When You’re Working Out and Gaining Weight
Workout and Weight Gain Blues
So you have been working out – hard, and then you’re so excited to step on the scale to check on your progress. And boom! You gained weight! What in the world is happening? While this does not happen all the time, if it ever happens to you, there is no need to panic or worry. Neither should you make it as an excuse not to keep working out or quit exercising altogether. You just need to understand what is happening to your body especially when you have just started on a new program. Most of the time, the weight gain is only temporary and completely normal. You tend to gain weight due to an inflammation reaction in the body and the resulting temporary water weight. But no, it is not due to added fat. The good news is that, you will get past the weight gain after some time.
What’s important is that you know how to deal with it and then continue on your journey towards fitness and health. Meanwhile, let’s see what else could be causing the weight gain and how it can be fixed.
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The Whys
Inflammation
One of the typical reasons that your weight gain can be attributed to is temporary inflammation. What happens when you work out is that your muscle fibers get little tears in them in a phenomenon called microtrauma. It is also for this reason that you feel sore post workout. Meanwhile, your body is very efficient that it would then heal these little tears to make the fibers tougher than they originally were. That is the body’s way of making you fitter and much stronger than before.
The entire process is called adaptation. In order for the body to adapt, it goes through this standard healing process where inflammation is part of it as one of the necessary phases. Inflammation these days doesn’t sound like a welcome phenomenon but it is actually part of a healthy healing process. For instance, when an injury or a microtrauma happens, the body will release different substances that are named as inflammatory mediators. These mediators are going to swarm the injured area and perform a triage where healing white blood cells are brought in while the blood vessels are opened up to flush out the toxins and debris. Because of this busy activity, that area is bound to get inflamed or swollen.
Now, the fluid that is needed for that inflammatory response is what’s going to cause the added weight that will tend to show up on the weighing scale. This inflammation that occurs in a healthy manner is temporary – and that’s the good news. That doesn’t mean however that you have to celebrate and eat out. It still means that you have to continue with your healthy diet regimen as well as make sure that your body gets enough rest and recovery as this will speed up the healing process and lessen the inflammatory phases. So just keep steady and keep going.
In case you are new to fitness or has just started with a new kind of exercise, just be patient because there is going to be lots of adaptation that’s gonna take place along with a noticeable amount of inflammation. In two weeks or so, they are going bound to subside.
Diet Check
To be honest, you can gain weight if you are not eating right or your diet plan is not working even when you are working out. You see, while you burn calories when you work out, the same physical activity likewise increases the release of the hormone, ghrelin which prompts you to feel hungry often. In fact, you will notice that with the increase in energy, you will also feel that increase in appetite. As such, it is important to take a revisit and see what could be going wrong. It could be that yes, you are following your plan and eating only what is in your diet plan, but you could be eating more and wreaking havoc on your portion sizes.
Also, the food choices for your particular diet plan may not be working according to your bodily needs. Even if you are trying to maintain a low calorie diet, the food that you eat can cause hormonal imbalances that in turn make your body hold on to the fat. Beachbody programs can alleviate this program with a nutrition guide that’s right for you.
Muscle Gain
Exercise goes both ways and that is shedding fat on one hand and building muscles on the other. When you build muscle much faster than you shed fat, you are likely to gain weight at this juncture. The fitness community estimates 2 pounds as the possible muscle gain maximum in a month for someone who is a newbie at fitness. If you are starting on a new form of exercise and are not aware of your body’s natural process, you could get frustrated over the weight gain brought about by muscle growth. You could blame it on the new exercise and complain about how your thighs may have grown fat.
What’s actually happening is that your legs could go bigger as the muscles increase under adipose tissue and push out the fat. The legs are certain to increase in diameter in this case. Patience is a virtue and it applies very well to muscle gain when you work out. Just focus on your goals and find comfort in the knowledge that as soon as the fats burn off with your determination and consistency, those thick legs are going to give way to a well-toned and shapely pair of legs.
Distress
Stress is a part of life and it is inevitable. It simply has to be managed well if you want to benefit from it. So there is the healthy kind of stress which leads to growth and self-improvement. On the other hand, there’s distress and that is of the unhealthy kind and is often referred to as negative stress. In the case of exercise, you can consider it as a positive kind of stress where you put the body under stress until it is able to adapt to the change and consequent development. This kind of stress together with nutritional support and adequate rest and recovery are a powerful combination that will toughen you up and fortify your mind and body against distress.
Meanwhile, if you do not do it right and pile up exercise on top of the other things that you do or if you work out beyond your physical and mental limits, then you will lose your balance and that is what is going to cause you distress. Your work out is going to overly stress you and cause you more problems instead of help you cope with your problems. Let’s say you’re the workaholic type and you work for 12 hours in a day. You also enjoy 3 or more alcoholic drinks each night and you do not miss. Of course, your sleep hours will likewise get reduced to less than 7 hours. To make it even more stressful, you are overweight and enjoy the typical calorie-laden American diet. If you exercise under these situations, you will cause your body distress and weight gain will be just around the corner.
In particular, the inflammation process will not be able to progress to the healing phase and what could result is chronic inflammation all over your body. There will likewise be an increased release of the stress hormones called cortisol that is bound to promote fat accumulation especially around the stomach.
What To Do
Is weight gain a signal for you to stop working out altogether? Certainly not! You have to keep going. Keep in mind that fitness at its very core is a holistic approach. You do not only work on your diet and exercise plan but also everything else that covers your entire lifestyle including sleep and recreation.
Are you ready to lose weight, build muscle, or feel more fit? Join Beachbody On Demand, and get unlimited access to Beachbody’s world-famous programs, including 80 Day Obsession, 21 Day FIX®, Insanity, P90X® and 100’s more. Don’t miss out on your chance for amazing results. Sign up today!
