So Much Exercise, So Little Weight-loss?
im 17, 5′5”, and usually 110-115 up and down depending on stress level and other things. im a small person generally, but i know it sounds really underweight. anyway. for the past few months ive been running every day for atleast an hour because it gives me more energy and im a healthy vegetarian who eats balanced meals 3 times a day. ive been slowly gaining normal weight from my leg muscles getting stronger, but in the past week or two ive gained a lot more than i expected to. im now 120, not heavy, but its odd. the only part where i gained the weight was my stomach area. is there any reason why i would gain so much in the stomach area so fast without having exercised my stomach muscles?
Muscular gains from running involve slow-twitch muscle fibers, which don’t have a tremendous capacity to gain mass. If you’re well-hydrated, this sounds to me like your body getting ready for the larger amounts of lactic acid which comes from running every day; when you get massive amounts of acids in the body, whether it be lactic acid from exercise, uric acid from high meat consumption, or ascorbic acid from too much vitamin C, your body eliminates water. This sounds like water weight with how it came on so suddenly and given your extenuating circumstances. You have to give your body at least one day a week of rest, and you’ll notice that energy you like so well jump up on that off day, perhaps even resembling a nervous energy. Give your body a day to eliminate all that waste material, and you’ll be right as rain. Oh, and remember that your body becomes more efficient at utilizing calories, so this seven days a week may have set you off track that way, too.
Good luck and good health to you.