What's going on when my weight suddenly increases while working out in the gym?

Don’t panic, 90% of the time it’s not that you’ve gained weight by practicing or eating wrongly. Instead, it’s most likely a normal sign that your training is on track.

I went through this pit last year when I was just transitioning from pure aerobic to system strength training. I had been running for three months and my weight was stable at 102 pounds. I wanted to practice some body shaping, so I took strength classes three times a week. My food was almost the same as before. However, after two weeks, the scale jumped to 105. I almost threw the dumbbells away at that time. I felt that my hard work was in vain and the scale had increased. Later, my personal trainer explained it to me and I realized that this is actually a normal phenomenon - the density of muscle is more than three times that of fat. To put it bluntly, muscle and fat are of the same weight. The volume of fat can hold up to three times the size of muscle, just like a pound of iron and a pound of cotton. The iron looks much smaller. During that time Although I have gained weight, my waist circumference is 1cm smaller than before. Even the tight jeans that I used to wear feel loose. In fact, I have lost some loose fat, and my high-density muscles have grown a bit, and my weight is going up as I go in and out. At this time, focusing on body fat and circumference is more useful than staring at the number on the scale.

Many people who have just started to exercise will encounter glycogen water storage. After the muscles are stimulated by training, they will store more glycogen for energy. For every 1g of glycogen stored, you have to bring 3g of water. This part of the water weight will also be directly reflected on the scale. It is estimated that 2 of the 3 pounds I gained at that time were this stuff. After practicing for a month, my body adapted to the training intensity and my weight slowly dropped back to 103, but my circumference was still decreasing. It was not gaining weight at all.

Of course, not all weight gain is normal. There are also many people who have a great appetite after training and overeat without realizing it. My partner in working out together was that every time I finished training, I would feel like I had exhausted a lot, so I would go out to eat barbecue and drink iced milk tea. I gained 5 pounds in half a month, and the fat on my stomach was looser than before. It was indeed the excess calories that were converted into fat and piled up. Nowadays, many people in the fitness circle are arguing about this matter. Some people think that as long as the weight increases, training is useless, while others say that fitness does not need to look at weight at all. In fact, both sides are a bit extreme. If your original goal is to gain muscle, then a steady increase in weight is a good thing. If your goal is to lose fat, you don’t have to worry about gaining 2 or 3 pounds in the short term. If your weight has been increasing for more than a month, and your body circumference has also increased, then you need to go back and adjust your diet and training plan.

I seldom step on the scale every day now. I weigh myself on an empty stomach once a week at most on Monday morning. It is much more reliable to look at whether my pants are tight or whether lifting weights has become easier than that number. If the scale suddenly rises, don’t worry. First, review the recent status. It is most likely a false alarm.~