Water retention after starting new resistance exercises

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HeliumIsNoble
HeliumIsNoble Posts: 1,213 Member
edited January 2019 in Health and Weight Loss
How long should I expect it to take before my body gets used to the new regime, and loses the water?

I've just started a new routine of picking small weights up and putting them down again, after six weeks of being more sedentary than usual due to illness and injury in the run-up to the festive period. Now Christmas is over, I've thrown myself back into my normal cardio-type exercise schedule + bodyweight exercises, as I struggle to get fully fit for a summer event.

Obviously, this sudden uptick in activity means I'm aching somewhere everyday. Even more obviously, the scales have gone right up on account of the water retention, as anyone would expect.

What kind of timescale am I looking at for the water retention after the aching subsides?





Replies

  • tinkerbellang83
    tinkerbellang83 Posts: 9,130 Member
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    Can easily take a couple of weeks depending on how intense your new regime is.

    I'd give less worry to the scales and maybe focus on measurements and progress pictures for measuring progress for a couple of weeks and focus on some non-scale goals to keep you sane :smile:

    I am in the same boat at the moment, I am at my highest weight of the last year, but tracking my deficit accurately so I know it's not fat. You just have to trust the process.
  • Silentpadna
    Silentpadna Posts: 1,306 Member
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    sardelsa wrote: »
    My body holds onto the water until I stop lifting or reduce my workout volume. That weight becomes my new normal. You might have a different experience. Just keep tracking and be consistent

    A great example of why we shouldn't worry about water weight. It's just a necessary component of weight and it fluctuates. For 99% of people, the body regulates it for you and it does what it's supposed to do. To the OP: don't worry about it and don't try to manipulate it. If you eat in a deficit, fat loss will occur regardless of whatever level of fluids your body maintains at any given time. (I do understand the frustration of the fluid fluctuations making it hard to measure, but it's important to remember that the problem is not the fluid itself, but the inability to measure in the short term, which isn't really an actual problem). That's why patience is more important than just about everything in doing this process.
  • jemhh
    jemhh Posts: 14,261 Member
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    When I started lifting, my weight went up 3 pounds the first months and then back down 3 pounds the following month. During those two months my measurements and appearance changed greatly.
  • yirara
    yirara Posts: 9,389 Member
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    sardelsa wrote: »
    My body holds onto the water until I stop lifting or reduce my workout volume. That weight becomes my new normal. You might have a different experience. Just keep tracking and be consistent

    Like this, though my water weight gains in general are very small. I'm super sore today after trying something new, and the combined sitting behind desk again after the weekend and sore muscle water accounted for 500gr.
  • CSARdiver
    CSARdiver Posts: 6,252 Member
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    It can take anywhere from a week to several weeks depending on the severity of the workout. This is a combination of glycogen and water and a normal physiological response to stress. Weight does not equal fat.

    My n=1 I put on ~10 lbs after back to back Spartan Races last year and it took about 2 weeks for this to fall back to normal.
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,876 Member
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    sardelsa wrote: »
    My body holds onto the water until I stop lifting or reduce my workout volume. That weight becomes my new normal. You might have a different experience. Just keep tracking and be consistent

    Same...if you're using your muscles and progressively overloading them, they're going to need repaired and thus water will be retained.

    OP, in regards to DOMs, that usually subsides in a couple of weeks.
  • melissajkxoxo
    melissajkxoxo Posts: 35 Member
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    I am also having this issue and just trying to be positive and have patience. Since Christmas I’ve got back in being more strict with cal counting and started doing workout videos with weights (currently 30 day shred) and have only noticed weight gain.
  • MelanieCN77
    MelanieCN77 Posts: 4,047 Member
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    I've reduced one strenuous sport night down to once a week and the water weight the morning after is more pronounced than ever. Water retention in average people isn't something that needs mitigating or reducing or eradicating, it's just something to keep in mind as you look at the scale any given day and carry on.
  • lin_be
    lin_be Posts: 393 Member
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    The scale measures your weight and not your fat. The goal is fat loss so try to find ways to measure that. Typically using body measurements and photos are good examples. The scale is one tool out of many to measure progress.
  • Silentpadna
    Silentpadna Posts: 1,306 Member
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    melissajkxoxo wrote: »
    I am also having this issue and just trying to be positive and have patience. Since Christmas I’ve got back in being more strict with cal counting and started doing workout videos with weights (currently 30 day shred) and have only noticed weight gain.

    That makes sense. Without a longer window, it's not likely you'll notice either fat gain or fat loss. You will always notice weight fluctuations, but rarely actually notice fat changes in the short term.
  • kshama2001
    kshama2001 Posts: 27,897 Member
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    My scale went up seven pounds when I started lifting weights again, and it took a few weeks for that water weight to come back off.
  • HeliumIsNoble
    HeliumIsNoble Posts: 1,213 Member
    edited January 2019
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    OP here. Guys, I appreciate the encouraging sentiments :D but for me, my actual weight does matter. The events I'm preparing for are amateur sports club events, and my weight on the day could potentially change my category.

    I like to prepare for things well in advance, so I'm gathering data now on how far in advance I might need to scale things back, or whether I will simply have to accept it and lose additional fat to compensate for the water.

    Thank you MFPers for the details of how water loss works for you. I'm using them now to make best case and worst case projections as we speak! Thank goodness for spreadsheets! ;)

    Some might say it's odd to worry about it now, but sticking my head in the sand and ignoring the issue wasn't going to work for me.

  • CSARdiver
    CSARdiver Posts: 6,252 Member
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    HeliumIsNoble wrote: »
    OP here. Guys, I appreciate the encouraging sentiments :D but for me, my actual weight does matter. The events I'm preparing for are amateur sports club events, and my weight on the day could potentially change my category.

    I like to prepare for things well in advance, so I'm gathering data now on how far in advance I might need to scale things back, or whether I will simply have to accept it and lose additional fat to compensate for the water.

    Thank you MFPers for the details of how water loss works for you. I'm using them now to make best case and worst case projections as we speak! Thank goodness for spreadsheets! ;)

    Some might say it's odd to worry about it now, but sticking my head in the sand and ignoring the issue wasn't going to work for me.

    Ah - this is good context. Do you know any body builders, fighters/wrestlers, or people in a similar situation? Good that you are planning this out in advance as there are several easy tips to lose weight, but most aren't safe and will hurt performance.

    I plan my bulks & cuts around these events as well and end my muscle building phases 6 weeks before a match and then shift to a modest cut or maintenance depending on how close I am to my weight class.
  • HeliumIsNoble
    HeliumIsNoble Posts: 1,213 Member
    edited January 2019
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    CSARdiver wrote: »
    HeliumIsNoble wrote: »
    OP here. Guys, I appreciate the encouraging sentiments :D but for me, my actual weight does matter. The events I'm preparing for are amateur sports club events, and my weight on the day could potentially change my category.

    I like to prepare for things well in advance, so I'm gathering data now on how far in advance I might need to scale things back, or whether I will simply have to accept it and lose additional fat to compensate for the water.

    Thank you MFPers for the details of how water loss works for you. I'm using them now to make best case and worst case projections as we speak! Thank goodness for spreadsheets! ;)

    Some might say it's odd to worry about it now, but sticking my head in the sand and ignoring the issue wasn't going to work for me.

    Ah - this is good context. Do you know any body builders, fighters/wrestlers, or people in a similar situation? Good that you are planning this out in advance as there are several easy tips to lose weight, but most aren't safe and will hurt performance.

    I plan my bulks & cuts around these events as well and end my muscle building phases 6 weeks before a match and then shift to a modest cut or maintenance depending on how close I am to my weight class.
    I know a fair few people, but MFP advice is more of a known quantity. Kind of want to avoid triggering another evangelical monologue about the weight-loss benefits of ACV/keto/etc. ;)

    My get-fit schedule can definitely be designed to accommodate dropping the new stuff for the last six weeks, so this is all looking good.



    Official Disclaimer: this is not a keto thread. If you (universal you) think it works for you, I'm not interested in dissuading you from it. However, logging my food and a sensible deficit worked for me to lose weight the first time, and I think it'll work to remove my slight regain, so I'd much rather do that.

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