Don't be surprised if… you gain weight when you start training!
One of the main reasons we women start exercising is to keep our figure or even lose a little weight. But even if you stick with your training, you might get a fright when you step on the scale after the first few weeks.
In the early stages, our whole body adapts to the new activity we're putting it through. One of these adaptations is muscular: when we start training regularly, our muscle fibers grow and get stronger. This gain in muscle mass is what shows up as weight gain.
Many athletes find it contradictory to exercise more and yet gain weight. But this extra muscle speeds up our metabolism, because muscle tissue is what burns the most energy in our body. So in the long run, and with the right diet, exercise helps us lose weight in a healthy way.
So in the first few weeks, rather than going by our weight, we should go by our measurements. With training, we really are burning more fat.
So rather than the scale, our best guide might be a tape measure – or, even better, checking how the clothes we wear every day fit.
Núria Puig – Nutrition and Dietetics graduate, specializing in sports.