Added more exercise but scale is going up

Mds1922

Hi all,

I've been doing IF (18:6 &16;8) for a month and lost about 7 pounds. I've decided to increase my exercise activity, i.e.: hitting my 10k steps, spinning, yoga, etc. But now I'm noticing that the scale is going up. What am I doing wrong? I used to eat the extra calories I earn by exercise but I've cut back on that this week but my weight is going up. Help! I don't want to get discouraged.

WeatherJane

It might be water retention from the increased exercise.

debilang

If you are well hydrated, it also could be muscle you are gaining from all the exercise...That is a good thing :)

Mds1922

Ahhh. I don't think I am as hydrated as I should be. Ok, I'll try it! Thank you.

yirara

If you're doing new exercise then that's probably water retention. Muscles heal, and in order to promote that your body is holding more onto water. It's a normal reaction. Sorry, it's not more muscle. You don't build muscle from a bit of yoga, spinning or walking. Certainly not within a few days and not such that you see an actual weight gain. Gaining muscles takes months and years

AnnPT77

Water retention, almost certainly. (Don't over-react and cut calories in that scenario: It's counter-productive.)

Against a backdrop of slow weight loss, even my *weight trending app* thought I was gaining weight for almost a month (even without hormones in the picture; I'm menopausal), when I resumed weight training after a long break. Daily weights looked even more distorted than the trend. 😆

I routinely see a couple of pounds gain on the scale in that scenario (some people see more), and I hang onto those pounds until I stop training regularly/progressively. It's just water, so NBD in my book: I expect/ignore it. Eventually, if there's fat loss happening - however slowly - it will eventually emerge from the clouds of water weight, on the body weight scale, then in the trending app. Any exercise increase has this potential, not just weight training. It's related to muscle repair.

You might enjoy this useful article, for more info on this and related topics:

https://physiqonomics.com/the-weird-and-highly-annoying-world-of-scale-weight-and-fluctuations

7 pounds in a month is quite a lot, unless quite severely overweight. Don't underfuel your exercise. Hang in there with a reasonable calorie level, give it a few weeks to sort out on the scale. I predict it'll be fine.

Shy_Yogi

There’s a lot of great advice here. You could get a scale that tracks water, body fat, BMI and all that for about $20-30. Also take measurements and pics too. The numbers on the scale isn’t the only indicator that you’ve lost weight.

Lietchi

Shy_Yogi wrote: »

There’s a lot of great advice here. You could get a scale that tracks water, body fat, BMI and all that for about $20-30. Also take measurements and pics too. The numbers on the scale isn’t the only indicator that you’ve lost weight.

And then post on MFP asking 'why have I lost a lb of muscle mass in a week?' or 'I've lost a pound, but my scale says my bodyfat has increased, help!' or something similar 😉
They're not really reliable, so it's important to take the results with a grain of salt and look at the overall trend, as well as measuring under similar circumstances (they're very sensitive to varying levels of hydration).

Beverly2Hansen

So when I add a new type of exercise my weight goes up or plateaus for 2 weeks. Then suddenly I lose around 2lbs and my weightloss goes back to being steady. Here's the thing though 7lbs per month is a lot if you're not really overweight. I'm 155lbs 5'5" and very active and struggle to lose anything over 5lbs per month. You don't want to over train or under eat those methods aren't sustainable. Weightloss can easily spiral into obsession or become a yoyo practice in modern times. That being said always take measurements because you'll lose inches at times when plateaued or gaining the fitter you become.