Gaining weight and working out

leesmomx3

Hi, I'm new here, my name is Rachael. About 3 months ago I started exercising pretty regularly (3 - 5 days a week) and very intense workouts for about an hour long each workout. At first, I expected to gain some water weight as my muscles were adjusting to the new me. However, 3 months later, and I've gained about 10 pounds. I am extremely frustrated. My body composition isn't getting smaller, it's getting bulkier. Am I doing something wrong? I feel bloated and heavy. Has anyone else gone through this or have any advice?

sollyn23l2

Are you tracking calories? Increased exercise=increased hunger=more eating=weight gain.

SisterSueGetsFit

Hi Rachael. I’m Rachel too! Are you tracking your calories? Recording them in your MFP diary?

ninerbuff

A lot of people think that working out will allow them to eat more. Unfortunately if you're not tracking calories correctly, you'll gain more than you'll lose. Sounds like you're in surplus here if it's been going on for 3 months. Reassess your intake and eat less than you burn to lose weight.

A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 35+ years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition

EmilySwid

If you are tracking your calories:
- Are you eating the calories that you burn from exercise?
- What are you eating?
- Do you count macros?

While CICO is pretty straight forward (the idea you need to eat less than you're burning per day, having a deficit), exercising consistently/hard changes the name of the game. Eating too few calories after high intensity isn't good for you.

I, myself, find that eating less calories but not considering how many grams of protein, fat, and carbs I'm taking in had me at a slower loss rate and I didn't like how I felt. Groggy, exhausted, slow recovery from exercise... Now, I count at a 30-35% protein intake diet. I make healthier choices and rarely eat processed food (just a personal choice, I'm not much of a snacker).

We need a bit more information about your day to day, what you're burning, what you're logging, and what the makeup of that log is to possibly help.

When it comes down to it, it's how accurate is your tracking and how much as you consuming compared to what you burn.

ReReNotMe

Depends on what you're doing. Sadly it's pretty difficult to build muscle and lose fat at the same time.

For building muscle (bulking) we need a surplus of calories to build the muscle fibres as we exercise. To lose fat (cut) you need the opposite, a decent calorie deficit for you to work off the fat during exercise.

If you're gaining weight when you're trying to lose weight try adjusting your calories. I've found trying to estimate my BMR based on my height and weight can help me set a calorie goal that works for me. Not sure if that helps. Good luck

ddsb1111

@leesmomx3 I could have written this post last Feb, you’re definitely not alone. After 3 months with a trainer, a goal to reduce inches and lose a small amount of weight, I ended up gaining something like 8lbs. To spend that much money, time, and energy and go the opposite direction was depressing. In fact, I justified the costs as it would also help me with my mental health, but unfortunately due to these unexpected changes it made it worse.

I canceled my personal trainer month 4 and felt really disappointed in myself but I didn’t want to continue down this slippery slope. Here’s what happened after.

I lost I think it was 2-3 lbs almost immediately from the water weight. But the hunger and always thinking about food part didn’t go away. That was rough. I hadn’t had such disordered thinking since I was in college so it was worrisome. So I jumped on MFP to get clear direct answers like the others here did for you. I knew I needed to track calories better even though I felt I was doing everything right but little mistakes and frequent ones unfortunately don’t lie on the scale.

I don’t feel like I got a handle on my hunger and weight loss again for a couple of months, but I didn’t give up. Finally, trying repeatedly, stuck and I started to find myself again and get my hunger under control. I’m just barely under where I started at the gym and that feels like a massive win. More so mentally than anything. I’m not hungry all the time, obsessing over food, I’m less irritated, and losing that heavy feeling.

What I’m doing instead? I’m learning golf and tennis. Turns out I really like tennis! Talk about a workout. I got a 2 person kayak so I’m excited to add that to my activity list. I’m also swimming regularly and tracking my calories and seeing results. My mental health has improved dramatically, doing something that’s both fun and challenging. And these activities don’t create that spike in hunger that I can’t satiate.

I really wanted to be someone that had a trainer and met all my goals, loved the gym, and had those amazing before and after photos that you see here. I never heard this side of the story about the gym and the hunger before. In fact I came here asking the same questions you did, why am I gaining after 3 months?? Never knew about the water weight, never knew how hungry I’d be, and certainly didn’t know how it would take up most of my thoughts. It’s like I couldn’t shut it off and just live my life because I was going the opposite direction of my goals. This really frustrated me.

Anyway, sorry for the rant. And I don’t know what will work best for you tbh. Maybe you’ll get a handle on your calories through tracking with a food scale. Or maybe you’ll be like me where I felt I needed more calories than I could have working out at the gym so needed to pivot. They’re both good options and can work. But you’re not alone and not a failure. And sometimes with weightlifting it’s not just about tracking your calories and you’ll be fine. It wasn’t for me. You have to decide how much you love it and are invested. If everything else is working out- great!, track your calories, change up your macros, and ask questions just like you’re doing. I really hope you nothing but the best!

kshama2001

leesmomx3 wrote: »

Hi, I'm new here, my name is Rachael. About 3 months ago I started exercising pretty regularly (3 - 5 days a week) and very intense workouts for about an hour long each workout. At first, I expected to gain some water weight as my muscles were adjusting to the new me. However, 3 months later, and I've gained about 10 pounds. I am extremely frustrated. My body composition isn't getting smaller, it's getting bulkier. Am I doing something wrong? I feel bloated and heavy. Has anyone else gone through this or have any advice?

Moderate exercise tends to be a mild appetite suppressant for me. More vigorous exercise spikes my appetite. Like the previous poster, it is possible your "very intense workouts" are causing you to eat more than you should.

Additionally, there are mistakes that people commonly make that cause them to not lose weight that we might be able to spot if you change your Diary Sharing settings to Public. In the app, go to Settings > Diary Setting > Diary Sharing > and check Public. Desktop: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/account/diary_settings