I'm working out but instead of losing weight, I'm gaining weight, why?

Question

My diet has changed a lot.
No more junk food or soft drinks and I'm doing cardio everyday.
I run about 3 miles a day and instead of shedding pounds, I'm gaining. What's going on?

Answer 1

When you start working out, you start to change the tone of your muscles. Sometimes you gain weight before you start to lose it. This is because muscle weighs more than fat.

But, muscle burns more calories, so it should start to fall off soon hopefully.

Answer 2

Most likely you are gaining muscle weight, BUT, instead of just accepting this assumption that you are hearing from everyone, get your bodyfat % checked (I recommend at least caliper testing or anything more accurate above that). Getting this checked will give you the real numbers wheter you are actually losing body fat afterall.

Or, the other method you can do, is take a picture of you body every 2weeks or month (month is better). In the long run if you see a better physique each time, then you know your losing weight. Day to Day changes are not big enough to notice thats why this works.

And one last tip. HIgher intensity cardio will burn more calories in the long run than moderate/light cardio. ie., Check out HIIT cardio, or "guerilla cardio". Doing very high intesnsity cardio for 4-10 minutes is much more effective for weight loss than 3 miles taking 20-40 minutes. BUT a word of caution, do keep doing the 3 miles thing if that works for you. I mean if sprinting full intensity is too difficult, then 3 miles is great!

ps. I agree with the post above, there a lot we don't know about you diet, so its hard to determine if you eating correctly or not. But what he said about BMI, well this will give you ballpark accuracy but BMI is not accurate if you have decent or significant muscle mass. Again I recommend Bodyfat %. But if you are average build as far as muscle, BMI will give you an estimate.

Answer 3

Hi. I fell for the trick of trying to lose weight - don't do it! i'll tell you why :
1) when you exercise you build up muscle, the muscle weighs more then fat - so you'll be heavier in weight
2) if you weigh yourself in the morning you will be lighter then if you weigh yourself at night
3) if you weigh yourself before and after a run you may find you have lost as much as 1/2 a stone!
But all this is just losing water.
Just pay attention to your waist size, your hip size and so on, that way you will know if you are getting fitter :-)

Answer 4

There are too many things we do not know about your diet. Nourish your body thin, instead of starving your body fat. Good carbs like celery and carrots will never make you fat. Bad carbs like cake will, but you don't need to know the whole science of glycemic load. You need to re-learn how to eat so you can become thin and healthy. Salt has no calories but makes you fat and burning more calories does not help this fatness.

Find out about fastest way to lose weight, most effective exercise, good and bad fats, water retention and secret trick used by models to flatten their tummy before an event. Reading a book will take you hours but the information on a post, taking minutes to read, is not enough. The webpage below has just enough to know what you need to know. Links page has gov. BMI calculator to find out just how much overweight you are (teens plug in your age to compare to others your age).

http://www.phifoundation.org

Answer 5

Weight is merely a measurement of how much gravitational force is acting on an object, in this case you.
Did you know your weight will change merely by changing your altitude?

What you need to be more concerned with is your body fat percentage. You can most easily get this done with the caliper test, immersion tests are more accurate, but probably more expensive and harder to find a place to do them.
The body mass index is also a useful tool, better than weight. You can have this calculated online easily.

Answer 6

As you build muscle and lose fat you may remain the same weight or increase your weight slightly due to the fact that muscle is smaller and more condensed but weighs more than fat.

You may want to keep a log of your body measurements instead of your weight. That way you can see how you are progressing over time.

Answer 7

Muscle weighs less than fat, if you are loosing fat and gaining muscle then the scale will show your weight going up. But your measurements will get smaller, muscle takes up less room than fat, so even if your weight is going up, if your clothes are fitting better you are doing the right thing!

Answer 8

Your body is replacing fat with muscle. This is good. Don't count on the scale! They only measure your total weight. Instead, get a a BMI done. A lot of health clubs do this.

Answer 9

Redistribution, you are loosing fat and gaining muscle.
The new muscle tissue is probably the cause of the weight gain. If that is the case there is no need for panic, it's a good thing.

Answer 10

Your muscle density is changing. Muscle when weighed is heavier than fat. Keep up the good work. This is a good thing . not bad. Your clothes will start getting loose anyway as your body firms up.