HELP ME! New Exercise Regimen. Weight Loss. Inches Gained

pigeonhugger

Hello,

I have never posted a thread before but I could really do with some help.
I am 23, female, and used to be really fit and have a lot of muscle when a teen. Too much muscle for my liking- especially in my legs. Anyway so I gained weight and now am trying to loose it again. I am very successful at loosing weight with just a calorie deficit and no exercise however I now want to introduce exercise for obvious reasons.

I am about a week into a new exercise programme which isnt intense- but I am building up slowly. Everyday I do morning yoga and have a mid day jog/run interval training fro 20mins- inc 5mins warm up. I know what I am doing food wise. I am a vegan but am a low carb vegan. I ensure I get protein after exercising and have loads of water a day.

Anyway, I have only done 1week and I have lost weight at the same rate as when I wasnt exercising, but I have gained inches!! I do not want to gain inches!!! I know muscle will help with weight loss but I was a muscle bound teen and I dont want that look again!!
How can I continue exercising but not get bulky? I stretch after every workout and am building up to endurance type exercises so that I get lean muscle.

Please Help
Vi

Also, just want to say my stats on here and the weight I have lost is out of date

bikerbabe1971

Hello Vi,

I was the same when I started serious exercising. I gained weight first (water retention for muscle healing) and then started dropping the weight but not inches. After a few weeks both started reducing again. I believe it is because the muscles swell with lactic acid then water until they get used to your new regimen and will then reduce, but I am not an expert! All I can say is to stick with it and you should start to see the results you want!

Cheers,
Leigh

pigeonhugger

Thanks Leigh,

Could to hear someone else has had this problem. I tried 'google' but everyone had the opposite problems of weight gain and inches lost. Funny to have it the other way around.

Best

NotThePest

It's water. Your muscles are inflamed because you are working them and that's just how the body works. Once your body gets use to working out, it will calm down. I had, notice the past tense, the same issue when I began doing upper body work years ago, my chest and back would increase in size so I would stop my exercise because I thought, "What's the use." However, when I began exercising six years ago, I needed to control my type II diabetes, I ignored the weight gain, the upper body increase in size and just continued to workout because I needed to control my diabetes. Over time, the weight gain reversed, my upper body size decreased and now I'm 50 pounds down from when I started and down five dress sizes.

Also read this: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/595473-why-the-scale-goes-up-with-a-new-workout-program-must-read it may come in handy soon.

pigeonhugger

Hi NotthePest,

Thanks for your reply but its the opposite problem I am having. Weight Loss going well, but inches going up. But I guess that could just eb muscles repairing themselves anyway. Thanks