Weight Lifting

jadu1536
jadu1536 Posts: 114 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
Hello! Has anyone noticed that their weight goes up as they lift weight but their clothes still fit ok? My weight has gone up about 10 lbs since I started doing cross fit, but my clothes all fit well. I actually look a little smaller.

Replies

  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,865 Member
    It's normal to some extent, though I would find 10 Lbs to be up there. Training breaks down the body and the body needs to repair and you retain water aid in repair of that damage. To what degree might depend on how much weight you have to start out with, but I'm not sure.

    I just started weight training again last Wednesday after a 5-6 month hiatus and had a session last Wednesday and this past Monday and will have another tomorrow (Friday). I put on about 5 Lbs in the last week...all water.
  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 34,204 Member
    jadu1536 wrote: »
    Hello! Has anyone noticed that their weight goes up as they lift weight but their clothes still fit ok? My weight has gone up about 10 lbs since I started doing cross fit, but my clothes all fit well. I actually look a little smaller.

    Sure, why not? Muscle tissue is denser than fat tissue - it's more compact, takes up less space - pound for pound. One might stay the same weight, but get smaller; or gain weight but stay the same size. If your weight is up, that implies you've been in a calorie surplus (perhaps small, depending on timespan). Calorie surplus would put you on the favorable side for muscle gain compared to deficit, though program, nutrition, genetics, age, sex, etc., still matter.

    Ten pounds up is a lot: It would take a number of months to gain that much mass, but how long it somewhat situational/individual. There's some tendency for improved fitness/strength to change body geometry in other ways that can affect clothes fit, too: Posture improvement is just one simple example.

    Any muscle-challenging activity can have this effect, not just weight lifting. Weight lifting is the fastest, most efficient route. I lost a pants size or two at constant body weight when I started rowing . . . but it took a very long time (years), and I was rowing really a lot.

    I near-instantly gain a couple of pounds of water weight anytime I start progressive strength training regularly after a hiatus, and it sticks around until I stop strength training, then drops just as quickly. Whether this happens, and the magnitude, is likely to be individual, too.

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