heavier after exercising?

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ALH1981
ALH1981 Posts: 538 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
Why do i always weigh more after a week of heavy exercising? Even worse my clothes feel tight!!!

i do not know whether this is due to:
1) building up muscle which weighs more?
2) eating more to compensate for the calories burned
3) something else?


can someone help? The scales just seem to keep going up, but if i take a few days off they drop almost in a day!

Replies

  • thecrossfitter
    thecrossfitter Posts: 424 Member
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    When you do things like strength training, you're creating micro tears in your muscles - this is how you get stronger. Your muscle has to repair those tears and retains extra water to do so.

    Bothers you? Only weigh in after rest days :)
  • ALH1981
    ALH1981 Posts: 538 Member
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    but the problem is i LOVE to excerise, its not just physical for me - so i rarely have rest days....

    so its just water?
  • passion8soull
    passion8soull Posts: 3
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    I have read that after excercising your muscles are building and working harder which means you will always gain weight before you lose it. it takes 6 weeks of consistent excercising in order to start losing weight...this is what i have read anyway.
  • datguy2011
    datguy2011 Posts: 477 Member
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    Water is the second reason.. the first is muscle! you hit it right on the nail there....
  • ALH1981
    ALH1981 Posts: 538 Member
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    haha i have been excerising for 25 years - i don't think thats the issue!!!! its something I've always noticed and always wondered why.....?
  • CoraGregoryCPA
    CoraGregoryCPA Posts: 1,087 Member
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    Do you eat your exercise calories? If so, what if your calorie burned number is incorrect and you are over eating them back?

    Just a thought.

    I do well with the scale when I workout hard, but I don't eat the exercise calories back. It's a personal preference.
  • LaBelle89
    LaBelle89 Posts: 71
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    Try taking some protein after doing weight training. I know that the muscle tears whenever you do weight training, and to heal it..the water like sits in the tears. So...I think you should have more protein to help heal it, and water.

    After a rest day...your weight will be normal. Happens to me all the time. You'll probably even notice a big lost. I have Sunday as my rest day.
  • EmmaNem0
    EmmaNem0 Posts: 6
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    You probably have the weight of your sweat in your clothes. Also, if you drink a lot of water while exercising, then that water weight will definitely make the number on the scale go up :tongue:
  • ALH1981
    ALH1981 Posts: 538 Member
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    thanks everyone, i think tone honest i just overdo it, and i gain and lose musle very very easily as i have a small frame so - i thikn i the real solution is to have more rest days!!!! this is not a new thing, just somthien decided to pose to a group of people who are knowledgeable!!!
  • thecrossfitter
    thecrossfitter Posts: 424 Member
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    Most people recommend occasional rest days. Personally, I do 3 days on, 1 rest, 2 days on, 1 rest/yoga. Your body actually gets stronger on your rest days. If you don't rest, you don't allow your body the time to repair the tears in your muscles and get stronger.

    Honestly, I only care about losing fat, who cares if there's some extra water in my body? I tend to weigh in the day after my first rest day of the week though for consistency purposes.

    Building muscle takes a long time. The exceptions to this are those who are new to strength training, or those who had a long hiatus from it and are getting back into it. Example - I started seriously lifting weights in August - the first photo in my profile was taken then. The second photo is from Sept and the third from November. These pictures show me starting at 146.4lbs and increasing to 150ish lbs. I had a little honeymoon period where I could quickly build muscle. Since that last November photo, I think I've exhausted that period, and have lost 5lbs (back to my starting weight). I am inches smaller. From this point on, building muscle is going to take me a LONG time, especially since I'm a woman.

    I am always a couple pounds up after a workout day - it's just how your body works. I didn't gain 1.5lbs of fat in a day - much less from working out. Just like I didn't lose 1.5lbs of fat the day after a rest day.
  • ALH1981
    ALH1981 Posts: 538 Member
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    thanks - i tend to excersise every day - its just what i need to do, but its disheartening when i have upped my workouts and not eating any more that I'm not losing or even maintaining, it seems to be going up!! So i cannot understand... its hard to watch the scale not changing!
  • mideon_696
    mideon_696 Posts: 770 Member
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    It is just water retention. definately not muscle. It would take about 1 year to gain 12 or so lbs of muscle. so forget that, lol.

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