Is this REALLY still muscle fluid from working out?

So I was loosing weight pretty fast, really easy too seeing as I have about 90lbs to loose. I was completely new to exercise, started the gym, go every day for an hour, and now it's been nearly 3 weeks since starting and I've lost barely ANYTHING! I'm waiting for this drop after the apparent water weight goes but I don't think it's going to happen!

Saw an old post on here whilst trying to search for answers where someone was saying that she was in a similar situation, wanted to drop the weight, stopped going to the gym and it came off. Would that have just been muscle loss or what!?
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Replies

  • opus649
    opus649 Posts: 633 Member
    ... and now it's been nearly 3 weeks since starting and I've lost barely ANYTHING!

    :huh:
  • lemonsurprise
    lemonsurprise Posts: 255 Member
    ... and now it's been nearly 3 weeks since starting and I've lost barely ANYTHING!

    :huh:

    Does that face mean I need to wait longer to see results?!
    I know it might not seem like a long time but I was used to seeing tiny differences on the scales every day, so it seems like a long time!
  • WalkingAlong
    WalkingAlong Posts: 4,926 Member
    You're not going have significant muscle loss from skipping the gym for a week. :smile:

    Water retention can last months. Mine did, when I started weight training.
  • Butrovich
    Butrovich Posts: 410 Member
    So I was loosing weight pretty fast, really easy too seeing as I have about 90lbs to loose. I was completely new to exercise, started the gym, go every day for an hour, and now it's been nearly 3 weeks since starting and I've lost barely ANYTHING! I'm waiting for this drop after the apparent water weight goes but I don't think it's going to happen!

    Saw an old post on here whilst trying to search for answers where someone was saying that she was in a similar situation, wanted to drop the weight, stopped going to the gym and it came off. Would that have just been muscle loss or what!?

    What is "muscle fluid"?
  • lemonsurprise
    lemonsurprise Posts: 255 Member
    So I was loosing weight pretty fast, really easy too seeing as I have about 90lbs to loose. I was completely new to exercise, started the gym, go every day for an hour, and now it's been nearly 3 weeks since starting and I've lost barely ANYTHING! I'm waiting for this drop after the apparent water weight goes but I don't think it's going to happen!

    Saw an old post on here whilst trying to search for answers where someone was saying that she was in a similar situation, wanted to drop the weight, stopped going to the gym and it came off. Would that have just been muscle loss or what!?

    What is "muscle fluid"?

    Lol sorry I don't know the actual name but the fluid the builds up when you're new to working out... Right!?
  • yopeeps025
    yopeeps025 Posts: 8,680 Member
    So I was loosing weight pretty fast, really easy too seeing as I have about 90lbs to loose. I was completely new to exercise, started the gym, go every day for an hour, and now it's been nearly 3 weeks since starting and I've lost barely ANYTHING! I'm waiting for this drop after the apparent water weight goes but I don't think it's going to happen!

    Saw an old post on here whilst trying to search for answers where someone was saying that she was in a similar situation, wanted to drop the weight, stopped going to the gym and it came off. Would that have just been muscle loss or what!?

    What is "muscle fluid"?

    I think OP means the soreness you feel with the water and carb repair of muscles.
  • yopeeps025
    yopeeps025 Posts: 8,680 Member
    So I was loosing weight pretty fast, really easy too seeing as I have about 90lbs to loose. I was completely new to exercise, started the gym, go every day for an hour, and now it's been nearly 3 weeks since starting and I've lost barely ANYTHING! I'm waiting for this drop after the apparent water weight goes but I don't think it's going to happen!

    Saw an old post on here whilst trying to search for answers where someone was saying that she was in a similar situation, wanted to drop the weight, stopped going to the gym and it came off. Would that have just been muscle loss or what!?

    What is "muscle fluid"?

    Lol sorry I don't know the actual name but the fluid the builds up when you're new to working out... Right!?

    Only fluid I know of is Lactic acid. Is that what you are taking about?
  • Flab2fitfi
    Flab2fitfi Posts: 1,349 Member
    Muscle takes on water when its damaged - often why runners weight more after a long race. It can take a while for it to settle down and if you keep up/ changing your workouts it will take even longer. The best way is to also go by the measuring tape and not just the scales.
  • opus649
    opus649 Posts: 633 Member
    Does that face mean I need to wait longer to see results?!
    I know it might not seem like a long time but I was used to seeing tiny differences on the scales every day, so it seems like a long time!

    Count calories, exercise as regularly as you can, don't focus on the scale, think long-term.... best of luck.
  • lemonsurprise
    lemonsurprise Posts: 255 Member
    So I was loosing weight pretty fast, really easy too seeing as I have about 90lbs to loose. I was completely new to exercise, started the gym, go every day for an hour, and now it's been nearly 3 weeks since starting and I've lost barely ANYTHING! I'm waiting for this drop after the apparent water weight goes but I don't think it's going to happen!

    Saw an old post on here whilst trying to search for answers where someone was saying that she was in a similar situation, wanted to drop the weight, stopped going to the gym and it came off. Would that have just been muscle loss or what!?

    What is "muscle fluid"?

    Lol sorry I don't know the actual name but the fluid the builds up when you're new to working out... Right!?

    Only fluid I know of is Lactic acid. Is that what you are taking about?

    Errrm.. Well I thought that it was usual to put on weight in fluid when you first started exercising? Or am I wrong?
  • yopeeps025
    yopeeps025 Posts: 8,680 Member
    So I was loosing weight pretty fast, really easy too seeing as I have about 90lbs to loose. I was completely new to exercise, started the gym, go every day for an hour, and now it's been nearly 3 weeks since starting and I've lost barely ANYTHING! I'm waiting for this drop after the apparent water weight goes but I don't think it's going to happen!

    Saw an old post on here whilst trying to search for answers where someone was saying that she was in a similar situation, wanted to drop the weight, stopped going to the gym and it came off. Would that have just been muscle loss or what!?

    What is "muscle fluid"?

    Lol sorry I don't know the actual name but the fluid the builds up when you're new to working out... Right!?

    Only fluid I know of is Lactic acid. Is that what you are taking about?

    Errrm.. Well I thought that it was usual to put on weight in fluid when you first started exercising? Or am I wrong?

    Muscle takes on water when its damaged - often why runners weight more after a long race. It can take a while for it to settle down and if you keep up/ changing your workouts it will take even longer. The best way is to also go by the measuring tape and not just the scales.

    Its not a special fluid or anything. Its water.
  • Why don't you take a break from the scale for two-three weeks and just focus on your deficit. Work your plan, do your workouts, and have patience. Your weight is going to fluctuate. It happens to everyone. If you're female, then it will happen a lot. Those fluctuations mean nothing. If you're creating a deficit then you're going to lose weight. If you need something to measure your results, then take measurements. This is a slow process, but every single lost ounce matters.
  • 365andstillalive
    365andstillalive Posts: 663 Member
    Yes, it's normal. Everyone's giving you a hard time because you were a bit unclear; it's called water weight. While your muscles work to repair (because you basically put tiny tears in them constantly from working out) your body will hold a higher amount of fluid to help with the process.

    Also, it seems like you're working out every day, which is 100% the wrong approach. Rest days are key to allowing your muscles time to actually repair, preventing injury, and for making your new lifestyle sustainable. Rest days are also likely to help with the water retention problem you're describing. Without rest days, you will soon feel incredibly run down.

    Exercise isn't necessary for weight loss, a deficit is. So while exercise may give you more calories to eat to maintain that deficit, your diet needs to be your focus. If your weight hasn't dropped at all in three weeks, you likely aren't eating the appropriate amount of calories to fuel your body's needs. I encourage you to google and use a few different BMR/TDEE calculators and average them out to see what you should be eating and what a healthy deficit looks like for you.
  • JeffInJax
    JeffInJax Posts: 232 Member
    By muscle fluid im assuming you mean your glycogen stores. Just to put it into perspective I was losing significant amounts of weight every week without the gym but it was both muscle and fat. Lifting weights does not eliminate muscle loss while losing weight but it very significantly reduces it. I worked out with heavy weights for a solid month or so before I started seeing the steady decline on the gym scale.

    One of the most important things to realize is if you lose 2 pounds of muscle and 3 pounds of fat in a week because you dont do any weights at all, the scale says five pounds is gone obviously.

    On the contrary if you are lifting heavy and lose 3 pounds of fat but maintain muscle mass you only lose 3 pounds on the scale in the same period of time. In the very beginning for the first few months you also have what are called newbie gains where it is very possible and even probable to gain a bit of muscle mass while on a calorie deficit. After a short period of time this stops but it is not very uncommon for people who just begin a strength training program, so that will offset that number even more and only show 1 pound loss or something similar.
  • alecdlewis1
    alecdlewis1 Posts: 46 Member
    Muscle takes on water when its damaged - often why runners weight more after a long race. It can take a while for it to settle down and if you keep up/ changing your workouts it will take even longer. The best way is to also go by the measuring tape and not just the scales.
    ^^
    This.
    Remember that you may also gain muscle quickly depending on your workout and your body pre gym- though you may not change weight still do periodical measurements on all core areas. you can also go to your local pcp and have a body fat(NOT BODY MASS) measurement taken- be aware though that insurance does not usually cover this and ask the office a pricing before going in.
  • blobby10
    blobby10 Posts: 357 Member
    I was in the same boat but had been going to the gym for 3 months without seeing any results. Then I realised that I had been snacking way more 'because I burnt it off in the gym'. When I analysed what I actually burnt in the gym, it was much less than the
    additional calories Id consumed by snacking !

    Are you being totally honest about what you are putting in your mouth? Weighing and recording everything?
  • lemonsurprise
    lemonsurprise Posts: 255 Member
    I do log and weigh accurately. Admittedly I had a binge the other day, went over by 1000 calories but it's my first "unplanned" hiccup. I have also recently started eating back my gym calories as I'm on a (temporary) 1,200 a day plan and after a couple of weeks I started feeling really hungry in between meals so decided to start eating most of them back.
    I guess I'll cut back on eating back ALL my exercise calories, and just wait it out!
  • WalkingAlong
    WalkingAlong Posts: 4,926 Member
    Muscle takes on water when its damaged - often why runners weight more after a long race. It can take a while for it to settle down and if you keep up/ changing your workouts it will take even longer. The best way is to also go by the measuring tape and not just the scales.
    ^^
    This.
    Remember that you may also gain muscle quickly depending on your workout and your body pre gym- though you may not change weight still do periodical measurements on all core areas.
    This does happen. Google 'newbie gains'.