Working Out — And Gaining Weight?
 

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Meg that is a very good article, thanks for posting it... I like it so much I made it a sticky :D...

That's such a great article! Thanks so much!

It is also very possible that this person is weight training and gaining muscle mass but still dropping fat. Their figure can still change dramatically, however, their weight will either increse or stay the same. This is why BMI calculators can be wrong in their calculations.

A great article Meg! One other thing that most people don't think about when they start exercising is the role of water in their weight. It is so easy to lose weight from dehydration, or gain it when your muscles are sore and swollen. I'm always 2 lbs up after leg day, about 2 lbs down after a hot run, and you guys know how obsessive I am about tracking these things. Water fluctuations come and go quickly, a day or two maybe, but seeing a quick spike or drop can scare a person if they aren't expecting it.

Hydrate!

Anne

I am really interested in weight training to strengthen my bones and tone up to look/feel fit. But I have a question: Should one wait until they're closer to goal before weight lifting? I'm still about 10-15 pounds to goal and I'm pretty obsessed with the scale right now. Since I'm getting closer to goal, it is a very sloooow process. I am currently walking/running (C25K program) every other day for 30-45 minutes and on alternate days do a Denise Austin etc video which works all muscles by using body weight (ie crunches, leg lifts, arm bends, tush tighteners, etc). I was planning on continuing with this schedule until I finish the C25K program that I am currently doing which is another six weeks, if I stay on plan. This should also bring me about 10 pounds from goal at that time. Any advice or suggestions?

I don't see why anyone should wait to do weight training at all. I think that doing it all during weight loss only benefits you.

This is exactly my problem. I loss 16 pounds then gained 3 back. But I can feel more muscles :carrot: but Im gaining weight :mad:

I really do think that you should incorporate weight training now, eventhough you may or may not gain a pound or two OR it may make getting to your goal slower but the extra muscle will help your running and endurance and you'll have great looking legs :yes: ... Plus when you lose more fat your muscles will show through everywhere and this will look much better in the end.

i find that the more often i work out are the weeks that i have a gain at the scale....what's up with that? http://www.3fatchicks.net/img/purpvi...150/197.4/.png

cheenamom -- As Anne mentions there are so many variables and factors that make us fluctuate also included in there is TOM... Just keep exercising and doing what's right, with PATIENCE :rolleyes: EVENTUALLY the scale WILL go down...

Thanks Ilene for your post of encouragement (and Meg for the original post).

I just started lifting weights and probably should have started sooner :yes:. It seemed like I woke up one day recently and was "okay" about my weight (ie scale) since I was seeing improvement with my energy, appearance, and health charts (dropped my cholesterol to normal range!). I still have about 10lbs to go for ideal, but nice and easy will get me there. And what motivates me now with WT is that when I do get there my body will be firm and strong! You, Meg, Mel, and a few others have really inspired me to incorporate this activity into my lifestyle - thanks to everyone!

Question about the Calories!!!
 

Where can you find out how many calories you should eat a day to help you lose weight?

I am interested in trying this method and would love to try this as another goal!



If someone could maybe point me in the right direction, that would be great!

TIA!!

Erika Leigh

Hi Erika Leigh!
This thread has lots of help for you...they say it way better than I was gonna. :)

Bump.

about post gym eating...its normal to feel hungry, and also good to eat within 45 minwhen ur metab is high and also to replace glycogen stores...but its key not to eat fatty foods...i read the meal should consist of mostly healthy carbs and light protein right after the gym...and the healthy carbs will fill u up so u dont feel so crazed...and something very light before your exercise, like yogurt and fruit, milk and fruit...

I have a question or two about exercising also - I just joined a gym and am so excited. I've been exercising at home for the last month trying to build my endurance, which has been very poor, but I've already improved so much - I've mostly been doing stationary bike, treadmill, and my Biggest Loser Workout DVD. A group from my office joined the gym and I have a meeting with the trainer late next week. Of course my goal is to lose weight - a lot of it to improve my overall health. Until I meet with the trainer, I'm not really certain what I should be doing - should I just continue with the bikes, treadmills, etc? I have no idea how long I should work out. I always hear about calories in/calories out but am not quite certain what that means - does that mean if you eat 1200 calories a day you should try and burn 1200 calories a day? I know - probably a stupid question, but this stuff has always confused me. Thanks for your help.

:wave: Hi FellingGood :wel3fc: congrats on starting to exercise and eating healthy....

You can find umpteen sites that will tell you how many calories you should eat and how much you are burning through exercise, but when it comes down to the nitty gritty, everyone's metabolism is different and what works for one person may not work for another. You just have to find the amount of calories and exercise that works for you.

At your present weight IMO you could start at high as 2200 calories/day and along with at least 20-30 mins of exercise daily... This is to start, as you lose weight you will need less calories to keep losing, and probably more exercise as you get better at working out.

For the moment I would just keep doing what you were doing til you meet with your trainer...

angie!
hey there, welcome to 3FC! Kudos to you for making a change in your life, you're on your way to a healthy new you!
first off, 1200 cals? no no no, thats way too little for u, esp if ur exercising...heres a link, one of the other ladies on this site posted...its easy to follow and gives you how many cals you should eat based on your weight, height, activity level...but in my opinion they are a bit too high, and until you see your trainer you should stick to the stationary life style caloric intake values even though your exercising...heres the link...
http://nutrition.about.com/library/b...tion_guide.htm
another thing, keep doing what your doing exercise wise, you dont want any drastic changes before meeting with your trainer...you dont want to go in there with sore muscles or an injury bc you're trying to impress your trainer...
so, eat lots of fruits, veggies, lean meats, low fat dairy, and healthy carbs, stick to your exercise regimn, and good luck to you with your trainer!

one last thing...about cals in vs. cals out...
for you to lose 1 pound of fat..you have to spare 3500 calories in ONE week...
so that can mean eat 500 cals less per day, or lose it with exercise....(500 x 7 day=3500) if u want to lose 2 lbs per week,7000 (2 x 3500) calorie deficit per week...now your BMR (basal metabolic rate) is the amount of food you have to eat to sustain all your vital organs functioning (thats the 1200 most ladies are talking about)...but ur BMR varies based on weight, mines 1500 or so...you can check it on the website link i sent you...anyway, BMR isnt how much you burn per day, thats what you burn if u slept the entire day, just what your organs need, not your muscles!...
so you have to take into account every activity in your waking day...probably adds another 1000cals (reading, walking to the store, cooking and so on...)...in a nut shell before i totally lose you...ur BMR plus what you burn 'LIVING" equals lets say 2200 (BMR 1200 and LIVING 1000) so to lose a pound of fat per week you have to eat 500 less per day~ 2200-500= 1700 cal! OR exercise it off, so you eat 2200 cals but exercise 500 off! which still equals 1700 input per day...thats what intake vs output means,..remember these values are based on someone close to their goal, so your will probably be higher...i really hope i didnt confuse you, lol...the website i posted before already does this for you, just thought you might want to kno how it works, i would definately ask the trainer to explain it once again! hope this helps!

reddalice~ after the gym you can have carbs and protein! you acually should have carbs and protein to restore your livers sugar stores (glycogen)...just think lean protein, and healthy carbs to cut out excess fat..you dont have to eat a banana or starve! lol...before the gym is when you should be light...nothing for 2 hrs before and 2 hrs before should be yogurt and fruit, skim milk and fruit....

Thank you for posting this article, something similar happened to me a few months back. I didn't gain weight, but I wasn't losing any weight, and I became very frustrated with people telling me it was muscle I was gaining.

Great article, and loved reading the replies to this post as well. VERY helpful. Now to absorb it all.

If you exercise regularly you will develop your muscles. Size for size muscle tissue weighs twice as much as body fat, so although you may be decreasing in size, you may not necessarily be decreasing in weight.

Weight is not that crucial, if you stayed at your current weight but slimmed down to your desired size, would you be happy? You should be!

Better to ditch the scales and use a tape measure.

exercise and not losing weight
 

Hi, I've always exercised in one form or another but after I hit 40 the weight increased. It got worse in my 50's. A doctor told me to except it. Has anyone else been told this by a doctor with regard to getting older?

TryItDiet: I was told that at my last apt. w/my doc. She mentioned that my metabolism is slowing down a bit and also a few other odd things. I am going for bloodwork to figure see everything is in order... Ie: my thyroid levels, my meds (at correct levels) etc.

Hmmmm, well, I gained weight when training for my half marathon and well, pretty much I've been gaining weight overall and I work out like a dog. I have cut my carbs WAY down to 50 g/day or less and have seen dramatic increase in muscle mass and a visible drop in body fat. For me, the carbs...any carbs at any time is the cause for my weight gain. As long as I eat carbs real low on the glycemic index and a lot of healthy fat I'm on the losing side. I would be STARVING after a 10+ mile run and eat complex/healthy carb and my body just stored it for some reason. Now I have protein and a healthy fat and I'm losing wonderfully. I guess our body chemistries are all different ;)

love it, love it, love it!! very true

great article..thanks for posting

Great article!!! It's very in depth, which I did NOT expect it to be. :-)

I don't think that's entirely accurate. The gaining 10 lbs in such a short time, probably, but I do think there's something to say about gaining muscle while losing fat.

I have been working out now for about 8 weeks (6 days a week, 30-45 min. per day). I've only lost 3 pounds, but I've also gone down a full size to size and a half, depending on where I shop, all my pants are very baggy, and people have been commenting. That cannot be from 3 pounds, so the only explanation to me is that I am gaining muscle while losing fat. And looking good, to me, matters more than what the scale is showing.

A woman can generally gain about 5-7lbs of lean mass (ie. muscle) per year while eating above maintenance calories and lifting heavy weights. That is the general guidelines we use in female body building (and the same intensity/effort as body building).

Gaining weight when working out is either due to water retention (beginners), eating excess calories due to hunger (common for beginners and everyone else), and over the long-term (ie. years) can be from building lean muscle mass :D

this is sooo helpful. I was really scared to start working out just yet. I'm addicted to moving the numbers on the scale in the right direction. I cant get over how awesome 3FC has been for me!! Thank you alll sooo much.

I followed a link posted earlier ( the internetfitness.com/calculators/bmr.htm one) and this is what I got with my inputs:

1517 BMR
3095Total energy requirement (with my current 60min per day of treadmill)
2993 Total energy requirement (if I stop the treadmill)

Those numbers do not make sense to me! I would think that 1 hr of fast walking on a treadmill would burn more than 100 calories, wouldn't it? And don't the numbers seem very high to begin with? I am 5'3 and around 175 (gotta get a scale) so it seems like my BMR would be lower and those numbers with daily activity and with structured exercise seem ridiculous!

Plus, Medifast, which I am starting tomorrow because the package arrives today, is around 1000 calorie per day right?

I need help figuring this out. I want to lose weight and I wouldn't mind losing 4-5lbs per week as is possible with Medifast, just for the first month though, but I want to lose sensibly and sustainably.

My day is only moderately active without the treadmill ( 2 kids and 1 dog still at home so I keep up with them plus housework) and I have read I am supposed to cut down the treadmill severely the first few weeks. I worry about that. I also worry that I will cut too many calories and end up sabotaging myself.

Any advice?

I just started couch25K and have also experienced a slight weight gain. I am currently on WW and am still eating within my daily points, so I'm not eating more. Any advice??

When I started working out, I also gained weight. I find it to be a normal process because the muscles are being worked more than usual. I increased my weight by about two to three pounds when I started weight training back in August.

I don't look too much into it and I suggest that the same for everyone. Just don't start food binging like crazy because building muscles isn't preventing the body from gaining pounds.

I used to move furniture for a living for 10 years. That's a lot of heavy lifting 5 to 6 days a week. I used to weigh more when I did that than I do now because of all the muscle I had built up over time. Now I work in an office and don't weigh as much as I used to when I had all that daily exercise. I really can't speak to the science of why people gain weight when they first start weight training, but I have that experience to help me through it. Hopefully, this info will help people not get discouraged from doing their weight training.

I started doing Bikram yoga about 5 weeks ago. I weighed myself on day 2 or 3 of that. I weighed myself again almost four weeks later. I had GAINED OVER 10 lbs!! I freaked. I knew I was smaller in size. I knew I had been eating better (but still too much!). I upped my hyrdration and electrolyte supplements (your body can hang on to too much water if you're leaching out too much via sweat) and lost 6 pounds over a weekend. I've lost another 2lb since, but I'm still 2lbs up from my original weigh-in. And there's no doubt that I'm smaller! My yoga teacher even said yesterday that my weight loss was incredible. it's not always straightforward.

However, I do want to add that I gain muscle mass MUCH easier than most women do.

This happens to me during weeks where I decide to increase my exercise but I have learned to add a light week (2-3 days with less weight training) immediately after a heavy week (5-6 days and intense weight training on 3-4 days) and I see steady (although not big numbers) weight loss with this approach.