Eringiffin's Journal, 17 September 2012

I have found in the past, if I change anything I have to stick with it for at least a month before you see the real effects of it. If you have started exercise, I would take measurements, bust, waist, hips, arms, thighs and knees - as you will find these change when you are getting frustrated with the scales :) 

Do you record every single morsel that goes to your lips? If not you could be eating way more calories than wanted and that could be the cause of your weight gain. It could also be muscle as well if there is a lot of strength training being incorporated.  

@simplypretentious, I am recording everything I eat excepting for days when I know I have gone way over. I try to always mark the "This is everything I ate" when I have faithfully recorded everything to my best ability. The workouts I am starting are almost exclusively weight training with a little cardio thrown in at the end. @Triaby, good point and good idea. I will take my measurements today when I get home. 

Erin - While it's a relatively small sample size, every single one of the women I know who began weight training, all gained weight in the first month or two. I don't know of any that were adding body fat at the same time, either. There are several theories as to why this happens, but many believe that you retain several pounds of water as a result of the hormonal responses to inflammation - which is a feature of resistance training, not a bug (resistance training will cause microtears in muscle fiber). The problem is, of course, distinguishing between weight gain and fat gain - you can still out-eat the training. It sounds like you're on the right path though - keep watching your diet, and don't overreact to the scale. Progress photos might be a better way to gauge your progress here, or as triaby said, measurements will help too. 

Ohh, and guess what?! The gym I joined is getting one of those bone density measuring machines. The gal at the front desk was saying it is 90-something percent accurate at determining bady fat percentage. I forget the actual accuracy she said. 

hang in there Erin! Exercise is always a plus but it can affect the scale. Your clothing is a good gauge. I've been losing and gaining the same 2# for 3 months but am in a smaller clothing size. :) 

Yup - what everyone else said! LOL, I find that exercise, or lack of exercise, really impacts the scale...so does the carbs I choose to eat, the amount of water or salt I consume, among other things. I go by how my clothes fit to know if I am getting smaller or not! 

One more reminder that the scale isn't going to tell you the important information once you pick up weights: Staron et al (1990) found that in women new to training with a 20-week program involving leg work only, and a maintenance calorie level, their weight held steady - but over the 20 weeks, they lost 10 pounds of fat and gained 10 pounds of lean mass. 

Think of it this way.. 5 lbs of fat can take up as large of an area as a half a gallon of water or more! But 5 lbs of muscle will take up the area of about a sandwich baggy. If that. so you can very easily weigh more and yet get smaller, once you start lifting weights.  

All good news! Ok, now I am more motivated than ever to hit the gym tomorrow.