Why is exercise making me heavier??

[AutomaticSteeple]

I have went from, drinking alcohol each day, eating what I wanted and around 2,000 steps a day. In the past 10 days, I haven't touched a drop of alcohol, have ate very healthily with no rubbish, done 10k on the crosstrainer a day, been for a few short runs. Walked 10 miles per day over the weekend, steps are now 10,000 to 22,000 a day. Jumped on the scales today and..... 2 pounds heavier! HOW?? Please give me some encouragement before I stick my face in a cake

[Toffeelatteplease]

Period due.

Salty dinner within the last couple of nights

Eating "healthy" but still consuming more calories than you are using. Do you weigh you food/ count calories?

[JesusTapdancingChrist]

Exercise isn't making you heavier.

You're most likely eating more calories than you think you are.

[AutomaticSteeple]

Not period that finished that last week.

Hardly eating anything like I was before. For example. Breakfast is either bran flakes or a low cal cereal bar. Lunch - 2 ryvita with extra light laughing cow and tomatoes. Dinner - chicken breast, roasted butternut squash and broccoli. 1 cup of tea and 1 coffee per day with splash of milk and no sugar. Water and maybe a can of Diet Coke. No cakes, chocolate, alcohol or takeaways like before. I'm confused!

[bruffin]

Muscle.
Have you measured yours your waist etc
When i started doing weights etc my weight didnt change but i lost inches round my waist and chest.

[nightshade]

Cos muscle weighs more than fat?..tbh why are you weighing after 10 days?...I would imagine you need more like a month before you see a difference...take measurements rather than weigh....you'll see a better difference...

[LetsSplashMummy]

It's 10 days, not enough to make that sort of logical jump about diet or exercise. I think perhaps you are better hydrated f you have cut out alcohol? It's probably just fluid. Are you feeling any different? That is a better indicator at this early stage.

You might have been unusually light the first day you measured - I tend to go up 5lbs pre-period, down 7 by the end, then back up 2 to normal for the rest of the month.

[user1493413286]

Muscle weighs more than fat, has your body changed? So your clothes fit differently?
I started going to the gym 4 times a week and never lost weight but definitely dropped fat from my stomach and my arms became more defined.
After having time off exercising after having a baby I weigh the same as I did pre baby but I can tell by looking in the mirror that I’ve lost muscle tone and gained fat.

[Ollivander84]

You need to weigh every day to get an actual picture of it or it's just random numbers. Every morning after the loo, and put the numbers into an app (I use weight diary lite)
The blue line is daily weight, look how much it varies! I can gain 3lbs overnight but it's not an actual gain
Yellow is the trend

[Migraleve]

At this stage it is unlikely to be ‘muscle weighs more than fat’ however it will probably be your muscles. They will retain water as soon as you start exercising, it’s not a long term thing but initially it can lead to the scales not reading as you wish.

Also you may not be eating enough, sounds odd but it’s also true. Have you been logging your food?

Not sure why you are being questioned for weighting after 10 days? You should weigh once a week, that’s normal!

[JesusTapdancingChrist]

It's not muscle after 10 days of doing cardio.

This is one of the most annoying weight loss myths right up there with 'starvation mode'.

[MaidOfStars]

Females don't gain pounds of muscle that quickly, especially with cardio exercise. Heavy lifters can hope for a couple of kilos a year.

More plausibly, your muscles are inflamed because of your new exercise regime and retaining fluid.

Even more plausibly, you're seeing seeing natural fluctuations in your weight and happen to have measured on two days that has given you an apparent gain.

Don't weigh yourself for a while (or weigh every day to see a trend like the graph above). Keep on with the exercise and healthy eating.

[MaidOfStars]

X-post with Jesus, and in agreement with her point!

[TheBiscuitStrikesBack]

Your diet doesn't sound sustainable to me. And 10 days of cardio wont have allowed much, if any, muscle gain. If I was you I would reassess my diet for protein intake and get a program at the gym involving weights.

[givemushypeasachance]

Weight can fluctuate so much. A couple of weeks ago I went to Amsterdam for four days, and having been eating quite healthily went on a carb binge - not all you can eat craziness but a stroopwaffel and a doughnut here, pizza for dinner, chips and mayonnaise there. A couple of beers. I did a lot of walking and a bit of cycling but wasn't exercising like usual. I'd weighed myself the Monday morning before I left and again the Friday afternoon I came back - no lie, I was 5kg heavier. Maybe I'd put on an actual pound or two of "real" weight gain but the rest was crazy water retention and bloating - it came off gradually again when I resumed healthier eating and exercising as before, and after a week I was back at the starting weight.

[revolution909]

@givemushypeasachance the same happens to . me! I usually give it two weeks, if in two weeks I can't get back to my original weight I'd assume I've actually gained weight, otherwise it's just normal "holiday" fluctuations.

[AutomaticSteeple]

Thanks for all the replies. My start weight was accurate, I've always weighed once a week and I was that weight for months previously. I have been doing weights as well I didn't think to mention that, I do around 20 mins per day and sit ups, push ups etc for 10 mins too after the cardio.
Anyway I won't get disheartened just yet, my muscles are very achey so perhaps it is inflammation. I've just been for an hours power walk so I will keep at it. I can't really tell by my clothes although dp thinks I look slimmer, my face is less bloated that may be the no alcohol. I don't have loads to lose maybe half a stone and to tone up.

[sirfredfredgeorge]

There are immediate and rapid changes that a human body makes in response to aerobic exercise that add weight, such as an increase in blood volume, and increased stores of glycogen (which can actually happen very rapidly, it's why carbo-loading was once a thing in endurance activities)

From unfit to fit, that would certainly be over a kg of weight for most people glycogen alone gets you storing a lot of water along with it, and the blood volume could be 1/2kg.

Also, your sensitivity to all sorts of things will be different, so you'll like pee at different times, store different amounts of fluid and all sorts, as mentioned your muscles may have etc. Don't focus on weight, go for the genuine comments of DH and your own appearance.

Also of course fitness is worth so much more than just weight loss!

[BLUEsNewSpringWatch]

Start measuring every couple of weeks I think it's a far better way of measuring success in toning up. (I started from very unfit and very obese - having been wheelchair bound for a while. I lost over 9cm off my waist, 9 off hips, etc, before my weight changed at all other than its normal fluctuations! Something I wouldn't have thought possible.

Keep a diary of exercise and how much you can manage - it will show changes in fitness and/or strength.

Also weigh daily to get a trend (I log mine in Fitbit, so I get a graph like a pp above). I fluctuate by 2kg (so 4lb?) day to day. I only count it as weight loss or gain if the trend shows it.