GAINED 4 pounds eating right and HARD CORE exercise

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  • WanderLaura
    WanderLaura Posts: 135
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    Thanks everybody! I knew it wasn't muscle... that's just illogical. I am assuming from the posts that my muscles are retaining water. I may be overexerting myself just a little. :-/... and I need to eat back at least some of my calories...

    Thanks, everybody for the help!!
  • DannyMussels
    DannyMussels Posts: 1,842 Member
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    From my experiences, your weight can change 1-5lbs (or more) daily.


    For a more realistic (and hopefully permanent) comparison, I compare monthly.
  • jadedone
    jadedone Posts: 2,449 Member
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    It's only been a couple of days. Too soon to take stock of weight and measurements. Give it 2 weeks and measure.
  • melelana
    melelana Posts: 122 Member
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    Also, it takes a lot longer to lose and gain weight than a day or two. Your body is probably still processing all the work you have been doing.
  • NaomiLyn15
    NaomiLyn15 Posts: 388 Member
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    When you start a new workout program or up your calorie burning you work your muscles. This is true for both cardio and weight lifting. You get little tears in your muscles when you use them, this is just a fact of nature. As your muscles heal from working out, they will store water to help with the problem. Once they have healed or once your body gets used to the activity, you will stop retaining the water. Unless you are hurting yourself, don't cut back on the exercise. This problem will go away within 2 weeks. You don't have to deal with it long. Also, you do need to eat more. You should eat back all of your exercise calories. Even though it feels counter productive it will help. If you can't eat them all, get at least half back. But, do some research about what you are actually burning (or use an HRM) because if you say you burn more than you actually did you can do damage by eating all those calories back. I find that the calories burned here on MFP is really high for most things.

    Good luck!
  • suavequeen
    suavequeen Posts: 273 Member
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    Hard exercise means you're likely storing water.
    Low calories means your body may be reluctant to let go of fat.

    ETA: Moderate deficit and smart, efficient exercise is how to succeed at this. This means hitting the cardio and weights hard for 20-60 minutes a day. Too much and you go beyond the point of diminishing returns.

    I totaly agree with this post.. I have lived it.. drinking more than 10 glasses of water also helped me to lose water retention weight.
  • dsjohndrow
    dsjohndrow Posts: 1,821 Member
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    Hard exercise means you're likely storing water.
    Low calories means your body may be reluctant to let go of fat.

    ETA: Moderate deficit and smart, efficient exercise is how to succeed at this. This means hitting the cardio and weights hard for 20-60 minutes a day. Too much and you go beyond the point of diminishing returns.

    I have to weigh in everyday, both morning and evening for my heart program. It fluctuates 5 pounds in a day on occasion. The rest is probably water trying to help the muscles recover. Be sure to rest days, or work different muscle groups. I agree withe the above.
  • alibreasy
    alibreasy Posts: 328 Member
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    I recently joined the gym (Friday), and since then, I have burned about 3000 calories doing not only cardio but hard core weight lifting and toning exercises. I have generally stuck to about 1400-1500 calories/ day, but some of those have come from late night snacking. I weighed this morning, and I have GAINED 4 pounds since FRIDAY! I will say that my sodium intake has been a little high, but there is NO WAY I have eaten back all of the calories that I have burned PLUS some! This makes NO SENSE at all to me!

    So frustrated right now.... please help. :(
    There is probably some water retention going on in your muscles...don't worry about it...sometimes these things happen...it happens to the best of us. What you really need to measure is your inches...you could be leaning out, building muscle and muscle weighs more than fat...since I have started measuring myself I feel a lot better when the number on the scale doesn't move down like I want it to. Keep up the hard work, believe me it will pay off!
  • gleechick609
    gleechick609 Posts: 551
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    1. Your weight naturally flucuates 5 lbs daily.

    2. You didn't gain 4 lbs of muscle since Friday

    3. If you are exercising that much and burning that much, you need to eat MORE. I burn 3500+ calories per week (according to my HRM) and I eat around 2000 calories daily. To maintain my current weight being that active, I would need to eat 2500 - 2700 calories daily. I made my own caloric defecit and I lose about 1 - 1.5 lbs per week. I don't listen to MFP's caloric suggestions. It is too low in my opinion. I would starve eating 1400 calories a day!
  • MiloBloom83
    MiloBloom83 Posts: 2,723 Member
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    Muscle weighs more than fat, if you are doing any strength training that could be some of the difference...muscle weighs more but takes up less space. Maybe you should take your mearsurements!!!
    This drives me nuts! 1 lb muscle=1 lb fat. 1lb of feathers = 1 lb of steel. She' partially partially right; muscle takes up less space because of it's density.
    You need to eat back some or all of your exercise calories. Remember, MFP sets you up to lose based on your calorie intake. Exercise earns you more food. Fuel your body, so you can build muscle and therefore, burn more calories.
    For now, take measurements and stay of of the scale for at least 2 weeks.
  • ccadroz93
    ccadroz93 Posts: 136 Member
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    MUSCLE IS DENSER THAN FAT! If you Are working out like that then I would suggest paying more attention to how your clothes are fitting than the scale. At my top fitness level, I weighed the same as I weigh now (141), but only wore a size 4. Now I wear a size 8 or 9. Same weight; you're ok, keep up with the weights and building that muscle-you will lose fat much quicker than with just cardio.
  • jillybeanruns
    jillybeanruns Posts: 1,420 Member
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    A surplus of 14,000 calories over your TDEE = a 4 pound gain.

    I very much doubt you did that.
    It's most likely water retention in your body - either due to strenuous activity or too much sodium, or both.

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