Retaining and Retraining
I had a good time at the gym yesterday, and a bad time on the scale this morning. I knew going into my first day of lifting weights that my weight would bump up, but knowing a thing and actually having it happen are two different things.
First off, my workout was pretty good. It turns out that my muscles are still functional! Hahaha. Yeah, I was worried going back into weights training that I'd have lost all of my previous strength due to two years of being sedentary. Not so! It turns out that because I weigh so much, I actually have quite a bit of strength in my legs and core from carrying all of this mass around.
What I don't have is stamina. Holy crap. So, when I last was doing deadlifts, I was able to do 5 sets of 5 repetitions of 160 pounds. Not great, but not terrible, right? Well, I tried out 135 pounds just to see what I could do and... I could lift it, no problem. I just couldn't lift it for multiple reps. My stamina just isn't there! So, I ended up doing 10 reps of that lift but with 20 second breaks in between. SIGH. That stung a bit, but at the same time was better than I expected.
Back to the scale thing. I knew that the number I'd see this morning would be higher than my numbers from yesterday, but was still a bit bummed out. I felt like I worked really hard for those pounds lost, only to see them added back to the scale from water retention! Argh. There's a great little article from SHAPE magazine about why you might weigh more after working out right here. I know the truth of why I weigh more - my muscles are repairing themselves after all of their hard work, which causes swelling from water retention. I get that. Still, I thought that I'd made some progress with my calorie counting and cardio efforts, and just kissed that progress goodbye.
What I need to do is retrain my brain to see this differently. For one thing, it's not like I'm going to keep gaining and gaining. How much water I retain in order to repair my muscles is going to be minimal, so it's not going to get worse. For another thing, I didn't just gain muscle overnight. According to Bodybuilding.com, the most that you can gain is AN OUNCE per day of lean muscle. So, no.
What I need to do is just accept that going back to a weights and cardio routine has created a new "day zero" for me. From here on out, I can measure any weight lost on the scale and know that it's not going to get worse. I know that with weights and cardio in my routine combined with a clean diet, that I'm making strong efforts toward losing my weight and that I will see results. I just need to be patient.
First off, my workout was pretty good. It turns out that my muscles are still functional! Hahaha. Yeah, I was worried going back into weights training that I'd have lost all of my previous strength due to two years of being sedentary. Not so! It turns out that because I weigh so much, I actually have quite a bit of strength in my legs and core from carrying all of this mass around.
What I don't have is stamina. Holy crap. So, when I last was doing deadlifts, I was able to do 5 sets of 5 repetitions of 160 pounds. Not great, but not terrible, right? Well, I tried out 135 pounds just to see what I could do and... I could lift it, no problem. I just couldn't lift it for multiple reps. My stamina just isn't there! So, I ended up doing 10 reps of that lift but with 20 second breaks in between. SIGH. That stung a bit, but at the same time was better than I expected.
Back to the scale thing. I knew that the number I'd see this morning would be higher than my numbers from yesterday, but was still a bit bummed out. I felt like I worked really hard for those pounds lost, only to see them added back to the scale from water retention! Argh. There's a great little article from SHAPE magazine about why you might weigh more after working out right here. I know the truth of why I weigh more - my muscles are repairing themselves after all of their hard work, which causes swelling from water retention. I get that. Still, I thought that I'd made some progress with my calorie counting and cardio efforts, and just kissed that progress goodbye.
What I need to do is retrain my brain to see this differently. For one thing, it's not like I'm going to keep gaining and gaining. How much water I retain in order to repair my muscles is going to be minimal, so it's not going to get worse. For another thing, I didn't just gain muscle overnight. According to Bodybuilding.com, the most that you can gain is AN OUNCE per day of lean muscle. So, no.
What I need to do is just accept that going back to a weights and cardio routine has created a new "day zero" for me. From here on out, I can measure any weight lost on the scale and know that it's not going to get worse. I know that with weights and cardio in my routine combined with a clean diet, that I'm making strong efforts toward losing my weight and that I will see results. I just need to be patient.
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