While staying active should be part of everyone’s daily life to stay healthy, many individuals work out to achieve certain fitness goals. Not being able to see the results of your hard work can be very disheartening and demotivating.
About half of the population in the United States claims they’re trying to lose weight. There’s an obsession of wanting to be a particular size, though very few manage to get there.
Even if you’re working out, there is a possibility that you’ll gain weight. Here are some of the reasons why you’re gaining weight despite your strict fitness routine:
Water retention
The weight on the scale doesn’t just measure fat; your body comprises of muscle mass and water too. Water makes up a large part of your weight.
When you first begin exercising regularly and rigorously, your body goes through many changes within the initial few months. Using your body in new ways for new exercises is going to cause inflammation and swelling. When you work out, small tears develop in your muscle fibers as you build muscle mass. This inflammation caused by the exercises leads to your body retaining more water.
Allow your body to heal and recover from the exercises. Drink water and sleep well to restore your muscles. As a rule of thumb, drink half your body weight in ounces of water. So, if you weigh 180 pounds, drink 90 ounces of water.
Glycogen conversion
The human body gets its energy from converting glycogen into glucose. This helps fuel your muscles. If you exercise regularly, your body stores more glycogen to aid the extra movement. Glycogen binds with water to provide energy to the muscles, which is why the weight on the scale goes up initially.
With time, when your body gets used to working out, your body will store less glycogen and therefore, there will be less water retention. Once you reach this stage, the added weight comes off!
High-calorie diets
The main goal when you’re trying to lose weight is maintaining a calorie deficit. That means your body must burn more calories than it consumes.
Keeping track of how many calories you consume isn’t an easy task. If you’re eyeballing food measurements or not reading the packaging carefully, you could end up consuming more calories. A high-calorie diet makes weight loss extremely difficult.
To make things easier for yourself, aim to burn 3500 calories a week. 3500 calories make 1 pound of fat. Divide the calorie deficit over 7 days and you have a very achievable goal set for yourself and you’ll see results too!
If you’re looking to get on track with your fitness goals, Trainer Joe’s Fitness is the place to be! We provide you with a personal trainer in Palm Desert as well as group fitness classes. With many years of experience in the business, their trainers know exactly how to adopt a fitness routine to match each client. Call 760-250-6389 for more information about our fitness classes Palm Desert.