Working out more working against me??

[niclyf]

I'm hoping the educated Cathe crowd can help out with my dilemma ..

In an effort to tighten up more before bikini season, I have lowered my calories slighty (about 100 less per day) and have increased my workout time from about 4 cardio hours per week, to about 6 hours, 2-3 sessions of which include about 20-25 minutes of interval training (while still keeping with lifting 4 days a week and hitting each muscle group twice.) While I haven't gained weight and my measurements appear to be about the same, everything on my just looks 'bigger', and not in a good way! I feel 'flabbier'. Do you have any idea why this is? Am I gaining weight from working out more??

TIA!
Nicole

 

[honeybunch1]

I'm confused. First you said, "I haven't gained weight," then you said, "Am I gaining weight from working out more?" Then you said, "my measurements appear to be about the same."

How do your clothes fit? If you upped your cardio, you probably did not need to decrease your calorie intake. You did not mention what you are doing for weight training, if anything. If you really want to get ready for bikini season and don't want to be "flabby," weight training is a must.

Just Do It!

 

[RhiannonW]

Two things come to mind. 1) since you decreased your calories and increased cardio, maybe your body has went into famine mode, thus is slowing your metabolism. 2) Depending on how long you've been doing this new regimen maybe your body is nearing the point that the look you're after will suddenly appear out of the blue very soon.
Also, I've heard it said "I'd been working hard for so long with no results, then I woke up one morning and it was like it happened overnight".
Do you work out in the mornings before breakfast? If so, do you at least have some orange juice before your workout? If you workout on an empty stomach first thing in the morning your body will take energy it needs from existing muscle tissue, thus eating away at what you already have. This happened to me. I now drink 4-6 ounces of Orange juice before my workout. It works for me.

 

[trprwife]

Hi Nicole. OMG!!!!! I have been having this exact same problem. I am sooooo incredibly frustrated. It seems that with myself, the more cardi I do, the more weight I seem to gain....and it is not good weight either. I do seem to be flabbier. I read on another post something like this....too much cardio can cause you to be glycogen depleted compromising lean muscle mass. Loss of lean muscle mass means slower metabolism, in turn resulting in increased fat storage. It was also said that not eating enough can cause you to be glycogen depleted as well. Maybe you are having a double whammie with the decreased calories and increased cardio. In the past, when I would increase my cardio...sure enough, I would gain weight, but when I cut it back, I would drop the weight. This time, I was convinced that it was just an adjustment stage that my body was going through and I would eventually start to come down again.....it never happened. I am now almost 10# heavier and I cannot get it off. I'm not sure if some people are more prone to being glycogen depeleted than others, but my body seems to respond better to shorter periods of cardio....I guess I should consider myself lucky. Hope this helped.

Kim