I've been walking/jogging 4 to 5 miles several times a week and have gained 2 lbs. But I've been eating more too because when I exercise I work up an appetite! What I want to know is how do you know when the weight gain is due to muscles growth or if its from eating too much??? Is there some rule or guide for this? I don't want to assume its muscle and then realize it too late that its plain old fat!
Tricia

I would bet the money in my wallet that its your muscles building up. I had the same thing happen to me when I started to exercise regularly...it does even out by week 4.

Measure! You can't rely on the scale alone to tell you what is going on with weight loss. A tape measure or formerly tight piece of clothing (or both!) is a much better gauge of how you are doing than the numbers on the scale. Measure as many different areas of your body as you can and re-measure again periodically to see if there is a decrease in one or all of them.
Something else that you might want to consider is that if you are not used to this level of exercise and are experiencing some muscle soreness, those muscles retain water while they are repairing the small tears that occur with strenuous excercise (this is how muscles grow!). It's also better for muscle building if you allow your muscles a day to recover in between workouts or excercise sessions or excercise alternate muscle groups on alternate days (such as do an uppper body workout on the days you are letting your legs recover from the walk/run routine).
HTH!

What would be a good upper body workout to try?
Tricia

I disagree, I don't think you can build muscle just by jogging or walking. Even though muscle weighs more than fat, you can make a muscle leaner by stretching and then running, but you don't really build muscles by simply jogging. To build muscle, you have to lift or do curls or add some weight resistance. At least that is what I am LED to believe, so I could very well be wrong. I didn't invent my answer though, it was told to me by more than one person.
I would seriously think that you might be eating too many calories at once, like what tends to happen when you work up an appetite. While you are suppose to have a certain number of calories a day, if you eat them in a clump then you can gain weight from it.

Check out this link Tag. I think it will make you feel MUCH better:

http://www.oprah.com/health/bob/qa/..._20000525.jhtml

Hi Tag!

I'm certainly no expert on excercise. My motto is "No pain? Good!"
Seriously, for a better idea on what would be a good upper body workout, you might want to pay a visit to the General Exercise forum or use the search feature here on the forum.
I disagree with the idea that you can't build muscle by running or jogging. It's employing weight resistance by using the weight of your own body. After all, have you ever taken a good look at the legs of tennis players? I used to play myself in leaner days and my calf muscles were certainly growing from that type of exercise. Push-ups, pull-ups, etc...employ the same idea...using the weight of your own body for resistance.
HTH!

THaks for the ideas and the link. I like your motto, Lisa! The link did cheer me up, but I'll still be cautious.
Tricia

Yes, it is possible to gain muscle when you follow a LC WOL and you do something as 'simple' as run or walk. Why? LC isn't just about resticting carbs. It is about eating adequate protien and more calories than most of us are used to. This is the right recipe for tissue growth. Esepcailly if you're coming from a low fat / restricted calorie / deficient protein diet.

Add any weight bearing activity to this and voila, muscles. You're not going to look like Arnold, mind you, but you will notice a change in how clothing fits and you might notice a blip in the scale. Why? Muscle is more dense than fat - roughly 22% more dense, so while one lb of each will still weigh one lb, the muscle will take up less space than the fat. The net result is you weigh the same but you occupy less space.

So, Tricia, if your measurements are shrinking and your weight is not changing then you've got positive proof that you are replacing fat with muscle. Keep it up!

-Nat