Why am I gaining weight after starting to exercise?
Weight gain after starting exercise is almost always water, not fat. Newly trained muscles store extra glycogen, and every gram of glycogen holds water with it. Mild repair swelling adds a little more. A pound or three in the first weeks is completely normal biology.
Appetite is the other suspect: exercise can nudge you to eat a little more without noticing, and a post-workout treat can outweigh the workout. The exercise is still doing its job for your heart, sugar and blood pressure either way.
Judge the first month by how clothes fit, how stairs feel and what your measurements say, not the scale. If weight keeps climbing past a month, look at portions rather than abandoning the training.
Source: Nutrition Reviews, fundamentals of glycogen metabolism for coaches and athletes
See a doctor promptly if
- Weight loss you did not intend, especially more than 5 percent of your body weight in six months
- Rapid weight gain over days to weeks with swelling of the legs, or breathlessness lying flat
- Vomiting after eating, laxative or diuretic use for weight control, or feeling unable to stop eating and being distressed by it
- Feeling that food or your body has taken over your thinking, or having thoughts of harming yourself
- New heavy fatigue, cold intolerance, hair thinning or constipation alongside weight change
- Loud snoring with witnessed pauses in breathing, or falling asleep during the day
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Answered by the AskDoc Medical Team · Medically reviewed under our Medical Director, MBBS · How we review
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