Exercise and Weight Gain

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When muscles are worked hard they hold onto water as part of the repair process. Keep exercising, keep hydrated.... the excess will eventually flush out and you'll see a nice drop on the scale!

It could be some water weight gain! I had that problem a few weeks ago. Don't give up, it will come back off.

I know how you feel! it's true though that your muscles hold water when you exercise, so keep it up, I haven't seem any scale progress in 2 weeks and I was discouraged, then my son pointed out it isn't only about the scale, we're making good lifestyle changes for better health on the inside, the outside will follow!

It is really hard to put on five pounds of muscle, and it takes a long time. A five pound gain can be explained a number of ways. First, of course, check your eating. Are you tracking everything? Are you staying within your goals? If you are, there are a couple other things I would look at. If your sodium intake is high, that can cause a water weight gain that will go away after a day or so. And if you exercise particularly hard one day and then weigh yourself the next day, you will see a gain because your muscles will retain water in order to repair.

If your eating is on track, I would recommend a day of low sodium and rest, staying within your goal calories and drinking lots of water... then weigh yourself first thing in the morning for an accurate weight.

Also, always weigh yourself at the same time of day using the same scale and wearing approximately the same weight in clothes (I stick with naked... safer that way). Your weight fluctuates throughout the day and a pair of jeans or a sweatshirt can make a bigger difference than you would think.

Hey Manda! I took a quick look through the last week or so in your diary and I have a few suggestions (based on what has worked for me):

1. Start tracking your Sodium! This was a real eaye-opener for me and, though I am FAR from perfect, I can tell when I am gonnna hold on to water and see the scale go up based (partly) on my sodium intake.
2. Try to avoid Quick Add Calories whenever possible. Yes, calories are important, and the Quick Add is better than nothing, but it doesn't provide enough information (no macros, no sodium, etc.)
3. Be more consistent with your logging. There are several days in the last few weeks that were missing at least one meal. This is another one where I am not perfect, but I also know that our current weight loss goals are different. Believe me, when I was just starting, it was the religious logging that kept me honest and I saw great results.
4. If you are not already, weigh and measure your food. Even after a year of doing this and weighing and measuring consistently, I still struggle with eye-balling and seldom get it right (and wind up underestimating my intake). It is only when I get more strict with weighing and measuring that I see better results.

I know that you have been more consistent the last three weeks, and that is AWESOME, but I think that if you try to incorporate the above suggestions, you may start to see better results.

I would suggest to not weigh yourself every week. Just focus on making good food choices, logging your diary, and exercising regularly. It is true that muscle is more dense than fat, but muscle also retains fluid when you start excersing after periods of rest...so hang in there. There are a LOT of reasons why you could be experiencing this weight gain...so defintiely don't let it get you down!

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