Imagine eating right, working out and yet gaining weight instead of losing it. This is perhaps one of the most frustrating things that could happen to anyone who has dedicated themselves to losing weight.
The question of ‘why am I gaining weight even though I exercise and eat right?’ is actually something that quite a number of people on a weight loss journey find themselves struggling with. Unexplained weight gain is a much more common issue than you think, so do not feel alone.
In this article, we shall be outlining some scientifically backed reasons why you may be experiencing weight gain, despite working out as required and eating healthily. Read on to find out more.
There are many reasons why you may suddenly stop losing weight and even start gaining some, despite working out and eating healthily. Some of the most common reasons behind this may include (1)
The reasons listed above show you some factors that could be why you are not losing weight, while eating right and working out. Let’s take a deeper look into each reason so you can better understand them and then perhaps through the process of elimination, you might find out why you are somehow gaining weight while working out.
The commonly accepted definition of a weight loss plateau is a state of little or no change following a period of activity or progress. In most weight loss plateaus, the individual’s weight remains constant, neither going up or down regardless of their exercise or dietary efforts. However, in some cases, weight may start going up (2).
A study published in The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition stated that weight loss plateaus often happen at around the 6-month mark (3). One of the main reasons behind this may be that at this point, the body is now used to your diet and exercise routine. This is its new normal and baseline.
By this time, your energy needs may have decreased because you’ve lost weight, so it takes less energy to maintain your body mass. Your metabolism may also have adjusted to the amount of energy it expects to receive from your diet.. Due to this, you may stop losing weight and the number on the scale stabilizes. If you do not change anything, your weight may remain the same but it could also start increasing slightly over time.
When it comes to weight loss, progress is made by inches, not miles, so it’s much harder to track and a lot easier to give up. The BetterMe: Health Coaching app is your personal trainer, nutritionist, and support system all in one. Start using our app to stay on track and hold yourself accountable!
The main ways to counter this and start your weight loss process again include:
You need to start burning more calories, so switch up your routine by doing different exercises – which challenges the body in a different way than it’s used to – or do the same exercises but practice progressive overload.
There is no weight loss without a proper diet – even when exercise is involved. Cut an extra 300 to 500 kcal from your usual calorie intake. However, make sure that you are not undereating as this can also prevent weight loss.
With increased age comes a number of potential problems, one of them being unexplained weight gain. However, this weight gain is not as unidefiable as you may think. For older people, hormone changes and muscle loss could be the main reasons why they end up gaining weight despite working out.
Estrogen is a hormone found largely in women but is also in small amounts in men too. In the female body, this hormone is primarily responsible for the development of female sexual characteristics and regulation of the menstrual cycle and other reproductive functions(4).
By the age of 50 estrogen production in women’s bodies has decreased by 50% from its peak and continues to decrease as they approach menopause and stop ovulating. After menopause, production of this hormone decreases even more (5).
In a study published in the BioMed Research International journal, researchers suggested that the decrease of estrogen in the body could be a reason why menopausal women were more likely to be obese (6).
Ps. Low estrogen can happen to women of all ages, not just those over the age of 50. If you suspect that you many have lower than normal estrogen levels for your age, ask your doctor for a test
Research suggests that after the age of 30, we start losing anywhere between 3% to 8% of our muscle mass every decade. This number and decline accelerates drastically after the age of 60 (8).
Remember that the more muscle one has, the higher their resting metabolic rate and thus the more calories they burn throughout the day while at rest. If you lose muscle mass, your resting metabolic rate reduces, leading to less calories burn while at rest. This can contribute to calories being stored as fat while eventually turning into increased fat and weight.
To prevent muscle loss, you are advised to do more strength training/weight lifting. These bodybuilding exercises will not only prevent muscle loss, but can also build muscle where there once wasn’t any which can help prevent weight gain.
Read more: 7 Reasons for Summer Weight Gain & How to Deal With It
Stress is a part of daily life, however, chronic stress shouldn’t get out of hand. The latter is what contributes to weight gain despite exercise and dietary efforts to prevent this. One review published in 2018 suggested that higher stress levels were interrelated with obesity and very specifically abdominal obesity (9).
Another study suggested that greater stress levels increase levels of anxiety and worry which may distract from weight loss efforts (10). This doesn’t necessarily mean that you don’t exercise or eat healthy at all, but that you may be a little slack, which could lead to gradual weight gain.
Another study also showed that compared to less stressed women, those who reported higher stress levels burned 104 fewer calories than the former (11). The less calories you burn in a day, the more fat and weight you might end up gaining if you don’t compensate by eating less. Burning 104 kcal fewer a day could mean an 11 pound (5kg) weight gain in a year, according to the researchers.
Aside from this, it’s important to note that increased stress levels also increase the likelihood of making poor food choices, emotional eating, undereating and lack of sleep, all factors that will lead to weight gain.
Research continues to show how closely sleep influences weight loss (12, 13). When you do not sleep enough, you are more likely to not only make poor food choices, but may also engage in overeating or late night eating.
Late night eating not only often includes the consumption of high calorie foods that are sugary and have little nutritional value, but chances are that you are going over your daily calorie limit when you eat at this time.
Lack of enough sleep also negatively affects your metabolic rate and the hormones regulating your metabolism which leads to less calorie burning and thus increased weight.
To prevent the above, it is advisable to try and get at least 7 hours of quality sleep every night, but individual needs may vary (12).
The common saying that you can never out-exercise a bad diet suggests that diet matters most when it comes to shedding those extra pounds. Unfortunately, even when understanding this some people end up eating too much or too little which negatively impacts their weight loss efforts.
When you eat too much, you consume calories in a surplus. This surplus does not end up getting burned and used as energy in the body and thus is simply stored as fat within the body which leads to weight gain.
Eating less helps with weight loss and thus why a calorie deficit is always recommended for those trying to shed those stubborn pounds.
However, eating too little can do the exact opposite of what you hope for. When you eat too little food, your body assumes that food is scarce and burns fewer calories in an effort to ‘save you’ from said starvation. This can make it harder to lose weight.
To prevent both undereating or overeating, we suggest using a reputable calorie counting app to determine just how much your individual calorie goal should be. Once this is done, continue using the app to track how many calories you consume a day via food and drinks. This can help you track and meet your goal each day without going too much over or under. .
Ps. also make sure that your diet is rich in complex carbs, lean protein, healthy fats, as well as lots of leafy green and non-starchy vegetables. Make sure to always drink a lot of water too.
If you are on a ketogenic diet and are experiencing this problem, check out the article ‘Why am I not losing weight on keto?’ to learn more.
Drinking water is an essential part of any weight loss and maintenance routine. If you do not consume enough water, your body ends up holding on to extra water to make up for the lack of incoming water.
This is referred to as water/fluid retention or edema and it usually leads to swelling of body parts including your abdomen, legs, ankles, feet, face, and hands. Luckily getting rid of water retention is super easy, just drink more water to hydrate yourself and move around more to sweat out any excess fluid trapped in the body.
Sometimes your health could be the thing holding you back from losing the extra weight. Illnesses like depression, PCOS, eating disorders like bulimia and binge-eating, as well as cushing syndrome and hypothyroidism are known to make weight loss harder from patients dealing with them (14). If you have or suspect you may have an underlying health condition, speak to your healthcare provider.
Some medicines are known to not only increase your appetite – which makes sticking to a calorie deficit hard – but may also reduce your metabolism which means less calorie burning. These two factors can reduce the rate at which you lose weight and can even lead to weight gain.
Such medications include (14)
Yes, gaining muscle could be the culprit behind working out but gaining weight. Remember that most bathroom scales do not differentiate between blood, muscle, fat, organs, etc., when measuring how much you weigh.
So if you are completely healthy, are not under any of the above mentioned medications and are sleeping enough, it’s very possible that your simple bathroom scale is recording increased muscle mass and you are mistaking it for increased fat.
As a male or female gaining weight while working out, we suggest investing in a body fat scale so your mind can be put to rest the next time you try to weigh yourself.
You need to consistently move your body in order to burn more calories than the small amount that the body naturally burns in its daily efforts to keep you alive and moving.
As mentioned in the weight loss plateau section, after around 6 months, the body gets used to your diet and workout routine which leads to stalling weight loss.
Try working out more – either by increasing the duration of your workout routine or increasing the intensity of the workout. This helps the body burn more calories and build muscle which helps with fat loss. Simply moving more throughout your day can also help. Work in small bursts of movement, like parking farther away or taking the stairs instead of the elevator. If you have a desk job, get up every hour and walk around for a few minutes.
Check out our article on burning 400 calories a day to see if this is possible and what you can do to achieve this.
If you wish to free yourself from all the extra pounds that have been weighing you down for way too long, start using the BetterMe: Health Coaching app and overhaul your entire life!
Any of the above mentioned factors could be the reason why the number on the scale is going up despite exercise and healthy eating. Take some time to examine your habits and eliminate the factors one by one to find the main reason why.
Muscle gain. While muscle weighs the same as fat, it tends to occupy a much smaller space in the body than the same amount of fat does. This is why you may look slimmer, your older clothes are hanging off you but you somehow weigh pretty much the same as your starting weight or more. In this case, try to ignore the scale and focus on other measures, like the way your clothes fit or your waist circumference.
You start losing weight as soon as you implement a calorie deficit to your diet and start exercising. However, the results may take a while to become noticeable to you and those around you. Weight loss changes can take anywhere between 6 weeks to 3 months to be very visible so be patient and remain consistent.
Because genetics play a large role in how fat is distributed in the body, it is hard to predict where an individual will start losing weight first (15, 16). However, research suggests that most men tend to lose fat/weight in their belly area while women lose it first in their hips, probably because that is where each sex tends to store more of it (17).
According to the CDC, steady and healthy weight loss means losing 1 to 2 pounds a week (18). Using these parameters, we can say that with exercise and a healthy calorie deficit diet, it’ll take you anywhere between 10 to 20 weeks to lose 20 lbs.
Read more: High Calorie Breakfast Ideas You Must Try for Muscle and Weight Gain
As shown above, there are many reasons why you may be experiencing weight gain despite eating healthy. If it’s not a plateau, it could be muscle loss or gain, hormonal problems, dehydration, etc. Talk to your healthcare provider about your individual concerns.
To some, yes it is. As stated above, 20 lb weight loss can happen in 10 weeks (2.3 months) to 20 weeks (4.6 months). Some people can achieve this goal in just 3 months while others will need all 4.6 months or longer to achieve the same goal. All bodies are different so just be patient and consistent.
Absolutely not. At least not naturally. But if you are undergoing weight loss surgery, then yes, you might.
Yes, you can. Weight loss results can start becoming visible as early as 6 weeks into the program for some people. Everyone is different. Don’t worry if it takes longer for you to see visible changes.
If you have been struggling with the question of why am I gaining weight even though I exercise and eat right, we hope that the above list has given you a better insight into what may be happening with your body. Observe how your body reacts to the suggested solutions and you might just see the changes you have been hoping to see.
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