Gaining Weight While Exercising

Losing weight by exercising may not be as easy as it sounds. Many a times, it happens that instead of losing weight you may find that you have actually gained some weight. You are taken completely by surprise, "I am gaining weight while exercising!". It is really unbelievable but it is true. In such a scenario, lots of self doubts are bound to jumble up your mind. You keep asking yourself various questions like why am I gaining weight while exercising, is any thing seriously wrong with me, should I exercise more and eat less and many more. I would like to advise you not to get panicked. Here I am trying to unfold all the possible reasons that can lead to gaining weight while exercising.

Wrong Choice of Exercises
Doing any exercise may not help you in losing weight. Suppose, if you are doing walking exercise and end up strolling in the garden for 45 minutes, it is not going to help you anyway in burning any calories. Rather, you have to walk at a decent pace for all through the 45 minutes at least 4-5 times every week. Then you may see some results at the end of , say, 3 weeks. As your fitness level increases, you have to enhance the intensity of your workouts so that more calories can be lost. Walking, dancing, yoga are some of the best forms of exercises that can help in losing weight. Do not focus your exercises on any one particular muscle group. As more number of muscle groups are included, more energy will be burned off. To know more read on fat burning exercises.

Gaining of Muscle Mass
For beginners, gaining weight while exercising and dieting is quite common. This happens because muscle mass is built up due to the exercise program. You may be losing fat but they are being replaced by muscles. Since muscles are heavier as compared to fat, we may find that there is weight gain but it is because of useful muscle mass and not due to the unwanted fat. In this way, your body becomes healthier than what it was prior to exercising.

Eating Extra Calories
When we start exercising many of us stop keeping a watch on the quantity of calorie intake. As a result, it may happen that we may end up eating more calories than we can burn out with the help of exercises. Diet and exercises must go hand in hand in order to succeed in the weight loss program. If you increase the amount of calories taken, then you have to make sure that you intensify your workouts or increase the number of days of your exercise program so that the additional amount of calories can be burned off.

Not Eating Sufficient Calories
When you are dieting for fat loss, it often happens that you end up supplying lesser amount of calories to your body, than what it actually needs. It is a big mistake and hence should be avoided. Due to absence of adequate amount of calories, your body will slow down its rate of metabolism to preserve energy. In the process, the fat reserves of your body increase and you gain weight. Therefore, it is very important that you eat right kind of food. It should include all those nutrients that are required for normal functioning of the body, including fats and carbohydrates. They provide us with useful energy and hence should not be stopped. You can cut down on the quantity of the meals but increase the number of meals accordingly, so that you do not feel very hungry very frequently.

Underlying Medical Problem
There are people who are exercising regularly with full dedication and eating a proper balanced diet, yet there is weight gain. In such condition, the cause of weight gain could be some health problem like thyroid problem or menopause. Even some hormonal problems can make the weight loss difficult. Under all such circumstances, you should consult your doctor for the treatment of your health problems. Some form of medication like birth control pills and cholesterol pills can lead to gaining of weight.

Stress can be another major factor that can prevent loss of weight by exercising. If your mind and body are not free from stress, then it is likely that you may not get enough good sleep at night. Research studies have found that if you catch up with a good sleep then it will help in weight loss. Try to get rid of that stress and catch an extra hour of sleep while you are exercising and it will help you to lose weight .

There is nothing more frustrating for people who are trying to lose weight finding out that they are actually gaining weight while exercising. They are taking so much of efforts to get rid of those extra kilos but those efforts fail to yield any satisfactory results. Form this article, I hope you could figure it out which reason is hampering your weight loss program. Try to improve that condition and carry out your workout program regularly in a disciplined manner and I am sure your efforts will be paid off very soon.