Anyone else gain/hold on to weight when exercising?? Very discouraging.

Options
2»

Replies

  • girlwithcurls2
    girlwithcurls2 Posts: 2,262 Member
    Options
    Keep at it. It's SO HARD to be patient when you're losing slowly. I would love to lose a pound a week. This 14 pounds would have been off by Christmas if I wanted to crash diet and just get it off. But at what cost? I have enough to lose that I will notice it someday, but not enough to notice at a weekly weigh in. One way I stay on track is to sort of forget about it for a while. Keep up with my program-log my food and workouts, but not really pay attention to my weight because from one week to the next, any loss can be disguised as a gain, discouraging me, and making me think, "What's the point? Why even try?" But I know why. And I know the point. I'll get there.
  • playhardkf2017
    playhardkf2017 Posts: 875 Member
    Options
    dragon_girl26 wrote: »
    All right, thanks for all of that. :smile:

    So, with that little to lose, first thing to know is that its going to come off slooooooowwwwlllly. You have a lot less of a calorie deficit to work with and .5 a lb might end up being more .25 lb a week for awhile (which was the case when I did .5 a week a few years ago...frustrating but I was like, well, I guess its better than nothing..lol). Another thing that happened to me at that point was that my weight loss was never showing up weekly like clockwork...oftentimes I'd have a "whoosh" about once a month or so (after my cycle most of the time) and drop 2-3 lbs, then another solid month of nothing. If your exercise routine is fairly new, you might even be having the case of your DOMS and your cycle timing (assuming that applies to you) working against you to mask weight loss.

    That what happens to me! I’ve gone from 126.6 to 113 from April to now and I’ve had an entire month where I lose nothing and then poof I’m down a full pound or two magically.
  • 4legsRbetterthan2
    4legsRbetterthan2 Posts: 19,590 MFP Moderator
    Options
    I recently experienced this when I reintroduced weight lifting. I had been losing and it caused me to stall for a few weeks. It's annoying, but sometimes you gotta take a step back from the scale, stick to your guns, and think long term. IMO the benefits of continuing to weight lift is a fair trade for an extra 3 lbs. I am sure I still burned away a bit of fat during those weeks, the numbers on the scale were just temporarily masked, but I'm seeing scale progress again now.

    The good news is you are aware of what causes the weight gain. Now it's just time to decide if instant gratification is worth trading away longer term benefits.
  • Jacq_qui
    Jacq_qui Posts: 429 Member
    Options
    YES. thank you for posting this, I'm really stuck at the moment. It's definitely easy to get discouraged, and at one point in my life I would have found it easy to give up, but these days but I tend to get more stubborn about it. I am going to beat this, I'm not quitting, I have to just keep going and wait. Because what's the alternative?? Like you, I enjoy a morning HIIT - and I've literally started back at the gym again since the pandemic - lost quite a bit of strength. But it makes me more determined. My mother said yesterday ''oh maybe this is just your happy weight'' -No chance!! The stories we tell ourselves are the most important of all the stories we hear - I'm telling myself 'I'm not done yet'' :) Keep on keeping on! Add me if you want and let me know when the scales move :)
  • ajwindsorii
    ajwindsorii Posts: 18 Member
    Options
    Take pictures and measure your body fat% using calipers, tape measure, or DEXA scan once a month or every couple of weeks. As long as you're eating at a caloric deficit, you'll still lose fat.
  • a_vettestingray
    a_vettestingray Posts: 654 Member
    Options
    Your post caught my attention because I am dealing with the same struggles. This isn't my first rodeo - I lost ~15lbs about seven years ago through diet and weightlifting and got down to 125lb. However, life happened and I gained it all back plus some. I am 35yo, 5'7, re-starting my fitness journey at 158 (28% BF measured by a PT).

    It has been almost a month of eating TDEE-500 cals, full-body moderately-heavy lifting (3 sets of 10 reps on standard barbell movements + some accessory work) 3x week, and LISS cardio 3x week.

    My weight has increased by 5lbs. My measurements are the same. Every day I step on the scales, I look at a new record high weight and want to throw in the towel. It wasn't this hard last time. The last time, I was able to lose the 15lbs in three months and then focused on a recomp for a year or so. I'm doing the same exact things that worked before and I am getting opposite results.

    Sorry I don't have any advice, just wanted to commensurate.
  • butterfli7o
    butterfli7o Posts: 1,319 Member
    Options
    a_vettestingray wrote: »
    Your post caught my attention because I am dealing with the same struggles. This isn't my first rodeo - I lost ~15lbs about seven years ago through diet and weightlifting and got down to 125lb. However, life happened and I gained it all back plus some. I am 35yo, 5'7, re-starting my fitness journey at 158 (28% BF measured by a PT).

    It has been almost a month of eating TDEE-500 cals, full-body moderately-heavy lifting (3 sets of 10 reps on standard barbell movements + some accessory work) 3x week, and LISS cardio 3x week.

    My weight has increased by 5lbs. My measurements are the same. Every day I step on the scales, I look at a new record high weight and want to throw in the towel. It wasn't this hard last time. The last time, I was able to lose the 15lbs in three months and then focused on a recomp for a year or so. I'm doing the same exact things that worked before and I am getting opposite results.

    Sorry I don't have any advice, just wanted to commensurate.

    Well, you're not alone. I don't plan on stopping...we just have to push through.
  • domeofstars
    domeofstars Posts: 480 Member
    Options
    It's lean muscle mass
  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 32,170 Member
    Options
    domeofstars wrote: »
    It's lean muscle mass

    Highly unlikely. A woman under perfect conditions (which don't include a calorie deficit) would be doing well to gain a pound of muscle in a month, maybe twice that for a man. With a calorie deficit in the picture, pretty much no probable rate of muscle mass gain outpaces any meaningful rate of fat loss, sadly. Get stronger? Sure, from neuromuscular adaptation. Maybe look a little more taut or defined? Maybe, from water retention in the muscles . . . which also shows up on the scale.

    I sure wish muscle gain were that fast/easy for women.
  • Dogmom1978
    Dogmom1978 Posts: 1,580 Member
    Options
    AnnPT77 wrote: »
    domeofstars wrote: »
    It's lean muscle mass

    Highly unlikely. A woman under perfect conditions (which don't include a calorie deficit) would be doing well to gain a pound of muscle in a month, maybe twice that for a man. With a calorie deficit in the picture, pretty much no probable rate of muscle mass gain outpaces any meaningful rate of fat loss, sadly. Get stronger? Sure, from neuromuscular adaptation. Maybe look a little more taut or defined? Maybe, from water retention in the muscles . . . which also shows up on the scale.

    I sure wish muscle gain were that fast/easy for women.

    ^^* this!!!

    I would love if it was as easy to put on muscle as some of the people on MFP seem to think!! For women OR men lol

Categories