Weight lose & Exercise

I am glad I am finally able to walk outside for exercise but then I have gained 3 lbs. I know it is muscle but I do not want my legs to get any bigger. I want to get smaller. I am struggling to lose 25 lbs. It is very depressing! I am doing this to gain strength and for better health as well as to lose weight and I know losing will probably come last. I wonder how long it will take before I do. Just needed to vent! Is it possible to lose this late out (4 years)? So far I keep bouncing back and forth with a few pounds but nothing significant.

Casual waking would not make you gain 3 pounds of muscle. It's very difficult to gain muscle, ask any body builder. Probably just a normal fluctuation in body fluid. Cut down on carbs if you're looking to lose weight.

That's what I'm thinking, it's a fluid issue...because I walked both days last weekend and come Monday, up 3 lbs...talk about disheartening but I knew why but I know when school is over and I get on a schedule my muscle won't hold as much fluid if I'm exercising more regular and getting my water in. 

It's all worth it.  :) hang in there!

Sherry

 

I would agree with the previous poster. Walking will tone your legs, but  you would need to be lifting weights and doing leg workouts 2-3 times per week to put on muscle. Then, you would only gain about 1lb per month. Part of the reason I had to have WLS is because I am a former power lifter that ate 10,000 calories a day just to maintain my weight. When I was injured I stopped lifting, but did not stop eating.

I would definitely review your diet, and go back to basics. Journal your food the way you did when you were first post op. Make sure that you are getting in your protein, and limiting your carbs as has been already mentioned.

At this point in your journey you lose weight the same way as any non-surgically altered person.  You have to burn more than you take in consistently to cause a caloric deficit to lose weight.  Building muscle will help your metabolism in that your body needs more calories to support muscle tissue, so if you build a substantial amount of muscle you'll be able to get away with eating more-thus reducing your likelihood of regain.

this ^^ totally! 

And as an aside, original poster:  muscle is much more dense that an equal amount of fat.  So when you add muscle (and lose fat), your legs will get smaller not larger (unless you are doing mega steriods and pumping HUGE amounts of weight).  Here's a mental picture:  one pound of muscle may appear to be the size of baseball; one pound of fat will be three times that size and look like a squiggly bowl of Jell-O.

Moving is better than sitting still so I know I am defining the shape of my body. I never knew how out of shape I was until I started walking again. Hopefully this will impact my weight loss as well. Thanks for your responses.