Weighing More After Exercise

[flipflop104]

Not really sure where to put this but since it's to do with exercising and weight and the body, I thought I'd start with B&S.

A friend of mine is on a diet and exercising and she is obsessed with weighing herself (I know, I know - she's bonkers and I've told her lol). She used to weigh herself three (yes, that's three!!!) times a day - morning, evening and after exercising.

However, she has stoppped weighing herself after exercising as she says, without fail, she has always "put on" 2lbs and within a few hours she has "lost" those 2lbs again.

She has therefore concluded that exercising causes her to gain 2lb temporarily but my question is WHY?

She said maybe becuase her muscles are expanded and filled with blood or something but surely that blood is from somewhere else in the body and the body doesn't make extra blood for a couple of hours and then gets rid of it.

The exercises she does are rowing machine, running machine and sit ups. The cardio work is done over a peeriod of about an hour so is not anaerobic work.

[makemesmile]

Only a guess, I'm not a doc, but it could be fluid. i.e. when she exercises she probably drinks water or similar and this may add extra weight. As her body is active, it may also hold on to fluid, thinking it may be needed more than usual.

[butterfly23]

Is she weighing her self on the same scales each time?
As the scales in the gym may differ from the ones at home,

[flipflop104]

Her gym is at home (yeah, I know - makes you sick dunnit?!)

[Loosehead]

It's probably water. There is also the scales, normal strain guage scales are very unreliable, you can weigh different amounts depending on where you stand. 2lbs is 1.6 pints of water that's entirely drinkable in a workout. Tell her to get some balance scales expensive but much more reliable.

[Noweia]

During exercise, if you drink no fluids and don't drink anything, you should lose weight, as you lose fluid in sweat. However, as other posters have mentioned, if your friend drinks plenty during exercise she may increase in weight.

You can prove the point to her by getting her to record how much she drinks and comparing that to the apparent weight gain!

[gobbledegeek]

If you don't drink during exercise you will lose weight through sweat. As 1 litre of water weighs 1kg if you drink a 500ml bottle of water, for example, you'will instantly put on 500 grams. However, don't let this put you off. Tell your friend that it's very important to drink when exercising - and water has no calories!