Don't know what happened....

[Tamster]

....but today, I have eaten more than I usually eat in an entire week! I'm not kidding...I have been in the kitchen ALL day!

I have made a conscious effort to incorporate more weight training into my rotations, as in the past I preferred to do cardio with only an occasional weight training day thrown in.

So now I devote 3 days to cardio, one day to UB, one day to LB, and one day to total body. I also try to add 30 minutes of cardio on the UB and LB days.

I have gained three pounds since I cut back on my cardio, but I didn't panic because I was waiting for everything to balance out.

Since it has been over a month, and my appetite is insatiable - I am starting to panic!

Should I go back to my cardio preference, or give it some more time?

Tammy

 

[saia11]

Tammy,
My best advice is that it depends:7
Is your goal to build muscle or to lose weight? You say you've gained three pounds, but how are your clothes fitting? Have you taken your body measurements or measured your body fat percentage? Do you see more muscle definition?
These are really a more realistic gauge of how fit you are. Maybe you've added more muscle (which an increase in weight training and appetite seem to indicate).
Don't panic
;-) And take a few minutes to evaluate how you're doing (and feeling) outside of how much you weigh. And are you filling on up on clean food or junk? B/c that will definitely influence the results that you see.
HTH,
Mattea

 

[Rebecca11]

Just as the other poster asked, you may be building muscle weight. I too decreased my cardio and increased my weights and I am constantly hungry, nothing seems to fill me up x( . I'm trying REAL hard to continue to eat when I'm hungry but eat good }( so I constantly have a piece of fruit or a handful of nuts or soy nuts in my hand. Whe I incorporated more weight training I too thought my appetite would even out, it really hasn't but I'm seeing good muscle development and strength, so it's all about what you want! Rebecca

 

[CathydsRNA]

An opposite point of view here. It is unlikely that you have put on 3 lbs of muscle in about a month. The average amount of muscle put on by a serious female weigh trainer is about a pound evey 6 weeks. This rate can be maintained for a few months and then the rate drops off rather significantly. You could be holding some water as weight training will cause your muscles to swell. Also, check your calories. Cardio does burn more calories than weight training even including the increased afterburn associated with weight training and so if you are burning less because of your reduced cardio and eating the same or more, you know what will happen. Although muscle burns more than fat, the estimates for how much more have been dropped over the last few yeras..only 5-10 calories more/day at rest than the same amount of fat. It was thought to be as much as 35-50 calories more/day at rest and so added muscle won't significantly add more calorie burn per day. If you are starting to build muscle you might get more hungry. Try to feed that hunger cleanly and have frequent small meals.

 

[Bobbi]

Still, don't panic! Your body may be telling you something! It can be beneficial to look at adding muscle with strength training and blasting fat with cardio as separate goals, because you actually need a calorie surplus to lay down muscle and a deficit to lose fat. Deprive your body of enough calories and it won't spare nutrients for muscle growth; it will use them for energy. So a small calorie surplus is a good thing. You don't want to go crazy but eat in such a way as to enhance muscle building. As you meet muscle strength and size goals, you can begin to emphasize burning fat and cut back a little on caloric intake and kick up cardio to burn fat. Keep the muscle, burn the fat. This is very effective for me since I don't add muscle without a fight. I'm an ectomorph, boo!

I agree it's very important to keep your diet clean. I keep my protein intake at about 15-18%% of my total intake regardless of what goal is my focus but balancing nutrients is important. It's not more protein that is needed but more calories and I am not a bodybuilder so I prefer to keep my protein intake at about .8 because it's not clean burning fuel and getting enough carbohydrate keeps appetite in check. Fiber too! The right combination of protein, carbohydrates and fats go along way toward controlling raging appetites. And if you suspect you have a raging appetitie, rein that baby in but eat! Good luck!
Bobbi http://www.handykult.de/plaudersmilies.de/chicken.gif "Chick's rule!"

Tell me, what it is you plan to do with your one wild and precious life? Mary Oliver

 

[hippahips]

Tammy, with the added weight training, your body is changing. Give it time. Don't look at the scale. Like everyone says, if your clothes still fit, you're fine.

I have been weight training (and I mean heavy) since the Hardcores came out, and I have been hungry all the time. I've also been tired all the time, so much so I've skipped most of the cardio in my intended rotation. To balance things out a bit, I eat a lot (as clean as possible) on those days when I'm lifting and I eat less on those days when I'm doing cardio or yoga.

My clothes still fit. I haven't stepped on the scale since the week Hardcore came out. This serves me well in keeping my focus on being able to lift heavier, than keeping my weight at a certain number. We all know our weight fluctuates, especially before, during, and after our periods (which means that could be anytime in a given monthx( ). I feel "puffy" all over, especially in my legs. Thanks to GS-Legs, my favorite jeans are tight around the thigh, but not around the hips and waist, which means that this new bulk is more from weight training than my increased appetite.

Don't quit the weights. Like Cathe says, they do good things for you.

Pinky