Working Out and Gaining Weight?!?

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.