You're New to Lifting and the Scale Is Going Up (What's Wrong?!)

Don't panic—it's super common to see the scale go up if you are completely new to lifting.

Why Am I Gaining Weight as a New Lifter?

The reason for that is because when you are lifting weights, you're breaking down your muscle tissue and getting these little micro tears in your muscle fibers. That is causing inflammation in your body because you're breaking those muscle fibers down. And that is what's going to cause growth over time.

If you're completely new to lifting, and you've never actually done that before, your body's probably going to be a little bit more inflamed. That's going to cause you to potentially hold on to some more water. And that's going to cause the scale go up.

After lifting session where you're working a big muscle group or a few big muscle groups, it's not uncommon to see the next day that you wake up and the scales up. The reason for that is because you're holding on to some more inflammation, especially in those bigger muscle groups. And so that can take some time to dissipate.

I know for me, typically, after a very hard leg day, I tend to see the scale go up. So it's very normal to see the scale go up if you're new to lifting or if you had a really hard training day, and you just have a little bit more inflammation kind of lingering which can cause some water retention. This will dissipate over time, and typically after a few weeks of lifting if you're new, you the scale will start to regulate itself again.

Want to learn more about how your body responds to weightlifting and nutrition? Check out the other great content we have on the blog and the podcast.