Is Exercise Causing You To Gain Weight?
By admin
Have I mentioned I hate scales? Only a time or two, right? Haha.
Have you ever decided to up your workout program and buckle down with nutrition only to find yourself looking a bit like this…
Standing on a scale with lip curled, shoulders slumped and mind blown at the number that pops up? That picture of Dan cracks me up, but I think we’ve all made that face at some point!
You just knew you would see success, yet the number has gone up 3 pounds! How dare that stupid scale wreck your goals and make you feel like a failure!
You must be doing something wrong. Maybe your workouts weren’t as calorie blasting terrific as you thought, maybe you ate too many carbs last night….
No. You did nothing wrong and you don’t need to give up.
There could be a great explanation that isn’t often discussed in the fitness world. ← After all, no trainer wants to admit to clients that exercise may make them gain weight (initially).
Inflammation is an evil word… everyone wants to fight it with anti-inflammatory foods, cleanses and yoga. But at the end of the day, infllammation is a necessary part of life. It’s part of the healing process.
When you exercise, you cause trauma to the muscle tissue. Small tears in the muscle fibers, microtrauma, are necessary to become stronger! These small tears are also the reason it’s hard to sit on the toilet after leg day or blow dry your hair after too many push-ups.
As they heal, the come back thicker and ready to handle the pressure you placed on them before.
But in order to heal, inflammation has to happen. Blood vessels widen to flush out toxins and to bring in white blood cells, satellite cells, nutrients and amino acids to help repair.
I bet you’re wondering, what does this have to do with my weight gain?
Inflammation, swelling, weighs something! And that weight can show up on a scale. It’s temporary but you can see a change in the scale.
This is more apparent when starting a new exercise program or after an intense workout where you’re left more sore than normal. If you’re new to exercise, then chances are your body is going through A LOT of changes and you can believe that inflammation is one of them.
Weigh until muscle soreness has subsided and avoid weighing in for up to 72 hours after a tough workout, if you’re concerned with weight gain. If you do find that the scale reads a few pounds higher, ask yourself if anything has changed with your workouts and give yourself some slack… especially if you KNOW your diet hasn’t changed.
Though not as common as above, it is possible that you’re gaining muscle faster than you’re burning fat… at least initially.
For the average woman starting a strength program, it’s normal to gain around 2 pounds of muscle per month. But that’s not all women.
That would be someone like me. I’m what’s called a hard-gainer. It’s hard to gain muscle. But I also have friends and clients, like Ashton, who find it easy to gain muscle mass.
Muscle weighs more than fat, so if your lose 2 pounds of fat but gain 3 pounds of muscle, that’s a scale difference of +1. Your body will still look different, you’ll likely feel leaner but the number on the scale tells a different story. ← Another reason scales suck.
Don’t worry about it, because of muscle’s high metabolic activity, as you gain more you’ll burn more fat. Continue with your plan, and you will see the number on the scale go down.If you’re aiming to gain strength, avoid the scale for 2-4 weeks as your body adapts to your program. Focus on the changes in the mirror and in your clothes. Not your digital scale.
It’s science. I freakin love science!
It’s strange, really. Exercise helps you burn calories and lose fat, but it also makes you hungry.
Especially when you’re first getting started with fitness, or doing a new program.
This is why most 1st time marathoners GAIN WEIGHT. They’re hungry ALL THE TIME. It makes sense… run 20 miles and feel ravenous. I’ve been there.
How To Deal:
Stay aware. Track your food, and see how exercise makes you react. Do you eat everything in site on tough days? Do you dig in the pantry right after a workout?
If you find yourself starving, my suggestion is to focus on pre-workout fueling. Make sure to have a high protein, high(ish) carb snack 1 hour to 90 minutes before a workout. Then after a workout, take in a high protein meal or shake.
The protein is going to help fill you up! Also make sure that you have enough in your diet. I can’t tell you how many times I see ladies that tell me they are ALWAYS hungry. When I look at their diet, I realize they’re avoiding fats. Fats help you stay fuller longer and help keep a steady, healthy metabolism.
Stress. Ugh. So much stress in this world.
According to this survey, 47% of Americans are concerned that they are over stressed.
I’m not going to lie, I’m one of them.
Stress is a bizarre thing that causes some bizarre reactions in the body. One of them, the release of cortisol.
Yes, you’re probably familiar with cortisol, but I don’t think that we give credit this SOB enough. Of course it’s a needed hormone, helpful in pushing us through the “fight or flight” response. But it can also make our weight loss efforts seem non-existent.
Cortisol can have a large impact on weight gain/loss… making it easier for the body to hold on to fat (especially around the abdomen). Anything that affects glucose, affects insulin, affections fat storage.
A little bit of cortisol at a time of immediate stress is good. But in a time where we are stressed out almost 24 hours a day/7 days a week, cortisol can find itself in production ALL THE TIME. That’s when trouble arises.
Calm down and focus on you as a whole. Sleep 6-8 hours a night, take 10 minutes a day to unplug, avoid computers within an hour of bed, walk 10,000 steps per day, and even think about taking time off from the gym.
Remember, fitness causes stress on the body, so if all other parts of life are crazy then that’s doubling stress. You won’t get fat from taking a week or two off. Your body might just thank you by allowing the numbers on the scale to go down thanks to decreased cortisol.