Why Don't I Lose Weight When I Exercise

PunkinSpice79
PunkinSpice79 Posts: 309 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
I'm sorry if this has been asked before, but I'm wondering if anybody else has the same experience? Whenever I'm exercising, my weight loss stops (or slows way down). If I quit exercising, I will begin losing again - generally pretty quickly. Does this happen to anybody else? Am I doing something wrong? Is there anything I can do to both exercise AND lose weight? Thanks!

Replies

  • diannethegeek
    diannethegeek Posts: 14,776 Member
    Most likely answer is that you're seeing some water weight gain which can mask any fat loss that's happening. It's not unusual to see no change or even a slight gain on the scale when we start a new exercise program or increase the intensity of an old one because our bodies flood sore muscles with water to help cushion and repair them. Drink plenty of fluids and let your body adjust and it should go away.
  • PunkinSpice79
    PunkinSpice79 Posts: 309 Member
    Thank you so much! :flowerforyou:
  • bobbystrongarm
    bobbystrongarm Posts: 72
    Are you tracking your calories in your diet?

    Are you tracking your calories burned from exercise?

    Are you eating enough? If you already eat very little ~1200cal daily then start burning 5-600 cal a day you are eating too little. Your body can eventually hit a starvation mode to protect itself. Your weight loss will be severely limited if this happens.

    Some people retain water more readily than others. When people start strength training programs bloating from water retention is normal. This aids in healing and eventually starts to go away when the body is adjusted to the trauma from strength training, it"s kind of a shock response.

    I highly recommend to everyone to stop worrying about the scale and start tracking body fat %. If you are generally an inactive person simply becoming active can add some lean body mass pretty quickly. Just because the scale is reading higher doesn't mean you are gaining fat. When your lean body mass increases (LBM) it can be from bone density, connective tissues, or muscle gain. Your traditional weight scale has no way to tell this difference. Body fat testing calipers are very cheap or if you go to the gym they can test it for you (most do this free).

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