Q&A Post: Weight gain after events, sore muscles, and hard efforts.

I was asked this weekend about gaining weight after an intense effort or an event.  This is an extrememly common question to me and one that I also hear in my WW meetings all the time.  Here is the basic question that I recieved:

“I read that one can gain 2-4 pounds in water retention when muscles are sore ……….  Do you have any experiences with how some of your hard runs/races have affected your weigh-in’s?”

Here are some simple points directly from my own experiences.

• I have gained weight after EVERY event that I have run in. 
• I have gained weight most of the time after HARD EFFORT workouts.
• I have gained weight EVERY time when I do my weigh-in with very sore muscles.

Now I don’t have a Doctoral degree in musculo-skeletal issues, but I do have some experience with the issue at hand.  I have found that hard efforts (that is whatever pushes YOU hard), your muscles get sore, and this translates (for me) into gaining weight on the very short term.  This NEVER ends up being permanent weight gain.  In fact, after a gain  at the school I will almost always post a loss the next week after the healing process of my muscles.  Hear is what I have heard as to the reasons a person can gain weight even after buring 4000+ calories:

• After are hard workout, glycogen is depleted and when you eat sugar (from simple or complex carbs) your muscles will soak up a fair amount of it along with some water right away.
• When you work out hard, you get tiny micro-tears in your muscles.  To repair, they retain some water to help the process along.
• Once your muscles get better even though maybe not fully healed, your body starts to move the water, waste, blood, etc. through you muscles much more normally causing you to “lose” the weight.

In reality, the weight gain is false.  It is part of it.  It is possible to lose weight after events especially if you get dehydrated but once you begin to re-hydrate you will gain it back.  This little yo-yo in your weight should not be taken to seriously.  I do not weigh-in anymore after most of my hard events just so that I don’t feel bad for gaining because I am pretty positive I will and I also know that it is essentially meaningless.

So keep your head up and don’t worry to much.  In this type of circumstancial weight gain, the weight will come off just as easy as it seemed to come on.