Weight gain with losing?

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sportychic87
sportychic87 Posts: 214 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Hi!
So I have been trying to lose weight for a while now. I got a gym membership a week ago and have been exercising for 45-60 minutes per day. I have been watching what I eat, and calorie counting as well.
However, I hopped on the scale yesterday, and I have gained about a pound. Could that be muscle? (I have been working out to the point that I'm achy all over). I also don't see any changes other than the fact that my non-existent biceps are a teeny bit more noticeable. Also, any ideas on how to get enough protein with few calories?

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  • Liftng4Lis
    Liftng4Lis Posts: 15,150 Member
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    Water retention due to your increase in exercise.
  • BombshellPhoenix
    BombshellPhoenix Posts: 1,693 Member
    edited October 2014
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    No to muscle. Water retention from picking up exercise. It's typical for muscles to hold on to water for repair when you pick up into exercising. I'd wait a week or so and see how the scale is trending. If you still aren't losing, I'd check food diary accuracy.

    Greek yogurt, lean meat, fish, pork, chicken, edamame, asparagus, broccoli, cheese, cottage cheese, protein powders or bars, eggs, tofu, nuts *though those are more a better source of fat than protein.
  • sportychic87
    sportychic87 Posts: 214 Member
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    BombshellPhoenix wrote: »
    No to muscle. Water retention from picking up exercise. It's typical for muscles to hold on to water for repair when you pick up into exercising. I'd wait a week or so and see how the scale is trending. If you still aren't losing, I'd check food diary accuracy.

    Greek yogurt, lean meat, fish, pork, chicken, edamame, asparagus, broccoli, cheese, cottage cheese, protein powders or bars, eggs, tofu, nuts *though those are more a better source of fat than protein.

    Yep. You're right. I just hopped on the scale again, and the pound is gone.
  • BombshellPhoenix
    BombshellPhoenix Posts: 1,693 Member
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    sportychic87 wrote: »
    BombshellPhoenix wrote: »
    No to muscle. Water retention from picking up exercise. It's typical for muscles to hold on to water for repair when you pick up into exercising. I'd wait a week or so and see how the scale is trending. If you still aren't losing, I'd check food diary accuracy.

    Greek yogurt, lean meat, fish, pork, chicken, edamame, asparagus, broccoli, cheese, cottage cheese, protein powders or bars, eggs, tofu, nuts *though those are more a better source of fat than protein.

    Yep. You're right. I just hopped on the scale again, and the pound is gone.

    yay! Ya, weight loss will never be linear. I gain as much as 3 lbs from one day to the next and up to 5 lbs in a single day. Ive held on to water weight for nearly a week before. You're looking for a trend over a few weeks to clearly judge whether or not weight loss is occurring. ;)
  • switterbeet
    switterbeet Posts: 6 Member
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    Seconding that - weight fluctuates a lot on daily basis, and many scales aren't the greatest. (I have had 30lbs discrepencies between different scales on the same day, and my weight has swung around up to 10lbs in a single day on the same scale.)

    Best bet if you are looking for an overall trend of weight is to do it at the same time, in the same clothes, on the same scale, every day and track the average.

    The Libra app (https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=net.cachapa.libra&hl=en) or Hacker's diet spreadsheets (http://www.fourmilab.ch/hackdiet/comptoolsExcel.html) can do this with nice pretty graphs too.

    And of course keep in mind that if you're gaining muscle at the same time, you may not lose weight (may even gain it!) and that's ok!
  • SLLRunner
    SLLRunner Posts: 12,943 Member
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    sportychic87 wrote: »
    Hi!
    So I have been trying to lose weight for a while now. I got a gym membership a week ago and have been exercising for 45-60 minutes per day. I have been watching what I eat, and calorie counting as well.
    However, I hopped on the scale yesterday, and I have gained about a pound. Could that be muscle? (I have been working out to the point that I'm achy all over). I also don't see any changes other than the fact that my non-existent biceps are a teeny bit more noticeable. Also, any ideas on how to get enough protein with few calories?

    Not muscle. Perhaps water retention from your new workout. It's normal to be sore when starting a new workout, but if you're working out to the point of being achy all over you are overdoing it a bit too fast.

    Of course you don't see results after a week. Have patience, though. Really, a week is nothing. ;)

    Please come back in a month or two and tell us how it's going.


  • sportychic87
    sportychic87 Posts: 214 Member
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    Well, I've been dieting for about 3 weeks. The gym thing has only been for a week, thus far. I try to go every day. As I'm typing this I'm actually walking on the treadmill, lmao! I probably am a bit impatient ;)
    But my heart sure skipped a beat when I saw that extra pound! Lol.
  • AlyRoseNYC
    AlyRoseNYC Posts: 1,075 Member
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    Just a pound? That could just be some poop lol. Seriously, don't sweat it. You're tracking your calories and starting to work out. Keep up the good work and you will see the weight come off eventually!
  • sportychic87
    sportychic87 Posts: 214 Member
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    I think it was actually just pee....butt point aside....lol.
  • Ninkyou
    Ninkyou Posts: 6,666 Member
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    Anytime you start a new exercise or increase exercise, you will retain water for muscle repair. It's all temporary though.
  • Mariachicat
    Mariachicat Posts: 311 Member
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    I had overall loss working the same program cutting calories and working out, but with some spikes due to sodium and TOM water retention. One was as high as 7 pounds in a week! Yet I did not become too discouraged because I knew that I was training and building lean muscle tone and strength. I'm now trying to lose about 10 more pounds, but while the pound loss has slowed down and hovered around 120-125, my body shape totally changed and became much more defined. Also, sometimes working out hard causes you to hold on to water weight and some inflammation. I wouldn't worry too much about it.
  • sportychic87
    sportychic87 Posts: 214 Member
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    True...It could be that too, water for the muscles

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