some muscle and some fat it would still be a calorie surplus.

As a fellow cyclist do remember to ensure your calorie estimates are reasonable - there's some really poor apps around which give very exaggerated estimates. What are you using?
The MyFitnessPal speed related estimates are also far too high for me as a road cyclist, maybe if I was cycling through sand on a 50lb bike they might be close!

On long multi-hour rides (which your 2000 cal example should be) it actually should become quite difficult to keep up your food intake with your calorie output.

Also remember for long duration exercise the difference between net and gross calorie estimates becomes significant.

ejg1010

I just want to add that the reason you put on 9lbs when you started exercising more must have been because you were eating more calories than you were burning in going about your daily life + exercise. Now that you are calorie counting, as long as you are not over-estimating your calorie burn when exercising, there is no reason why you would put on weight because of exercising.

A few years ago I trained for a marathon and thought that I'd easily lose weight whilst doing it. It turns out that I didn't, mostly because the level of training made me super-hungry all the time! I wasn't counting calories so I think I just under-estimated how much I was actually eating to fuel the runs. Now that I've been properly logging my calories and exercise the weight has been coming off as MFP has predicted.

Be realistic about your calorie burn and start by just eating half of them back. Over a few weeks you can gauge whether that is enough and adjust it from there.

sijomial

Don't want to be picky but if your exercise calorie burns are realistic then only eating half back is making your estimating less accurate.

Cycling isn't difficult to achieve reasonable and usable estimates.

mom23mangos

I just want to say, don't let the scale rule your decisions. Use multiple methods to determine how you are doing. I mean, do you really care what the scale says if your look good and your athletic performance is great? Did your measurements change?

bisky

I understand Floyd. When I swim or long cycle I am ravenous afterwards. Walking okay but I stopped losing weight when I started training for very short triathlons last summer. I agree with mom23mangos...there are other measurements to look at. For me it was measuring inches. Even though I was not seeing a loss on the scale I was burning fat, gaining muscle and tightened up proved by losing inches and tight jeans were loser.

mmapags

mom23mangos wrote: »

I just want to say, don't let the scale rule your decisions. Use multiple methods to determine how you are doing. I mean, do you really care what the scale says if your look good and your athletic performance is great? Did your measurements change?

This all the way! Take measurements, look in the mirror, how clothes fit. The scale is only 1 data point and not always the most important one as we get closer to goal.

AnnPT77

sijomial wrote: »

Don't confuse short term weight fluctuations out of line with calorie balance with fat or muscle loss - water variations are far more likely to be the reason.
No you don't suddenly lose muscle mass unless you are inactive for an extended period of weeks causing atrophy (or have a prolonged and excessive deficit).

Your 9lb gain last year indicates you were in a significant calorie surplus despite exercising more. Whether that was just fat or some muscle and some fat it would still be a calorie surplus.

As a fellow cyclist do remember to ensure your calorie estimates are reasonable - there's some really poor apps around which give very exaggerated estimates. What are you using?
The MyFitnessPal speed related estimates are also far too high for me as a road cyclist, maybe if I was cycling through sand on a 50lb bike they might be close!

On long multi-hour rides (which your 2000 cal example should be) it actually should become quite difficult to keep up your food intake with your calorie output.

Also remember for long duration exercise the difference between net and gross calorie estimates becomes significant.

Quibble: Nine pounds in a year is a whalloping 86 calorie average daily surplus, approximately.

The 9 pound gain is significant, which makes the calorie surplus significant in one sense . . . but numerically it's probably within the range of estimating error for both exercise and eating calories, so pretty easy to slip into.

sijomial

AnnPT77 wrote: »

sijomial wrote: »

Don't confuse short term weight fluctuations out of line with calorie balance with fat or muscle loss - water variations are far more likely to be the reason.
No you don't suddenly lose muscle mass unless you are inactive for an extended period of weeks causing atrophy (or have a prolonged and excessive deficit).

Your 9lb gain last year indicates you were in a significant calorie surplus despite exercising more. Whether that was just fat or some muscle and some fat it would still be a calorie surplus.

As a fellow cyclist do remember to ensure your calorie estimates are reasonable - there's some really poor apps around which give very exaggerated estimates. What are you using?
The MyFitnessPal speed related estimates are also far too high for me as a road cyclist, maybe if I was cycling through sand on a 50lb bike they might be close!

On long multi-hour rides (which your 2000 cal example should be) it actually should become quite difficult to keep up your food intake with your calorie output.

Also remember for long duration exercise the difference between net and gross calorie estimates becomes significant.

Quibble: Nine pounds in a year is a whalloping 86 calorie average daily surplus, approximately.

The 9 pound gain is significant, which makes the calorie surplus significant in one sense . . . but numerically it's probably within the range of estimating error for both exercise and eating calories, so pretty easy to slip into.

@AnnPT77
I didn't read it as gaining 9lbs over the course of an entire year.
"I put on about 9lbs when I started exercising more last year"
Perhaps OP can clarify the timeline?

debrakgoogins

frannybdestiny wrote: »

(muscle weighs more than fat)

One pound of muscle weighs exactly the same amount as one pound of fat.

You may have overestimated the amount of calories you burned. You may have underestimated the amount of food you were eating. In any case, weigh and measure your food. Log religiously. Be careful about MFP overestimating your calorie burns. You should still be able to lose weight while exercising.

ritzvin

Floydo2014 wrote: »

I put on about 9lbs when I started exercising more last year and haven't been able to to shift it. For the first time in a year I've finally shifted 5lbs by calorie counting but I also haven't been exercising so much over the last couple of weeks so I'm not sure if it's muscle loss. My favorite sport is cycling and I want to go out for a ride tomorrow but I know that if I do and I eat more to fuel I will put on weight. Why is this when I'm burning up to 2000 cal's a time?! I don't want to lose fitness but I also don't want to regain the weight. Any tips gratefully received 😀

As others noted:
[1] Double check that the estimated calorie burn on the cycling makes sense. Those 2000-calorie rides should have been somewhat on the order of 40-65ish miles for a road ride. (The estimate from my Garmin is typically ~30 calories per mile at ~113 lb; all other variables being equal without much climbing-burns will rise linearly with your weight).
[2] Tighten your food logging.
[3] Control the cycling version of run-ger. (Cardio activities have a bad habit of winding up at the pub afterward...and extremely few activities burn enough to cover bar food and a beer...it's easy to scarf down double what you just burned in calorie-dense food nearly instantly when hit with ravenous hunger before you have a chance to feel sated/full.)