So I’ve Gained 12 Pounds.

Since January 2018.

How do I feel about my weight gain? Well I LOVE my body – both how it looks and feels. It’s still a work in progress, but I’ve come so far! Am I a fan of seeing the number on the scale – eh, it’s just kind of whatever. In January 2018 I weighed 129 and this morning I weight 141 for reference of actual numbers. Before I started living a healthy lifestyle, I weighed 175+ pounds. Let’s not judge my sticker from Piano night at Howl at the Moon. Most people don’t remember me ever being this heavy, and that’s because I didn’t take or share many pictures at that stage!

For height reference – I am 5’ 3.5” but haven’t measured my height in years!

Let’s Talk about Gaining Weight on a Fitness Journey and Hating Seeing the Number Increase on the Scale.

How do I handle it?  Personally, I just don’t weigh myself very often.  I also have to be VERY confident in how I look, feel, and am progressing on my fitness journey.  That number is JUST A NUMBER.  It doesn’t have anything to do with my self worth.  Progress photos, measurements and getting on a scale that breaks down your percentage of body fat as well as your lean muscle mass are way better tools to see your true progress.  (Most wellness. Nutrition and supplement stores have an in-body scale available for their customers to use.  I go to Complete Nutrition in College Station to use their In-Body Machine.)

You can read the importance of progress photos blog that I wrote on the PowHer.fit website HERE.

Remember the same weight of muscle takes up way less space, is more dense, more toned, and way more desirable than the same weight of fat.  I actually have learned to embrace the fact that I’ve gained lean muscle mass.  Why?  Because I worked HARD to do so.  Grant reminds me all the time that even though I’m HEAVIER, I’m still SMALLER (in the right places) and so much FIRMER!

The more lean muscle mass you have, the more fat your body burns on its own (even at a resting state).  It’s called Resting metabolic rate (also called RMR) is the rate at which your body burns energy when it is at complete rest. How awesome is that?  I love being able to help women accomplish these goals with the @powher.fit web app. My current maintenance calories are 2531!

Feeling bloated or like you’re carrying more water weight than you’d like?  Well, for starters, if you’re a female who has a period (cycle), this is going to happen!  I usually hold onto 4-6 lbs of extra water weight every time it’s “my time of the month.”  Notice I didn’t say I gained weight!  It’s REALLY  HARD to gain 4-6 pounds overnight, but you can hold onto excess water weight. So on my “cycle” I’m currently 144-146.

  Your body has to intake a surplus of 3500 calories stored in excess in order to gain a pound of fat.  So in order to gain 5 pounds that means an extra input of 17,500 calories verses output of energy.  That takes at least more than a day typically! :).

If you eat high sodium items or salt your food a lot, you will also see excess fluid retention.  If you’re eating those carbs to help build your muscle (remember, we LIKE carbs around here!), remember for every 1 gram of carbs you’ll hold onto 4 grams of water.  If you’ve had some serious weight lifting sessions, your body may also be holding onto extra water to lubricate those muscles!  Why?  Because of the microscopic tears occurring in your muscle fibers when you lift weights.  This is part of BUILDING your lean muscle mass, so don’t stress if you retain water.  Your body knows what it needs to do to take proper care of itself.

Last thing I’ll say about water retention is this may be because you’re dehydrated!  Now wait, you’re probably wondering why I’m telling you to drink MORE water when you’re worried about water retention!?  If you aren’t drinking enough water and your body hits a state of dehydration, your body will begin to retain water as a survival mechanism.  So quit stressing about the fluid retention – it’s not a FAT weight gain.  That’s the real kind of weight gain to be concerned about!.

So don’t let the number on the scale define you, keep eating those carbs to fuel your body, don’t be afraid to lift all the weights to help grow your lean muscle mass (remember the more muscle you build, the more calories and fat your body will burn on its own!), and keep chugging that water, girl!  Life is way too short to worry about the amount of water weight retention you’re holding.  Sometimes your body NEEDS it!

If you’re worried about jumping into full body weight training, remember you can try your first workout FREE at www.powher.fit.  There’s a free home workout option, as well as a gym option – just like within all of our programs.

For a chance to win prizes valued up to $500 in the month of September – be sure to read the PowHer.fit September Challenge Details here.  You have until Monday September 2 to get your “before content” turned in to qualify!

in case you missed my first ever mini series, you can catch a recap here: The Art of Balancing it All blog by me! The other 2 parts of the series are linked within this post, too!

Thanks for reading along! Beautiful photos by GT Studios and Hair/Makeup by Versy Picone.

xo,