Do You Get Fatter Before Losing Weight? The Unexpected Truth Behind Weight Loss

The First Few Days: What’s Actually Happening?

You decide to start your weight loss journey. You’ve cleaned out the pantry, meal prepped your veggies, and maybe even joined a gym. But then—wait a minute—you feel heavier. Maybe the scale even nudges up a bit. Hold on, are you getting fatter before losing weight?

Water Retention and Glycogen: The Sneaky Culprits

This might sound weird, but yeah, it’s kinda normal. When you begin a new diet (especially one that’s lower in carbs), your body starts burning through stored glycogen. Glycogen holds onto water—like, a lot of it. So, initially, if you’re not doing keto or cutting carbs drastically, your body may actually hold onto water as a reaction to sudden change. That’s where the "puffy" feeling comes from. Not fat. Just water.

Now, on the flip side, if you’re training hard (like hitting strength workouts), your muscles might temporarily swell due to inflammation and water retention. Again—not fat, just your body adjusting.

Why the Scale Lies (Especially at the Beginning)

Here’s a kicker: the scale doesn’t just measure fat. It measures everything—water, muscle, food in your stomach, you name it.

Daily Fluctuations Are Real

Don’t panic if you’re up a pound or two in the first week. That fluctuation could be from a salty meal, hormonal shifts, or even just a heavier-than-usual dinner. Honestly, the scale is kinda rude like that.

Muscle Gain vs. Fat Loss

Sometimes, especially with beginners, you're gaining muscle while losing fat. Muscle is denser than fat—so you might look slimmer but weigh the same (or even a bit more). It’s frustrating but also kinda cool when you realize your jeans fit better even though the scale isn’t moving.

Psychological Traps: The “Am I Doing This Right?” Spiral

You look in the mirror, you feel bloated, and your motivation dips. Totally normal, but dangerous if it leads to giving up too soon.

The Impatience Problem

Weight loss isn’t linear. Some days you’ll drop a pound. Some days you’ll gain two. It’s chaotic. But overall, if your habits are right, the trend usually moves downward. The trick is sticking with it long enough to see that trend.

Sometimes, honestly, we expect too much too fast. Like, three days of eating clean and we’re already googling "why am I not skinny yet." Been there.

Overtraining and Stress: Unexpected Weight Gain Factors

Ironically, if you go too hard—working out every day, not sleeping enough, eating too little—your cortisol (stress hormone) spikes. That can lead to water retention and even fat storage, especially around your belly. So yep, being too obsessed can backfire. Who knew?

Temporary Weight Gain Is Not Fat Gain

Let’s be super clear: gaining weight doesn’t always mean gaining fat. Repeat that. Tape it to your fridge.

Some Examples

• A big meal: 1-2 lbs more the next morning? Completely normal.

• Sore muscles: inflammation causes water retention.

• Menstrual cycle: for women, weight can fluctuate 2–5 lbs depending on the phase. No joke.

• Traveling: flying = bloating = false weight gain.

These are temporary shifts. They do not reflect your progress.

So... Do You Get Fatter Before You Get Leaner?

Here’s the honest truth: not really. You don’t actually gain fat just because you started eating better or moving more. But your body does go through a weird phase of adjustment where it might look or feel like that.

At the start, water retention, hormonal changes, muscle inflammation, and digestion shifts can mask fat loss. The result? A temporary bump or plateau. But that’s not failure—it’s biology doing its thing.

Actually, scratch that—it’s your body doing its job.

So next time you hop on the scale and freak out, just breathe. Give it time. The fat loss is probably already happening underneath the noise. Be patient, keep showing up, and trust that the real change is coming—even if your jeans aren’t screaming it yet.

Is 165 cm normal for a 15 year old?

The predicted height for a female, based on your parents heights, is 155 to 165cm. Most 15 year old girls are nearly done growing. I was too. It's a very normal height for a girl.

Is 160 cm too tall for a 12 year old?

How Tall Should a 12 Year Old Be? We can only speak to national average heights here in North America, whereby, a 12 year old girl would be between 137 cm to 162 cm tall (4-1/2 to 5-1/3 feet). A 12 year old boy should be between 137 cm to 160 cm tall (4-1/2 to 5-1/4 feet).

How tall is a average 15 year old?

Average Height to Weight for Teenage Boys - 13 to 20 Years

How to get taller at 18?

Staying physically active is even more essential from childhood to grow and improve overall health. But taking it up even in adulthood can help you add a few inches to your height. Strength-building exercises, yoga, jumping rope, and biking all can help to increase your flexibility and grow a few inches taller.

Is 5.7 a good height for a 15 year old boy?

Generally speaking, the average height for 15 year olds girls is 62.9 inches (or 159.7 cm). On the other hand, teen boys at the age of 15 have a much higher average height, which is 67.0 inches (or 170.1 cm).

Can you grow between 16 and 18?

Most girls stop growing taller by age 14 or 15. However, after their early teenage growth spurt, boys continue gaining height at a gradual pace until around 18. Note that some kids will stop growing earlier and others may keep growing a year or two more.

Can you grow 1 cm after 17?

Even with a healthy diet, most people's height won't increase after age 18 to 20. The graph below shows the rate of growth from birth to age 20. As you can see, the growth lines fall to zero between ages 18 and 20 ( 7 , 8 ). The reason why your height stops increasing is your bones, specifically your growth plates.