Protein Shake and Weight Gain

icklekimmy

Hi

I began using muscle food protein diet whey and their protein crunchies cereal to reach my 84grams daily protein total for around a week.
The week prior to this i was ill with the flu for a week.
I have weighed myself this morning and since two weeks ago I have gained 4 pounds in weight. I am sticking to a 1400 calories a day diet and am running three times a week as I am training for first 10km race from being a novicr runner two months ago. Is this gain normal to begin with? I am about 25 pounds away from my goal weight so this was a shocker!

sarahheimel33

That is pretty strange. Maybe you gained muscle in your legs from running?

icklekimmy

I am hoping its muscle building as I cannot have put that on as fat! My legs do feel more toned and my friend said yesterday my arms have changed shape and are more defined.

DickBaggery

Granted, it may be a little different for me, but I too found that I gain weight when using protein supplements and running. To me it seems that as the legs are a large muscle group, it would make sense for the extra weight to be muscle building in that area. I've offset this by cutting my carb intake, and the weight seems to be coming back off, slowly but surely. Hope this helps.

icklekimmy

Thanks. That certainly does make sense.

Furtado2

Don't chock up a few pounds on the scale as gaining "fat" or "weight". It could be that time of the month (I feel ya girl). Make sure you're drinking a lot of water. The number on the scale doesn't matter in the long run, it's how you feel in your body, remember that! Stay consistent in your diet. Weight fluctuates all the time but a few pounds.

icklekimmy

Thanks. Its just a bit infuriating when you have been working hard and eating right.

psuLemon

Running isn't going to make you gain muscle. And considering women can only gain about 1/4 lb per week, while following a progressive overload lifting program, you can be assured it's not muscle. Having said that, you were ill last week, which generally means you didn't eat much, if anything at all. When this happens, the amount of food in your GI system will decrease, some glycogen will be depleted from lack in carbs, and you will probably see some dehydration. So when you eat normal again, you will see subsequent increases in all of those items and see temporary weight gains.


Side note, you should probably incorporate some resistance or weight training into your routine. That combined with adequate protein (~.6-.8g per lb of weight) will help retain muscle mass during weight loss. Low protein + all cardio + deficit, can increase muscle loss.

icklekimmy

Thanks. I do free weights or body pump a few times a week too.

Michael190lbs

psulemon wrote: »

Having said that, you were ill last week, which generally means you didn't eat much, if anything at all. When this happens, the amount of food in your GI system will decrease, some glycogen will be depleted from lack in carbs, and you will probably see some dehydration. So when you eat normal again, you will see subsequent increases in all of those items and see temporary weight gains.

THIS!!

icklekimmy

Thanks

peaceout_aly

Your body is recovering. You could be retaining water due to that. Protein itself won't make you gain weight if you're staying under your daily cal intake.

icklekimmy

Thanks. Must be a mixture of doms and recovering from flu as beee sticking to 1400 cals.