Extra exercise but gaining weight?!

rio1

I am a 6ft tall female who used to weight about 11 stone and was happy with that, but over the last year or so I gave up smoking and gained a stone. I have taken up cycling and started healthy eating in a big way over the last 2 weeks. I am cycling 20km each day, eating yogurt and a brown scone in the morning - with no butter - salad for lunch, and veg, meat or fish in the evenings. I have had the odd square of chocolate, but really no pigging out at all, so I am horrified to discover I have gained 5 pounds in the last 2 weeks. My legs and behind feel harder than normal, so I think this may be muscle, but my clothes fit no better and I don't know what to do...is the exercise a mistake, should I give it up and just diet? Is it normal to gain weight like this at the start of a new regime and how long does it take to reverse it?

chrism2007

weighing scales are the devils craft

it must be fairly boring to cycle that much everyday. it probably doesnt even challenge your body at this stage

get into the gym and hit the weight benches

challenge your body

how many calories a day do you eat?

MagicMarker

You need to work on your diet, it's not very good. It doesn't look like you're eating enough, aim for 5-6 small meals a day, read the stickies for specifics.

The cycling is great, try and add a weights regime, this will be more effective overall.

I wouldn't worry too much about what the scales say, they can be misleading & inaccurate.

Post up a sample of what you eat on a daily basis, include everything & be honest!

cowzerp

Keep up the diet and reduce calories, spread the reduced calories over 4-5 snacks instead of 3 meals a day, cut out the chocolate etc..

keep up the exercise as it will burn calories and help you lose weight..

Giving up smokes does not make you gain weight, the replacing smokes with food does though! you need to cut out the extra calories you've added, even if you did not realise you added them..

itsallaboutheL

cowzerp wrote: »

Keep up the diet and reduce calories, spread the reduced calories over 4-5 snacks instead of 3 meals a day, cut out the chocolate etc..

keep up the exercise as it will burn calories and help you lose weight..

Giving up smokes does not make you gain weight, the replacing smokes with food does though! you need to cut out the extra calories you've added, even if you did not realise you added them..

dont be mad, OP doesn't seem to be getting half enough calories as is!

cowzerp

itsallaboutheL wrote: »

dont be mad, OP doesn't seem to be getting half enough calories as is!

wrong, you dont gain 5lbs in 2 weeks by under eating..you may lose muscle etc.. but that would still equate to weight loss which the op is not reporting..

she is simply just eating muck like scones and chocolate and not breaking her meals into smaller but regular snacks..

MagicMarker

I would question the accuracy of the 5lb weight gain. I doubt she gained that and if she really did then I doubt her diet is as she says it is.

itsallaboutheL

cowzerp wrote: »

wrong, you dont gain 5lbs in 2 weeks by under eating..you may lose muscle etc.. but that would still equate to weight loss which the op is not reporting..

she is simply just eating muck like scones and chocolate and not breaking her meals into smaller but regular snacks..

You're putting a 5lb pound gain down to the odd square of chocolate and a brown scone!!!!!:cool:

OP did you weigh yourself at the same times? same scales? how hydrated were you, had you just eaten, had am... bowel movements..... wearing diff clothes.

cowzerp

itsallaboutheL wrote: »

You're putting a 5lb pound gain down to the odd square of chocolate and a brown scone!!!!!:cool:

OP did you weigh yourself at the same times? same scales? how hydrated were you, had you just eaten, had am... bowel movements..... wearing diff clothes.

Thats just part of the diet we're aware of, she is eating too much calories, no doubt, the muck just shows she's not eating right either.

rio1

I am honestly not eating a load of muck!
My normal diet consists of something like this:
Breakfast after a 10km cycle to work at about 8.30am: 1 glass non concentrate orange juice, 1 brown scone with a little sugar free jam and an activia jogurt.
Mid Morning, about 11am: An apple and a coffee (no sugar)
Lunch: Around 2pm, usually a prepacked superquinn greek salad..according to the packet it has about 230 calories. I have a small bread roll with it with low low butter. Sometimes a sald wrap with tuna and onion, or a bowl of soup and a roll.
5.30pm, I cycle 10km home, mostly uphill
7pm: Dinner: Usually chicken, beef or fish of some discription, a mixture of veg. Potato about 3 times a week, rice or pasta once.
I will sometimes have a square of green and blacks dark chocolate in the evening, but a bar of it can last in my fridge for 2 weeks so I am seriously not pigging out on the stuff.
Also a cup of tea in the evening and a glass of wine on a Friday night and again on a Saturday evening.
I agree giving up smoking doesn't make me gain weight, I clearly replaced it with a little more food leading to a weight gain of a stone over a year. I know I could get this stone off in a month if I cut out carbs as I did this once before to loose 7 pounds before a wedding and I lost it in 2 weeks, but I felt drained then by that and don't think its sustainable long term so decided this time to eat healthy food and exercise more. I feel great for the increased exercise, much more awake and I don't find it boring as the alternative is an hour on the bus so I can't believe I never did it before. Its exercise and transport in one.
I was 100% certainly up 5 pounds on the same scales at the same time of the day. The only thing I can think of is that I ate potatoes the night before so that might have had an impact, but hardly 5 pounds, I had 2 potatoes, not a big bag of them!
I am not seriously overweight or anything, I'm 6ft tall,a size 12, I just thought doing so much exercise would help me really shift the pounds fast so was really shocked that I was heavier...

ntlbell

scones/jam/bread rolls/potatoes/wine/chocolate

While none are bad in moderation I would consider removing them all for a few months.

i think you're probably doing what most people do and think they don't eat a lot of muck but when you add up all muck over a month you will probably be very surprised with the amount of calories or your taken in.

As stated try and break up into 5 healthy meals

a scone with jam sugar free or not and a yoghurt is not very healthy breakfast.

you don't really burn that many calories cycling unless your really pushing very hard for the whole time of the ride a gentle cycle into work won't really do a lot.

have a look through the stickies ge'm's nutritional tips etc are excellent and i have based my own eating habbits around her advice.

Maybe start off small and just give the choc/wine/scone's for a month or two up the exercise and tidy up the general diet a little bit and you should see results pretty quickly

Fluffybums

I know the BMI has its faults, but at 6' and 11st to 11st 5lb, the OP has a BMI of around 21 which is within the normal, healthy range.
Rather than go on what the scales are telling you, look at your clothes, are they any tighter/looser, this is probably a healthier way to decide whether you are getting fatter. If you are gaining muscle mass, it is not unreasonable to expect a gain in weight.

Re-read OP, even at 12st to 12st 5lb the BMI is still within the normal healthy range.

**Timbuk2**

Your diet looks good - just make sure that you are getting enough throughout the day and that what you do eat is split into about 5-6 meals, rather than 3/4

I know people say don't go by the scales, but, in general, women cannot gain muscle mass quickly so therefore it would be very difficult to gain 5 pounds of muscle (which is a huge amount of muscle) in 2 weeks. However, your weight can vary a lot throughout the day depending on how much water you consumed, how much you've eaten etc. In the morning before breakfast is always a good time to weigh yourself as you can compare to other days this way (reasonably empty stomach)

As for the exercise - it is possible that your body is becoming used to it (quite a common problem - the human body is extrememly adaptive). How do you feel when you are doing it? Are you out of breath etc?

In addition to the cycling, try another form of exercise instead. Walking/running is great, as is swimming if you are able to get to a pool.

Mink

rio1 wrote: »

I just thought doing so much exercise would help me really shift the pounds fast so was really shocked that I was heavier...

I can completely empathize with you. I haven't changed my diet (it's fairly good) & have been doing 1/2hr runs almost every night or else 1hr fast walks for about 2 weeks. And I've gained approx 4 lbs!
I tend to pack muscle on my legs very fast so I'm hoping that's all it's down to and also probably fluid retention.
I have read somewhere that when you initially start excercising, your muscles bulk up from extra fluid needed to repair them while your body adjusts to the extra strain &activity. Could be absolute rubbish, but I'm hoping it's correct.
Don't let it put you off either way, keep it up & you'll see results

ntlbell

Mink wrote: »

I can completely empathize with you. I haven't changed my diet (it's fairly good) & have been doing 1/2hr runs almost every night or else 1hr fast walks for about 2 weeks. And I've gained approx 4 lbs!
I tend to pack muscle on my legs very fast so I'm hoping that's all it's down to and also probably fluid retention.
I have read somewhere that when you initially start excercising, your muscles bulk up from extra fluid needed to repair them while your body adjusts to the extra strain &activity. Could be absolute rubbish, but I'm hoping it's correct.
Don't let it put you off either way, keep it up & you'll see results

I found the same when I started jogging.

It might be a better idea to take measurements and measure yourself every 4 weeks and ignore the scales.

I put on a huge amount of muscle on my legs in the first two/three months and didn't seem to change that much on the scales but I dropped two inches off the waist etc

the scales can be very misleading and sometimes very disheartening.

Mink

Well it begs the question, why is it often said that cardio is the way to drop body fat (presumably if calorie intake is less than outgo). It's annoying when you build muscle AND keep most of the fat. Then it get's really hard to fit in clothes, trousers are very tight today :rolleyes:

ntlbell

Mink wrote: »

Well it begs the question, why is it often said that cardio is the way to drop body fat (presumably if calorie intake is less than outgo). It's annoying when you build muscle AND keep most of the fat. Then it get's really hard to fit in clothes, trousers are very tight today :rolleyes:

If you're using more cal's than you take you will most definitely loose body FAT.

Maybe throw your diet up in the nutrition forum and see can people help with it a lot of the time it's not as clean as we like to think

For me running sheds body fat like nothing else.

cowzerp

Mink wrote: »

Well it begs the question, why is it often said that cardio is the way to drop body fat (presumably if calorie intake is less than outgo). It's annoying when you build muscle AND keep most of the fat. Then it get's really hard to fit in clothes, trousers are very tight today :rolleyes:

Unless your a genetic freak running will not build muscle, and if your in a calorie restricted diet you dont build muscle anyway!! the muscle getting hard does not mean your building, it just means your muscle is not saggy anymore.

I wish there was the opposite of the thanks function on here to save time.

Mink

cowzerp wrote: »

I wish there was the opposite of the thanks function on here to save time.

Indeed :rolleyes:

ntlbell

cowzerp wrote: »

Unless your a genetic freak running will not build muscle, and if your in a calorie restricted diet you dont build muscle anyway!! the muscle getting hard does not mean your building, it just means your muscle is not saggy anymore.

I wish there was the opposite of the thanks function on here to save time.

Of course you will build muscle, especially if your doing sprint splits etc.

You won't be walking around like Carl Lewis but it most definitely will build muscle.

celestial

Seeing that you have gained 5lbs on the scale means absolutely nothing - even more so given you have only been exercising for 2 weeks. Your weight can fluctuate wildly within one day, never mind 2 weeks. It is very dependent on level of food consumed, hydration etc.

Two weeks may be a bit early to see noticeable changes - keep up the clean diet and regular exercise and watch how you look in the mirror and how your clothes fit over the coming weeks and you should see a difference. These are the best guides to progress.

celestial

ntlbell wrote: »

Of course you will build muscle, especially if your doing sprint splits etc.

You won't be walking around like Carl Lewis but it most definitely will build muscle.

She's female, she's running, and she's dieting. If she feels she's building muscle right now then it's either because she can feel the muscles working now or she has lost a little fat which is helping to reveal the muscle beneath.

ntlbell

celestial wrote: »

She's female, she's running, and she's dieting. If she feels she's building muscle right now then it's either because she can feel the muscles working now or she has lost a little fat which is helping to reveal the muscle beneath.

I'm just pointing out saying running won't build muscle out right is just plain wrong.

cowzerp

ntlbell wrote: »

I'm just pointing out saying running won't build muscle out right is just plain wrong.

For 1, nobody said anything about split sprints!
and for 2, look at long distance runners, there all skinny and low muscled!

sonia o sullivan been 1 example.

Running will not build muscle, as i already stated (unless your a genetic freak)

Your wrong, and on a negative calorie diet you would not gain either so there is lots of truths been left out here.

ntlbell

cowzerp wrote: »

For 1, nobody said anything about split sprints!
and for 2, look at long distance runners, there all skinny and low muscled!

sonia o sullivan been 1 example.

Running will not build muscle, as i already stated (unless your a genetic freak)

Your wrong, and on a negative calorie diet you would not gain either so there is lots of truths been left out here.

running can be used to build up muscle, how you run will depend on the amount of muscle.

Once the Fast Twitch fibers or whatever they're called are being worked you will build muscle, these tend to start working at as low as a pacy jog, a gentle stroll in the park won't build muscle but once you get quicker and those fibers start working you will build muscle.

it's like saying weight lifting won't gain muscle mass if your lifting feathers

obviously, increase the weight and the muscle will grow, increase the speed of the run and muscles will grow.

what's sprinting at the end of the day? running quickly...

I really don't want want to get into a handbag discussion over it.

OP, as I said run your diet by the guys in the nutrition forum and jog away, the weight will come off no doubt and unless your looking to be carl lewis etc the conversation on leg muscle is irrelevant and I apoligise for diverting your thread into this nonsense.

cowzerp

ntlbell wrote: »

running can be used to build up muscle, how you run will depend on the amount of muscle.

Once the Fast Twitch fibers or whatever they're called are being worked you will build muscle, these tend to start working at as low as a pacy jog,

Jogging is aerobic exercise, sprinting is anaerobic just like weights! running as the op is talking about is aerobic and is not meant to build muscle-its **** talk like that, that gets women walking instead of running due to fear of becoming muscley!

ntlbell wrote: »

it's like saying weight lifting won't gain muscle mass if your lifting feathers

Weight lifting is meant to build muscle if done in conjuction with muscle building diet, thats a terrible comparison and makes no sense. and if lifting feathers you would not build muscle!!

MagicMarker

ntlbell wrote: »

it's like saying weight lifting won't gain muscle mass if your lifting feathers.

Erm.....

rubadub

Sprinters build their bodies in the gym lifting heavy wieghts, not running for 10second bursts. I heard some of them could probably have competed in lifting events if they had taken up training specifically. I think Ben Johnson and Linford Christie squatted huge amounts.

I have heard overweight beginners can gain muscle on a calorie deficit, I reckon I did (very slowly). Many peoples muscles will have atrophied over the years from lack of use so it would not surprise me if there was some muscle growth, just like the cuts on my fingers heal and develop new tissue when on a calorie deficit. Of course it is not the way to go if you want to build muscle.

ntlbell

cowzerp wrote: »

Weight lifting is meant to build muscle if done in conjuction with muscle building diet, thats a terrible comparison and makes no sense. and if lifting feathers you would not build muscle!!

Of course you wouldn't! thats the point.

gentle/light jogging etc won't build muscle.

lifting light weight's, won't build muscle.

Increase the weight, muscle builds, increase the speed of the run, muscle will build.

The quicker you run the difference in the fibers that are worked will increase the chance of muscle's being built.

ntlbell

rubadub wrote: »

Sprinters build their bodies in the gym lifting heavy wieghts, not running for 10second bursts. I heard some of them could probably have competed in lifting events if they had taken up training specifically. I think Ben Johnson and Linford Christie squatted huge amounts.

There's no doubt they worked out in the gym.

but actually sprinting will also build the muscle.

mrDerek

rio1 wrote: »

I am a 6ft tall female

my kinda woman haha