So you’ve  finally gotten serious with your exercise program. You’re exercising more days a week and have increased the intensity and duration of your sessions.  But you’re gaining weight!  What is happening? One of the reasons you increased your exercise program was to lose weight - not gain weight!

In my private practice, I’ve seen some of my clients gain weight as they increase their exercise. (Luckily they are seeing me … so I can reverse this problem!). There are several reasons as to why this weight gain can occur.

Reasons for weight gain while exercising:
1. Certain forms of exercise build muscle mass. Muscle weighs more than fat, which can show up as weight gain on the scale. If this is the case, you are likely losing body fat while gaining muscle. How do you know if you are gaining muscle and losing fat? You should see a change in the way your clothes fit despite the scale not budging or even going up. Your jeans may become loser around the hips or your skirt may zip easier.

 2. The second reason for weight gain is that you have increased your calories - either consciously or unconsciously. Exercise can actually make you hungrier or you may feel you “deserve” a little extra food since you have increased your exercise.

Overestimating calories burned in exercise 
Keep in mind that your exercise session is probably not burning as many calories as you think. Have you ever checked out what the cardio machines at your gym say you burn when you exercise? (Make sure you plug your weight into the gym machine) It is probably less than what you might have thought you would have burned off. In addition, these machines often times overestimate what you burn (especially the eliptical machine). More on this at another post!

Let’s say you burn 300 calories in your 45 minute treadmill session. Since you started your exercise program, you’ve added a 200 calorie energy bar (which you weren’t eating before) prior to exercising to boost your energy levels for your workout. In addition, you drink 100 calories of gatorade at the gym. And then after dinner, allow yourself a cookie (for 100 calories) because after all - you exercised and deserve a little treat. So while you burned off 300 calories in exercise, you increased your caloric intake by 400. There is a net increase of 100 calories. An extra 100 calories a day can promote a 10 pound weight gain a year!   

Tips to combat weight gain from exercising:
1.  If you are trying to lose weight, really try to stop the mentality of “I exercised, so I deserve a little treat”. Remember, the goal is to have a caloric deficit in order to lose weight.
2. Make sure you consume adequate protein at your meals. Focus on lean protein such as fish, skinless poultry, lean meats, egg whites, low fat cottage cheese and yogurt (the Greek yogurt is especially high in protein), and soy products.  Consuming adequate protein will help to control hunger.
3. If you find exercise increases your hunger, fill up on more veggies rather than carbs (or large portions of protein).
4. Make sure you are hydrated. Sometimes we think we are hungry when we are really thirsty.
5. If you exercising for 60 minutes or less, water is the ideal fluid replacement. Save a sports drink for exercising 60-9o minutes or more. You don’t need the extra calories.
6. Use your calories wisely. I usually recommend a pre-exercise snack(100-150 calories depending upon your caloric needs) to raise blood sugar levels if it has been 4 hours or more since your last meal. This may mean adding in a snack that you usually didn’t have.  Therefore, you will need to take the calories for this snack away from something else in the day. Suggestions: cut back on a glass of wine, piece of bread, slice of cheese in your sandwich, use low cal salad dressing, etc.  Keep in mind that this 100-150 calorie snack is for someone who will be performing moderate exercise. If you plan on running 8 miles or going for a 2 hour fast bike ride, you will need more calories. More on this in a later post.
7. Keeping a food record will really help to make you aware of everything you eat and drink.

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