Gaining after a big work-out

samvanz

Yesterday I completed the 1000 Steps walk in the Dandenongs (if anyone's familiar, it's HARD) - a one hour trip up and down the side of a mountain comprised entirely of stairs. I was dying, honestly. I did everything right - I drank plenty of water before and during, I ate a muesli bar afterwards, I had peanut butter on toast before hand...

This morning I got on the scales and I'd gained 600g. I'm really upset and angry, I worked so hard and it's resulted in a sizeable gain. Anyone got any ideas what I might have done wrong?

AnnaPixie

Its water retention. Always happens after you do something strenuous to your body. It's the body protecting and repairing your muscles, it floods them with water.

Its only temporary, so dont worry :flowerforyou:

samvanz

Thanks Anna - I thought water retention was caused by sodium. But the muscle-repairing function absolutely makes sense... A pity, I had my weigh-in today and while I still got to my goal for the week, I still didn't lose what I thought I would from this *kitten*-kicking walk. Tomorrow, perhaps.

EricInArlington

one gal. of water weighs eight pounds, how much did you drink?

TTHdred

ran a few races... (I'm slow) it's water. Happened to me each time.

Limeinthecoconut

Ooh, I've been meaning to do the steps for ages!

How was it? Was it busy or crowded? I'll have to look into it.

And strenuous exercise definitely makes you retain water. Give it a couple of days. I'm in the same boat.

acknan

We always need to remember that our hard work is cumulative. Just as a plate full of chips or too many pints don't equate to an immediate gain, a workout doesn't account for an immediate loss. Your body just did something amazing and it's trying to recover. I bet that you will see the results soon, just let it happen!

Best of luck and congrats on your super impressive climb!!!

UltraRunnerGale

I am a long distance runner and I can never trust the scale for a day or two after a long run!! :drinker:

samvanz

Thanks, everyone.

Toshiette, it was brutal, but great! It was quite busy, and the track's pretty narrow, so there were a few times when I had to stand aside for people to pass, but it wasn't really a problem. It's lovely up there, you should do it!