Photo borrowed from the Internet
Karen - Burbank,CA
I got this email from Monsieur M.
I'm curious as to something you didn't go into detail about. Like you, I've been working out like a you-know-what for the past seven months with a personal trainer three days a week plus two more just doing a couple miles on the treadmill. Yet, I've done nothing but grow into a stronger, fitter, fat man. I've actually gained weight. In my training sessions, I'm doing 200 ab reps, 40 push ups, free weights, machines, and yet, I gain. Everyone chants the old "muscle is denser than fat" mantra, but it isn't adding up (or rather, it is... to too much weight). May I ask you what the doctor said? How is it possible for you to do your 8 miles and 80 flights of stairs in 8 days, and for me to have worked out more than I ever have since high school, and for us both to have gained weight that wasn't muscle?
Best post ever. And I think your gnomic doctor must be correct...although, I would like to know exactly why the 8 miles a day made you gain weight (out of curiosity).
Please -PLEASE- explain why you gained weight when you did 8 miles + 80 flights a day. I've been working out like a fiend and simply cannot drop the weight.
(I read your blog religiously, but have never commented before. I love your blog!)
The Magical Doctor explained that fat cells are Carbon molecules. We breathe in Oxygen and breathe out Carbon Dioxide. Fat is released through our exhale.
(This blew my mind.)
So, when people work out they might breathe in and out more than normal and lose a little bit of weight but there's also a trigger that tells your brain you need to eat. And many times, because you've worked out so hard, you feel like you can eat just a little bit more than normal. He said working out and gaining weight is actually very common.
Working out and being active is very good for maintaing a healthy lifestyle but when it comes to taking off the pounds successfully it's 90% portion size.
Happy Sunday!
I thought that basically every part of our body is essentially carbon?
ReplyDeletenevermind, I leave science to scientists. brb need to go exhale some fat out of my body now.
I don't know about the carbon thing, but I totally agree with the doc's conclusion. I've gained weight training for both marathons I did. What I've found that extreme exercise does is 1. make you crazy hungry 2. make you think you deserve x, y, and z since you worked out for so many hours and 3. burns you out on exercising so you lay around like a sloth afterwards. Just my two cents :)
ReplyDeletethcommonsensualist, I leave science to scientists too. I enjoy the breathing part though!
ReplyDeleteKeri, you are so right! Those exact things happened to me when I did my half marathon. EXACT! I was my biggest and heaviest (except for when I was pregnant) ever!
Thank you so much for answering this.
ReplyDeleteI've basically read the same thing. The state of [your] body is essentially due to 10% genes, 10% exercise, and 80% what you eat.
*sigh*
Why do I find this so frustrating?