Working out = water retention??? Help!

Nascha333

I apologize in advance if this question has surfaced before. I’m new... I’ve never worked out in my entire life, not consistently anyways. In early December I bought myself a treadmill because living in Canada meant finding every excuse not to get my butt out there everyday especially when it can reach -40 with the wind chill at times. When I bought my treadmill, I found the motivation I’d been lacking and almost every day since I’ve been walking/burning 400 calories a day (approx. 40-50 minutes) I thought, wow, I’m dripping sweat, I feel so energized, I’ve lost 9 inches overall but the scales aren’t budging. I think I’ve lost a total of 5 pounds but it fluctuates so often. I turned to google and found out that oftentimes people experience weight gain when starting a workout regime because their retaining water and that once your muscles are no longer “sore” the scales should drop back down. Problem is, I’m no longer sore and it has been 4 weeks and nothing changed until I eased up on my intensity level. The past 4 days I’ve been walking I’ve hardly broken a sweat though I still walk off my 400 calories. It takes me longer though, and guess what? Every day, the weight is dropping. 2 pounds, 1 pound, and now after four days all the water weight I’ve had is gone.

My question is, has anyone else retained water for so long? Should I ease off a little? Or push harder? I like the way i feel when i'm dripping sweat. Should I throw away my scale and just go with measurements? Has anyone else been through this, did you first loose inches and then weight? I guess my real fear is when. I know i need to be patient, but for me, it’s usually been the other way around, last spring I dropped 17 pounds doing low intensity 30 min walks every day or so and eating healthier and the weight came off almost daily.
This time around, I’m working out harder, eating even healthier and retaining water? Any tips or personal experience would be greatly appreciated.

For the moment, I can’t really do anything other than the treadmill and a few light weights with my left arm as I’m waiting clearance next week from my doctor to start lifting weights after going through multiple surgeries to repair a broken clavicle in late spring.