Weight/water Gain After Workouts

[Julz33]

I looked a bit and didn't see this same question. I apologize if it is out there already. I am newly diagnosed and still struggle to stay gluten free. I have always been a long distance runner but in the past few years I started gaining weight at an alarming rate (up to 4 or 5 lbs in a week). More running seems to make it worse not better. I always have a water bottle and don't drink anything but water. However, the days I run or do other cardio I can gain 5+ pounds over the course of that same day. Is this related to the celiac? Is there any advice any one can give me? Do I really have to stop running/working out until my gut is healed up?? Thanks in advance for the advice! (I also have Hashimoto's (auto-immune thyroid)and have been depleted of progesterone and estrogen even tho I am only 33 years old.)

[tictax707]

Hi - I am 33 too and into the long distance stuff. When you say you don't drink anything but water, do you mean on your runs or in general? Regardless, even if it's only on your runs, water just isn't going to cut it to replace your electrolyte loss, especially if you are going long. I'm wondering if the increased weight gain is due to that - you've got all this excess water but your body needs some salts & sugar to help absorb the salts. When do you weigh yourself? It's not uncommon to gain 5 pounds over the course of the day from eating and drinking, etc. It's best to weigh yourself at the same time every day to get a better sense of where you are. How do you feel? Do you ever feel dehydrated or bloated later in the day...?

Ultimately you definintely don't have to give up running & working out until you are healed. There are a lot of people out there who will knock it, but Gatorade & powerade just work (for starters). There are other electrolye replacements out there such as infinit, which you can customize once you know more about just how much you sweat and just how much you need to replace.

And the 4-5lbs per week - does your appetite increase in general when you run more? One thing I have discovered is that sometimes after a workout I am STARVING, STARVING, STARVING, and I think it's that I am starving for food, but because I hired a nutritionist before my last ironman, I know that I have to keep drinking my sports drink for a little bit once I am done. When I do this, I often find that the hunger actually goes away (for a little bit), and it's that my body was really *thirsty*. The hunger does come back later, but that initial hunger pang is actually often dehydration, not food. So, if you are only drinking water on your runs, it makes sense that you are dehydrated and the hunger and food you eat afterwards is not addressing your body's real needs. The "extra" food would contribute to weight gain, it seems...

I hope this helps a bit. Definitely post again if you have more questions!!

(and welcome!!!)

[Wheatfreedude]

Do me (and yourself) a favor. Can you provide a list of the following and I'll see what I can come up with:

- What time of day are you running

- What is your heartbeat per minute while running

- Treadmill, outside, eliptical

- Can you list what your day of food looks like (please include ALL liquids, foods, snacks).

If I can stay single digit body fat, so can you.

~Wheatfreedude~

[Julz33]

Hi - I am 33 too and into the long distance stuff. When you say you don't drink anything but water, do you mean on your runs or in general? Regardless, even if it's only on your runs, water just isn't going to cut it to replace your electrolyte loss, especially if you are going long. I'm wondering if the increased weight gain is due to that - you've got all this excess water but your body needs some salts & sugar to help absorb the salts. When do you weigh yourself? It's not uncommon to gain 5 pounds over the course of the day from eating and drinking, etc. It's best to weigh yourself at the same time every day to get a better sense of where you are. How do you feel? Do you ever feel dehydrated or bloated later in the day...?

Ultimately you definintely don't have to give up running & working out until you are healed. There are a lot of people out there who will knock it, but Gatorade & powerade just work (for starters). There are other electrolye replacements out there such as infinit, which you can customize once you know more about just how much you sweat and just how much you need to replace.

And the 4-5lbs per week - does your appetite increase in general when you run more? One thing I have discovered is that sometimes after a workout I am STARVING, STARVING, STARVING, and I think it's that I am starving for food, but because I hired a nutritionist before my last ironman, I know that I have to keep drinking my sports drink for a little bit once I am done. When I do this, I often find that the hunger actually goes away (for a little bit), and it's that my body was really *thirsty*. The hunger does come back later, but that initial hunger pang is actually often dehydration, not food. So, if you are only drinking water on your runs, it makes sense that you are dehydrated and the hunger and food you eat afterwards is not addressing your body's real needs. The "extra" food would contribute to weight gain, it seems...

I hope this helps a bit. Definitely post again if you have more questions!!

(and welcome!!!)

tictax

I weigh my self a little obsessively I admit, especially since my weight has become out of my control. Every morning I weigh myself and every evening before bed. Yesterday for example I weighed in the morning and was 124.8 that night I went to bed weighing 130.6 and woke up at 126.0. So over the course of a day I gained a total of 1 lb new weight. The same as the day before. But I don't eat anywhere near enough to actually gain a pound a day.

I don't (and haven't for a long time) like to take in calories from my drinks, so I stick with water all day, before, during, and after work outs. However, it never comes out again. I drink 100+ oz of water a day. I try to maintain my eating regardless of working out. I do find I get hungry more often following a more intense work out, but generally I am not hungry immediately after. I stick to the same few foods for breakfast and lunch. Dinner is where I mix things up. And I have to admit I am a lover of late night ice cream. It is my weakness.

2 years ago or so I started training for a marathon and after my first 2 half marathons I started having all these problems with my weight and a million other things. I had 3 surgeries last year, and no matter what I do I can't loose this weight. Even after "fasting" for 24 hours I can be up in weight. It is most frustrating.

I will try the electrolytes. I had honestly never worried about the salts in my body. At this point I will try about anything to get rid of this chunk I have developed.

[Julz33]

Do me (and yourself) a favor. Can you provide a list of the following and I'll see what I can come up with:

- What time of day are you running

- What is your heartbeat per minute while running

- Treadmill, outside, eliptical

- Can you list what your day of food looks like (please include ALL liquids, foods, snacks).

If I can stay single digit body fat, so can you.

~Wheatfreedude~

Wheatfreedude....

Here's what I can tell you for sure.

I run/work out every morning first thing. I try to alternate between running and Insanity work outs.

I run generally indoors in my basement which is typically pretty cool in temperature except in the winter when the heat is on. Assuming the heart rate monitor is accurate I run at around 166 bpm. My pace is around 6 to 6.5 mph as much more then that tends to aggravate my knee. (inflamed I band)

Breakfast is a rotation of cream of rice, buckwheat cereal, or an egg, all of these with fresh fruit.

I also drink a glass of chlorophyll immediately after every work out. As well as black cherry juice, and some times apple cider vinegar.

Lunch is usually Greek yogurt, fresh fruit, (working on the veggies), sometimes black forest ham and cheddar cheese, something like that. I am not a big fan of lunch per say and prefer to have a bit of fruit when I get hungry.

Dinner is the main variety. It is usually a starch, a fruit, a protein, and a veggie. I adore cooking and baking, so most things are from scratch. Rarely do we eat prepackaged foods.

Eating out happens about 2 times per week. But less now that I am finding all eating out makes me sick. By eating out I don't mean fast food. That is a rarity....except pizza....and that stopped since the celiac diagnosis.

Ice cream is my favorite indulgence. I would say on average I eat it 3 times a week.

If I "over eat" anything it is dinner.

I rarely drink soda or juice. I never drink alcohol or coffee. I stick with water.

Is that helpful?!

[Wheatfreedude]

Your diet sounds pretty spot on. There are only a few changes that I would make. Why don

[Sharon326]

Sadly, most ice cream contains some form of gluten so be careful!

[psawyer]

Sadly, most ice cream contains some form of gluten so be careful!

Actually, most ice cream is gluten-free, with the exception of obvious ones that have cookie dough or cookie fragments.

[Julz33]

Your diet sounds pretty spot on. There are only a few changes that I would make. Why don

[Wheatfreedude]

Good action plan:

1) Cut as much sugar as you can

2) Bump up that protein level

Let us know your results.

~Wheatfreedude~

[nrt7]

If you drink 2 liters of water you are putting about 4 or 5 pounds of weight into your system. Drinkig 100 oz of water will increase your weight by 7 pounds untill it goes through your system which could vary in time.

[claireyb]

Julz33,

Wheatfreedude is spot-on with the 125-135HR zone for fat burning (if you haven't had your own determined by way of a VO2 metabolic analysis which measures bodily oxygen consumption and carbon dioxide production during exercise). Working in your fat burning zone will reduce the stress and impact of exercising on your body and, even if you cannot run in this heart rate zone now, a month or two at it and you'll happily be jogging/running in it as your body adapts to it. It will also ease the damage done to your knees through impact.

You eat a lot of fruit in your diet it seems - do you get ill a lot? Simple sugars in the form of glucose and fructose, commonly found in fruit, chocolates and milk, lowers the efficiency of the immune system where as more complex sugars/carbohydrates such as maltodextrin, potatoes, sweet potatoes, and gluten-free versions of grains have less of an impact. Eating the simple sugars as in fruit and ice cream may be having a compounding effect on your gut and subsequent inflammation...thus the weight gain. (this may sound stupid, but weigh yourself before eating or exercising in a morning, 5-10 mins before eating the ice cream at night and then 60mins after the ice cream and assess the differences if any - it could be an inflammatory response). Please don't do this for every meal or food - just see what happens this once.

Also running, or any form of exercise, places a stress on the body. Scientific studies have demonstrated that exercise and stress increase gut permeability (causing holes in the gut lining allowing larger undigested food particles amongst other things into your bloodstream). If you already have coeliacs then you already have a permeable gut and running may be making it worse (Please note that I am not saying that it definitely is, just that it is possible). If this is the case then the apparent "weight gain" may be an inflammatory response and thus you need to address the inflammation.

Have you had a food intolerance test done? Its a test that assesses your immune system's response to foods and NOT an allergy test. Food intolerance involves IgG antibodies, traditional allergy involves IgE antibodies. If you have not already, find yourself a good clinical nutritionalist, they will be able to help you....you need your whole lifestyle, dietary intake, supplement regime assessed. S

Supplementation with things like L-glutamine can help, but PLEASE REFER TO A SPECIALIST before taking any kind of supplements - they may interact or contraindicate with any medicines/tablets/supplements that you are already taking. (L-glutamine is also under debate as to whether it is gluten-free or not, and many low grade supplements can use wheat as a filler/bulking agent so please be careful).

Some sports drinks are laden with sugar or sweeteners (sucralose, aspartame, acesulfame K, acesulfame potassium to name a few) which have other detrimental effects on the body; do a google search and you will see for yourself, so PLEASE stay away from them - I note you say that you don't drink them.

I struggled with my weight for ages. I used to weigh myself every morning and evening too, trying to ascertain what was causing the weight fluctuations and also sometimes the stability. Do you keep a food and drink diary (time of day, type & quantity) and also track your daily weight fluctuations alongside this? You may see a pattern?

If you want any more information on anything I have mentioned, PM me

I hope this has helped.

[claireyb]

I forgot to add....as your heart rate rises with exercise intensity, so does the amount of carbohydrate (stored bodily glycogen) used to fuel your exercise. Even if you eat lots of carbohydrates and drink lots of water, your body can only store a limited amount of glycogen. When your body runs out of glycogen it will turn to protein, as in your own muscles, tissues and extreme cases organs, for fuel.

The rate of glycogen depletion is dependent on intensity of exercise and duration of exercise:

If you exercise for 2-5 hours at a low intensity (e.g walking) you will predominantly be utilising fat to fuel your workout and as such your glycogen stores will likely last the whole workout.

If you exercise for 60mins at "break neck" pace (e.g. running as fast as you can for that period of time) you can guarantee that you are using up glycogen stores at a rapid rate and that they probably will not last for the duration of the workout and as such your body will utilise protein to fuel your workout.

Ways to prevent this are:

1) eat a carbohydrate and protein laden meal and drink plenty of water 2hrs before your workout, or the night before your workout if it's first thing in the morning (e.g. baked potato with tuna or chicken breast)

2) have a whey protein shake 15-20mins before your workout to give your body a source of protein so that when the glycogen stores do run out, there is a dietary source of protein available rather than your muscles being targeted for fuel.

[kareng]

I forgot to add....as your heart rate rises with exercise intensity, so does the amount of carbohydrate (stored bodily glycogen) used to fuel your exercise. Even if you eat lots of carbohydrates and drink lots of water, your body can only store a limited amount of glycogen. When your body runs out of glycogen it will turn to protein, as in your own muscles, tissues and extreme cases organs, for fuel.

The rate of glycogen depletion is dependent on intensity of exercise and duration of exercise:

If you exercise for 2-5 hours at a low intensity (e.g walking) you will predominantly be utilising fat to fuel your workout and as such your glycogen stores will likely last the whole workout.

If you exercise for 60mins at "break neck" pace (e.g. running as fast as you can for that period of time) you can guarantee that you are using up glycogen stores at a rapid rate and that they probably will not last for the duration of the workout and as such your body will utilise protein to fuel your workout.

Ways to prevent this are:

1) eat a carbohydrate and protein laden meal and drink plenty of water 2hrs before your workout, or the night before your workout if it's first thing in the morning (e.g. baked potato with tuna or chicken breast)

2) have a whey protein shake 15-20mins before your workout to give your body a source of protein so that when the glycogen stores do run out, there is a dietary source of protein available rather than your muscles being targeted for fuel.

This seems like some good info but I'm no expert. Just to let you know that the original post was almost a year ago & they may not be active on this site to read it.

[claireyb]

thanks...I hadn't noticed that

Hopefully it will be of use to someone even if it's not the original poster.