Exercise and Weight Gain???

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firebatongirl
firebatongirl Posts: 5
in Fitness and Exercise
For the last 2 weeks, I have been exercising a lot, mostly cardio and I am either running or walking at a brisk pace. I even completed my first 5K last Saturday! But, instead of losing weight, I am gaining weight. In fact, I have gained 3 pounds in the last 3 weeks. It seems absurd considering that I wasn't doing much exercise before I started Fitness Pal. I am just wondering has anyone else experienced this when they first started exercising?

I am beginning to think that I should just stop the exercise and go back to eating 2,000 calories a day. At least I wasn't gaining weight.....

Stacy

Replies

  • Cindy311
    Cindy311 Posts: 780 Member
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    Probably muscle gain!
  • Adina81
    Adina81 Posts: 252 Member
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    Muscle weighs more than fat.
    Muscle is tighter packed than fat...which means toned.
    Which means loss in inches.
    Go measure your legs/torso/upper arms. :)
  • hvgr8sk8
    hvgr8sk8 Posts: 3
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    I've noticed the same problem too. What I was once told by a personal trainer was that since muscle weighs more than fat, you may actually gain weight. Once the muscle gets to a certain point, your body starts burning more calories and you lose weight. What I have found though is that I get really, really hungry when I exercise and I end up overeating. Haven't found a solution for that one yet.
  • josavage
    josavage Posts: 472 Member
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    You are most likely retaining water caused by the new exercise routine. Just stick with it, drink lots of water, and the scale will catch up.
  • rockerbabyy
    rockerbabyy Posts: 2,258 Member
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    how much are you eating? do you eat your exercise calories? how much water do you drink? what does your sodium intake look like?
    i havent really gained from exercising, but there have been times where i havent lost anything for a while..
  • Adina81
    Adina81 Posts: 252 Member
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    hvgr8sk8:
    Mix yourself up a awesome protein shake.
    Kicks the hunger curb and gives back what your muscles are screaming for!
  • sara709
    sara709 Posts: 170 Member
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    I don't want to burst any bubbles but it takes longer than that to get any measurable gain in muscle..

    The same thing happened to me when I first started. It could be water weight if you're retaining water. Or if you're eating better, it could be a build up in your system - are you drinking enough fluids to flush everything out? It could also be that certain time of the month creeping up on you. The week before mine, I always gain about 5lbs.

    I'd say keep up the exercise and doing what you're doing. The numbers on the scale will start reflecting it soon :)
  • firebatongirl
    firebatongirl Posts: 5
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    Yes, I am eating all of my exercise calories. I considered muscle weight gain, so that is why I decided not to do much strength training or weight lifting in the first few weeks, in order to get a "jump start" on the weight loss. I realize that the scale is not always our friend, but I didn't really expect to see a weight gain. I normally lose weight easily....perhaps I am just getting old and my metabolism is slowing down? Thanks for the responses!

    Stacy
  • ninerbuff
    ninerbuff Posts: 48,725 Member
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    Probably muscle gain!
    Nope
  • ninerbuff
    ninerbuff Posts: 48,725 Member
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    Muscle weighs more than fat.
    Muscle is tighter packed than fat...which means toned.
    Which means loss in inches.
    Go measure your legs/torso/upper arms. :)
    It's not muscle that caused the gain.
  • ninerbuff
    ninerbuff Posts: 48,725 Member
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    I've noticed the same problem too. What I was once told by a personal trainer was that since muscle weighs more than fat, you may actually gain weight. Once the muscle gets to a certain point, your body starts burning more calories and you lose weight. What I have found though is that I get really, really hungry when I exercise and I end up overeating. Haven't found a solution for that one yet.
    Nope.
  • ninerbuff
    ninerbuff Posts: 48,725 Member
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    You are most likely retaining water caused by the new exercise routine. Just stick with it, drink lots of water, and the scale will catch up.
    This.
  • ninerbuff
    ninerbuff Posts: 48,725 Member
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    When you start an exercising program, your muscles and liver store higher amounts of water and glycogen with the anticipation that you will use this stored energy for your next work out. Also when muscle gets "pumped up" it retains water for repair. While stopping exercise will cause you to lose weight again, the gained weight from exercise will subside within a couple of weeks once it adapts to CONSISTENT exercise.
  • Bankman1989
    Bankman1989 Posts: 1,116 Member
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    I've noticed the same problem too. What I was once told by a personal trainer was that since muscle weighs more than fat, you may actually gain weight. Once the muscle gets to a certain point, your body starts burning more calories and you lose weight. What I have found though is that I get really, really hungry when I exercise and I end up overeating. Haven't found a solution for that one yet.
    Nope.

    MUSCLE DOES NOT WEIGH MORE THAN FAT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

    http://www.onemorebite-weightloss.com/muscle-to-fat.html

    Stop focusing on your weight and focus on your composition. If you look better does it matter how much you actually weigh?

    1 POUND IS 1 POUND! Muscle is more dense so there's more
  • olyrose
    olyrose Posts: 569 Member
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    When you start an exercising program, your muscles and liver store higher amounts of water and glycogen with the anticipation that you will use this stored energy for your next work out. Also when muscle gets "pumped up" it retains water for repair. While stopping exercise will cause you to lose weight again, the gained weight from exercise will subside within a couple of weeks once it adapts to CONSISTENT exercise.

    ^This. (And the "nopes" to your gain being all muscle). Until I learned about this, I would always give up when I started a new exercise routing, because it seemed pointless to workout and gain weight. Keep going, and that additional weight will come off, and usually take more with it. It can be discouraging, but it shouldn't last.
  • firebatongirl
    firebatongirl Posts: 5
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    Okay...okay. Gonna press on and continue you my running and I will even add a couple of days of weight training to the mix. I could drink more water. I have been drinking a lot of Propel, ony because it was on sale at Publix last week. Perhaps, I should just drink regular water and forget the fancy stuff?

    No, I am not really "worried" about the scale, but I also cannot see a difference in my clothes either. I haven't re-measured yet, but I plan on doing that soon. I have always had a lot of muscle tone naturally, so I tend to weigh a lot more than what people assume. I know....it has only been 3 weeks, and I can't expect miracles, but a couple pounds lost or a baggy waistline would be nice!

    SG

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