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Thread: Increased fitness + health but weight gain?

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    Featured Member Incantatious's Avatar
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    Default Increased fitness + health but weight gain?

    I recently moved in with my boyfriend and his brother who leads an extremely fitness-focused lifestyle and works out. I gave up smoking a couple of months ago and since I've moved with these guys I have taken up exercising 30 mins per day. (Before this, I did not work out at all, would get out of breath simply walking up stairs, and went through phases of smoking more than I ate).
    We also live on a very high, steep hill, which requires walking up and down it to get to the town center. Initially, the walking killed me, but I have been finding it easier and easier to get up it as the days have gone on.

    I am 5 ft 4 and weighed 8 stone. I have gained around a stone in a few weeks! My belly feels bigger and podgier, but I feel much fitter and healthier. Although - I have not weighed this much since my early teen "puppy fat" years and can't help but worry I'll get bigger despite all of these very positive lifestyle changes. Is this normal? I don't want to have done all this only to get fat!




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    Default Re: Increased fitness + health but weight gain?

    It's pretty normal to gain some weight when you first start working out. You've probably put on a little muscle, which is a heavy thing, and you might be eating more because you are hungrier from burning the extra calories.

    What type of exercise are you doing?

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    Default Re: Increased fitness + health but weight gain?

    Quote Originally Posted by SuperJa View Post
    It's pretty normal to gain some weight when you first start working out. You've probably put on a little muscle, which is a heavy thing, and you might be eating more because you are hungrier from burning the extra calories.

    What type of exercise are you doing?
    Thank you. Yes I have been hungrier and eating more! I have been using an elliptical trainer.




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    Default Re: Increased fitness + health but weight gain?

    I hate to say it but quitting smoking will make you gain weight at first. I AM NOT saying that you should start smoking again but nicotine is an appetite suppressant so combine the loss of that with the stress that is quitting smoking and it makes a recipe for weight gain. I know I had a really hard time quitting smoking just because every time I did, I would gain 5 lbs or more. I finally did and now I am at my lowest weight since middle school, but I also ballooned up to my highest weight ever after quitting smoking before I started working out.

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    Default Re: Increased fitness + health but weight gain?

    I'm going to say some things that go opposite to what has already been said, so bear in mind, this is just my personal experience!

    I have never gone from being sedentary to eating better/working out more and gained weight. And for the most part, that shouldn't happen for any real physiological reason. Yes - muscle weighs more than fat does, but that only really comes into play after a certain point. When you first start working out, you are gaining very little muscle mass, but should be burning a LOT of fat, so you lose weight. However, when you have lost most of your excess body fat but are still building muscle, that is the point where you may start gaining weight again while still getting slimmer/more toned. It doesn't sound like you are there from the info you give in your post.

    And quitting smoking in and of itself will not make you gain weight. If you maintained EXACTLY the same amount of exercise, and ate exactly the same, you shouldn't gain anything. Depending on your own body, you could gain a small amount (smoking stimluates, so quitting may slow your metabolism very slightly) or LOSE a small amount (better sleep patterns = weight loss). Either way, it would be very small.

    However, there are a few things working against you.

    1. Quitting smoking usually leads people to eat more. Boredom, trying to replace the cigarette, etc. It can also cause cravings for sugar/carbs, which are weight-loss enemies!!! Also, nicotine is an appetite suppressant, and giving up will give you a bigger appetite. This is why people usually gain weight from quitting, not anything to do with the affect of nicotine withdrawl on the body.

    2. When you start working out more, most people overcompensate for that in their food intake. Exercise burns off far less calories than most people think, and food provides more than most people think. So many people end up gaining weight after starting a regime, because they might walk a little more and then do 30 mins on the elliptical (using your example) and then rationalize bigger portions or extra junk food because they have been "working out and must need the calories". Whereas in reality, depending on your size and intensity of workout, that exercise may have burned as little as 3-400 calories, which can be consumed incredibly easily.

    3. Most men who are into fitness are looking to gain weight. Muscle, not fat, but still - men's trainers and fitness magazines focus on food plans that will put ON weight. If a woman starts following those same plans in an attempt to lose weight (because she feels that these fit guys should know what they are doing) she will gain. And if your bf is anything like the fitness obsessed guys I know - they are burning literally THOUSANDS of calories at the gym, not just doing a little cardio....so they can afford to eat far more. If they are working out a lot, they may also be upping their carbs and protein to compensate, whereas upping carbs when you are NOT working out like a crazy person is a surefire way to gain.

    Ugh!

    I would recommend taking measurements - this will easily let you figure out if you are shrinking or growing in the right places! Take photos as well, so that you can SEE the difference. And be really, really aware of your food - not just how much, but what you are eating.

    And congrats on quitting the smoking! Stick with it!!
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    Default Re: Increased fitness + health but weight gain?

    Also - it looks like you were at a good weight before - possibly even a little underweight, so gaining a bit of muscle isn't a bad thing!!

    But gaining nearly 14lbs in a couple weeks? There is definitely something amiss!!
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