My Prosperous World

If you incessantly check your weight, you may be losing motivation very quickly. Keep in mind, however, that even though your weight may be going up, you could be making substantial progress in the right direction.

In fact, many women actually gain weight while losing fat when just starting off with an exercise program. Especially if there is a lot of resistance training involved. Why does this happen? Because of H20.

Now you may already be aware of the fact that water can lead to excess and temporary weight gain. However, have you pinpointed the exact source of your excess water gain? If you haven’t, here are 5 weight gain gremlins:

1. Food. If you started exercising a lot, you may be eating more. This is normal. And food has weight. So if you eat a big meal, expect an immediate increase in weight. Now if the food is loaded with sodium, you could easily gain a couple pounds very quickly.

2. Everything carb. Your body needs carbs, there is NO way around this. The brains preferred source of fuel is glucose-a simple carbohydrate. And in order for your body to take in carbs it also needs water. How much? For every one part of carb it needs 3 parts water.

3. Table salt. It’s everywhere, even in the places you least suspect. And you are most likely underestimating the effect it’s having on you just like most women. In my experience, most women are aware of the dangers of salt, but few actually have an accurate estimate of just how much extra water they are carrying.

4. Taking a bath. Your skin is a big organ and it can do many things including suck up water. This is one of the main reasons many clueless athletes fail to make their weigh ins. Does this mean you should stop bathing? I’ll leave that one up to you!

5. Lifting weights. Lifting weights will cause you to gain weight unless you are on an aggressive diet. But don’t freak out, the weight gain will eventually plateau and in the long run you’ll be much better off than the cardio bunnies. Where does the weight come from? And increased storage capacity for carbohydrates and water.

The take home point here is to NOT obsess over the weight scale readings. I see far too many women get discouraged because they are gaining weight. Only if they knew that they were also losing fat!