Weight going up after just 2 lifting sessions??? ugh!

Qbaimee · August 2022

Hi everyone!

I just started a new weight lifting program on Sunday (got 2 sessions in so far). I have not done any weight training in YEARS! so I am kinda brand new. I am so sore right now just after 2 workouts and my scale is already up by 3 lbs since my offical weigh in on Saturday morning.
I expected the scale to go up. I guess my question is how long will it go up for? How much more will it go up? It will eventually level out I am guessing. I still have about 40 more pounds I would like to lose, will building muscle help me lose the weight in the long run?

I keep telling myself to trust the process and be patient, but I am not a patient person (I have gotten better though)

I guess I just need some reassurance that I am doing the right thing, and the scale WILL go down LOL

Thank you.

sijomial · August 2022

"I guess my question is how long will it go up for?"
Depends on what you do, if you keep making yourself more sore it will continue to go up.
When the soreness tapers off the inflammation goes. Keep training when you are already sore will make it last longer (and also make your workouts suck....).

"How much more will it go up?"
Impossible to know even without predicting what you do in the future.

"It will eventually level out I am guessing."
Level out or disappear.

"will building muscle help me lose the weight in the long run?"
Not a lot, the caloric impact of a few extra pounds of muscle is vastly exaggerated by the fitness and diet industries.
What really burns significant calories is using your muscles in exercise and general activity.

" I just need some reassurance that I am doing the right thing"
Yes, adding strength training is a great thing to do when being in a sustained deficit puts your existing muscle mass at risk.
In fact, it's a great thing to do whether you are losing, gaining or maintaining.
Not everything is done for, or about, weight loss if health is your over-arching goal.

"and the scale WILL go down"
If you are in a sustained calorie deficit it must.

JBanx256 · August 2022

What you're experiencing is totally normal, don't sweat it. As long as I have been lifting, a particularly nasty leg session especially will cause an increase in scale weight the following day (or 2...). Just one of those things.

FWIW, one day last week I had an "increase" of 6.2 pounds in one day. Fluctuations happen, try not to stress out over them.

Retroguy2000 · August 2022

Qbaimee wrote: »

I still have about 40 more pounds I would like to lose, will building muscle help me lose the weight in the long run?

With that much to lose, I'd suggest focusing on cardio first since that burns more calories in the same workout time. I'm not suggesting don't do resistance training at all btw. Just saying, if your primary goal is weight loss and if say 100% of your workout time is lifting weights (for example, I know you didn't say that), progress may not be as fast as you hope.

Having more muscle will help you burn more calories at rest but it's not substantial. Estimates are about 5 calories per pound per day, if you weigh the same and have exchanged X pounds of fat for X pounds of muscle.

Jthanmyfitnesspal · August 2022

@sijomial is right on, as usual.

To add some commentary: intense weightlifting is a proven way to add muscle mass to your body. It's most effective if you do it at a time where you don't mind adding a few pounds. During a weight loss period (cutting), it can be a bit harder to do, I've found. My experience is that it makes me hungry, but it doesn't burn that many calories, so it tests my self-control.

So, if it is your goal to lose weight overall, I'd approach workouts with a very slightly different attitude. I'd up the reps and lower the weight, basically. I'd have days where you do cardio, mixing high and low intensity. It sounds complicated, but it can be as easy as getting on an elliptical trainer with both arms and legs. (Or many other activities, including jogging, cycling, stationary cycle, swimming, hiking. No end to the possibilities.)

Classes that focus on sustained full-body training within your capabilities are fantastic. I hesitate to mention CrossFit only because it is a very hard workout and many people get discouraged by it. But there are many full-body aerobic exercise classes at all levels on YouTube and at most gyms. They are fun when it challenges you just enough and particularly when you get to know some of the other participants. The main thing is to work up slowly to avoid being totally sore. Some soreness is fine and you need to find your level of (dis) comfort.

Best of luck!

ninerbuff · August 2022

Retroguy2000 wrote: »

Qbaimee wrote: »

I still have about 40 more pounds I would like to lose, will building muscle help me lose the weight in the long run?

With that much to lose, I'd suggest focusing on cardio first since that burns more calories in the same workout time. I'm not suggesting don't do resistance training at all btw. Just saying, if your primary goal is weight loss and if say 100% of your workout time is lifting weights (for example, I know you didn't say that), progress may not be as fast as you hope.

Having more muscle will help you burn more calories at rest but it's not substantial. Estimates are about 5 calories per pound per day, if you weigh the same and have exchanged X pounds of fat for X pounds of muscle.

Burning more calories in a time span would matter if you wanted that, but the reality is you could resistance train and just eat a little less to equal calorie deficit needed to lose weight. Weight loss still is just about calorie deficit. And just doing cardio doesn't cause that to happen. Also, cardio doesn't have the same effect on resting metabolic rate as resistance training does (unless it's lit HIIT). And you burn the most fat at rest than doing any execise.

A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
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Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition

AnnPT77 · August 2022

Qbaimee wrote: »

Hi everyone!

I just started a new weight lifting program on Sunday (got 2 sessions in so far). I have not done any weight training in YEARS! so I am kinda brand new. I am so sore right now just after 2 workouts and my scale is already up by 3 lbs since my offical weigh in on Saturday morning.
I expected the scale to go up. I guess my question is how long will it go up for? How much more will it go up? It will eventually level out I am guessing. I still have about 40 more pounds I would like to lose, will building muscle help me lose the weight in the long run?

I keep telling myself to trust the process and be patient, but I am not a patient person (I have gotten better though)

I guess I just need some reassurance that I am doing the right thing, and the scale WILL go down LOL

Thank you.

Just to be sure: I'm assuming you know this is water weight, for muscle repair? That it's not muscle, not fat?

The scale won't keep going up and up from this. This'll level off.

For me, I reliably and nearly immediately gain about 2 pounds (unexplained by calorie intake) when I restart strength training after a long break, and hang onto those couple of pounds as long as I keep training progressively (usually 3x/week). Your exact pattern (initial timing and number of pounds) may differ from mine, but it will be a small number of pounds. Some people report the water weight cycling on and off (on after a training day, off after a recovery day, etc.). Mine hangs around.

If your calorie intake is below your total overall calorie expenditure, your weight will go down - the fat weight part, the part most of us actually want to lose. The thing to understand is that sensible fat loss is in the few ounces per day range. Water weight changes (from exercise or many other triggers) can vary by several pounds per day, as you've seen.

The implication is that fat loss will play peek-a-boo on the scale with the bigger/faster water weight shifts. But, over multi-week periods - month or two - the scale will gradually drop, in the sense that the range of daily variation will move lower on average. For example, for me losing a pound of fat a week might look like my weight cycling up and down within the range of 128-133 this week, when in the same week last month it was cycling up and down within the range 132-137 (approximately).

Understanding that this is normal, that this is how weight loss works - that can take a lot of the frustration and stress out of the process.

As other have said, a pound of muscle burns a small number of calories per day more at rest than a pound of fat. But it takes time - multiple weeks - to add a pound of muscle, even under ideal conditions. Alongside a calorie deficit for weight loss is not "ideal conditions". That doesn't mean muscle gain can't happen - it can - but it will be quite gradual. Strength training is definitely worth doing, though: Even keeping the muscle we have is a worthwhile goal, plus strength is functionally useful in daily life.

I strongly, strongly suspect that people who are stronger/fitter are likely to burn more calories than people who are weaker/less fit . . . not via "metabolism", but because being fitter/stronger makes it easier and more fun to move more (in daily life, on the job, exercise, recreation, home projects, etc.), so we move more, and burn more calories that way . . . sometimes without even realizing it.

Exercise (strength or cardio) burns some calories when we do it, but IMO, thinking of exercise as "for weight loss" is not the best mindset. Exercise is to be stronger, fitter, and possibly happier. Finding the exercise we want to continue forever - that's ideal.

IMO, for anyone with a tendency toward overweight (like me), weight management isn't a project with an end date, it's a lifelong endeavor (if I want to stay at a healthy weight). That puts a premium on finding new habits (eating and exercise) that lead to me reaching a healthy weight, and staying there.

Weight going up after just 2 lifting sessions??? ugh!

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