Water Retention or Weight Gain?

WhiteRabbit1313
WhiteRabbit1313 Posts: 1,091 Member
edited February 9 in Fitness and Exercise
This will sound pretty stupid, but I still want to take a poll:

My pants are tighter, this morning, but I started lifting last week, mainly focusing on the legs, etc., so far. Is there initial water retention with lifting, or did I just gain weight during the holidays? :ohwell:

Replies

  • weightliftingdiva
    weightliftingdiva Posts: 522 Member
    Water retention.
  • WhiteRabbit1313
    WhiteRabbit1313 Posts: 1,091 Member
    Water retention.

    Ok, I thought I'd heard of this happening before, but wanted to check and see if it could happen so quickly! Did this happen to you, too?
  • weightliftingdiva
    weightliftingdiva Posts: 522 Member
    Yup! The first week I started lifting, I gained 3-4 pounds of water weight; and often times if I increased lifting weight, I would experience some water weight increases too. I fell off the lifting band wagon so I'm expecting those increases again in January when I start again.
  • WhiteRabbit1313
    WhiteRabbit1313 Posts: 1,091 Member
    Ok, good, because I was ready to go eat more cookies. LOL! I'll behave. :wink:

    Good luck to you on getting back at it!
  • neandermagnon
    neandermagnon Posts: 7,436 Member
    where are they tighter? Your muscles get "pumped" when you lift, as in they're firmer (i..e. harder to squash into jeans) and a little bigger. If your muscles are pumped from lifting, your jeans will feel tight around the quadriceps and mid-butt (i.e. where you want your butt to be perky not saggy) while being looser around the waist or the same as before. If it's tighter around the waist, then it's most likely to be fat gain (although there are other possibilities such as intestinal bloating that have nothing to do with lifting or fat gain)
  • WhiteRabbit1313
    WhiteRabbit1313 Posts: 1,091 Member
    where are they tighter? Your muscles get "pumped" when you lift, as in they're firmer (i..e. harder to squash into jeans) and a little bigger. If your muscles are pumped from lifting, your jeans will feel tight around the quadriceps and mid-butt (i.e. where you want your butt to be perky not saggy) while being looser around the waist or the same as before. If it's tighter around the waist, then it's most likely to be fat gain (although there are other possibilities such as intestinal bloating that have nothing to do with lifting or fat gain)

    Hips and thighs, but my waistband is low, so it's tight, too.

    Time to step away from the cookies, I suppose. :blushing:
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