Why am I gaining weight after starting to exercise?
Answered by the AskDoc Medical Team · Medically reviewed under our Medical Director, MBBS
Almost always it is 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.
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