Scale creeping up?

workalldaykickboxatnight · February 2020

Back in June I started taking fitness seriously. I kickbox/muay thai usually twice a week, and have added HIIT for 4-6 days working out a week depending on my work schedule. At first I lost 15-20lbs, but I didnt think to take measurements. Before and after pictures have shown progress but even with working out and hitting my nutrition goals, my weight has started creeping back up. Would this be muscle gain or should I be looking at something else for the cause. Thanks for any advice!

Danp · February 2020

Very unlikely it would be from muscle gain. Muscle just isn't that easy to put on particularly if you're not using a progressive lifting program. Even then under optimal conditions focused on building muscles you're looking at maybe 1lbs or 2lbs per month.

If you've increased the amount or intensity of your exercise program this can cause a temporary spike in weight from water retention but this is short lived and will reverse after a week or two.

Based on the fact that you're entire post focuses almost exclusively on how much you exercise rather than your food intake I'm going to guess that you're gaining weigth because you're focusing on the wrong things for weight loss. Fitness happens in the gym, weight loss happens in the kitchen. It doesn't matter how many calories you're burning in the gym if you're eating in a way that puts you in a calorie surplus you're going to gain weight.

amtyrell · February 2020

You can not out exercise a fork.
Ie weight is 95% diet. Clearly you are eating more than burning

sijomial · February 2020

Even if it was muscle gain (you aren't training in a way to significantly promote that) you would still be in a calorie surplus as your weight is rising.

Don't let a "creep" become a slide, you need to adjust your calorie balance downwards so either eat a bit less or move a bit more.

workalldaykickboxatnight · February 2020

Thanks everybody. According to the app I am usually in a caloric deficit, but I do think I need to cut some carbs and sugar. I also bought some portion control containers so I'm curious to see how this all helps. I havent changed my diet very much since starting and it looks like I need to. I am on medication that promotes water retention which is not something I took into consideration either. Thanks for the insight

PAV8888 · February 2020

Water retention would not be a minor consideration.

I am not quite sure why anyone would disagree with your statement that such medication and the consequential water retention would affect your scale weight.

tinkerbellang83 · February 2020

PAV8888 wrote: »

Water retention would not be a minor consideration.

I am not quite sure why anyone would disagree with your statement that such medication and the consequential water retention would affect your scale weight.

Sometimes people just catch the disagree button when scrolling on the app version. I've had disagrees for all sorts of weird and wonderful things.

cdudley628 · February 2020

PAV8888 wrote: »

Water retention would not be a minor consideration.

I am not quite sure why anyone would disagree with your statement that such medication and the consequential water retention would affect your scale weight.

My guess is that they're disagreeing with cutting carbs and sugar, as this has no direct effect on weight loss if you're in a calorie deficit. All that matter is the deficit for weight loss.

AnnPT77 · February 2020

workalldaykickboxatnight wrote: »

Thanks everybody. According to the app I am usually in a caloric deficit, but I do think I need to cut some carbs and sugar. I also bought some portion control containers so I'm curious to see how this all helps. I havent changed my diet very much since starting and it looks like I need to. I am on medication that promotes water retention which is not something I took into consideration either. Thanks for the insight

I'd disagree with this in two respects, maybe three:

1. Just because the app says you're in a calorie deficit doesn't mean you're in a calorie deficit. It's possible - and fairly common - to underestimate calorie intake, and/or overestimate exercise calories. It's also possible for the app to be incorrect, in the sense that it gives you a goal based on the average of a broad population of similar people, and you may not be average. (But I agree that it could be water weight, and the "not average" possibility is less likely if you think you should be losing fast based on the size of your presumed deficit.) I'd note that you said "usually" in a calorie deficit: If you're sometimes not, and by a good-ish amount, that can matter.

2. Good nutrition is very important for health, but if you're calorie counting accurately, it won't matter if you are eating carbs and sugar. Protein requires a few more calories to be digested/metabolized, but the effect is so small in a normal/healthy diet that it's likely to be lost in the noise of normal calorie estimation error rates. Some people find that carbs/sugar increase appetite or cravings for more carbs/sugar, but accurate calorie counting would highlight that if it were happening. For sure, if your overall nutrition is not adequate, that's worth fixing, but for reasons that are not short-run weight loss.

3. Do you have a food scale? It will be more accurate than portion control containers, probably not dramatically more expensive (if at all), and there's a decent chance it will be less time-consuming to use than the containers, if you learn the tips for making it efficient.** A scale is definitely less time-consuming than cups/spoons for measurement.

** Despite the joke/click-bait title, the tips are in this thread:

https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10498882/weighing-food-takes-too-long-and-is-obsessive

Best wishes!

PAV8888 · February 2020

Hmm, hadn't keyed as much on the sugar/carb thing; but more on the water retention thing as, to me, it would bring up whether there is actually any concern that needs to be addressed in the first place

kshama2001 · February 2020

workalldaykickboxatnight wrote: »

Thanks everybody. According to the app I am usually in a caloric deficit, but I do think I need to cut some carbs and sugar. I also bought some portion control containers so I'm curious to see how this all helps. I havent changed my diet very much since starting and it looks like I need to. I am on medication that promotes water retention which is not something I took into consideration either. Thanks for the insight

When did you start the medication? If recently, sure, that could be a consideration, but not necessarily for a significant amount of water weight. What's the med and how much do you weight now?

Scale creeping up?

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