Weight Gain Worries When Starting Your Program

Have you started a program and become discouraged by a change in the scale? Well don't be! If your diet and structure are consistent this can be a good thing!

Why is The Scale Going Up?

If you're gaining weight on your program and worried about it, you should first look at your goal. Is your goal fat loss and transformation? Is it power and strength? If there is any strength building component to it, you should expect it because you are likely gaining lean muscle weight, which is great!

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Lean Muscle Weighs More Than Fat

Did you know that per pound, muscle is heavier! This is due to the density of muscle. For this reason, if your focus is to loose fat, you have to gain muscle first, which will increase your weight ( the fat loss will decrease after).

Muscle density is also why someone can be leaner than they ever were before, but have a higher number on the scale. It's better to be leaner with more muscle, than lighter with none (the "skinny fat" phenomenon). Skinny fat is a term describing someone who might look lean, or their weight describes a relatively good BMI, but their body fat to mass ratio is unhealthy. So they really aren't as healthy as they may appear.

So when we are looking for fat loss and transformation, body fat percentage is what we want to refer to. Body fat percent tests give you information on your over all body composition and healthy levels of fat.

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The Transformation Curve

If your goal is transformation or fat loss, you need to grow lean muscle tissue to accomplish that goal in the most healthy way. As mentioned earlier, lean muscle will weigh more than fat.

Think of it like a bell curve, or a building archway. After initial water weight loss, if starting from no activity, you will start to gain muscle. This causes a slight increase in weight (your weight is now your fat and body mass plus extra muscle). This is where people make the mistake of quitting on their journey, right before the good stuff happens.

After muscle growth is achieved, the weight curve will go down with consistent exercise and diet. This is where you maintain lean muscle and start to loose the fat! Growing lean muscle mass will speed up your metabolism and help you burn even more than you could have before, and in a much better way.

So what do you do if you find yourself in a rut? Keep going!

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Tips to Keep You Going

• Don't obsess over the scale.

Try to limit your weigh in to once a week or once every other week. Weighing

yourself every day will only discourage you, or have you hanging on every little tenth of a pound that you make or lose. Remember, the scale can tip daily on

changes do to water weight, sodium levels, and hormones. Weekly or bi-weekly

weigh ins will give you the best average of the changes in your weight. Just remember to weigh in at a consistent time of the day, and preferably, before your

first meal.

• Stay consistent with your routine!

The best thing you can do is stay consistent and remember your end goal. One really bad day won't break you, but one really excellent day won't help you either. It's all about what is happening a majority of the time. So if you continue working out and eating right according to your plan, you will succeed!

• Take progress pictures.

Because your weight may stay the same or increase for a while, take before and after pictures every two to four weeks. You might be surprised how much your body has changed! Everyone is different, so we all experience transformation in different ways at first. Photos are a great way to see gradual progress, but also to remember how far you have come.

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Don't Give Up

Whatever you do, don't give up on your goals! Remember the core reasons as to why you started and stay focused on your prize. We all struggle and have off days, but the important part it to pick back up and move on. With consistency and determination, you will do it!

So what about you? Have you experienced your transformation curve? How is your relationship with the scale?