Rare vent time needed.. gains while upping exercise intensity

 .. I rarely whine on the boards as most of the time I can self-talk and logic prevails, and I feel better. Today I feel very impatient. I want to be out of the 150's already, and out of my current sz 12 jeans badly.. Yes, not a race.. yes, doing all the right things to get there still, nothing has changed.. save the workouts! 

I have recently started switching focus from just cardio/light work, walking/hiking/light weights to heavier lifting, more strenuous weight-work, and serious long hill climbs on the incline treadmill.. burn the butt & leg-muscle incline levels. Trying to get rid of the chest-ribbies, and improve the abs, butt, and arms more.. and my muscles responded immediately, felt the nice wet-noodle feelings after, along with the soreness the next day. Doing plenty of stretching after warm ups as well..

With this came some extra pounds. I've seen this before.. did it one time several months ago when I decided to do a very rugged trail up a waterfall, and up & down tons of stairs to get into/out of the valley.. I burned some thigh muscles good (over did it, pain for days- not so good).. and gained 5lbs that hung on for a couple weeks. Same thing is happening again.. I know it's mostly (all?) water, but for some reason my mood today has been effected like it hasn't before.. 

I am back up to 154.9 (I only record new lows, or I'd be changing the stupid ticker daily.) I have slowly gained almost every day.. eating my usual, 800 or under, well under 30g carbs (10 of which is fiber).. and 70-90 protein. Sodium could be better- 1500mg-ish a day.. and my rings are tight again, so I AM holding water.. so this is more a rant of patience (lack of) than a rant of gains I guess.. I do normally seem to stall for a few weeks a month, but this time it's bothering me more than usual and I don't know exactly why.. Is it frustration with workouts not producing immediate results, or producing results opposite from my expectations? 

Thanks for being the sounding-board today, just wanted to put this out there to get it off my chest.. now off to make some chicken salad and hit the treadmill and burn off some frustrations!

I often noticed a weight gain after strenous exercise, but I am used to it, and it is muscle holding onto some water. If you are using weights and increasing your exercise intensity, you may need more protein. I eat high protein, my body weight and sometimes more. I am a small person and eat more protein than you do. I have read that if you are lifting weights and exercising strenously, your protein needs go up.

It may also help to have your body fat checked. Your lean muscle mass is most likely increasing.
Also, you do need to look at where you are at, in a month, two months, etc. Usually, you will see some progress. Are you measuring? Any difference in how your clothes fit?

It takes time to build some muscle as you well know. It took some time for the chest ribbies to be covered with some muscle. My weight has really distributed and I'm not as bony as I was a year ago.

gail

Thanks Gail!
I've been upping my protein from 70 to 90g, and have hit that for the last couple days.. I may pu**** up towards 100g, but slowly. Have not had my BodPod yet, I should.. just put it off for some reason. Mostly as I'm stubborn and I can see my belly-fat still needs to go~ darn it!

Measurements have stayed the same for the last couple weeks, down a half inch though from a month ago.. I do know I am positively holding onto water in my tissues and likely muscle as well.. my ring that is normally able to slide on won't pass my knuckle.. Just a case of me being impatient is all, just finding some difficulty switching focus from the fast losses to the slow improvements that come with this sort of thing. If I wasn't a charter & logger-type person, I'd walk away from weighing, but the curiosity and wanting to know how my body responds is too important to leave that data out- you know?

 "and I can see my belly-fat still needs to go~ darn it!"

It's quite likely that it's just empty fat cells in there and only PS will make it go away. Years of yo-yo dieting have done that to most of us.

Lol, I wish they were empty already! I have a couple friends post WLS that got down to a great BF%, they have the same skin issues, just not filled out, it's just thin loose tuckable skin on them. Me- more like a small melon, or soccerball of fat covered in wrinkled skin.. not counting what's on the thighs too. I still have some to go, not a whole lot.. but not done yet for sure.

I've run into this before, too, and it's a little unnerving.  In my rational mind, I know everything is still fine... but in my irrational mind (which usually has more control than I'd like it to), the wheels are falling off and I'm crashing & burning.

Keep burning the calories/fat off... it certainly can't hurt, although the temporary weight abberation is annoying.

I see weight gains of a pound or two and sometimes there is no good reason for it... I didn't do anything off plan to drive it.  Hormones, exercise, TOM, the phases of the moon, the tides... who knows what causes it... it is trying to my patience, though. 

Hang in there!

Thanks! I think I AM the human sponge. I am a water-retainer, who loves her sodium at times too much.. 

I usually have the patience to spare, but something must be in the air as I'm just plain feeling the frustration a bit more than normal! Ah well, this will pass.. I know in a couple weeks when my body does it's weird "drop 5lbs in 9 days" thing I'll be smiling.. until then, I am keeping on keeping on!

Well it sucks but i may have a light at the end of the tunnel insight.  I was a revision and  had incredibly slow weight loss (16lbs in the first 3 months, despite being completely compliant) well after having every test known to man i met an internist/physiologist.  she told me that what I'd been losing with my band was a great deal of lean body mass in fact my Lean body mass to fat ratio was way off and until i increased it i would continue A to lose it and B lose it at a snails pace.

So i started serious weight training.  For 3 full weeks i gained it was horrible but she kept me sane, then i leveled out and just as i was about to through in the towel on the whole thing i dropped 6 lbs, followed by 12 the next month, followed by....well you get the message. 

She says she sees this when people have lost a lot of eight without rel exercise, lose their mass and then, gain while trying to build it back up.  Anyhow i lose decently (certainly 100% better than the first months) and consistently and if i see a couple of pounds spike that I'm juggling it's usually sodium or alcohol based as I'm incredibly susceptible to both.

Anyhow keep on trucking, as you know it will only get better in more ways than one.

Edelu, I have a sneaking suspicion this is my issue as well.. I can already see the efforts are having an effect.. I just need to start tracking the inches on my arms & thighs instead of just my waist and hips. Either way, it feels good, it looks good, and it's good for me! So, frustrating or not- I will continue.. 

I think you are suffering from the same thing I am--we are both past the year mark and we just want it over. The constant vigilance and the need to lose the last few pounds are weighing on us (Pun intended.) I really do not know how different my life is supposed to be when I finally lose the last 10 pounds (prob not at all), but darn it, I just want to get there. I am SO ready for maintenance.