10 days and I've gained 3 pounds.

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hddeuce1966
hddeuce1966 Posts: 104
in Getting Started
I started over on my journey to health 10 days ago. I work out every day and have been keeping my daily net calories at around 1200. I weighed myself for the first time today and I have gained 3 pounds! I weigh and measure my food so I know I'm not under estimating my intake. I drink lots of water. I don't get it. HELP!!!!!
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  • PhoenixStrikes
    PhoenixStrikes Posts: 587 Member
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    I can gain 3lbs in a day. If my sodium is high, if I exercise hard, if I eat heavy foods, have a lot of water. There are a lot of reasons people fluctuate through out the week. Do a lot of research to make sure 1200 calories is for you. Personally I need a lot more but I'm active and enjoy eating. Don't sweat the scale so much. Drink some water and only weigh yourself first thing in the morning, after a rest day, naked and after your bathroom trip. Start taking measurements so you can see the real progress and keep working on finding the right caloric balance for yourself.
  • glades250
    glades250 Posts: 10
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    Don't give up.. I'm fluctuating between the three I lost in the past two weeks. The simple answer I would guess is shock. Your body is not use to a life style change and it is surviving. Just keep going and DON'T LOOK AT A SCALE. pull out your skinny jeans from time to time. Look for changes in what you where. Good luck and don't stop. Failure is not an option!!
  • hddeuce1966
    hddeuce1966 Posts: 104
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    I can gain 3lbs in a day. If my sodium is high, if I exercise hard, if I eat heavy foods, have a lot of water. There are a lot of reasons people fluctuate through out the week. Do a lot of research to make sure 1200 calories is for you. Personally I need a lot more but I'm active and enjoy eating. Don't sweat the scale so much. Drink some water and only weigh yourself first thing in the morning, after a rest day, naked and after your bathroom trip. Start taking measurements so you can see the real progress and keep working on finding the right caloric balance for yourself.
    How does exercising hard cause weight gain?
  • diannethegeek
    diannethegeek Posts: 14,776 Member
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    Weight loss is not linear. If you've just started exercising your muscles are likely to be retaining extra fluid to help cushion and repair them. This can cause a small gain on the scale and mask any fat loss that is happening. Give it time. It'll go away as your body gets used to the routine.
  • rceleste40
    rceleste40 Posts: 20 Member
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    I started over on my journey to health 10 days ago. I work out every day and have been keeping my daily net calories at around 1200. I weighed myself for the first time today and I have gained 3 pounds! I weigh and measure my food so I know I'm not under estimating my intake. I drink lots of water. I don't get it. HELP!!!!!

    Take your measurements and check those every week. Sometimes I find that when I don't lose for a week I usually end up losing a few inches.
  • hddeuce1966
    hddeuce1966 Posts: 104
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    Thank you. It makes sense that my muscles may be retaining fluid. Every muscle in my body is sore. :/
  • acpgee
    acpgee Posts: 7,639 Member
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    I can gain 3lbs in a day. If my sodium is high, if I exercise hard, if I eat heavy foods, have a lot of water. There are a lot of reasons people fluctuate through out the week. Do a lot of research to make sure 1200 calories is for you. Personally I need a lot more but I'm active and enjoy eating. Don't sweat the scale so much. Drink some water and only weigh yourself first thing in the morning, after a rest day, naked and after your bathroom trip. Start taking measurements so you can see the real progress and keep working on finding the right caloric balance for yourself.
    How does exercising hard cause weight gain?

    If you exercise intensively enough to experience muscle soreness you'll also have some weight gain as extra water is needed for muscle repair.
  • Flab2fitfi
    Flab2fitfi Posts: 1,349 Member
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    I can gain 3lbs in a day. If my sodium is high, if I exercise hard, if I eat heavy foods, have a lot of water. There are a lot of reasons people fluctuate through out the week. Do a lot of research to make sure 1200 calories is for you. Personally I need a lot more but I'm active and enjoy eating. Don't sweat the scale so much. Drink some water and only weigh yourself first thing in the morning, after a rest day, naked and after your bathroom trip. Start taking measurements so you can see the real progress and keep working on finding the right caloric balance for yourself.
    How does exercising hard cause weight gain?

    If you exercise intensively enough to experience muscle soreness you'll also have some weight gain as extra water is needed for muscle repair.

    Ditto I have learnt to ignore the scales for a couple of weeks after starting a new routine. Plus sodium and hormones can play havoc with the scales. Take measurements as well as you maybe getting smaller just not losing the weight dues to water retention.
  • rileamoyer
    rileamoyer Posts: 2,411 Member
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    I can gain 3lbs in a day. If my sodium is high, if I exercise hard, if I eat heavy foods, have a lot of water. There are a lot of reasons people fluctuate through out the week. Do a lot of research to make sure 1200 calories is for you. Personally I need a lot more but I'm active and enjoy eating. Don't sweat the scale so much. Drink some water and only weigh yourself first thing in the morning, after a rest day, naked and after your bathroom trip. Start taking measurements so you can see the real progress and keep working on finding the right caloric balance for yourself.

    This ^^^. I used to log measurements every other Friday a.m. and weight every Friday a.m.
  • picklefishlips
    picklefishlips Posts: 8
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    Muscle is heavier than fat.
  • starlaca
    starlaca Posts: 779 Member
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    I don't think you are eating enough. 1200 calories is not enough if you are exercising every day.
  • hddeuce1966
    hddeuce1966 Posts: 104
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    I don't think you are eating enough. 1200 calories is not enough if you are exercising every day.
    I'm eating 1200 net calories. It's actually between 1500 and 1700 depending on exercise.
  • lynn_glenmont
    lynn_glenmont Posts: 9,984 Member
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    Muscle is heavier than fat.

    What this^^ means is that a given volume of muscle (e.g., a cubic centimeter) weighs more than the same volume of fat (just sticking this in before people jump all over you saying that a pound of fat weights the same as a pound of muscle, which is like criticizing me if I say Joe is taller than me by arguing that the first five feet of my height is just as tall as the first five feet of Joe's height).

    That aside, the OP has not gained 3 lbs of muscle in 10 days, much less 3 lbs plus whatever fat loss (probably at least a pound and a half) is being masked.

    Assuming the OP is weighing and measuring food intake and recording it accurately, and using good entries from the food database, the posts about water retention from the new exercise regime seem like much more likely explanations. Also do make sure you're weighing yourself at the same time of day, under the same conditions (including have the scale in the same place -- different surfaces, or even different spots on flexible flooring can affect scales).
  • haroon_awan
    haroon_awan Posts: 1,208 Member
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    I can gain 3lbs in a day. If my sodium is high, if I exercise hard, if I eat heavy foods, have a lot of water. There are a lot of reasons people fluctuate through out the week. Do a lot of research to make sure 1200 calories is for you. Personally I need a lot more but I'm active and enjoy eating. Don't sweat the scale so much. Drink some water and only weigh yourself first thing in the morning, after a rest day, naked and after your bathroom trip. Start taking measurements so you can see the real progress and keep working on finding the right caloric balance for yourself.
    How does exercising hard cause weight gain?

    Exercise can cause water retention in the muscles I think.

    The important thing to note is that you have "gained" 3lbs of water weight, you have not gained 3lbs of fat. There is a big difference. It will happen to you constantly through your weight loss journey.

    Read the Getting Started guide: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/1080242-a-guide-to-get-you-started-on-your-path-to-sexypants
  • MuseofSong
    MuseofSong Posts: 322 Member
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    Don't panic, 3 lbs over 10 days, heck 3 lbs over 24 hours, is not big deal.

    For perspective - this is a weight range of around ~20lbs, over a period of 90 days. I weigh daily for data tracking.

    mur2ft7

    Every week balances out to my caloric deficit AND hits my exercise goals. The fluctuations are water weight from sodium, exercise, and hormonal flux, not fat gain.
  • SLLRunner
    SLLRunner Posts: 12,943 Member
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    Muscle is heavier than fat.

    No it's not. Muscle simply takes up less space than fat, but it take a whole lot longer than just over a week to gain muscle. It comes from years of hard working out and eating at a surplus. :smile:
  • SLLRunner
    SLLRunner Posts: 12,943 Member
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    I started over on my journey to health 10 days ago. I work out every day and have been keeping my daily net calories at around 1200. I weighed myself for the first time today and I have gained 3 pounds! I weigh and measure my food so I know I'm not under estimating my intake. I drink lots of water. I don't get it. HELP!!!!!

    Hang in there. It will pass once your body gets used to the sudden increase in exercise. :smile:
  • goodvictory
    goodvictory Posts: 5
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    The first ten days you are gathering information about your eating habits. Don't fault yourself for gaining at this point. Just study yourself and try to see where there might be some room for slight adjustments.
  • hddeuce1966
    hddeuce1966 Posts: 104
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    The first ten days you are gathering information about your eating habits. Don't fault yourself for gaining at this point. Just study yourself and try to see where there might be some room for slight adjustments.
    This is my second time around. I lost 50 lbs from may to nov. last year. With NO exercise. I think I loat 17 lbs in the first 10 days or something like that. I gained it back and then some. But I was unable to get out of bed without severe pain from may to oct. this year. I'm better now and can exercise for the first time in years. So very frustrated to gain.
  • hddeuce1966
    hddeuce1966 Posts: 104
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    Thank you for the good advice about fluid retention. I drank green tea all day yesterday and got rid of a lot of it. Spent way too much time in the BR. it was worth it because this morning my weight was DOWN! 9 pounds since yesterday. I didn't know that was possible but I'm feeling great about it.

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