Gaining weight...help!!

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rrcaudill
rrcaudill Posts: 87
in Fitness and Exercise
Hi everyone. I hope you're able to stay cool. :) I'm running 3 or 4 days a week and I have been for a little over a month. In that time, I have gained at a steady pace instead of lost at a steady pace. Has this happened to anyone else and why does it happen? I went through this a couple of years ago too and gave up when I was walking 3 miles a day and gained 10 pounds in two weeks. I just don't understand. Any insight anyone?
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  • Triciacannon
    Triciacannon Posts: 12 Member
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    Sometimes when people begin exercising, they tend to eat more, because obviously exercising works up more of an appetite! Have you noticed if your diet has changed since you've been running?

    Also, the weight gain could come from some fat turning into muscle due to working out. Don't get discouraged! Also, I would recommend NOT weighing yourself at all. Just keep eating healthy and getting exercise, and base your progress on how your clothes fit. I find weighing myself to be kind of discouraging, and I get caught up when I fluctuate even a couple of pounds.

    Don't give up, you can do it!!
  • rachelhohenbrink
    rachelhohenbrink Posts: 179 Member
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    In order for you to get a good answer we would have to look at your food log and your exercise calories burned.
  • poodlelaise
    poodlelaise Posts: 149 Member
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    I have started running too. Although I have not gained, my loss has slowed. Anytime you are stressing your muscles to the point where they get sore, they go through a process to repair themselves. This process involves retaining water. I think once your body becomes accustomed to the new level of exercise, you will begin losing again, possibly at a faster rate than before. (Both because you will lose the water weight, and because the higher level of muscle you've built burns more calories.)

    At least this is what I keep repeating to myself to stay motivated!
  • confettibetti
    confettibetti Posts: 405 Member
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    I've been jogging for a few days a week also for about 6 weeks and about two weeks ago I weighed in at 216.5 my lowest since starting MFP. A week later I was up to 217.5. Yesterday I was up to 219. This morning 217.5 So weird. I have been eating right, staying within the calorie goals, burning calories doing something every day... I don't get it, but I've noticed that my clothes are a bit looser. I started a couple weeks ago taking my measurements from top to bottom, and so far I've lost about 7 inches. Most from my hips and waist. Maybe that's something to consider doing if you haven't already?

    I try not to weigh myself every day, but only once a week. I was just so frustrated that I stepped on the scale this morning just knowing that it was probably 220 at the rate I was going, but nope, I'd lost some... Good luck, and don't get discouraged... :-)
  • Emancipated_Tai
    Emancipated_Tai Posts: 756 Member
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    What does your diet look like. You will get better answers with an open diary.

    I've been jogging 3-4 times per week for a few months now and have lost. Started jogging around 220, now I'm 199. I also modified my diet as well, eating lower carbs, more protein and healthy fats and lowering my sodium and sugar intake.
  • kayemme
    kayemme Posts: 1,782 Member
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    take your measurements asap and track this way once a month or so. this will help you identify that the scale is a helpful tool, but not the only one in your repertoire
  • ambercholtz
    ambercholtz Posts: 84 Member
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    I wasn't losing any weight when I was running even though I was getting smaller. I just found out I am pregnant and I attribute that to my non-loss of weight. However, everyone's situation is different.

    Maybe you are eating too many carbs and sugars?
  • jacque930
    jacque930 Posts: 122 Member
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    How do your clothes fit/feel? If they don't feel tighter, then I would say you are gaining muscle. That is a good thing. Don't look at the scale number and cringe about it. Use as a guide so you do not get out of control, however I would use your clothes as a guide. Compare yourself in the same pair of pants and if they are looser, you have lost fat, gained muscle,

    I have a pair of pants for work out, they began to get big, but the scale wasn't budging. I am finding I am gaining muscle and therefore loosing fat and that is why my pants are bigger.

    As someone suggested, maybe stay away from the scale a few weeks. Use the cloths test and tape measure if you can.
  • lizziebeth1028
    lizziebeth1028 Posts: 3,602 Member
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    In order for you to get a good answer we would have to look at your food log and your exercise calories burned.

    ^^^This. Without knowing how many calories you are consuming daily or how much your burning through exercise it's impossible to say what the problem is. A few quick tips I would give is -

    to log everything down to the last bite and log it accurately, a food scale helps since most of us tend to underestimate portion size

    and unfortunately we all tend to over estimate our calories burn through exercise, so a HRM (heart rate monitor) is a good investment
  • evademers
    evademers Posts: 55
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    I have the same problem BUT if you go to my pics, friend me, you can see I have lost several inches around my stomach area. So I am just going by pics once a month. Keep on going and remember muscle weighs more than fat and once you've built your muscles I believe the scale will start dropping. Hang in there!! Eva
  • lmelangley
    lmelangley Posts: 1,039 Member
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    I agree with those who say don't weigh yourself for a bit. I know that when I exercise hard over several days, I tend to gain a little water weight from stressed muscles/joints. If you're eating within MFP recommendations - including eating back calories - and exercising a lot, give yourself a bit of time. Two recommendations:
    1. Make sure you're measuring/weighing everything you eat. It's not easy to eyeball food quantities and a little here and there can sneak up on you.
    2. Take your measurements now. My biggest regret is that when I started this journey, I didn't. I think it would have been easier overall if I could have looked at those numbers when the numbers on the scale weren't to my liking. And, the bottom line is that if you're exercising like you are, you're gaining muscle. And, if you're gaining muscle and losing fat, the inches will shrink.

    Remember - this is for long term health.
  • knk1553
    knk1553 Posts: 438 Member
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    1. The scale is evil... I haven't really lost any weight at all, but I've lost almost 2 inches off my waist, an inch off my hips, and 2 inches off my thighs. I suggest investing in a tape measure and taking pictures versus using the scale as much.
    2. People can make better suggestions if they can see your food diary.
    3. Are you pushing yourself during your runs? Often times if you aren't pushing your intensity or changing up your routine your body can adjust, you could probably add in some weight training to your program in order to help improve your results, I've actually seen better results from switching my focus to a more weight training based program than a cardio based program.
    4. Running does absolutely nothing for me as far as seeing results, I know some people see amazing results and drop tons of weight from running, but I'm just not one of them, and that may be you too.
    5. MFP usually overestimates calories burned, I started wearing a HRM and realized my typical runs burned less than I was getting when I put it in MFP, especially if the path I was running was fairly flat.

    But if you make your diary public people can give you some suggestions on things to try since diet matters more than exercise in the grand scheme of things. Also, like someone said, if you're pushing your muscles (which you should be) you often time will gain water weight while they hold fluid to help repair. If I do a heavy lifting workout and am sore the next day, my weight can go up almost 5lbs while my muscles repair.
  • rachelrb85
    rachelrb85 Posts: 579 Member
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    I think this article may help you...
    http://runnersconnect.net/running-nutrition-articles/why-you-might-gain-weight-while-running/

    1. Make sure you are not overeating to compensate or eating junk food to "reward" yourself. Weight loss is mostly about eating healthy.
    2. It is common to gain muscle. Try measuring yourself ain addition to weighing in.
  • needamulligan
    needamulligan Posts: 558 Member
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    Do you notice the difference in your clothes, too? Maybe it's time to step away from the scale for a while? No matter what anybody says, losing weight is not just "eat less exercise more". Are you eating your exercise calories? Drinking plenty of water? No matter what the scale says, you are doing your body good by running. Keep exercising and see it the scale catches up?
  • heybales
    heybales Posts: 18,842 Member
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    When you go from doing little to no cardio to a decent amount of cardio, you are asking your body to supply enough energy for your session.

    50% or more of that energy used or burned is carbs, glucose.

    So you are training your body to store more glucose to supply energy for that workout.

    500 calories worth of glucose stored with the required water in your muscles weighs 1 lb.

    Now, frankly, that would only account for at most 3 lbs, as you can't really store more than that without special training.

    But this will also explain fluctuations in weight.
    Weigh while stores are down, false weight loss.
    Weigh next time all topped off, false weight gain.
    Could be discouraging.

    Only weigh the morning after a rest day so that balances out and you get true idea of weight. Don't do high sodium meals on day off either though, that false weight gain can be discouraging too.

    And eat back your exercise calories after the workout so you keep the same hopefully safe deficit that MFP already put into your daily goal, before the next cardio workout. Pre-eating a large amount in preparation doesn't help, because if stores are topped off already, surplus is stored as fat if any left after immediate energy needs.

    And your level of intensity at the runs can make that difference between low and high stored glucose even bigger. High intensity is more carb burning, so more difference.
  • rileyfanof24
    rileyfanof24 Posts: 40 Member
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    I don't know if it will help or not, it should, but don't eat the calories you burn, only eat the amount of calories you are allowed per day. If you stay under your calories for the day and burn more calories, you should loose quick. Pretty much guaranteed to loose if you don't cheat :0) Best of luck to you....YOU can do it! :0)
  • hottottie11
    hottottie11 Posts: 907 Member
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    Assuming you are eating at a caloric deficit,

    Water retention.

    Fat doesn't turn into muscle. In fact, you are not gaining any muscle at all.

    Use other methods of measurement (i.e. clothing fit, tape measure, pics, mirrors, etc)

    Have patience.
  • Darcyw4
    Darcyw4 Posts: 44
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    Ive been gaining weight too but mine is muscle. I am still losing inches though. Try to track your inches and see if you notice anything there.
  • rrcaudill
    rrcaudill Posts: 87
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    Thank you for your advice, everyone. I have been measuring too, but there has been no change at all. I thought my food diary was set to public, but I guess it may just be set to friends...I'll check into that. As most of you said, I will stop weighing for a while. Again, thanks. If anyone has any more advice, please share. I'm trying to be the best me I can and a great example for my kids to follow. :)
  • rrcaudill
    rrcaudill Posts: 87
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    I went on and checked and I did have it set to friends only. It's public now. I can't buy really healthy foods until Friday because there's hardly anything in the bank until then, but I'm doing the best I can with what I have.

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