Will the water ever go away??

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missblondi2u
missblondi2u Posts: 851 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
So here is some background--I'm 5'2", currently about 158 pounds, down from about 206 since June 22, 2015. I lost those 50 pounds with calorie counting plus walking as my only exercise. I got down to about 153 at the end of February, and then I decided to kick up my exercise.

Since March 1, I've pushed myself from walking into running, and have managed to work up to running 2 miles non-stop over the last 3 weeks. I've been running 2-3 miles about 3x's/week. Additionally, I've started doing body weight exercises, including squats, lunges, pushups, dumbbell rows, and planks. I do 2-3 circuits of about 20 reps on each exercise, and have done this about twice a week since March 1.

The first couple of times I did these exercises, I was so sore the next day it hurt to brush my hair or even get out of my chair. The day after one of my first running sessions, I worked my lungs so hard it hurt to even breathe too deeply. Things have gotten a little easier, but I'm still working myself pretty hard.

Like I said, I weighed around 153 at the end of February. Since I've been exercising, though, I've shot up to anywhere from 156-159. I realize that I should expect water retention from starting a new exercise routine, but after 3 weeks I would have thought it would level out.

I'm pretty confident on my logging. I don't weigh everything, but I've trained myself on portion sizes and often double-check my eyeballing just to make sure. I've been regularly adjusting my calories as I've lost weight, so I don't think that is an issue either. People have suggested that I'm gaining muscle, but I've read that you don't build muscle in a deficit, right?

So my question is, at what point will I stop retaining so much water from my exercises, or is this something I have to get used to? I'm not really freaking out about the number on the scale, but it is a bit frustrating.

Additionally, is it possible that I did gain a bit of muscle since this is really the first time I've exercised in my adult life? I know my legs look and feel a lot different.

TL;DR: Will I eventually stop retaining water from exercise, or is this just something that always happens? Thanks!!

Replies

  • _Waffle_
    _Waffle_ Posts: 13,049 Member
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    It will taper off but I typically keep 3 - 5 lbs of water weight if I'm working out hard all the time. This honestly has nothing to do with gaining or losing weight. If you're holding a few water bottles in a backpack you'd weigh a few pounds more but does that prevent you from losing weight? No. You can still hold those bottles of water and drop weight. How? You have a calorie deficit. The extra water has nothing to do with that.

    There's no reason to focus on a few pounds of water unless you're trying to drop down a weight class the day before a fight or you have a bodybuilding stage event the next day. If you're trying to lose 10 lbs or more then this tiny bit of water weight has nothing to do with anything.

    21liil1.jpg

    Let's say you wanted to carry this bucket of rocks but decide that it weighs too much. What would be the best way to reduce the weight of this object?
    • Shave off a pound with a bucket made from lighter material.
    • Remove some rocks

    You're focused on the bucket and not the rocks in the bucket when you stress about a few pounds of water weight.
  • ljk0615
    ljk0615 Posts: 160 Member
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    I feel you op. Water weight can be frustrating especially when you are still doing everything you know you should be doing but you're not seeing that number drop, which regardless of whether you should focus on it or not, for most of us, that number dropping IS motivating. This is my experience. I began my journey beginning of 2015. Lost 30 pounds. Lifting relatively heavy for most of that year. I felt like I really had this down but would change my deficit to fit my changing weight, etc. in January of this year I was only about 5 pounds away from goal weight. I took my lifting up a notch mainly bc I love to lift and wanted to push myself and see some real strength gains. I saw a stall ( actually a 2-3 pound gain) with weight loss too through this. It was definitely water from stepping up my training. I took measurements to make sure of this and I actually saw my measurements go down slightly! Anyway, it felt like the water wasn't going to leave. But I just kept doing what I knew to do and the water finally started to come off- after 6-7 weeks!
    It will come off, sometimes eating lower carb for a few days can speed up the process. Keep doing what you know to do. Have faith in the process!
  • missblondi2u
    missblondi2u Posts: 851 Member
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    _Waffle_ wrote: »
    It will taper off but I typically keep 3 - 5 lbs of water weight if I'm working out hard all the time. This honestly has nothing to do with gaining or losing weight. If you're holding a few water bottles in a backpack you'd weigh a few pounds more but does that prevent you from losing weight? No. You can still hold those bottles of water and drop weight. How? You have a calorie deficit. The extra water has nothing to do with that.

    There's no reason to focus on a few pounds of water unless you're trying to drop down a weight class the day before a fight or you have a bodybuilding stage event the next day. If you're trying to lose 10 lbs or more then this tiny bit of water weight has nothing to do with anything.

    .

    Ok, this makes so much sense. So if I plan to keep increasing my exercise, I can expect to keep the water and not see a drop in actual weight until I've lost enough to compensate for that extra water, right?
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,874 Member
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    missblondi2u wrote: »
    _Waffle_ wrote: »
    It will taper off but I typically keep 3 - 5 lbs of water weight if I'm working out hard all the time. This honestly has nothing to do with gaining or losing weight. If you're holding a few water bottles in a backpack you'd weigh a few pounds more but does that prevent you from losing weight? No. You can still hold those bottles of water and drop weight. How? You have a calorie deficit. The extra water has nothing to do with that.

    There's no reason to focus on a few pounds of water unless you're trying to drop down a weight class the day before a fight or you have a bodybuilding stage event the next day. If you're trying to lose 10 lbs or more then this tiny bit of water weight has nothing to do with anything.

    .

    Ok, this makes so much sense. So if I plan to keep increasing my exercise, I can expect to keep the water and not see a drop in actual weight until I've lost enough to compensate for that extra water, right?

    Pretty much...I mean, you should still see the scale going down as a general trend...but now you have a new starting point more or less.

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