Gaining weight from jogging? Help!

aretel · 03-Nov-05, 11:24 AM

I'm having more issues now since I've been working out than when I wasn't!
I'm eating right, watching those pesky calories and have been jogging regularly now for over 4 weeks. Been working out since August. I'm feeling great! I'm more active now than I was 2 years ago. But, since I've been jogging, I've started to put on weight! What's up with that????

I thought that with a cardio workout, you burn calories, thus, lose weight. In the four weeks that I've been jogging, I've gained roughly 6 pounds! I took a pregancy test yesterday so I could rule that out

! I'm not sick. I'm sleeping well. Overall, my health seems great! A friend of mine has suggested that it's all muscle that I've built up. Could this be the case?? If so, when is this extra muscle going to start kicking in and help to get rid of this mushy stuff on my body so I can lose weight?:confused:

tim_mcf · 03-Nov-05, 11:50 AM

Muscle is heavy - and it looks good. You need to decide if looking and feeling good is more important to you, or if lower numbers on the scale is what you really want. It took me a long time to fully accept this myself - I kept wanting to see the tangible numerical improvement in my weight and started to obsess about that, rather than focusing on how I felt and looked. If I were you, I would not only watch the scale, but also get a tape measure and keep track of your measurements - chest, bicep, thigh, calf, waist, and umb (belly button level). Also hips, I suppose, since you're a woman. As long as waist, umb, and hips are getting smaller and bicep, chest, thigh, and calf are getting bigger, who cares if the weight is going up instead of down?

**threenorns** · 03-Nov-05, 12:12 PM

screw the weight - how do you LOOK? you wanna instantly lose weight on the scales? weigh yourself, use the toilet, then weigh yourself again. voila.

throw the damned scales out - just buy a pair of pants that's just a bit too small to zip up and try them on again in a month: you can't argue with that kind of result, no matter what the scale says.

aretel · 03-Nov-05, 04:03 PM

I look about the same. If I can scare up the time when I get home this evening, I'm going to measure other body parts (thighs, etc.) since they seem to be my trouble spots anyways. I've got my measurements from August that I was able to compare to yesterday's measurements but they were roughly the same, too. Jogging is getting easier, I'm happy to say. The first part of my jog is pretty effortless. It's after about 20-25 minutes that I actually feel fatigued.

**threenorns** · 03-Nov-05, 04:18 PM

yeah - that's when your body is switching from burning glycogen to burning fatty acids. using fat for fuel is twice as slow as using glycogen, so your performance will take a hit. keep going, though. the longer you go, the more benefits you get from an increased post-workout metabolism.

aretel · 03-Nov-05, 05:02 PM

Using the fatty acids-I assume this is when the fat itself is converted to a fuel. The glycogen is a "free" fuel, right? Just push myself a bit longer through the fat burning stage (without killing myself)...gotcha. :-)

**threenorns** · 03-Nov-05, 05:09 PM

lol - no, your body uses ATP at the beginning of an aerobic workout to power your muscles until your heart and lungs get up to enough speed to deliver oxygen at a rate that will allow fat-burning. primes the pump, you might say. get past that stage, and you're into fat-burning. while it's a bonus to burn fat while you're jogging, that's not the important part. the important part is the post-exercise metabolic boost - *that* is where the majority of your fat-burning happens.

glycogen is not "free" fuel (not sure what that means) - it's the body's preferred fuel because it's converted extremely quickly.

CF-OC_gal · 03-Nov-05, 06:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tim_mcf

Muscle is heavy - and it looks good. You need to decide if looking and feeling good is more important to you, or if lower numbers on the scale is what you really want. It took me a long time to fully accept this myself - I kept wanting to see the tangible numerical improvement in my weight and started to obsess about that, rather than focusing on how I felt and looked. If I were you, I would not only watch the scale, but also get a tape measure and keep track of your measurements - chest, bicep, thigh, calf, waist, and umb (belly button level). Also hips, I suppose, since you're a woman. As long as waist, umb, and hips are getting smaller and bicep, chest, thigh, and calf are getting bigger, who cares if the weight is going up instead of down?

Great answer!

If you have been upping the amount of carbs you eat in order to fuel your workouts you likely are carrying around a few extra pounds of water. It takes more water to process carbs than fat or protein (thus the sudden weight loss the first few weeks when going on a low carb diet!)

**Pelon** · 11-Nov-05, 05:47 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by aretel

I'm having more issues now since I've been working out than when I wasn't!
I'm eating right, watching those pesky calories and have been jogging regularly now for over 4 weeks. Been working out since August. I'm feeling great! I'm more active now than I was 2 years ago. But, since I've been jogging, I've started to put on weight! What's up with that????

I thought that with a cardio workout, you burn calories, thus, lose weight. In the four weeks that I've been jogging, I've gained roughly 6 pounds! I took a pregancy test yesterday so I could rule that out

! I'm not sick. I'm sleeping well. Overall, my health seems great! A friend of mine has suggested that it's all muscle that I've built up. Could this be the case?? If so, when is this extra muscle going to start kicking in and help to get rid of this mushy stuff on my body so I can lose weight?:confused:

Weight gain at the start of an exercise program is very common. Most sedentary people don't store much glycogen in their muscle tissue. When you start working out, your glycogen stores increase. At the same time, the amount of water retained in your muscles also increases. These two things can lead to a substantial increase in body weight, but it is not bad weight. I would only become concerned if the increase continues or if your clothes do not eventually start to get looser.