Exercise + weight?

I know that is hasn't been very long, but for I'd say the past week or so I've been trying to get into a pretty healthy lifestyle.. eating less processed crap, less white carbs, no soda, no snack cakes blah blah, more fresh fruits & vegetables from the farmers market. I've also been walking about 1-1.5 miles (20-30 minutes) on my tredmil every day or every other day (I think 5/7 days the past week..) and some slight weight training (a few reps with some 5-10 pound dumbbells) but my weight has gone from about 173 to 175. My goal weight right now is to just get into the 160's but at the end I'd like to be back into a healthy weight range of the 130's (I am 5'2''). I'm not quite sure why I'm gaining weight? Is this just my body trying to adjust to such a quick change in lifestyle or am I doing something incorrectly? Any input would be appreciated. I'd also appreciate any input on things that I can do to tighten loose skin from losing weight (gross!).

Thanks a bunch, sorry for the long read!

 

Weight has little to do with your fitness.

Fat is not the only mass you have in your body, and in fact, muscle is heavier than fat.

It may be better for you to measure your waist or take body shots to track your progress

 

So I should stop being paranoid that I'm doing something wrong?

heh

 

Yes, cause it sounds like you are doing everything right to me

 

Heh. I guess I was just confused as to why I'm gaining weight..
My main goal isn't to be an overly thin fashion model.. but right now my lifestyle isn't working for me, I'm tired literally all the time I could sleep for 18 hours a day, and I always feel so sluggish.. and I hate the way my body looks, so I stepped on the scale and saw that I gained weight and I was like 'oh you're fucking kidding me'

 

That's exactly right, once you start working out your body will going into "storage mode". Your body isn't use to exerting so much energy, so it's trying to keep a little bit of fat to make up for the loss during your exercise and the new diet. Your body will probably keep this up for another week in which case you might get discouraged but don't worry you will see positive results if you keep up will a scheduled work out routine and your current diet.

Good luck, and keep us posted on your progress!

 

Hope I can stay on it this time.. plenty of attempts at healthy, positive change that have lasted from 2 day-3 months that have all somehow ended up back in to eating processed, microwavable, flash frozen or canned foods once or twice a day. I think my body is already in starvation mode as it is!

 

Yeah, you really have to deprogram yourself and learn not to associate weight with fat; your weight can and probably will fluctuate throughout the process, and if you build up a lot of muscle, you're likely to gain weight.

Exercising has been great for my energy levels, and it's gotten to the point where if I wake up feeling shitty and sluggish, I'll work out to get some energy going. So, I think you're definitely making the right choices to help with that.

Quitting caffeine really helped and brought me down to more natural and manageable energy; but I don't know if you partake in it.

I want to feel good about my body too and I'm still a long ways away, but I've been moving the right direction, and now it sounds like you've joined me on the path.

And as far as staying on it. Reward yourself a lot, feel real good about what you are doing, and just don't overwork yourself, too much.

Sports drinks are great for motivation because the sugar in them rewards you (but I don't know how they fit in with your nutritional plan)

 

In the spring-fall i walk about walk about 12 miles a week and bike 6 miles a week and I gain weight then, but I get smaller. I'm also pretty healthy. It's completely normal that you're gaining weight, it's just muscle mass.

 

It's like trying anything else new, you have to really get out of your old routine and mix it up. Not that you already don't know this but it's hard to change once you've had a certain routine for a while, I GUARANTEE YOU once you get out of your old ways you wont be seized with so much anger. mind over matter!

 

I don't drink caffeine, I never really have though. I don't like the way it makes me feel, for some reason even the slightest bit of caffeine makes me excessively jittery and paranoid so I avoid it at all costs. We'll be in a restaurant and I always get weird stares when they ask what you want to drink and I'm like 'what do you got that's caffeine free?' heh.

One thing I've tried to do is cut out a lot of 'liquid calories'.. reflecting back that's where I got A LOT of my calories from.. so even thought I really wasn't eating much, I was drinking a lot of sports drinks/vitamin waters and concentrated '10%' fruit juices which really aren't that good for you. So instead I've been drinking much more bottled water (Philly water-yuck!) and if I want some flavor I've got a bottle of lemon juice, and it's actually pretty good, like squeezing an actual lemon into it.

I'm not perfect though, today I ate some kind of eggplant thing that I just couldn't resist, but I'd rather have something small like that (my mom's leftovers, lol) then give in an order a whole one for myself and hog down the whole thing..

This sucks! heh but hopefully in the end I won't feel so shitty. It feels better though to know I'm not fucking up, lmao

 

If you ever wanna talk about anything specifically, hit me up on PM or add onto this thread.

This is the first time I've really kept up trying to get fit, despite trying numerous times, and I think we might be able to relate pretty good.

You might even be able to help me some on the dietary part, I drink a ton of juices =P

 

Ugh, they were so hard to give up. I'd drink those arizona caffeine free juices like I needed crack it was ridiculous, lmao

 

REAL Water Ice in Philly is 100% fruit juice... not snow cone.. Real water ice..

 

I don't really like water ice all that much. Nor snow cones or ice cream o.o

 

Just remember never to buy into those "diets" that supposedly work. You will never get anywhere if you don't excerise and vise versa with eating healthy.
I do admire you though - summer is coming around so I should probably start working out again. I've been a bum for the past 4 months.
And also, as a side note, people who smoke marijuana (munchies) and drink alcohol regularly have the hardest time losing weight.

 

Yeah, munchies have been a real problem for me lately.

For a while I had them under control and wouldn't cave to them when high, but I lost the touch somehow and will binge if I get too high and am not busy.

 

I don't drink alcohol or smoke (cigarattes or marijuana). I posted on my facebook that I was down 60 lbs but hating my body (because the weight was lost very unhealtily due to GI problems and was lost so quickly is left me with some sagging skin zzz) and my friend was like how did you do it? I keep trying but I can't... I was wanting to tell her (but didn't) that it's because of all the drinking she does.. like I'm talking she's one of those girls who works all day and blows her whole paycheck on miller and corona to drink almost every single night..

 

Hi Seized, first of all congratulations on the weight lost so far

As for your two questions;

A few years ago I gained 50 pounds (maybe a bit more) from drinking very heavily on a daily basis. When I started going to the gym (30-40 minutes on the elliptical machine plus weights - 5 days a week) I gained 6-8 pounds of weight in about three weeks (muscle). Though somewhat discouraging, my body informed me that I was on the right track as my strength quickly grew. After that first initial three weeks the weight started dropping off. I lost 40 lbs in 3-4 months.

You've simply put on muscle weight, in my opinion. Muscle is easier to build than fat is to burn.

As for loose skin, that is determined largely by two things.

1) How long you were overweight. If it was some months to a couple years, it will likely shrink back to normal over time. The human body takes time to show results. Be patient. Just as it takes time to put on weight, it takes time to see the effect of losing it.

2) You are 19. That's very young. Your skin still has all the elasticity it's ever going to have. I'm sure it'll return its form once your extra weight is gone. Losing weight too fast can cause loose skin. The key to avoid that is to lose weight gradually.

Do you know about the 500 calorie deficit? One pound of weight (fat) is about 3500 calories. If you burn 500 calories a day, over 7 days (a week) that equals 1 pound. This means that if you waste 500 calories a day (burn 500 five days a week, eat 500 less the other two days), then in one week you will have lost one pound.

 

Between the fall of 2009 and the summer of 2010, I gained about 14 pounds. I lost it all, though. How? Depression. Now, from there onward, I picked up weightlifting again and I've actually put a couple of pounds back on in muscle mass which is a relief. The thing is, losing or gaining A LOT of weight in a short period of time is really not healthy. What is also not sensible is when you develop expectations that are unrealistic.

You've been trying out this new lifestyle for about a week. Remember, it is very unlikely for you to be able to see any visible results in ONE week. I may have lost 14 pounds in the matter of under two weeks, but that was not an ideal way to lose weight. From there, I've kept working out regularly for half a YEAR to get to the point where I was able to finally say, "I think I gained a couple of pounds in muscles.

If you've experienced weight gain by a couple of pounds in the matter of a week despite your regularly working out, then you might have weighed yourself at a wrong time. I could gain two pounds easy. All I need to do is eat, and/or drink plenty of fluids, and weigh myself afterward. I could go from 131 pounds to 134 pounds depending on at which point during the day I weigh myself.

The most important thing is to make your fitness workout a regular habit. To do that, it's probably easier if you also know how to "cheat". And by that, I mean to allow yourself to consume what you actually like to. Myself for instance, I've been working out regularly again for the past six months and, the whole time, I've never really cut back on anything food or drink wise. If anything, I'm eating more carbs and even sugar now than I was in years. I also still drink like a fish, and we should all be aware alcohol is very high in calories. Now, you're not a drinker so that's part of your daily/weekly calorie consumption you need not to worry about. I personally also save at least one day each week where I do NOT exercise at all. This just gives me the chance to be lazy, and sometimes this is exactly what you need to keep wanting to work out.

Muscle exercises can also be tricky because what you do NOT want is to "over-train" yourself. Muscles need at least 48 hours of recuperation period, so working the same muscle group for two days in a row means you wouldn't be giving the muscles enough time to heal after micro-tearing of the tissue has occurred. This is referred to as "over-training", and may lead to unwanted results(potential injuries, loss of muscle mass, loss of energy, etc). So a sensible approach would be to start slow. Pushing yourself is good, but you don't want to push yourself OVER the cliff, if you will.

There are very good fitness videos on YouTube. I recently came across a video by makingthebest09, where he's demonstrating a series of light cardio exercises. You can search "cardio workout" and look for the username makingthebest09. It's a nice workout sequence for beginners, but can also be a great warm-up exercise as well, depending on how you apply this type of workout to your overall fitness routine.

The key is to enjoy the whole experience. I wouldn't worry about getting on the scale every week if I were you. It may put that much more pressure on you, and the pressure may become too much of a negative factor when you're trying to work out regularly. I probably weigh myself once a month if I remember to do so. It's better to regularly work out and eat occasional(NOT often, though!) junk food, than to be really strict about all aspects of getting in shape only to end up not being able to keep doing it all due to too much stress. So whatever you do, make sure it's fun for you.

All the best.