Hi! I was curious if any of you have seen a stall in weight loss after starting back to the gym? I recently started hitting the gym hard and have actually seen a 1lb gain this week, after a week of the gym. A quick Google search just confused me further. Is it normal to see a stall/gain when starting an excercise program?

I've seen that. =) It just means that you've built a lot of muscle last week. You've lost fat too, but muscle is heavier.

Actually, if you just started from zero to working out hard, your muscles are going to be in "shock" -- actually, what they are doing is repairing and by repairing, they are holding on to water. This usually accounts for some of the weight gain people see when they start exercise -- whether it's weight lifting or jumping on the elliptical for the first time.

Eventually, once your body realizes that those muscles are going to get used and this was not just a one-time event, the water will come out of the muscles, your muscles will have "repaired" to be stronger, and you won't feel soreness, and your weight will come down.

Keep going! It's a good sign.

I'm In the same boat as you. I've recently been putting a lot more effort into exercise. Instead of walking in place or doing some Pilates once or twice a week I'm now doing HIIT 2-3 times a week and starting to run.

My scale hates me because of it, I'll be up 1-4 pounds after a workout, due to water retention from sore muscles. (Sorry but you can't gain a piund of muscle in a week, its water.) However, my clothes are fitting better and I've dropped a size. Try to ignore the scale for a bit and things will even out eventually.

Have you lost any inches?

Unfortunately, you don't build significant muscle in a week.

PP is right that it is usually water gain and will go away eventually. This especially happens if you've started a strength training program. Be patient, and keep at it!

Thanks all! I hope to keep at it, I've been trying to eat a couple more bananas during the week to see if it helps with soreness.

I do need to watch my inches! I never measure...

YES! ME!!! RIGHT NOW!!!! Thank you for posting this!
I've been losing weight for months, then gained a couple back due to laziness, poor diet, just a couple of weeks of f*** it. Lol
So the last week, I have decided to incorporate more cardio to drop the weight faster, along with diet. And what do you know? I've GAINED a pound!
It is so frustrating! It's hard to see the scale move up, and yet I know what I'm doing is great for my body.
I'm hoping in another week, things will even out.

As Blueberries stated you won't gain muscle in a week. It's hard to gain muscle while losing weight because it typically requires you to eat more but it can be done over time. Also, muscle is heavier is frequently used to explain what's going on but keep in mind that while muscle is more dense, it does not weigh more than fat. Five pounds is five pounds whether it's muscle or fat. It's that you muscles are likely retaining water as part of the breaking down and rebuilding process. This is why you should avoid weighing yourself after a hard workout day.

P.S. The best solution to water retention from exercise is to actually make sure you're drinking more water during your exercise - sounds counterintuitive but it helps.

The best thing for muscle repair is actually milk they did a study. I drink a glass of skimmed after exercise. It helps with something to do with lactate acid. Good luck with the exercise.

I think it sounds like water retention, simply because of the time scale.

I went through this dilemma recently, it was really bugging me that after 7 weeks I hadn't lost any weight. Then I checked out my body fat and muscle mass recently to find that I'd lost 4% of my fat and put on 4% of muscle (when compared to my initial readings 7 weeks prior). So I guess it evened itself out and that's why I wasn't seeing a "loss" even though I was actually losing fat!

Don't stress it.

The protein in milk helps repair the micro-tears in muscles and speeds recovery and tissue building post exercise. If you have a carbohydrate source (sugar, honey, etc) along with it - think chocolate milk - it is better absorbed.

Lactic acid is what builds up in your muscles while you are working out - the carbohydrate/protein punch helps to flush it so that you are less sore the day after.

So - KEEP working out!! KEEP building muscle!! Have some chocolate milk afterwards to combat soreness!! And don't forget us when you're a super BA!

Because of my experience with exercise, most of my life I felt that exercise made weight loss harder and slower. It felt like exercise was counterproductive.

However, now that I've kept more detailed health logs for longer periods of times, I see that I actually lose better with exercise, I just lose less regularly so it doesn't always SEEM that way.

Regular weight loss can SEEM like better weight loss. If you lose a half pound every week for six weeks, you often will feel more successful than if you lose 6 lbs, in the same six weeks, but experience gains and stalls most of those weeks.

People often call it losing in whooshes (because you'll lose nothing or even gain for several weeks and then lose several pounds almost overnight).

I used to HATE losing in whooshes. If given the choice between losing half a pound every week, and gaining some weeks, stalling others but losing 6 lbs (instead of 3) in the same 6 weeks, in the past I would have taken the regular weight loss (even if I KNEW I'd lose more through the whooshing).

It was just too frustrating to see nothing, nothing, gain, nothing, big whoosh/loss.

The loss, not matter how big, didn't compensate for what felt like failure duiring the non-whooshing weeks.

I had to truly learn that the non-whooshing weeks were NOT failure. I had to really convince myself that the whooshes were a better way to lose weight. I had to learn to see the long term big picture.

@kaplods - I needed to hear that today. I'm a diehard whoosher and I hate it! Your perspective was so helpful to me. Thanks.

Watch what you eat. I lost 4 pounds in 6 months when I started my gym effort of about 30 min/four days a week. After 6 months I counted calories and realized I started snacking and ate almost exactly what I burned in extra snacks.

Im going thru the same thing! I just started working out this week and I gained 2lbs. So disappointing, but atleast I know its not because of the food I ate. I know I must continue on!