Do you gain weight when you have DOMS?

donnah19882013
donnah19882013 Posts: 16
in Fitness and Exercise
I was just wondering whether you gain any weight temporarily when you have delayed onset muscle soreness? Today is my weigh in day, I thought I had worked really hard this week but I didn't lose anything. Could this maybe be related?

Replies

  • tyrsnbdr
    tyrsnbdr Posts: 234 Member
    Not DOMS related, but if you are working hard, your muscles could be retaining more water than usual.
  • donnah19882013
    donnah19882013 Posts: 16
    Not DOMS related, but if you are working hard, your muscles could be retaining more water than usual.

    Thank you for your reply. Why do the muscles retain water, is this a good or bad thing?
  • Jennisin1
    Jennisin1 Posts: 574 Member
    If I am lifting weights, I instantly put on 3lbs... which doesn't really flush out until I have a 3-4 day break.. then it flushes out and I see a new low.
  • FrnkLft
    FrnkLft Posts: 1,821 Member
    Retaining water is a side effect of working out, especially weight lifting. It's a good thing, though for reasons a little more complicated than I am qualified to explain. Just know it's good. But this might not be the case for you.

    Now, look at your calories and evaluate. Also keep in mind that your body is like a grocery bag. Put 6 oz of chicken and 10 oz of rice and veggies in it... and you weight a lb extra until you... "get rid" of it.

    I'm concerned with one thing you said though, about "really going hard this week". What does that mean exactly and why do you think this will make a difference?

    Do you have a plan and understand the calories you're taking in vs. the calories you've been burning, or are you just busting your *kitten* in the gym and expecting that to pay off somehow?
  • tyrsnbdr
    tyrsnbdr Posts: 234 Member
    Not DOMS related, but if you are working hard, your muscles could be retaining more water than usual.

    Thank you for your reply. Why do the muscles retain water, is this a good or bad thing?

    I really don't understand the science of it, but it isn't a bad thing.
  • graceire
    graceire Posts: 323 Member
    I'm always a couple pounds heavier after my hardest workout days. Not a big deal if you expect it and understand why.
  • chyzar
    chyzar Posts: 4 Member
    In my opinion, the tiny, incremental amounts of weight are pretty much useless as a gauge of success. It could be water weight, it could be the food still in your digestive tract, or it could even be new muscle mass. If you're really concerned, I would recommend waiting to weigh yourself again for a full week, to see how you're doing over a slightly longer period of time. If you are doing weight training, your weight will likely go up before it goes down, due to the water retention other people have mentioned, as well as the muscle mass you put on...which will raise your metabolism and get that fat to start burning off!
  • donnah19882013
    donnah19882013 Posts: 16
    Do you have a plan and understand the calories you're taking in vs. the calories you've been burning, or are you just busting your *kitten* in the gym and expecting that to pay off somehow?

    My fitness pal put me on a plan of 1200 calories a day, so I eat that plus over half of the calories which I gain from exercise
  • GoMizzou99
    GoMizzou99 Posts: 512 Member
    My experience here (over 2 years) is this:
    >>I found if I ate all of my exercise calories, I could actually gain weight - and I use a HRM to calculate the exercise calories (on cardio).
    >>When I ate about 1/2 of my exercise calories, I would slowly lose weight...and I mean slowly.

    That's just me and not you, but the moral of his story is you need to experiment a bit.

Categories