Water retention from working out?

Yep, water rentention is normal after heavy exercise. Your muscles retain water to help them to repair (bigger and stronger hopefully). Don't be put off by it though as it's only temporary. I usually go up about a kilo (2.2lbs) the day after a heavy weights workout. Provided you're eating at a deficit you should notice a general downwards trend in your weight. If it bothers you try weighing less frequently and not the day after a heavy workout if possible.

There are other factors that can make you retain water. TOM, hydration and salt levels to name a few common ones

How long have you been doing this?
Could be water retention from starting your new workout plan.
It'll level out in a couple of weeks or less.

No I think it should

I've started working out about three weeks ago, will my body ever stop retaining water from a workout?? I started dieting and working out three weeks ago joined mfp a week ago

The amount of water your body retains in your muscles is related to how taxed or overworked they are to some degree. As you get used to a given exercise routine the amount of water retained will decrease.

That said I'm not sure why you care, its just water it isn't fat. I'm more concerned about your focus on your scale than about how much water your body retains at a given moment.

See they all are smarter than I am, I didn't know this stuff

The number generated on a scale is overrated. It doesn't break down your body composition. I agree that as long as you keep making healthy choices, the weight will drop. It just takes time.

As much progress as I've see in three weeks ( 1.5 inches from hips, 1 inch from waist ) I still hope that I will lose some weight along with it! When is the best time to weigh yourself? How often do you measure?

I weigh myself every day, take tape measurements about once every two weeks. The water retention won't offset the fat loss forever, you will eventually see a decrease in your scale weight and once it starts it will likely continue until you hit your goal or you have to adjust your diet to compensate for your lower weight. Not sure how much weight you have to lose but from your profile pic I would guess not a whole lot.

As I mentioned in my personal experience my first 5 weeks of diet and exercise I saw no change in my scale weight likely due to water retention but I saw inches dropped. Then eventually the fat loss overwhelmed the water retention and I began to see a fairly linear weight loss that I have continued for the last two months.

Here is all my recorded scale weights.



Note how in the first 5 weeks not much happened:


Here is a moving average of the last two months of scale weights where my loss was linear.



I would suspect you are in that flat part before you actually see your weight loss on the scale. Just keep it up, if you are losing inches you are clearly losing fat and that is what is going to matter for your appearance and your health. Remember, unless you write your scale weight on your forehead every morning no one knows about it, they only know what you look like.