water gain with exercise?

GoRun2

I'm back into running and my weight loss has stalled. I'm hoping it's temporary water gain with muscles. How long does it take for your muscles to let go of the water?

I've been upping my mileage and speeding up my turtle like pace. I'm up to 6 miles.

majope

As long as you're stressing your muscles, they're going to hold onto water to repair. I've been running for years, and will still show some water gain after long or very hard runs.

Keep going, ignore the scale for a while (I'm not sure anyone can tell you exactly when your muscles will stop holding water on a daily basis), and make sure you're getting as accurate a calorie burn as possible. On the scale of accuracy, Garmin is very good, MFP's estimate not so great. If you don't have an HRM, look for online calculators that might help you get a better idea of what you're burning. The one at Runner's World is pretty good.

Finally--I wouldn't try to increase both speed and distance at once. Build endurance, and you'll get faster naturally. Once you've got a good base of mileage, then think about incorporating speed work. Best of luck!