Can you gain weight even though you exercise?

Why do you sometimes gain weight after exercising?

It's likely a combination of factors, but don't let it stop you from working out. If you've ever started an especially vigorous workout regime with good faith and enthusiasm, only to be met with disappointment as the scale goes past the weight you started with, you may have had a lingering question: Why does exercise make me gain weight? Is there a biological explanation, or am I just unlucky. The answer is multifaceted, a physical activity expert told Live Science. Any post-workout weight gain is most likely the combination of a few factors, but crucially, it doesn't mean you should give up on exercise. "People don't understand that doing exercise is good even if you're gaining weight," Corinne Caillaud, a professor of physical activity and digital health at the University of Sydney in Australia, told Live Science. "While exercise plays a role in weight control, the other side of the coin is food intake," Caillaud said. If a person notices their weight increasing, it's worthwhile to review the quantity and quality of the food they're eating, she said. Their post-exercise weight gain could be explained by what and how much they're eating.  "You may be thinking that, 'Well, I've done exercise, and so I'm fine to eat more,'" Caillaud noted. While there's nothing wrong with an occasional treat, exercising is unlikely to offset the effect of increasing the frequency of indulging in junk food.  But assuming that your diet hasn't changed, there are still a few other biological quirks that could explain the weight gain. If you're not used to a good workout and then go whole hog, you could end up straining your muscles more than you should. In other words, your muscle fibers suffer microtears, but that's not cause for concern because when this happens, your body sends nutrition to the muscles to help repair the damage, according to University Hospitals in Cleveland, Ohio. It's the reason why your muscles ache the next day, but over time it leads to muscle growth. Read more...

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