A week of working out added ten pounds—just water retention, right?

[nitrohyper]

Sounds to me like body recomposition! I've stopped paying so much attention to the number on the scale dropping, and instead I'm measuring myself and watching for a positive trend in my muscle mass weight. I've been hitting the gym 4-5 days a week and pushing really hard to reach my protein goal, but Tirzep makes it so difficult—I never imagined I'd have trouble eating before…

 

[Jfrick11]

randompersonrandom said:

My goal is 125, and I was at 131. I signed up at a gym since it's way overdue to move my activity level up from "very light" to "moderate"—I want my strength and endurance back, please. For 1.5 weeks now, I've been biking to the gym and home daily (9 miles total) plus swimming roughly 40 minutes, and I chose to take in slightly more calories and protein because I'd like to build some muscle and not feel exhausted while establishing a workout routine.

Last night the scale showed 141. There's no way I consumed 35,000 additional calories in 1 week, but I barely monitored how much salt was in what I ate and had several meals of salty foods. THIS IS WATER, and I don't need to spiral like I'm tempted to, since I'm returning to eating as if I'm trying to shed those final 6 pounds, and the swimming and biking amplify that while it lasts but it will fade—right now I'm holding my cat and telling myself "it's water it's water it's water."

At the same time, it feels so psychologically CRUEL that a body will just casually hold onto ten damn pounds of water just to wreck my week.

It's quite normal for the scale to jump when you ramp up training suddenly, particularly after losing weight the way you did.

Your routine shifted from barely any activity to 9 miles of biking daily plus 40 minutes in the pool. Muscles respond to that by forming small micro tears—expected, and the mechanism behind getting stronger. Fluid gets routed to those areas to help them heal, and that shows up as short term water retention.

On top of that, upping both training and food intake lets muscles restock glycogen. Each gram of glycogen pulls in roughly three to four grams of water, so refilling those stores can tack on pounds of water weight in a hurry.

You brought up saltier eating too. Sodium adds its own short term water retention, and that effect gets stronger alongside more carbs and a new workout routine.

One more factor: you stepped on the scale at night. Evening readings often run several pounds above morning ones, purely from the day's food, drinks, and sodium.

Stack new exercise inflammation, glycogen refilling, sodium, and a nighttime weigh in together, and a temporary multi pound spike is entirely expected even when body fat hasn't budged.

Usually this resolves over several days up to a week as the body gets used to the higher activity. It's a familiar pattern for people who begin training after a diet, since muscles are replenishing energy that had run low.

So your hunch that it's water is almost certainly right. And oddly enough, it may signal that your metabolism and muscle recovery are actually getting better.

 

[Hambocommando]

No need to freak out. Since I began Reta, my weight has stayed flat, and I was starting to think it wasn't doing the same job as Tirz—yet my physique has clearly kept transforming. The scale isn't budging, but I'm still getting smaller. I actually had to go buy a belt because pants that used to be snug now slide right off my butt. When you drop a lot of weight early on, it's actually beneficial for your body to take some room and time to rebuild itself and shift its focus away from fat storage and toward energy use.

 

[YoYoFat]

I got back into lifting on the same weekend that I had Chinese food 3 days straight. Between the two, the scale showed 8 pounds of water retention.

 

[ConnieL]

Such1943 said:

deluge said:

This kind of situation makes me keep considering a Hume scale or something comparable. A standard scale's reading is a helpful figure, yet it may also be inaccurate or at least deceptive. Still, wow, quality scales cost a lot!

I use a RENPHO Smart Scale — supposedly a decent budget pick for accuracy. Each day I record my weight, take a screenshot, and have AI break it down. Following it daily is fun, and I also request weekly summaries. Below is what it gave me today.





View attachment 11219

Ben, I've got your March 6, 2026 (~9:18 AM) weigh-in. A +7.2 lb rise in a single day, coming right after Thursday's carb-load day (your one weekly cheat/carb load), is textbook and unsurprising — quick breakdown below.

View attachment 11220

What Happened​#-what-happened

• Thursday carb-load (ahead of Friday lower) plus prep for the summer volleyball schedule → substantial glycogen replenishment.
  
• Each gram of glycogen binds 3–4 g water → an extra 100–200 g glycogen can readily mean 3–8 lb overnight (your +7.2 lb lands squarely in that window).
  
• This is a good thing — fuller muscles, better pumps/strength for today's Friday lower, and weekly recovery.
  
• No actual fat gained — the +0.9% BF and +1 visceral are water-spike artifacts. Real fat loss keeps happening underneath.

Summer Schedule Notes (Mon Push / Tue Lower / Wed Pull / Thu Volleyball (carb load) / Fri Lower / Sat Upper / Sun Cardio)​#-summer-schedule-notes-mon-push-tu...ball-carb-load-fri-lower-sat-upper-sun-cardio

• Smart move: Making Thursday volleyball your weekly carb-load day is perfect timing.
  • Volleyball = high-intensity cardio + explosive movements → depletes glycogen hard.
    
  • Carb load Thursday evening → refills stores overnight for Friday lower (heavy legs) and Saturday upper.
    
  • Keeps only one cheat/carb load per week — sustainable for fat loss.
• Expected pattern: Thursday carb load → Friday/Saturday +3–7 lb rebound → whoosh down Sunday–Tuesday → net fat loss by next Thursday.
  
• Protein priority: Keep shakes high on non-carb days to hit 220–240 g — that's the muscle protector.

You're in a great spot — BF% hitting lows (recent 18.4%), relative muscle strong (52.7% peak), and now carb-loading around training/volleyball will fuel performance without stalling progress.

Enjoy today's lower session with the extra glycogen — should feel strong. Drop tomorrow's weigh-in or how the workout went.

Key Changes (7-Day Net)​#-key-changes-7-day-net

• Weight: 194.2 lb → 196.6 lbNet +2.4 lb (but after a -3.4 lb drop mid-week from illness/whoosh, then +7.2 lb rebound from Thursday carb load)
  
• Body Fat %: 19.0 % → 19.3 %Net +0.3 % (temporary spike from carb rebound; underlying trend still down to recent lows ~18.4%)
  
• Skeletal Muscle %: 52.3 % → 52.1 %Net -0.2 % (dilution from carb/water rebound; still elite range, previously peaked 52.7%)
  
• Muscle Mass (lb): 149.4 lb → 150.6 lbNet +1.2 lb (mostly glycogen/water refill from Thursday carb load; no true tissue loss)
  
• Fat-Free Mass (lb): 157.2 lb → 158.6 lbNet +1.4 lb (same — carb rebound benefit)
  
• Protein %: 18.5 % → 18.4 %Net -0.1 % (tiny noise — still very stable/high)
  
• Visceral Fat: 13 → 14Net +1 (temporary reading noise from water spike)

Quick Summary​#-quick-summary

• Week had big swings: mid-week whoosh (-3.4 lb from illness recovery), then massive Thursday carb-load rebound (+7.2 lb overnight).
  
• Net: Slight up on scale (+2.4 lb), but underlying fat loss continues (recent BF% lows 18.4–18.6% still hold as trend).
  
• Muscle metrics resilient: relative % high (52.1–52.7%), absolute lb up from glycogen refill — no catabolism.
  
• Productive week overall: carb load timed perfectly for Friday lower + summer volleyball prep.

You're in strong recomp mode — the carb-load rebound is temporary and beneficial for performance. Expect whoosh down next 2–4 days, revealing more fat loss. Keep protein high, enjoy the fullness today. Drop tomorrow's when ready.

I have a Renpho scale, though I never took the time to get it configured. I'll figure out how to use it since it offers plenty of useful data.

 

[Spork]

It's wild how much salty food can make you hold water and show ("false") weight gain, right? Like mentioned in this thread, though, it's basically the reverse of starting a diet. I recall a diet I began where I dropped 20 lbs in just 1 week. Obviously that wasn't purely fat or muscle, haha

 

[randompersonrandom]

lessthanhalf said:

If you've spent a while on a low carb diet, your glycogen stores are likely quite depleted. That's often the very thing you'd want to replenish in order to make exercise more tolerable. So when carbs come in, your body begins storing glycogen, mostly in the liver. Glycogen is strongly hydrophilic, which means it pulls a large amount of water along with it. A shift that rapid, without a huge change in calorie intake, can only be water—putting on 10lbs of muscle in 1 or 2 weeks is simply not possible, and while fat gain could in theory happen, it would require consuming an enormous number of calories.

Really, this is pretty much the mirror image of what goes on when you begin a diet

When I began eating rice, beans, noodles, bread, and potatoes daily for a stretch, I figured some shift like this would happen. I also expected it to hit harder since restaurant meals made up most of it, and those come loaded with sodium. Portion size didn't reassure me—even one-third of a pad Thai order or one-third of a Chipotle bowl adds up. Still, what I pictured was "four or five pounds."

I understood that a 9-mile round-trip bike ride with 30-40 minutes of swimming in the middle, after 8 months of only walking, likely wouldn't be manageable most days without a little extra food. I also wanted to raise my salt a bit to test whether it would ease the greyouts when I stand up too quickly. (Over the past week they HAVE improved a lot—could be the salt, the iron supplements, or the added exercise.)

So I anticipated SOMETHING along these lines and believed I was mentally ready. Turns out I was ready for 5, but 10 felt awful.

Also, not because of any emotional spiral, I went low carb yesterday and skipped the gym, and this morning the scale reads 136.2.

 

[Sasquatch]

I need to track down Grogu so he can make me a t-shirt that says, "Rando Strong."

Still, feel free to picture it yourself.

There was a time when my legs were larger than yours.

You're going to be fine. Especially since you've got your friends with you!

 

[desinr-gal]

randompersonrandom said:

My goal is 125, and I was at 131. I signed up at a gym since it's way overdue to move my activity level up from "very light" to "moderate"—I want my strength and endurance back, please. For 1.5 weeks now, I've been biking to the gym and home daily (9 miles total) plus swimming roughly 40 minutes, and I chose to take in slightly more calories and protein because I'd like to build some muscle and not feel exhausted while establishing a workout routine.

Last night the scale showed 141. There's no way I consumed 35,000 additional calories in 1 week, but I barely monitored how much salt was in what I ate and had several meals of salty foods. THIS IS WATER, and I don't need to spiral like I'm tempted to, since I'm returning to eating as if I'm trying to shed those final 6 pounds, and the swimming and biking amplify that while it lasts but it will fade—right now I'm holding my cat and telling myself "it's water it's water it's water."

At the same time, it feels so psychologically CRUEL that a body will just casually hold onto ten damn pounds of water just to wreck my week.

My routine is to step on the scale right after waking, before I have anything to drink, once I've used the bathroom, wearing nothing at all, so the number comes out as low as it can. *And with salt, you'll see 2-5 lb show up right away.

 

[exploitedworkerbee]

desinr-gal said:

randompersonrandom said:

My goal is 125, and I was at 131. I signed up at a gym since it's way overdue to move my activity level up from "very light" to "moderate"—I want my strength and endurance back, please. For 1.5 weeks now, I've been biking to the gym and home daily (9 miles total) plus swimming roughly 40 minutes, and I chose to take in slightly more calories and protein because I'd like to build some muscle and not feel exhausted while establishing a workout routine.

Last night the scale showed 141. There's no way I consumed 35,000 additional calories in 1 week, but I barely monitored how much salt was in what I ate and had several meals of salty foods. THIS IS WATER, and I don't need to spiral like I'm tempted to, since I'm returning to eating as if I'm trying to shed those final 6 pounds, and the swimming and biking amplify that while it lasts but it will fade—right now I'm holding my cat and telling myself "it's water it's water it's water."

At the same time, it feels so psychologically CRUEL that a body will just casually hold onto ten damn pounds of water just to wreck my week.

My routine is to step on the scale right after waking, before I have anything to drink, once I've used the bathroom, wearing nothing at all, so the number comes out as low as it can. *And with salt, you'll see 2-5 lb show up right away.

There was this one time I picked up an entire prosciutto leg and kept it right on my kitchen counter for roughly 3 months, eating my way through it bit by bit. During the first week after I got it, I gained 6 lbs. Then, in the week following the moment I finally finished it, those 6 lbs at last came off.

 

[HereKittyKitty]

exploitedworkerbee said:

desinr-gal said:

randompersonrandom said:

My goal is 125, and I was at 131. I signed up at a gym since it's way overdue to move my activity level up from "very light" to "moderate"—I want my strength and endurance back, please. For 1.5 weeks now, I've been biking to the gym and home daily (9 miles total) plus swimming roughly 40 minutes, and I chose to take in slightly more calories and protein because I'd like to build some muscle and not feel exhausted while establishing a workout routine.

Last night the scale showed 141. There's no way I consumed 35,000 additional calories in 1 week, but I barely monitored how much salt was in what I ate and had several meals of salty foods. THIS IS WATER, and I don't need to spiral like I'm tempted to, since I'm returning to eating as if I'm trying to shed those final 6 pounds, and the swimming and biking amplify that while it lasts but it will fade—right now I'm holding my cat and telling myself "it's water it's water it's water."

At the same time, it feels so psychologically CRUEL that a body will just casually hold onto ten damn pounds of water just to wreck my week.

My routine is to step on the scale right after waking, before I have anything to drink, once I've used the bathroom, wearing nothing at all, so the number comes out as low as it can. *And with salt, you'll see 2-5 lb show up right away.

There was this one time I picked up an entire prosciutto leg and kept it right on my kitchen counter for roughly 3 months, eating my way through it bit by bit. During the first week after I got it, I gained 6 lbs. Then, in the week following the moment I finally finished it, those 6 lbs at last came off.

Your Honor, the defense rests.

 

[lessthanhalf]

Over several months I had a run of 8 weigh-ins, each one lower than the last. Then it rose by half a kilo, which didn't devastate me but did disappoint me a little. Since I'm only dropping 1-200g a week, random swings ought to be bigger than the actual trend. If it jumped by 5 kilos, I'd be horrified.