Working Out and Gaining Weight?!?

Let me tell you I am not rude with clients not even Close and not a Rude person!!! I just get real sick of people belly aching about a few pounds, It gets old real fast. I Was not trying to be rude but when someone says something people dont want to hear people get there panties all in a bunch because they don't want to hear the TRUTH they want someone to hold there hand and enable them.

Tuff Love! I am very kind hearted and want to help peple I was just Making a Statement GoD help me for doing SO :laugh:

I Know what It Takes to Get Healthy and Stay Healthy.

Fair enough if you were talking logic but what you're saying is complete and utter rubbish. If she hadnt ate well ect, im sure she'd be thinking "well actually, yeah i shouldnt have had that pizza the other day or that choc bar yesterday" and she wouldnt have posted this but she clearly has done what i have which is have a fab week food and exercise wise and only has an unexplained gain to show for it. Now there are numerous reasons as to why she may have gained. It can be her muscles still retaining water, muscle gain ect. Just cause you gain doesnt mean you havnt eaten well. Thats like say a really buffed up rugby player who gains is eating crap. That would be rubbish cause he's bound to gain from all the muscle. Im sorry but you call yourself a qualified trainer, pffft.

Let me tell you I am not rude with clients not even Close and not a Rude person!!! I just get real sick of people belly aching about a few pounds, It gets old real fast. I Was not trying to be rude but when someone says something people dont want to hear people get there panties all in a bunch because they don't want to hear the TRUTH they want someone to hold there hand and enable them.

Tuff Love! I am very kind hearted and want to help peple I was just Making a Statement GoD help me for doing SO :laugh:

I Know what It Takes to Get Healthy and Stay Healthy.

There are ways to speak the truth in a loving supportive way . I'm not suggesting you condone behavior or actions that are counterproductive to fitness goals.I am early saying there are better ways to present and deliver your message. If I delivered a message to you in the way you chose to deliver yours I'm certain you would have taken offense and been closed off to anything I had to say.

It's water retention and glycogen storage. It's common when you start working out or try a new workout you're not used to.

A.C.E. Certified Personal/Group FitnessTrainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 28+ years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition

Totally this^^^. Nothing to worry about. Also, You could not have possibly gained muscle or lean mass that quickly. Just keep at it and take a set of baseline measurements. The scale should not be your primary measure of your progress. Inches and how your clothes fit should be. We all, and especially women,can fluctuate up or down several pounds with water weight. Don't die a thousand deaths by the scale. It'll go up and down. As an example, I went to the shore for a couple of days this last week and ate really well, didn't over indulge but boogie boarded a lot and swallowed a lot of salt water inintentionally. I got home and I was up 4 lbs. 2 days later, I'm right back to normal.

When people say "muscle weighs more than fat" they are referring to the fact that one cup of muscle weighs more than one cup of fat. Think of filling up a cup with steak and filling another, identical cup with oil- the steak cup will be heavier, 18% heavier in fact. So YES, muscle does weigh more than fat of the same volume.

You are totally correct! It just becomes one of those platitudes that people throw out that is like fingernails on a chalkboard. There are a few of them and some have been repeated on this thread. Like you've gained muscle. Well, no, as a woman wthout much testosterone, eating in a deficit and after one week?? No, someone hasn't gained muscle in that circumstance.

THIS MAKES ME CRAZY WHEN PEOPLE AFTER STARTING TO WORK OUT THEY THINK THEY ARE GAINING MUSCLE..............WRONG WRONG WRONG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! YOU CAN NOT GAIN MUSCLE IN THAT SHORT TIME AND WITHOUT HARD ASSS WORK AND PROPER CALORIES.

PEOPLE CHECK WHAT YOUR STICKING IN YOUR MOUTHS! THEN RECHECK IT! THAT IS WHY YOUR GAINING WEIGHT OR ITS YOUR BODY ADJUSTING IF YOUR EATING IS PERFECT BUT I HIGHLY DOUT IT!

You must be crazy if you think someone working for two weeks won't gain any muscle at all. She gained some, lost some, just not enough for it to show on the scale between the other stuff we have in our bodies.
Please check what comes out of your mouth ! Then recheck It !

Throw away the SCALE,,, get a tape measure.... You may find that your shrinking in inches even tho the scale is not moving.

Muscles do not weigh more than fat. A pound is a pound. There could be many reasons why the scale isn't moving. For one, sometimes muscles will retain a lot of water, especially when you first start working out, thus causing the scale to go up. Also, with your increased activity, perhaps you may need to eat a little more? And I've also heard that sometimes it may take a few weeks, or maybe even a month for your loss to actually show up on the scale. In the meantime, a better gauge may be how do you feel. More energy? Clothes getting looser?

Yeah a pound is a pound, but a bowling ball still weighs more than a feather. A pound of fat is bigger than a pound of muscle because muscle is more dense.

nuh uh. a pound of muscle and a pound of fat are the same. it's still a pound.
like a ton of bricks weighs the same as a ton of feathers. they are both a ton

Muscles do not weigh more than fat. A pound is a pound. There could be many reasons why the scale isn't moving. For one, sometimes muscles will retain a lot of water, especially when you first start working out, thus causing the scale to go up. Also, with your increased activity, perhaps you may need to eat a little more? And I've also heard that sometimes it may take a few weeks, or maybe even a month for your loss to actually show up on the scale. In the meantime, a better gauge may be how do you feel. More energy? Clothes getting looser?

Yeah a pound is a pound, but a bowling ball still weighs more than a feather. A pound of fat is bigger than a pound of muscle because muscle is more dense.

nuh uh. a pound of muscle and a pound of fat are the same. it's still a pound.
like a ton of bricks weighs the same as a ton of feathers. they are both a ton

But one takes up less room. Has less volume

Yes ..it's really not about the weight it all about the volume. If you put a pound of each side by side muscle takes up a lot less space . I really think the argument about weight is really more about how people are interpreting this concept verbally. If my muscle mass is increasing and my fat mass is decreasing but the scale stays the same ...then what do you call it ? I think I will just call it a pretty awesome NSV!

I would not pay much attention to the scale ...especially in the beginning. I lost almost 60 lbs and in the beginning it took me weeks to show any change on the scale, but once I did it was a big one. Sometimes weight loss goes two steps forward three steps back and then all the sudden you will have a big loss. Even though there were some months when I lost nothing and others when I lost more than I should of, it all averaged out to be about the 1-2 lbs a month if I divided it up. I just gained 4 lbs in ONE day because I had a little too much sodium over the weekend. I know that I did not gain an actual 4 lbs and will be back down in a day or two. My suggestion is to stick to your program and only weigh once or twice a month. I weigh a week after my period because the rest of the month my weight is so up and down due to water weight. Just hang in there and don't give up. Concentrate on the big picture and if you are following your plan, it will come off!

I have experienced this as well. It makes sense to me that it could be water retention. I had a problem with water retention the last time i was working out as steadily as i am now, i even went to the doctor bc i thought it was so strange i wasn't losing and that my legs and ankles were swollen. My dr told me i had a problem with my veins but then eventually i stopped working and the problem went away, i I didn't even notice really that i wasn't swelling anymore. During that time that i wasn't working out, I was eating anything and everything for awhile only gained about 10lbs (understand i already needed to lose 20lbs so this pushed me up to needing to lose 30) so here i am back on the wagon for the last few weeks and guess what...my legs and ankles are swelling again and i feel that same bloated (why am i still fat and not losing) feeling. So, for me i think it is a combination of water retention and needing to be sure to stay within my 1200 calories.

THIS MAKES ME CRAZY WHEN PEOPLE AFTER STARTING TO WORK OUT THEY THINK THEY ARE GAINING MUSCLE..............WRONG WRONG WRONG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! YOU CAN NOT GAIN MUSCLE IN THAT SHORT TIME AND WITHOUT HARD ASSS WORK AND PROPER CALORIES.

PEOPLE CHECK WHAT YOUR STICKING IN YOUR MOUTHS! THEN RECHECK IT! THAT IS WHY YOUR GAINING WEIGHT OR ITS YOUR BODY ADJUSTING IF YOUR EATING IS PERFECT BUT I HIGHLY DOUT IT!

You must be crazy if you think someone working for two weeks won't gain any muscle at all. She gained some, lost some, just not enough for it to show on the scale between the other stuff we have in our bodies.
Please check what comes out of your mouth ! Then recheck It !

Actually, here are several reason why she did NOT gain muscle.


1. She is on a calorie deficit (quite possibly a large one)
2. Her exercise routine is cardio.
3. She is not doing heavy weight training
4. To create muscle, your body needs to be able to go anaebolic (reference # 1)
5. On a good week, a woman can average 1/2 lb of muscle growth.

Muscles do not weigh more than fat. A pound is a pound.

By volume, it does. A pound of feathers and a pound of lead are both still a pound, but lead takes up much less space than feathers. This is what people mean by muscle weighs less than fat, they just leave off the qualifier of "per cubic inch."

I know it's already been sad but I can't stress enough to use measurements more than the scale. Slower weight lose will last longer than fast weight lose.

Sorry to kind of hijack this thread, but I have a similar question to the OP. I'm not new to running or working out, but after completing an IM two years ago I gave myself some time off and then some. So, long story short, I'm here on MFP to lose weight. I'm 6.0 tall and weigh 185. GW is 155-164, somewhere I feel comfy. So, I'm experimenting with eating about 1600 on non-workout days, and about 2100 on the days I work out, give or take depending on the amount of energy I expend. I'm running again, and doing pushups and situps (I need to work on these for the Army PT test) and have been gaining weight. I'd like to believe what everyone says about it being water retention, but at what point should I reexamine my caloric intake? Feel free to take a look at my diary, it's open.

How long have you been eating at that level and how long have you been working out?

Well, I guess I've been eating at this level for about two weeks. I've been consistently working out in terms of running and stuff for about the same amount of time. But I'm usually active with my work, so I've had mixed results with either eating less or working out less.

DO NOT FLIP OUT!!! Apparently it's natural!!!

You are putting your body through new things when you work out, and it's not used to it. From my understanding, you're body is retaining water around all the sore muscles to protect it...just keep doing what you're doing and your body will realize this is the "norm" and shed the water.

Also, muscle weighs more than fat...so you'll gain a little more when you turn the fat into muscle, just make sure you measure your waist, hips and thighs and that's how you'll know you're loosing weight.

Just don't give up!!!! I gained 7-9 lbs in 2 weeks, but it's now starting to come off....so do not give up!!!

Fat does NOT turn into muscle. You build muscle and LOSE FAT. However, if you are new to working out, you will build muscle before losing fat or lose muscle and fat at the same time. It's hard to build muscle and lose fat at the same time. Give your program at least 6-8 weeks before flipping out. It takes time.