been weight training like a machine for only the past few days and the scale is climbing, somebody offer me some wise words here so I don't just give up and head to the kitchen! I am afraid ill just keep gaining if i continue, tell me how it works....
As long as your eating is in check, it's okay that you are gaining muscle weight, it will help you burn calories faster the leaner you are, and you may actually be loosing inches as we speak!
If muscles are sore (which yours definitely are since you've been weight training!) they retain water. Just stick to eating well, drinking water, and exercising and it will work itself out. I make sure I work out with weights every other day, otherwise I'm too sore to get a really good workout in.
I did the same thing about two weeks ago. My legs were killing me after a tough workout and when i weighed at the end of the week, i had gained. I was SO disappointed. So the next week when i weighed in, with my legs no longer sore, i had lost 4.8 pounds. WOAH. So apparently, i had ALOT of fluid in my legs while they were sore and it came out to about a 2.5 pound loss for each week. So dont give up. Give it time and stick with it...you will lose it all at once like i did probably.
I weigh in daily - morning and evening after my work out - I always weigh about 2-3 lbs. more after my workout - but it is almost always off by morning...give it a couple of weeks for your body to get used to your workouts.
I was about to post a similar question. I've heard that building muscle thru workouts may lead to weight gain on the scale but haven't really heard about it necessarily being related to soreness, but those posts have me intrigued. Lots of times working out and muscle soreness go hand in hand, but is it possible that just muscle soreness in general leads to weight gain??? I have not really changed my workout routine so I don't think I am really building up extra muscle, but I have been experiencing a lot of unrelated fatigue and muscle soreness/stiffness lately (which I should probably get checked out by the dr at somepoint), is it possible that this, even if its not a result of excessive workouts could lead to weight gain??
I dont think muscle soreness in general leads to weight gain/water retension. You can have muscle soreness for many reasons. From personal experience, i know when my muscles are sore from a workout, i retain water. Because i always lose a HUGE amount after my muscles repair and i dont lose while they are sore. But just a general muscle ache, i wouldnt think so, since muscles ache for so many different reasons. Your muscles can ache from dehydration, pulling a muscle, fibromyalgia, or even *off* potassium levels. So i would think only muscle soreness that is likely to cause water retension would cause a stall on the scale.
I find that after my days off, when I weigh myself, I notice a loss of pounds. When I'm working hard and lifting/running/swimming/whatever, my weight kind of stays the same... it's kind of weird, but its been that way for me for about 3 months!!! But I have lost 15 pounds in the meantime so have faith and keep at it, and maybe don't weigh every day? Sometimes it can be discouraging....
How am I up 2.5 lbs?!
