running and weight loss

nurselynne33
nurselynne33 Posts: 5
in Introduce Yourself
Hello everyone,
I wanted to know if anyone has advice on why running makes you gain weight in the very beginning. It has been about 5 days now and I have went from barely no exercise to exercising 5 days a week. Last week I started walking a little then running and it feels good that I am making progress but no change on the scale and I am staying under the 1200 calorie mark i'm confused about the scale part of it though?

Replies

  • JesterMFP
    JesterMFP Posts: 3,596 Member
    Any exercise can make you retain water, which will make you gain weight on the scale. Your muscles retain water as they repair themselves, and this is particularly likely when you start a new exercise programme, or increase the intensity of your exercise. I don't know your stats, but if you're just aiming to lose 23 lbs, and you're exercising 5 days a week, 1200 calories does not sound like very much. Make sure you're fuelling your body! In the meantime, take measurements - you might find you see progress there, even if the scale is not behaving.
  • nancyki
    nancyki Posts: 46
    This article about less exercise may interest you.
    http://www.cnn.com/2012/09/21/health/weight-exercise-loss/index.html?iref=allsearch
  • ejwme
    ejwme Posts: 318
    Long time runner here - if you used to be sedentary, and recently added running to your days, you need to bump up your caloric intake (with lots of good, lean protein and vitamin rich fruits and veggies) to match. I actually had exactly the same issue when I went from a long haitus back to running this spring - I had managed to lose about 5#, but when I started running I stagnated. I know I built muscle, but after a few months nothing changed. I THOUGHT, since I have been a runner more on than off for about 20 years, and have watched my diet extremely closely for about half that, I thought I knew what I was doing. I pointed my husband to this site to help him track his diet, I pointed my training partner to this site to help him track his diet. Finally I followed my own stupid advice and started to track both my diet and exercise on here - turns out I was only eating enough if I skipped the exercise. Once I added in my training, I was basically skipping an entire meal (sometimes two) a day (really bad move). I added more food on run days, and the weight is dropping nicely. Bonus, my mile pace has dropped as well as I now am actually eating enough to fuel my runs.

    In summary - in the beginning you'll be changing muscle to fat and the scale will stagnate - but only for a few weeks. If you don't start losing again at a decent rate after the first two weeks, you're likely not eating enough, don't forget to track calories out as well as in.

    Congratz on starting running, too btw :)

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