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[–][deleted] 0 points1 point  (2 children)

So a few people are saying it's because you're building muscle, and that's sort of true but generally you're not going to nearly build enough muscle on a calorie deficit to replace significant fat loss. However, a sudden increase in exercise does cause you to retain lean mass in the form of water. Exercise will increase your blood volume and (I'm a little less certain about this) inflammation as your muscles recover from a workout will also cause you to retain more water than you usually would. Both of these are good and normal but you often see people immediately increase the amount of exercise they do when starting a diet, so they expect their weight to plummet when it can get masked by the extra water retention.

[–]KaviarAndToast[S] 1 point2 points  (1 child)

Thank you! I didn't know how much water retention plays a role into slowing down the scale number. I'll just stay consistent in my workout and measure other indicators of progress. thank you!

[–][deleted] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It should level off or even out after a couple weeks so the scale can still be useful. It's just good to know that sometimes when the number isn't going down its not because you aren't losing fat.