Why do I gain weight after exercise?

I'm clearly trying to lose weight, so why am I gaining weight instead of losing it? Why do I gain weight after weight loss exercises? In fact, if you did not exercise before and then suddenly gained weight after exercise, it is not mainly because of the increase in fat. The main reason is the increase in glycogen and water retention in the body. Let’s find out the reasons with the editor. I hope everyone can understand and avoid these reasons, so as to achieve the effect of weight loss through exercise.

Exercise plays two important roles in weight loss, including:

1. Directly consume a large amount of calories, oxidize fat, and reduce weight.

2. Increasing the body's metabolic consumption and increasing daily energy consumption can also achieve the goal of losing weight.

It seems that under the influence of these two points, if we do not lose weight after exercise, it is already a "serious crime". Why do many people find that their weight has increased significantly after a few days of exercise?

Glycogen in the body increases water retention after exercise

During exercise, our bodies consume a large amount of muscle glycogen and liver glycogen. They are the first substances to provide energy during exercise. Data show that their total reserves in the human body are approximately between 250g and 400g. After exercise, due to the stimulation of exercise, the body generally stores more glycogen than before exercise.

Before a competition, professional athletes often follow the following classic diet and exercise schedule: 6 to 4 days before the competition, perform high-intensity, high-volume exercises to consume as much glycogen as possible; 3 to 1 day before the competition, reduce the intensity and volume of exercise, and increase the intake of sugary foods. This arrangement can increase the storage of glycogen in muscles by 1 to 2 times than before, and also improve endurance performance during competition.

After exercise, with a proper diet, liver glycogen will be replenished quickly. During the replenishment process, the body stores a large amount of water in a ratio of glycogen: water = 1:3 (this data is based on the widely cited experimental data from the University of Michigan in 1931.

Recent studies have also shown that the exact value of this data should be 1:2.4). That is to say, if you store 100g of glycogen in your body, you also need to store 3 times the amount of water, which means the total weight increase reaches 400g.

Overall, your weight will appear to have increased because of the increase in glycogen and water storage.

You still need to replenish water after exercise

It should be noted that although water needs to be stored in a ratio of 1:3 during the synthesis of glycogen, this does not mean that it is best not to drink water after exercise in order to lose weight. In fact, if you do not replenish water after a lot of sweating exercise, your body will easily become dehydrated, and glycogen will not be replenished, which will cause illness.

If you are doing high-intensity, intermittent strength training, your body needs to be replenished with water, and carbohydrates should be added to the water. Experiments have confirmed that supplementing with carbohydrate-containing drinks during this type of exercise can effectively delay physical fatigue and make the exercise more lasting.

Finally, what I want to say to everyone is that if you did not exercise before, but now have to exercise to lose weight, and then experience weight gain after exercise, don’t panic at this time, but understand that this is a normal physiological stage, and this stage will generally be eliminated within 1 or 2 weeks of regular exercise.