Weight gain after starting????

[Girlinahotrod]

Is it normal to gain weight after starting to exercise? I was sitting on my butt for my job for the past four years and really did not gain any weight while doing nothing, but lost muscle tone. I wanted to lose 15 pounds back then but never got the motivation to do it.

I started doing squats, 160 of them and then side leg lifts, 160 each side. I gained four pounds after a week of this. I have started walking this past week and I am up to 15 miles walked this week with no more weight gain, but no weight loss either. Could it be I gained muscle from the squats and leg lifts?

I am going to give it another week of walking at least three miles a day but have a feeling it will be hard to walk this week as we are expecting flooding rains.

[changeisgood29]

Originally Posted by Girlinahotrod

Is it normal to gain weight after starting to exercise?

In a word, yes. Basically, if you just started to exercise, or have started a new exercise program, your muscles will retain water as they grow accustomed to the new movements and demands on them - hence the weight gain. Once your body grows used to the exercise, the excess water will go away.

Originally Posted by Girlinahotrod

Could it be I gained muscle from the squats and leg lifts?

Ah, if only that were so! Truth is, it takes a great deal of time and effort to put on any muscle, much less 4 pounds of it. Provided that your eating was on-track, the weight gain you're experiencing is almost certainly a matter of water retention. Not to despair, you *will* develop muscle with continued exercise, but not at that fast of a rate.

For what it's worth, when I started exercising, I went through about 2-3 weeks of showing a gain before I saw a big drop on the scale. Be patient. Also, make sure you're not overdoing it - that's a whole lot of squats! Just my 2 cents to make sure you listen to your body and not get hurt. I wish you much encouragement.

[Girlinahotrod]

Thank you. I will keep trying LOL. I was an over the road truck driver so I sat for 23 hours a day. I need to lose 4 pounds to be in a healthy weight but want to lose 15 to be at a weight I feel comfortable with.

[casseym08]

Yeah I've just started regularly working out too, and my scale doesn't know what's going on! Granted, it's a very old scale, but it seems like I've started gaining weight too. :-/ I'm taking heart from the advice, though, so thanks!!

[changeisgood29]

Happy to be of service. Isn't it funny that most of us have an easier time trusting the scale as a measure of progress than we do our own judgement?

That reminds me - consider measuring yourself about once a month or so to get further proof of your hard work. For the first 3 months of doing this, I relied on a measuring tape instead of a scale, since I knew that number would just frustrate and depress me!

Let us know how things go - sounds like both of you are off to a great start!

[yourbadd]

My first week of eating healthy and exercise ended with a 3lb weight gain. I was crushed!! It did reverse and I dropped those 3lbs quickly but it threw me for a few days. Keep up the hard work and I know you'll see those pounds dropping!