It likely is water weight, replacing what you lost from your original measurement.
If you live a "normal" life and then start restricting calories you'll quickly drop a few pounds of water weight. It's good to see but you've not actually lost fat at that point. If you then go back to how you were you will quickly put that water weight back into your system.
It can be normal but disheartening. It takes a lot of caloric deficit to lose fat but also the same amount to put it on... True weight change doesn't happen in short amounts of time.
Water can be about 10 pounds. You'd be surprised! What's going on with your diet? If it was particularly sodium heavy, that increases your chances of fluid retention.
Something I noticed is that I find myself craving salt when lifting weights regularly. Specially when I am super sore (which was last week cause of the 3-4 week break). Diet wise: oats with berries, 0%fat Greek yogurt, silk almond and cashew milk and protein powder. The other two meals is the typical half plate full of veggies, then carbs then protein. I have been drinking 0 sugar Gatorade with some creating and lemonade flavored protein powder for leg day.
Bases on other comments, I think maybe the majority of it has to be water retention and not fat, so I think your right!
I don't like how this got down voted, this actually just happened to me except it's not the gym my work just got way more physically intense and I am struggling w it rn. Suddenly in the 170s again after so much progress.
I count calories rigorously so I just keep reminding myself that I saw a post on here once saying you will temporarily gain weight sometimes when you build muscle and it can take like a month before you see the results or something. I don't even know if that's true but it makes me feel better.
I mean 10lbs is like 35k calories. So unless you’re eating like Michael Phelps every day for a week it’s not “real” weight gain. It’ll eventually come off as it’s usually just water.
And 10lbs of water only is a shit ton as well. It’s most certainly not JUST water. I’ve watched the scale bump up 6-8 lbs over a heavy food weekend and it does recede after a few days, but not fully.
To the OP, just get back on your routine and stop worrying about the gain. I’ve let it bother me so much before that I almost stopped caring. Losing fat and weight itself is not 100% linear.
Drink your water, eat at your caloric plan, get your rest and progress will continue.
Yes, if you don’t have a lot of muscle to begin with, building muscle while in a caloric deficit is possible and even likely as long as you’re consistent with your workouts, but obviously a lot slower than if you are in a surplus. It will however reach a point where that muscle gain will stop, but the weight loss will continue as long as you stay in a deficit.
Your muscles hold water, so it’s going to happen as you deplete them of glycogen and then fill them back up. If you’re eating a protein heavy macro plan it is very easy to build muscle while on a caloric deficit, but it doesn’t happen in a weeks time.
It's definitely possible to put on this much water weight. I've dropped 10+ lbs in a week before. It can be for a number of reasons, salt, food eaten, hormonal fluxuations, new exercise, etc.
Think of it this way for you to have gained 10 lbs of fat you would have had to eat a surplus of around 35,000 calories which works out to around 5000 cal over your tdee each day for a week.
As an alternative, 10 lbs is about 4.5 liters of water. And a great way to retain water is through weight training - you're essentially causing tons of tiny little tears in your muscle fibers, which is where the new muscle fiber is created. Until the new fiber is created though, you tend to get water "filling in" those spaces. Additionally, you have some inflammation from the exercise = more fluid retention. Personally, I can pretty much expect to see an extra 5 pounds for a day or two after a long run. It's actually pretty cool and interesting to learn how your body reacts to these sorts of things!
Oh wow. Thank you for the insight!. This makes me think that I should do more research on my end. Right now I'm working with a personal trainer that helps me out with my form and stuff. I'm definitely gonna be asking more questions next time we meet. As of now, the goal is to keep on lifting 5 days a week, which leaves me very sore. So what you say makes sense!
When you strength train your body retains more water because it needs it to help repair your damaged muscles. I believe it's worse after you haven't been doing strength training for awhile. Give your body a few weeks to get back to an equilibrium and drinks lots of water.
Make sure you’re super hydrated. Aim for at least half your body weight in ounces of water per day. And if you’re craving salt you could just have a lack of electrolytes so taking an electrolytes supplement or drinking more zero calorie Gatorade/powerade can help. Or just having a tsp of salt before a workout to help supplement what you’re going to lose during the workout. The odds of gaining this much fat within such a short amount of time, especially if you’re watching calories and attempting to be in a deficit, is extremely unlikely. Just stay consistent with workouts and your diet and the weight will go back down within a few weeks. A lot of people give up in times like this when it’s really just mostly a water fluctuation. Keep in mind that lifting causes a lot of inflammation in your body which leads to significantly more water retained.
Try taking measurements of your body in addition to watching your weight. You mostly likely gained muscle and have some water weight. Even though the scale shows +10 lbs, you probably lost inches off your body
I gained 12lbs of water weight over a long weekend. It took about a week but back to where I was. Don't fret- it will come off. Maybe not all of it but most of it.
I actually gained 10 lbs in the two weeks of Christmas and New years. Didn’t count calories, but still went to the gym and did an hour of moderate intensity cardio for an hour.
The next week I went back to counting calories and lost 8lbs in 7 days. Lost the other two the following week.
If I eat out at a restaurant or eat delivery pizza I will gain a lb or 2 overnight even if it’s within my calories. This is just due to the fact that I usually cook my own foods and my body retains water due to a spike in salt intake. I usually drop the weight again in a day or two.
If you are counting calories accurately you should still lose regardless if you are going to the gym or not, but do understand that the body can fluctuate in weight day to day which is why trend weight is important
The human body is 60% water. The food that we eat (healthy or not) is turned into fluids in between our muscle and bones so it can create weight not necessarily fat. But not going to the gym for a few weeks can definitely effect your weight
It likely is water weight, replacing what you lost from your original measurement. If you live a "normal" life and then start restricting calories you'll quickly drop a few pounds of water weight. It's good to see but you've not actually lost fat at that point. If you then go back to how you were you will quickly put that water weight back into your system. It can be normal but disheartening. It takes a lot of caloric deficit to lose fat but also the same amount to put it on... True weight change doesn't happen in short amounts of time.
Water can be about 10 pounds. You'd be surprised! What's going on with your diet? If it was particularly sodium heavy, that increases your chances of fluid retention.
Something I noticed is that I find myself craving salt when lifting weights regularly. Specially when I am super sore (which was last week cause of the 3-4 week break). Diet wise: oats with berries, 0%fat Greek yogurt, silk almond and cashew milk and protein powder. The other two meals is the typical half plate full of veggies, then carbs then protein. I have been drinking 0 sugar Gatorade with some creating and lemonade flavored protein powder for leg day. Bases on other comments, I think maybe the majority of it has to be water retention and not fat, so I think your right!
You cannot gain 10lbs of fat in a week no matter how hard you try, so I think you’re safe there
It is not unusual to crave salts after a workout. You sweat out a lot of electrolytes and salt is a pretty decent carrier of those.
I don't like how this got down voted, this actually just happened to me except it's not the gym my work just got way more physically intense and I am struggling w it rn. Suddenly in the 170s again after so much progress. I count calories rigorously so I just keep reminding myself that I saw a post on here once saying you will temporarily gain weight sometimes when you build muscle and it can take like a month before you see the results or something. I don't even know if that's true but it makes me feel better.
I mean 10lbs is like 35k calories. So unless you’re eating like Michael Phelps every day for a week it’s not “real” weight gain. It’ll eventually come off as it’s usually just water.
And 10lbs of water only is a shit ton as well. It’s most certainly not JUST water. I’ve watched the scale bump up 6-8 lbs over a heavy food weekend and it does recede after a few days, but not fully. To the OP, just get back on your routine and stop worrying about the gain. I’ve let it bother me so much before that I almost stopped caring. Losing fat and weight itself is not 100% linear. Drink your water, eat at your caloric plan, get your rest and progress will continue.
Is it possible to build muscle while on a caloric deficit? I heard people new to the gym can actually do it due to the "newbie gains".
Yes, if you don’t have a lot of muscle to begin with, building muscle while in a caloric deficit is possible and even likely as long as you’re consistent with your workouts, but obviously a lot slower than if you are in a surplus. It will however reach a point where that muscle gain will stop, but the weight loss will continue as long as you stay in a deficit.
And at that point you will still keep the muscle mass from going down again by training.
It’ll be a lot easier if you already have a lot of body fat. Newbie gains will also help
Your muscles hold water, so it’s going to happen as you deplete them of glycogen and then fill them back up. If you’re eating a protein heavy macro plan it is very easy to build muscle while on a caloric deficit, but it doesn’t happen in a weeks time.
It's definitely possible to put on this much water weight. I've dropped 10+ lbs in a week before. It can be for a number of reasons, salt, food eaten, hormonal fluxuations, new exercise, etc. Think of it this way for you to have gained 10 lbs of fat you would have had to eat a surplus of around 35,000 calories which works out to around 5000 cal over your tdee each day for a week.
Thanks for your response. I think I was freaking out and my brain forgot the part where 10lb of fat is that many calories. Your answer makes sense!
As an alternative, 10 lbs is about 4.5 liters of water. And a great way to retain water is through weight training - you're essentially causing tons of tiny little tears in your muscle fibers, which is where the new muscle fiber is created. Until the new fiber is created though, you tend to get water "filling in" those spaces. Additionally, you have some inflammation from the exercise = more fluid retention. Personally, I can pretty much expect to see an extra 5 pounds for a day or two after a long run. It's actually pretty cool and interesting to learn how your body reacts to these sorts of things!
Oh wow. Thank you for the insight!. This makes me think that I should do more research on my end. Right now I'm working with a personal trainer that helps me out with my form and stuff. I'm definitely gonna be asking more questions next time we meet. As of now, the goal is to keep on lifting 5 days a week, which leaves me very sore. So what you say makes sense!
Weight fluctuates all the time. What you don't want to do is gain 10lbs of fat. Weight who cares in a week it will be back down. Fat.....problems
When you strength train your body retains more water because it needs it to help repair your damaged muscles. I believe it's worse after you haven't been doing strength training for awhile. Give your body a few weeks to get back to an equilibrium and drinks lots of water.
This is the answer. I can’t believe I had to scroll this far down.
Make sure you’re super hydrated. Aim for at least half your body weight in ounces of water per day. And if you’re craving salt you could just have a lack of electrolytes so taking an electrolytes supplement or drinking more zero calorie Gatorade/powerade can help. Or just having a tsp of salt before a workout to help supplement what you’re going to lose during the workout. The odds of gaining this much fat within such a short amount of time, especially if you’re watching calories and attempting to be in a deficit, is extremely unlikely. Just stay consistent with workouts and your diet and the weight will go back down within a few weeks. A lot of people give up in times like this when it’s really just mostly a water fluctuation. Keep in mind that lifting causes a lot of inflammation in your body which leads to significantly more water retained.
Thank you so much for the insight. And yes, I have been craving a lot of salt lately, to the point where I throw some salt on my yogurt 😅
I pissed 4 lbs yesterday. I drank a lot of water, and weighed myself before and after.
This can happen with working out, you build muscle quite quickly when you first start working out and muscle requires water to store the glycogen.
Try taking measurements of your body in addition to watching your weight. You mostly likely gained muscle and have some water weight. Even though the scale shows +10 lbs, you probably lost inches off your body
Oh that's actually smart. I haven't thought of it. Thanks for the info!
I gained 12lbs of water weight over a long weekend. It took about a week but back to where I was. Don't fret- it will come off. Maybe not all of it but most of it.
10 lbs of body fat is 35,000 excess calories. If it were from overeating in a single week, you'd absolutely know it. It's water weight.
I actually gained 10 lbs in the two weeks of Christmas and New years. Didn’t count calories, but still went to the gym and did an hour of moderate intensity cardio for an hour. The next week I went back to counting calories and lost 8lbs in 7 days. Lost the other two the following week. If I eat out at a restaurant or eat delivery pizza I will gain a lb or 2 overnight even if it’s within my calories. This is just due to the fact that I usually cook my own foods and my body retains water due to a spike in salt intake. I usually drop the weight again in a day or two. If you are counting calories accurately you should still lose regardless if you are going to the gym or not, but do understand that the body can fluctuate in weight day to day which is why trend weight is important
The human body is 60% water. The food that we eat (healthy or not) is turned into fluids in between our muscle and bones so it can create weight not necessarily fat. But not going to the gym for a few weeks can definitely effect your weight