Gaining weight while hitting the gym!

moganleve
moganleve Posts: 4 Member
edited November 2024 in Health and Weight Loss
Hey guys! I was originally 123lbs after hard work and dieting. Now that I'm getting closer to my goal weight I decided to add in weight lifting! This week was my first time at the gym, lifting 3 times a week and cardio 6 times a week. I increased my calorie intake to 1,500 since I knew I was using a lot of my energy and needed to eat more. Well, I've finished a full week at the gym and step on the scale to find I'm 126! I feel terrible and l'm confused as to how I managed to gain weight within just one week of lifting weights and cardio. My goal weight is 115 as I am around 5 - 5'1 ft tall. I feel like it is impossible this is muscle gain from just one week of lifting and cardio. Do I need to pull down my calories again and restrict more or is this just water weight?

Replies

  • singingflutelady
    singingflutelady Posts: 8,736 Member
    Water weight. Also one week isn't long enough to have if a program is working or not. Also for calories how accurately are you measuring them? Are you weighing your food?
  • moganleve
    moganleve Posts: 4 Member
    edited February 2016
    singingflutelady wrote: »
    Also for calories how accurately are you measuring them? Are you weighing your food?

    Yes, I've always been very strict about counting my calories and logging them perfectly. I've lost 50lbs from just dieting and counting the right amount of calories. I don't know how there's anyway that just eating 1,500 could contribute to weight gain, maybe I'm wrong. Should I continue maintaining 1500 for a few weeks, or hold back on my calories?
  • ElizabethOakes2
    ElizabethOakes2 Posts: 1,038 Member
    Give it three weeks, and make sure to weigh on the morning after your 'rest day' from lifting. When you lift weights, your muscles hold water to help them heal afterwards. It can look ugly on the scale, but that's all it is.
    If you're really concerned, take your measurements and track them as well as your scale weight. :)

    After about three weeks, if you're still gaining, lower your calories back down and just eat back half of what you burn and see if that helps, but give it three weeks first. :)
  • moganleve
    moganleve Posts: 4 Member
    ElizabethOakes2 wrote: »
    Give it three weeks, and make sure to weigh on the morning after your 'rest day' from lifting. When you lift weights, your muscles hold water to help them heal afterwards. It can look ugly on the scale, but that's all it is.
    If you're really concerned, take your measurements and track them as well as your scale weight. :)

    After about three weeks, if you're still gaining, lower your calories back down and just eat back half of what you burn and see if that helps, but give it three weeks first. :)
    Thank you so much! I'll give it more time! The littlest weight gain has always made me very paranoid! That just makes me so much more relieved. :kissing_smiling_eyes:

  • daniwilford
    daniwilford Posts: 1,030 Member
    I experience this when I started weight lifting. It was water for muscle repair. It will even out over time. I still experience a temporary gain when ever I step it up with heavier or more different routine. The tape measurements are what gave me much needed reassurance. My waist and belly were shrinking even if it didn't show on the scale.
  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 35,064 Member
    +1 all over the place to what folks wrote above. Consider taking some body measurements with a measuring tape, too, though allow a reasonable time in between. Sometimes the scale will move when the measurements hold steady; sometimes the measurements move first - and the latter scenario is probably more likely with a new exercise regimen.

    You'll do fine at 1500. I'm like a million years older (OK, only 42 years older), not much bigger (5'5", CW 122) and was still loosing decently at 1500 net (eating back all my conservatively-estimate exercise). Give it time - several weeks. A week is no indication, with that much change in your routine, especially.
  • Orphia
    Orphia Posts: 7,097 Member
    http://www.sparkpeople.com/blog/blog.asp?post=why_the_scale_goes_up_when_you_start_a_new_workout_plan

    "When someone starts a new exercise program, they often experience muscle soreness. The more intense and "unfamiliar" the program, the more intense the muscle soreness. This soreness is most prevalent 24 to 48 hours after each workout. In the first few weeks of a new program, soreness is the body trying to "protect and defend" the effected or targeted tissue. Exercise physiologists refer to this as delayed-onset muscle soreness, or DOMS.

    This type of soreness is thought to be caused by tissue breakdown or microscopic tears in muscle tissue. When this happens, the body protects the tissue. The muscle becomes inflamed and slightly swollen due to fluid retention."

    Kind regards and good luck!
  • PAV8888
    PAV8888 Posts: 14,421 Member
    If you're sore after exercise you're retaining water for muscle repair.

    it could well take more than one or two days without exercise for the soreness to dissipate as you continue to challenge yourself.
  • rileysowner
    rileysowner Posts: 8,345 Member
    moganleve wrote: »
    Hey guys! I was originally 123lbs after hard work and dieting. Now that I'm getting closer to my goal weight I decided to add in weight lifting! This week was my first time at the gym, lifting 3 times a week and cardio 6 times a week. I increased my calorie intake to 1,500 since I knew I was using a lot of my energy and needed to eat more. Well, I've finished a full week at the gym and step on the scale to find I'm 126! I feel terrible and l'm confused as to how I managed to gain weight within just one week of lifting weights and cardio. My goal weight is 115 as I am around 5 - 5'1 ft tall. I feel like it is impossible this is muscle gain from just one week of lifting and cardio. Do I need to pull down my calories again and restrict more or is this just water weight?

    It is water weight retained by your muscles to help them recover. It will go away in 2 weeks or so as your muscles get used to the change in workout. It is quite normal, so just give it time.
  • moganleve
    moganleve Posts: 4 Member
    Thank you everyone! That makes me feel tons better I'll keep my routine up and see how far all this takes me! Thank you for the advice so much <3<3
  • jackielou867
    jackielou867 Posts: 422 Member
    At my lightest I was 59kg. Skinny but flabby. Then I started lifting. 3 years on I am 66kg. Slimmer firmer and happier. I'm almost 50. I should have started this decades ago Stick with it.
  • robs_ready
    robs_ready Posts: 1,488 Member
    100% water retention or related to your cycle, unless you've accumulated 10,000 extra calories or are taking steroids, it can only be water.
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