I just started exercising...why am I gaining weight?

By Paige Waehner, About.com Guide

Updated May 31, 2006

Question: I just started exercising...why am I gaining weight?

Answer: If you've noticed your weight going up after starting an exercise program, don't panic! It doesn't necessarily mean you're doing anything wrong, nor does it mean you're going in the wrong direction. There can be some obvious and not-so-obvious reasons you're gaining weight.

Your first step is to determine if what you're gaining is actually fat or muscle. Muscle is more dense than fat, but it takes up less space...if you gain muscle, your scale weight may go up even as you're slimming down. Rather than just using a scale to measure your progress, you can get your body fat tested on a regular basis to get a better idea of what you're gaining and/or losing. If that isn't an option, you can take measurements at different areas of the body...if you're losing inches, you're on the right track. For more, check out 4 Ways to Track Your Weight Loss Progress.

If you've measured yourself in different ways and realized you are gaining fat, take some time to go through the following possibilities - you may need to make some small changes in your diet to see better results.

1. Eating too many calories. It may seem obvious, but eating more calories than you burn causes weight gain. What some people don't realize is that, after they start exercising, they may start eating more without being aware of it. Most people think they're eating a healthy, low-calorie diet but, unless you're keeping a detailed food journal, you just don't know how many calories you're really eating. Most people are surprised when they start keeping a journal and adding up the calories--it almost always turns out to be more than they thought. Before you quit exercising, take a week to keep a food journal. Add up your calories to get a sense of exactly what you're eating...if it's too much, you can start to make some changes in your diet to reduce your calories. And try to avoid the mindset that says you can eat whatever you want since you're doing all this great exercise...to lose weight, you still need to monitor your calories.

2. Not eating enough calories. It may seem counterintuitive, but eating too little can actually stall your efforts to lose fat. As Cathy Leman, a registered dietician and creator of NutriFit! says, "...if there is a severe restriction in calories, the body may counteract this reduction by slowing down its metabolism." Be sure you're eating enough calories to sustain your body if you've increased your activity.

3. Not giving your body time to respond. Just because you start exercising doesn't always mean your body will respond to that immediately. As Cathy Leman puts it, "...in some instances the body needs to sort of "recalibrate"' itself. Increased activity and new eating habits (taking in more or less calories) require the body to make adjustments." Cathy recommends that you give yourself several weeks or months for your body to respond to what you're doing.

4. Rule out any medical conditions. While thyroid problems are rare, they can definitely make weight loss difficult. There can also be medications you're taking that could affect your body's ability to lose weight. If you feel your food intake is reasonable and you've given your body enough time to see results and haven't seen any (or are seeing unexplainable weight gain) see your doctor to rule any other causes.

5. You're gaining muscle faster than you're losing fat. If it seems that you're getting bigger after you've started a weight training routine, it may be because you aren't losing body fat as fast as you're building muscle, which is a problem some people experience when they start exercising. Genetics could also be playing a role here...some people put on muscle more easily than others. If that's the case for you, don't stop training! Instead, you might simply adjust your program to make sure you're getting enough cardio exercise to promote weight loss and focus your strength training workouts on muscular endurance by keeping the reps between 12-16.

Whatever the cause of your weight gain, don't give up on exercise. It's not only your ticket to weight loss, it's also important for your health.

She's Working Out but Gaining Weight

Putting on a few pounds after taking up exercise happens a lot. There are several possible reasons, and none of them are reason to panic. (Does this happen to you?)

by Martica Heaner, M.A., M.Ed., for MSN Health & Fitness

Q. I have been working out faithfully for three weeks now using an elliptical trainer. At first I struggled to keep going for half a mile. But now I can do 4 miles in 40 minutes. I'm clearly getting fitter, but I'm getting fatter, too! I've gained five pounds! I thought that cardio exercise was supposed to help me lose weight. I am totally discouraged.

A. Relax, you're on the road to weight loss. But it takes time to arrive at your destination. How you navigate makes a big difference in the results that you'll see.

First, congratulations on working up to exercising for a full 40 minutes! What a great accomplishment—especially considering that you were struggling to keep it up for a half mile at first. You are clearly fitter, and you're improving your health with every step.

Before you get impatient about the lack of weight loss, understand why it takes time.

When you exercise, you burn more calories than you normally would during the day. This is especially true for cardio workouts (such as walking, running, cycling, skating, dancing or exercising on the elliptical trainer), during which you burn many more calories per minute than you do during non-cardio workouts (such as yoga, light weight lifting or core-conditioning moves.) That's an important reason why cardio workouts are key for weight control—you can burn more calories faster. So you are on the right track with your elliptical-trainer sessions.

Since losing weight comes from accumulating a sizable calorie burn over days and weeks, the more calories you can burn from exercise each day, the greater the weight loss. In general, if you burn about 500 extra calories per day (and keep your diet unchanged), you'll lose around one pound per week.

But there are a few caveats.

First, it's not easy to burn 500 calories in one exercise session. If you're not in great shape to start, it may take a while before you can burn a big chunk of calories by either pushing hard enough in a shorter amount of time, or lasting long enough to work at an easier intensity for a longer time. Depending upon how much you weigh, it make take about 90 minutes of walking or one hour of running to burn about 500 calories. If you're unfit, a 30-minute workout may only produce a 250-calorie burn. That workout is still contributing to a calorie burn, but it takes a while for the total calories to add up.

Boosting the calorie burn

You mentioned that after only three weeks are you now able to keep up a moderate workout for 40 minutes. At this point, you may be burning about 300 calories during this workout (keep in mind that the calorie-burn estimate can vary). More importantly, because your sessions were shorter during the first week or two, you started off burning fewer calories per workout. If the first week you exercised for 10 minutes per session, you may have burned 100 calories or less.

You don't mention how often you've been exercising each week, but if it's three days per week, then the overall calorie burn you've accumulated is still quite small. Over the past three weeks, you may not have accumulated the 3,500 or so calories needed to lose one pound.

So that likely explains the lack of actual weight loss. In theory, you are now on track to start racking up a bigger number of total calories burned if you can work out for 40 minutes or longer each time, and especially if you can exercise on most days of the week. Most weight-loss recommendations are to exercise for five or more days a week for 60 to 90 minutes.

So why the weight gain?

So your relatively low extra-calorie burn might explain why you are not losing weight. But why are you gaining?

First, a reality check: You may not have gained a full five pounds. It's normal for body weight to fluctuate by several pounds a day depending upon fluid shifts in your body and the time at which you weigh yourself. Stepping on the scale first thing in the morning when you have not eaten in 12 or more hours will give you a slightly different number than later in the day when you may have had several meals, snacks and plenty of fluids, for example.

Still, you have noticed an upward trend on the scale. So it's possible that you have gained a few pounds.

Could the extra pounds be from new muscle?

Some people believe that people gain weight from exercise because they are building more muscle mass. In your case, this is unlikely. You can't build much muscle doing cardio. And even if you were lifting heavy weights, it would be very difficult to gain five pounds of muscle in three weeks.

Exercise and hunger

Could it be that because you are exercising more, you are eating more?

It's possible. Although there is no proof that exercising makes you hungrier (in fact, more vigorous workouts can even suppress hunger), many people eat—and overeat—for reasons other than hunger. Comfort eating can be a response to emotional, environmental or social triggers (drowning your blues with a pint of ice cream, automatically grabbing the chips while watching TV, or eating more when eating out with friends). And because food is often perceived to be a reward, a person who works out can very easily justify having an extra helping or dessert (or both) as a pat on the back for having exercised.

Controlling calories

If you exercise long enough and often enough, eating extra is necessary to replace energy stores. And chances are, even if you eat more, you still won't eat more than you burn off. But if you're only doing short workouts for only a few days per week, it will be very easy to eat more calories than you're burning and, as a result, gain weight.

Until you are at the point where you are exercising for 60 to 90 minutes per day on most days of the week, be vigilant about calorie control. You may not need to diet, but you should keep a check on whether you overeat so that you don't cancel out the calorie burn of your new exercise regimen.

When you are about to snack, pause and ask yourself whether you are really hungry. People often mistake thirst for hunger and eat when their body is really craving more fluid. You can tell if you're hydrated enough by your urine. It should always be clear, rather than yellow. If it's not, drink more water.

Eat regular meals so that you don't get overly hungry. And eat plenty of fruits and vegetables so that you eat enough fiber and bulk to feel full, but on foods that are lower in calories.

For Sore Muscles This Works Like Crazy

By Marc David (from the Build Muscle & Gain Weight Fast Guide)

As discussed in some previous articles, muscle soreness can be caused by three hypothesis( muscle damage, tissue damage, muscle spasms) resulting in cumulative micro trauma resulting in some type of cellular damage. At times, this can be the leading cause of overtraining and being uncomfortable for a few days after training.
Continual cellular damage over and over to the point where the body cannot recovery can result in overtraining.

Don't worry...

Here's a quick checklist for helping to reduce the amount of muscle soreness you may experience. You can use one or all of these the next time you feel a little too sore from your last workout.

Phase 1 - Pre Training Recovery

Leg Elevation:
Many of us stand or sit for long periods of time before going to the gym and training. This is a less than optimal condition because your overall circulation is less than ideal. What you can do is 20-30 minutes before you train, lay down with your feel against a wall or other object and get the blood back to your upper body and heart.
You'll improve your circulation especially when you train legs or your lower back.
If you want, you can take this opportunity to listen to music or take a quick nap and begin the mental transition into training.

Phase 2 - Recovery During Training

Rest Intervals Between Sets:
A great way to boost the intensity of any workout without changing a single thing is to decrease the rest time between sets. You'll instantly get more work done in less time. If you feel that the intensity is too high, you can increase the time between sets and help reduce the build up of lactic acid as well. The time you take to rest between sets has a significant impact on your next set as well as future performance.

Movement Between Sets:
Just think about it. It's like a warm up and cool down all over again but between the sets. Most people understand the importance of warming up before lifting weights. They also know about a proper cool down after working out.

But did you know that you can use those sample principles on a minute level in between your sets?

This movement not only serves as a 'transition' between an all out effort and recovery but it aids in better circulation and helps reduce the swelling of muscular tissues.

Periodization:
Remember that soreness can be caused by a few hypothesis (tissue damage, muscle damage, spasms). But did you stop to think that if you keep on training "heavy" you just keep on damaging the muscle at a micro level over and over without a change to recover?
Incorporating a light day or week into your training can help flush the area with new blood, reduce the formation of scar tissue and flush waste from the area.
Planning these type of workouts in your training program will speed up the time needed to recover as well as add variety to your program which in turn provides overall recovery.

Phase 3 - Post Training Recovery
My strong hunch is that most people will be unable to avoid soreness at some point and seek treatment.

So that's why there's a few ways you can help reduce the severity of soreness during your training as well as aid in the recovery process after your training.

Contrast Showers:
Done on your lumbar area, this involves using short bursts of hot and cold water to improve the circulation. You can further stretch during this time to flush new blood to the area.

Post Workout Nutrition:

Needless to say...

After your workout your body is in a prime time to devour nutrients. This is an ideal time to give it the protein it needs with the carbohydrates for energy recovery.

You see, if muscle soreness is caused by micro trauma resulting in cellular damage then obviously you want to give your body plenty of materials quickly to repair itself.

Proper post workout nutrition can reduce the amount of soreness you can experience.

Therapeutic Modulaities:

This can encompass such things as massage, sauna, whirlpool, chiropractic adjustments, acupressure and others are among the more popular therapeutic modalities. Make no mistake....

Recovery really begins when you leave the gym. Depending on factors such as your level of fitness, age, medical conditions, you may be wise to use some or all of these post workout recovery methods to speed up overall recovery.

There's no magic formula per se but anything you can do to help speed the recovery process will result in less muscular discomfort and quicker recovery for the next workout.

Have you heard that 90% gym-goers overtrain 90% of the time?

Could it be that simply "under-recovered" and could easily stand to train more if only they could recover quicker?

Sleep:

While there is not a set number of hours you need to sleep as that depends on the individuals schedule, personal preferences and level of stress it's still clear that sleep is vital to recovery.

This is the time your body repairs all that micro trauma.

If you aren't getting enough quality sleep, it can affect your overall recovery and body's ability to repair itself. That can lead to prolonged muscle soreness. The amount of sleep each person needs will vary.

Make no mistake about muscle soreness...

It's uncomfortable!

But using any or all of the above recovery methods you can significantly reduce the duration of muscle soreness.

More important than that...

Create a periodized program that helps to keep your body in a state of recovery and avoid overtraining.