Muscle Swelling?
 

Is it true that after you lift weights or do an intense workout where you really push yourself, that you might weigh a bit more the next day due to your muscles swelling? I put on 3 pounds overnight and I'm bummed! My workout was intense yesterday, but I ate very well and even went to bed with hunger pains! Only to wake up to a weight gain. :(

Yes, it is true. If you did an intense workout, your muscles need to retain water to repair themselves. I can easily gain 3 pounds the day after a heavy leg workout if I change up the exercises or increase the usual intensity. But don't despair! It's water and it will go away :) Just keep hydrating, eating well, and know that it's because you are getting stronger due to muscle repair.

Mel

What Mel said! :hug: Totally normal, and totally temporary. That's how I know I've had a really good workout. :)

Yes, it's absolutely true. I am up 2 lbs today after a good workout yesterday (and perfect eating). It's one of the goofy annoyances of the weight loss journey that one's "reward" for a good workout is a blip up on the scale!

Good to know. I'm on another forum and noone there thought it was true. It's discouraging to workout, eat right and still put on weight! So this is a relief. Thanks for the responses. :)

I'm so glad to read that I'm not the only one this happens to. One week, which also happened to be my period week, I gained about 6 lbs, over night, after a hard weight workout.

I never weigh myself the day after I've been doing weights. It messes with my head. :dizzy:

I'm not even working out very hard, just picking it up after being ... sporadic (being generous with myself here :o ) - I'm a little sore but not terrible, and the scale is up. I'd rather it weren't, but mostly the way I feel is affected by the choices I'm making more than the scale. So I feel great that I'm doing better even if the scale is up. Conversely, the scale was actually going down (albeit very slowly) while I wasn't exercising or eating as healthy as I should - and I couldn't feel very good about it.

this is good to know... I did my 1st major workout on Sunday in about 4 months and then decided to start my 1st official weigh in (this time around) on Monday. And I was up 2-3lbs more than I though I would be. I hadn't weighed myself in a couple weeks, and was shocked I had gained almost 3lbs in that time. It did help me resolve to stick to it cuz I don't ever wanna see a number high like that again. But I've also decided to take measurements every 2 weeks, to track my progress and not rely on the scale this time around anymore.