Anyone Else Gain in the Beginning?

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KikoAlonsoGal
KikoAlonsoGal Posts: 88 Member
in Getting Started
Hi everyone,

So I started my healthy lifestyle yesterday doing a combination of eating right, including Slim Fast Shakes and working out to Turbo Jam. I tend to be an obsessive weigher so I usually do it every morning. This morning, however, I noticed that I actually gained a pound of water weight. I did it the same time, before anything to eat or drink, after the bathroom and without clothes. It seems that this happened to me the last time I started on a new healthy regime as well. Usually I'll gain the first few days and then suddenly it starts releasing. Does this happen to anyone else?

Thanks!

Replies

  • marissabakescakes
    marissabakescakes Posts: 35 Member
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    Hi there! How many calories are currently having per day?

    Also, I have been down the slim fast path and it makes me a grumpy biotch!:laugh: With MFP you can eat real food as long as you stay within your budget. I recommend ditching those (because they're not that healthy anyways), and replace them with healthy, filling foods. :wink:
    Plus, this will make your success more sustainable long term. I've done pretty well on here so far, feel free to add me. I keep my diary open for friends :)
  • CattOfTheGarage
    CattOfTheGarage Posts: 2,745 Member
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    Yes, starting a new workout or increasing intensity of workouts. causes you to retain water because your muscles are inflamed. It should settle down in a few days. It can be several pounds so it can mask quite a bit of fat loss.

    From people posting here and from my own experience, if you start cutting down on food only, you usually get a big weight loss in the first week due to water weight going off; but if you start cutting down on food and exercising more at the same time, you see an initial gain.

    Either way it settles down pretty quickly, I think.
  • HelllYeaHH
    HelllYeaHH Posts: 56 Member
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    http://www.sparkpeople.com/blog/blog.asp?post=why_the_scale_goes_up_when_you_start_a_new_workout_plan
  • 1merrie1
    1merrie1 Posts: 4 Member
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    I'd for sure give it more time. The weight could be form the workout. I have been seeing more results in inch loss. get a tape measure, and try that!
  • jlshea
    jlshea Posts: 494 Member
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    I had a slight gain last week due to TOM nearing and hitting it hard on the treadmill and eliptical. I got the Jawbone UP and have been religious about getting in my 10,000 steps per day. Don't let it get you down.
  • KikoAlonsoGal
    KikoAlonsoGal Posts: 88 Member
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    You guys are so awesome!! I hate the tape measure (probably just because I'm impatient and I hate standing there to get them done) but I think I'm going to take them anyway. Last time I didn't do a good job of keeping the measurements and got discouraged when the scale wasn't moving, even though I know my pants size was.

    I'm not going to do Slim Fast regularly, just when I don't have time to make a meal or don't feel like it. My problem is not that I eat a lot, because I don't. Just that all the food I did choose happened to be really bad. I also have Shakeology I'll switch to from time to time. They actually fill me up nicely.

    I think last time I gained almost 5 pounds of water weight before it started dropping off. I was also strength training quite a bit too. This time I'm sticking to mainly cardio until I'm closer to goal weight. Plus, I moved out to the boonies so gyms aren't all that close anymore.

    Anyway, please everyone feel free to add me! I need support and friends who are on the same journey as I am!! And thanks again!
  • KikoAlonsoGal
    KikoAlonsoGal Posts: 88 Member
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    http://www.sparkpeople.com/blog/blog.asp?post=why_the_scale_goes_up_when_you_start_a_new_workout_plan

    That was perfect!! That's my girl too!! Thank you! Reading it now!
  • LKArgh
    LKArgh Posts: 5,179 Member
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    It is ONE day. Even if you eat nothing for one day, you are not going to see any change. Look into your weight change 2-3 times per month to see a trend, or you are just seeing random weight fluctuation.
  • CattOfTheGarage
    CattOfTheGarage Posts: 2,745 Member
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    It is ONE day. Even if you eat nothing for one day, you are not going to see any change. Look into your weight change 2-3 times per month to see a trend, or you are just seeing random weight fluctuation.

    This is also true. Take a look at the chart I use as a profile picture. Day to day random fluctuations can be many lb, just because your body juggles water in and water out for all sorts of complicated reasons. Daily fluctuation can be far more than weekly loss. You need to think long term, and in terms of averages. A wiggly downward trend is what you see, not a linear progression. Exercise makes this more pronounced, so do variations in your sodium and Carb intakes - all these make you hang on to water. But that's not a bad thing! It's just a thing.

    Weight loss is a long term goal and needs a long term mindset.
  • KikoAlonsoGal
    KikoAlonsoGal Posts: 88 Member
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    It is ONE day. Even if you eat nothing for one day, you are not going to see any change. Look into your weight change 2-3 times per month to see a trend, or you are just seeing random weight fluctuation.

    This is also true. Take a look at the chart I use as a profile picture. Day to day random fluctuations can be many lb, just because your body juggles water in and water out for all sorts of complicated reasons. Daily fluctuation can be far more than weekly loss. You need to think long term, and in terms of averages. A wiggly downward trend is what you see, not a linear progression. Exercise makes this more pronounced, so do variations in your sodium and Carb intakes - all these make you hang on to water. But that's not a bad thing! It's just a thing.

    Weight loss is a long term goal and needs a long term mindset.

    Thank you! I've gotten into the bad habit of weighing myself everyday (I think I read it somewhere long ago that that was the best thing to do) and now it's become an obsession for me. Plus, I have a hardcore Type-A personality, so for me, the weight should have been gone yesterday. I think I just need to get out of my own head, relax and let time and the right choices do their thing.
  • motivatedmartha
    motivatedmartha Posts: 1,108 Member
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    I gained 3lbs in the first week, stayed the same in the second week and am now losing (I hope!). It has to work in the end providing I am eating a deficit! I am exercising regularly. Let's keep going :smile:
  • jjking54
    jjking54 Posts: 113 Member
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    I gained 3lbs in the first week, stayed the same in the second week and am now losing (I hope!). It has to work in the end providing I am eating a deficit! I am exercising regularly. Let's keep going :smile:

    Happened to me too ... saw an immediate loss when I started eating better, but when I added strength training I went back up. It was pretty discouraging. So last week I didn't bother with the scale at all. I noticed body changes, my stomach flattening slightly, muscles slightly more defined and oddly enough I'm really aware of my posture lately (not sure if that's due to the core program I'm doing or what.

    Anyway, I went back to the scale today, because last night I really noticed changes in my body and I wanted to see what the scale said. I'm finally back to where I was, down the five pounds I originally lost. Hoping to see a pound or so gone by the end of this week.

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