exercise and stalling?

Viewparadise

Is it common when starting to exercise more (horseback riding, walking for an hour at a good pace, jog/walking, etc) to have your weight stall? The scale has not budged in a week and my food has been clean and calories have been consistant, etc. The only thing 'different' is more exercise this week! Can someone explain how this works?

withchaco

I believe that after hard exercise, your muscles may retain more water to repair the damage, resulting in slower weight loss or even weight gain.

Gojira74

"Stalling" can happen for a lot of reasons, but I wouldn't worry about it. If you aren't "cheating" then you will be fine. When I previously lost almost 100 lbs, I stalled a lot. Water retention can be an issue, but you could also have built muscle which is heavier than fat. Double check that your salt intake didn't take a jump as this may cause a water retention issue as well.

I say keep up the good work with the exercise and don't stress over a stall.

auntiebabs

I've always found that when I start exercising I put on 5 lbs., but I slim down a bit, I lose the 5 lbs. and am just a more compact me.

I have assumed it's the old muscle is denser than fat deal. And that I gain muscle before I lose the fat.

After a series of illness/injuries I'm not supposed to do any impact, but I've been slowly (very slowly) upping my gentle activities. So haven't really noticed my past results holding true this time.

rileysowner

Yes with big changes to a different exercise or to a more intense form of the same exercise you can gain weight. Here is an excellent article on it. http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/200544-why-do-you-sometimes-gain-weight-when-starting-a-new-exercis

Viewparadise

Thanks guys for the explanations and links! I am feeling a little better about this now! I'm thinking it's a 'muscles trying to protect themselves' thing... It's hard to be patient sometimes though!