Why do I gain weight after running?

For people who are trying to lose weight, many will choose running as an exercise. This is an easy exercise to do and is suitable for almost everyone to lose weight. If you want to lose weight successfully, you must pay attention to various aspects. First of all, you must run correctly, and then adjust your diet. If the diet is not adjusted reasonably, it will lead to weight loss failure. Some people even gain weight after running. Why is this?

Why do I gain weight after running?

1. Lack of sleep can cause weight gain

Studies have found that sleep quality does not directly affect weight, but severe lack of sleep can cause significant weight gain. Columbia University conducted a study on sleeping habits and found that people who sleep less than 4 hours a night are 73% more likely to gain weight than those who sleep 7-9 hours. People who sleep 6 hours a night are 23% more likely to suffer from obesity than those who sleep 7-9 hours.

Some studies have found that when a person is overly tired, the level of leptin in the human body will be greatly reduced. Leptin is a protein hormone secreted by fat cells and plays an important role in regulating energy balance and eating behavior. Likewise, lack of sleep can stimulate insulin, which can lead to obesity and type 2 diabetes.

2. Drug factors can cause weight gain

A recent study found that medications contribute up to 5% to obesity. Although this effect is only a small part, given that millions of people in the United States currently take prescription drugs, the impact of drugs on weight gain cannot be underestimated. In addition, the drugs people take on a daily basis for anti-allergy, anti-infection, prevention of heart disease, diabetes, depression and cancer have the greatest impact on weight gain.

Although scientists cannot fully explain why drugs cause weight gain, they believe that taking drugs can cause fluid retention, disrupt metabolic mechanisms, and even affect enzymes that stimulate appetite.

3. Fitness will cause weight gain in the early stages

If people who originally did not exercise suddenly start to exercise and gain weight, the weight gained is not fat so there is no need to worry. The weight gain is mainly due to the increase of glycogen and water retention in the body. During exercise, the body's muscle glycogen and liver glycogen water are consumed in large quantities, because muscle glycogen and liver glycogen water are the main energy sources consumed by the body during exercise. Generally speaking, their total storage in the human body is approximately between 250g and 400g. After exercise, due to the stimulation of exercise, the body generally stores more glycogen than before exercise. After exercise, liver glycogen will be quickly replenished and stored through diet. The body also stores water at a ratio of (glycogen) 1: (water) 3. For example, if the body stores 1 kilogram of glycogen, it will also store 3 kilograms of water, which means an increase of 4 kilograms of weight. So weight gain is due to the increase in glycogen and water storage.