Stepped up exercise/gained weight

[ACG]

So I finally got cleared by my PT to got back to gym. Stepped up my exercise, 3 days a week, 1 hour each class, combo weight training, eliptical class. That with riding on weekends now, about 100 miles for both days.

I have gained 5 lbs in 2 weeks.:eek: And I'm hungry all the time and I'm thursty all the time.

I stepped up my water intake, and started eating and egg with my morning oatmeal. I don't drink, soda, flavored coffees or fast food. For some reason I'm craving lunch meat!

Just need some help and advice and anyones .02 cents would be great. Thanks.

[ny biker]

Well, if you're hungry and thirsty then you need to eat and drink more. Possibly eating smaller, more frequent meals would help. I would guess the lunch meat cravings mean you need more protein and/or more salt.

This is assuming no underlying healthy problems, e.g., thyroid or diabetes problems.

Also, some people cut back on their "daily living" activity level when they ramp up their exercise, either because they're more tired or they don't have time or they just don't think it's necessary. I'm talking about things like taking stairs instead of elevators, parking farther away from a store vs in a parking spot right next to the door, driving to run errands instead of walking. The result is that the overall daily caloric expenditure can actually decrease even though the amount of time exercising has increased.

[roo4]

I doubt that you gained 5 "real" pounds in two weeks. Anecdotally (n=1) I generally gain weight when I exercise. Some of it is water--I tend to bloat up when I do long cardio sessions. When I slack off a bit, the weight drops immediately.

Be sure you aren't using exercise as an excuse to eat. Like me. :blush: Try not to think "oh, I exercised for an hour so I need this brownie and smoothie and extra slice of pizza. And a beer. Or two."

[Skippyak]

Track calories accurately, drink water. test your blood sugar. IMO the only thing that really uses calories there are your two rides of 50 miles each, even those two for me wouldn't add up to more than maybe 2400 total calories burned only if they were hilly. If you want exercise to burn calories to create a deficit, you need to not eat like you are fueling as such. 3500 calories deficit might mean a pound of fat lost. 3500 caloric deficit from exercise is quite a commitment. So if you eat extra you are eating away at the deficit. Weight loss mostly comes from the kitchen. So track calories, drink enough, eat clean, high fiber, not processed food like lunchmeat.

[thekarens]

My personal experience is weight loss is almost completely about the diet.

Exercise is for fitness.

The only time I've been able to successfully lose weight is when I've tracked every bite I put in my mouth. That's how I lost 60lbs.

[tealtreak]

ACG there is no photo of you so I don't know if this is relevant- but I always weigh 5 to 8 lbs more at peak fitness. When I am doing a lot of rowing/ lifting and mountain biking I am at my heaviest, so I have always assumed haha it is muscle. In contrast, the year my husband almost died and I spent months pacing at the hospital with no "real" exercise I shrunk....Personally, I will happily take the extra lbs (again, no idea what size you are- I am talking about still at healthy weight)

[OakLeaf]

What's in lunch meat? Protein. Salt. When I crave pizza, nine times out of ten it's because I need salt. Now that you've stepped up your sweat volume and the weather's hot, how's your sodium intake ... especially since you say you stepped up your water intake, which always creates a risk of hyponatremia? Besides adding that 7 g protein in that egg, how much protein are you getting? Are you getting a good recovery snack after your workout? If I don't force myself to eat within an hour or so after a glycogen-depleting effort I'll be ravenous for literally days.

I don't really have any input on the weight "gain" beyond what others have said, but cravings deserve to be honored, which isn't always the same as indulged. They ARE telling you something.

[Skippyak]

Careful about recovery food too, the three weekday workouts are very unlikly to be glycogen depleting sweatfests, 1 hour classes are often inclusive of ditzing around, warm ups and cool downs, it is not likely you dent your glycogen stores, so protein if you use it at all after a workout needs to be low low calorie. And those weekend rides burn depends on the effort.
I don't buy into cravings as a physiological sign. When I crave a really nice beer, it is my mind that is in control, not my body.

[OakLeaf]

Well, that's the difference between honoring and indulging. :D Maybe you want hydration, maybe you want cooling, maybe you want carbs, maybe you want a buzz, maybe all four!

But there's a difference in my mind between wanting something and really craving it, too. Part, maybe even the very first part, of learning to listen to your body, is being able to untangle what your body is telling you vs what your emotions are telling you.

[kluv2cruz]

Someone suggested to me that I need to SLOW down on my long ride - by riding in the 60-70% heart rate zone rather than pushing myself hard like I had been doing, I hope to not be so darn hungry! I've now spent some time today researching that theory and tomorrow on my long ride will experiment with this. Also - I'm experimenting with pickles, bacon wrapped dates, dried fruit and nuts, as well as my staple, pb&j sandwiches. I sweat more than my riding partner and am hungrier than him, so what works for him, clearly is not the same as what works for me. Drink water supplemented with nuun tablets or ultima or gatorade to replace your sodium and you may quench that thirst. And... eat a pickle. Happy riding.

[marni]

May I also point out that muscle weighs more than fat, so you might try taking some measurements of diameter and the fat pinch and see if perhaps part of what is happening is that you are gaining lean muscle while losing fat. I can be disheartening until you figure out what works for you and just when you get it figured out, it all changes.

I have also learned that machines at the gym routinely measure your calorie burn at about twice at what it really is so don't wiegh and measure obsessively but do keep track on a regular basis since it is all a long term plan anyway.

[Susan]

That may be controversial, but maybe you are just doing too much. More isn't always better. Adding more exercise time adds more stress to your body. Stress can lead to weight gain.

3 hard training hours + 100 Miles on the bike per week just sounds like a lot to me. Don't get me wrong, I'm an exercise junkie too, at times. The question ist just what you want to achieve. If weight loss/fitness is your only goal, I would just try to do less.

[Crankin]

I have to agree with Susan. At a certain point, you have to look at what is too much for you. I can ride 100+ miles a week, but not do that and do boot camp. And I can't ride and run much, either. No matter how much I space it out, if I run, my legs hurt and then it affects my cycling speed and my general fatigue level. If I ever wanted to really work on being a better runner, I'd have to limit cycling to 1X a week and I made the decision not to do that. Running makes me drop pounds more quickly, but it's not worth the wear and tear on my body. In fact, boot camp is pretty stressful to me in a general way, but I need the muscle and bone building. I have to take 2 rest days now, although one of them is sometimes an easy ride or yoga. Granted, I am almost 60, but over training has always been an issue for me. I used to teach 7 aerobics classes a week when I was in my early 30s and I weighed 10-15 pounds less than I do now, had 2 little kids, a full time job, and lots of volunteer activities. I was sick ALL of the time, had a stress fracture and plantar fascitis all during this time, as well as asthma. People who didn't know me well always thought I was anorexic.
I learned my lesson.

[Catrin]

I concur, there is certainly a point where we are doing too much. You need to have the right balance between work and rest - and too much can also make injury more likely. My coaches and nutritionists keep reminding me that exercise is good for many things - but not weight loss. THAT is diet, and you need to fuel your body properly for both your activity level and recover. Over-training is so easy, I've had issues with that since I got off the couch. What is your ultimate goal, weight loss or fitness? It is very difficult to gain muscle while trying to lose body fat.

I do 3 hours a week of cross-training that looks very much like Crossfit - if I were to attempt to ride 100 miles a week I would quickly be on the injured list. These days I focus on my group training, and supplement that with riding when I can and some trail running/walking. Like Crankin, my gym work IS stressful to my body but I need the bone building and muscle.

[breeze]

Are you getting enough solid sleep? That tends to be one of the problem areas for me. When I am sleep deprived, weight gain tends to follow.

[Sky King]

I like to use a program like My Fitness Pal when I want to make sure I am eating well. I like it because it tracks more than calories. I joined a fantastic fitness program 1 year ago. After my initial weigh in, I intentionally did not weigh myself for 3 weeks as I knew I was going to gain muscle before the fat started to leave. After the first six months I lost 17 pounds of fat but the scale only moved 9 pounds. My body fat percentage went from 33.7 to 25.2. Using My Fitness Pal really helped as I was focused on reducing carbs and upping protein. Also our trainer has us intake protein prior to workout and carbs after work out. Granted when on my bike I do eat more carbs during the ride for fuel.

In a nutshell, I say don't weigh yourself but do track your food.