Am I gaining because of exercise?
 

I have been walking steady for about a month now. Just this last week I started adding in some weights. I do about 50 reps with the 5lb weights a day. Do around 20 crunches, and some leg lifts.
I was down to 302, and today I am back up to 305. Is this due to exercise? Or what?

Maybe. +/- 3 pounds could be something as simple as water retention. I vary more than that over the course of a day. Also remember that obese people tend to have much more muscle mass than slim people because we are used to "weight training" with our own bodies. I myself have massive muscles underneath my bulk because I walk up and down hills every day with my body mass. This means that while it is important to exercise during weight loss for calorie burning and fitness, your body will indeed lose some lean muscle mass as you slim down. Adding exercise is a great idea and you should keep doing what you are doing. I wouldn't worry too much about three pounds.

It sounds very likely that you're retaining water due to weight lifting. However, that's a GOOD thing. For about 1-2 days after lifting your body needs to repair the muscles that your tore during lifting and during that time you're actually burning extra calories!

So, yes, it's very realistic that the weight lifting caused you some water retention but that weight WILL go away so keep up the good work!!! I know it can be discouraging to see a higher number on the scale but know that it's only temporary and if you keep up with your diet and exercise the scale will continue to go down (I've lost almost 35lbs since I started lifting ;) ).

Now, it could also be your cycle. Are you ovulating? Is your period coming? There are a lot of things can cause unexpected weight gain. I actually weigh daily and from that I can see some fairly clear trends. The day after lifting (or, well, any exercise for that matter) I'm up at least 1-2lbs. Also when ovulating or TOM is here I increase some pounds. Additionally, if we ate out recently or I've had more junk food than usual I weight more temporarily.

Just know that it's normal and keep up the good work!!!!

I have an IUD and havent had a period for around 3 years. Ill admit I have had some extras with easter candies calling my name, but nothing over the top, and nothing that caused me to gain weight like this before.

You aren't really doing that much to cause a 3 pound gain. I vote the extras you indulged in. I lift 3 times a week and average 35,000 pounds lifted a session and I don't gain between workouts. Think about body builders, they'd be gaining like crazy.

Probably random fluctuations/Easter candy. It doesn't sound like the exercise you're doing would = lots of water retention, are you super sore after exercising?

Nope, not sore at all

Here's a thought - good article from CBS early show:

August 27, 2009 12:40 PM PrintText Can Exercise Make You Gain Weight?
ByCBSNews .Play CBS News Video
One of the most widely-believed concepts in our culture is that if you exercise you will lose weight. But when it comes to weight loss, is this actually a myth? Can exercise actually be keeping you from losing weight?

Registered dietician Keri Glassman appeared on "The Early Show" Thursday to explain the relationship between exercise and weight loss. Are you possibly doing any of these things??


Exercise is important, Glassman said, but it may negatively affect your weight loss for three main reasons:

1. Exercise makes you hungrier, causing you to eat more.
2. Exercise causes feelings of entitlement. You may want to reward yourself because you worked out so hard at the gym.
3. Exercise does not burn that many calories. Couple that fact with being hungrier and you may eat more calories than you burned.

I have a few friends as well that reported slight gains when they started working out, but within about 3 weeks, they started noticing significant losses. Stick with it!