Exercise = Weight Gain?!?!?

Aleatha
Aleatha Posts: 2
edited September 2024 in Health and Weight Loss
Hi everyone! I have not yet intododuced myself but here goes.
25 year old mum of a 2 year old, step mum of a 14 and 12 year old and Licensed Daycare Provider.
I had my son via c-section in April 07. I snapped back into my pre prego weight within 2 weeks (I chop it up to my son being a phenominal eater) So I was happy with that but still had cellulite deposits and the prego c-secion tummy. I haven't done anything about it up until 3 weeks ago.

I used to eat whatever and never work out cos I didn't care, but my age is ticking up and so is my fat levels :)... so anyways, I started jogging 4 times a week for 15 minutes, then deicded to kick it up a knotch and start going to the gym.
Lately Ive been going 5 times a week and working out on the treadmill, rowing machine and stationary bike and my work outs are now 25-30 minutes. (burning about 300-400 calories a day)
I've also been watching my calorie intake to the T on this website.
Heres the thing... no weight loss around any part of my body, I've actually gained 2 lbs since starting 3 weeks ago!!! Why and How?
I saw on a news program a book called The Hormone Diet by Dr. Natasha Turner. She said that she had the same problem, worked out 1 hour a day and watched the calories but ended up gaining 25 lbs! I dont want this to happen to me...
My question, has anyone read this book yet?
Does anyone have any input cos I dont know what to do.
Thanks :)
A

Replies

  • Aleatha
    Aleatha Posts: 2
    Hi everyone! I have not yet intododuced myself but here goes.
    25 year old mum of a 2 year old, step mum of a 14 and 12 year old and Licensed Daycare Provider.
    I had my son via c-section in April 07. I snapped back into my pre prego weight within 2 weeks (I chop it up to my son being a phenominal eater) So I was happy with that but still had cellulite deposits and the prego c-secion tummy. I haven't done anything about it up until 3 weeks ago.

    I used to eat whatever and never work out cos I didn't care, but my age is ticking up and so is my fat levels :)... so anyways, I started jogging 4 times a week for 15 minutes, then deicded to kick it up a knotch and start going to the gym.
    Lately Ive been going 5 times a week and working out on the treadmill, rowing machine and stationary bike and my work outs are now 25-30 minutes. (burning about 300-400 calories a day)
    I've also been watching my calorie intake to the T on this website.
    Heres the thing... no weight loss around any part of my body, I've actually gained 2 lbs since starting 3 weeks ago!!! Why and How?
    I saw on a news program a book called The Hormone Diet by Dr. Natasha Turner. She said that she had the same problem, worked out 1 hour a day and watched the calories but ended up gaining 25 lbs! I dont want this to happen to me...
    My question, has anyone read this book yet?
    Does anyone have any input cos I dont know what to do.
    Thanks :)
    A
  • justdoingit
    justdoingit Posts: 185 Member
    You might want to get your hormone levels checked, especially since you've just had a baby. Other than that, I bought a body fat caliper ($20) six weeks ago and just checked my body fat this morning. It turnes out that I have gained 4.5lbs of lean body mass and have dropped 5lbs. of body fat since I last checked. Overall, I had only lost 4 lbs according to the scale in the last six weeks and I was really bummed out until this morning.

    You should measure yourself once per month and you might see the difference....
  • karimcguire
    karimcguire Posts: 9
    It happened to me too. I started running 2-3 miles 5 times a week and gained 5lbs. Something about your muscles retaining water. It just takes awhile for the body to adjust to something new-especially if it's so different for your body. It'll level off within a couple of weeks. Everytime I change exercises I gain and then it levels back off. You'll start to see more toning as you go :)
  • RachVR6
    RachVR6 Posts: 3,688 Member
    Take measurements! Even if you aren't showing in pounds, you are probably showing in inches. Plus, you said you used to never workout, so you're probably putting on a good amount of muscle. :flowerforyou:
  • mfinney
    mfinney Posts: 314
    How much weight gain are we talking? It is quite possible with the added workouts and consistency that you are gaining some muscle weight -- especially in your legs; with a healthy diet change, sometimes, especially at first, you could also be retaining water weight. A lifestyle change won't yield immediate results a lot of times (unfortunately), the best thing is to make sure you don't let your body become too efficient -- meaning doing the same thing over and over again, as your body will adjust to that routine and it doesn't need to burn as many calories or work any harder to fulfill your activity level.

    also, make sure you are taking in enough calories to make up for your exercise, so that your body doesn't put you in "emergency" mode, storing what you do eat because you're not getting enough--and if the problem persists, you may need to rethink what you're actually eating --

    if you really think you're actually not achieving the goals your setting out for in a month or two, you might want to get with a nutritionist and/or personal trainer at the gym.

    good luck!!
  • Azdak
    Azdak Posts: 8,281 Member
    Depending on where you were before you started, it is not unusual to stay steady or even pick up a couple of pounds when starting a program. When you start on an exercise routine, esp if it is a fairly vigorous one, there will be a number of changes taking place. There are fluid shifts, and amino acid turnover, and your muscles may start to store more glycogen, etc. Since actual fat loss is relatively slow, and these other changes occur faster, you might see a scale weight gain in the first 7-10 days, even if you do lose 1-2 lbs of fat.

    When starting a program, it is a good idea to have some caliper measurements done, or measure circumferences with a tape measure. Then don't look at it for at least a month.

    I'm still trying to figure out how I gained 2lb from yesterday to today. I have averaged 1400 cal/day for the past 8 weeks, currently weigh around 230, exercise pretty hard 4-6 days/wk (50 min run today), and have avg a pretty consistent loss of 1/2 lb per day since 3/18.
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