Gaining weight after going to gym?

Hey everyone,

I have lost 65lbs with minimal exercise in under 3 months. Following my diet to a T and making sure to not screw up.

I got a gym membership because im ready to be more active. I walk/run a mile on the treadmill before my strength training, where i do battle ropes, and the machines.

Eating habits have not changed, though ive increased my protein intake by like 10g, ive also started eating a little more spinach.

ive been going to the gym for about 4 days now, and in these 4 days, ive gained like 4lbs back and im so baffled by this. I can sit on my couch and lose 1-2lbs a day but i go to the gym and i gain 4lbs?

please help me understand this?

Congrats on starting to work on your fitness! Weight loss is awesome, but exercise is important too for overall health.

You say that your eating habits haven't changed, then give two examples of how they have changed. Are you tracking everything you put in your mouth with something like MyFitnessPal? You should if you're not already. If you are, have your calories changed since you started working out?

It's normal for people to gain weight when they start exercising because they "compensate" for their exercise with more food, or think that exercise "earns" them calories that they can eat back. So that's something worth examining through careful tracking.

Otherwise, even if you're not eating extra calories, it's totally normal to see weight gain after starting an exercise regimen. This article has a decent explanation -- https://health.clevelandclinic.org/just-started-exercising-g aining-weight/

Thanks for your response,

Nice on pointing out the two changes. I essentially live on 700 calories a day currently. ive added potentially 30-50 calories to my diet? Not enough to make a substantial change in eating habit, that was my point.

I track everything I eat, to an almost religious perspective of it. I use myfitnesspal and it seems to be going great with that. I do not believe i earn calories after i workout, i went into this surgery with a very solid understanding of do's and dont's...I am not claiming to be perfect, but i do live day to day ensuring i dont make mistakes.

Ill check out that article you sent. Thanks!

Are you sore? Water weight gain with a new work out routine is very common. You damage the muscles and your body sends in white blood cells to repair them which causes a temporary jump in weight.

I use www.trendweight.com for this reason. Any jump of 4lbs in 4 days won't be the addition of fat (or muscle for that matter) if you aren't eating at a significant caloric surplus. Given the standard number used is 3,500 calories per pound of fat, that's 14,000 calories I think you would have noticed.

Yes, i am very sore lol

I guess that makes lots of sense. I appreciate the response!

I agree, with Erin, 150% !!

Congrats, on adding the gym/physical activity, to your lifestyle

I have historically (pre-VSG)had weight stalls or slight gains when starting a new or more intense workout. I never figured out why--maybe my body just freaked out after a new change and decided to hold on to water or calories. But it always resolved. When I stopped moving is went I slid into obesity. Sounds like your are on your way to creating awesome, calorie-burning musculature. Muscles are heavy, so maybe see how your clothes fit instead of looking at the scale for a bit? I'm sure you will figure out what works for you.

Great! Then you probably fall into the category of "this is normal with exercise and nothing to worry about."

Grats on going to t he gym! When I did strength training, I would not lose weight for a few days. I had to accept it as normal. When I stopped strength training for health reasons, the weight was more consistently falling off even as far out from my surgery as I am now.

I have a Garmin Index scale that measures weight, BMI, water, muscle, and fat. I always know what is involved in a loss or gain.