Gaining Weight after joining gym

Ask yourself: What do I care about, the number on the scale, or how I look/feel? No one knows what you weigh but you. Lifting will add muscle mass, which will weigh more, but look WAY better.

That said, you did not gain 6 lbs in one week of muscle mass. Whenever you start a new workout routine, your muscles will retain water while they heal, which will cause you to weigh more. Don't stress about it. And ignore your doctor, who obviously knows very little about fitness!!

You are up because your muscles are retaining fluid to repair themselves. This is common after exercise - especially when you are doing a new routine and especially when doing strength training. Take a couple of rest days, drink plenty of water and it should go back down.

Gaining muscle is very difficult - you need a surplus of calories, an intense strength training program, and a diet that promotes muscle growth. Newbies to strength training will see small muscle "gains" when they first start, but long-term, building muscle is hard. What you will be doing is shaping the muscle you have and burning fat. That is what will make you look good!

Most doctors don't have a clue about diet and exercise! You obviously know how to lose weight - and congrats on your success!! Find a good strength training program and stick with it - do cardio a couple of times a week, if you want. You're going to love your results!!

Why would the good doc tell you not to do weights? Everybody knows that eventually, everybody loses muscle if they don't weight train or do some kind of heavy work. 6 lbs is nothing to worry about if you are eating right. If you do it right, that 6 lb gain might even be permanent, but in a good way. That being saiid, it wouldn't happen in a week, but rather over, maybe 6 or 8 months.

Less cardio more weights. The weight gain is not fat.

I was searching threads about this today because I am gonig through the same thing. I am on my third week. Doing body pump, spin, step fusion and step classes 3 to 4 days a week. I am up a few pounds from when I started too. I feel by now the water weight should no longer be an issue. I did measure too and have not lost an inch. I am working hard, sweating, etc so I am not just going through the motions. I push myself and add more weights each time. Body pump is repetitive weights, fusion is a combo of cardio and weights, etc. The trainer at the gym is telling me to try to shave more calories. I disagree. I am already wondering if I am eating enough with adding exercise. It is depressing.

Another thing to consider is that you might be logging too many calories expended for your days in the gym.

Weight training doesn't burn anywhere near as many immediate calories as cardio in the same amount of time.