The decision to lose weight and improve your health is a big step for most people, but sticking with an exercise and wellness program past the initial phases can bring many ups and downs. Even if you’ve stayed with your diet plan and exercised every day, you may not like the results on the bathroom scale for the first month or so.

Working Out but Gaining Weight

Despite the seeming illogical nature of the concept, it’s actually normal to experience weight gain during the first few weeks of a new exercise program. If you haven’t exercised regularly for several months or years, this can be a very discouraging factor. But the good news is that your body is building lean, healthy muscle tissue, which is denser than fat. Rest assured you’re on the right path.

Many people who become discouraged by their increasing weight and thicker arms or legs in the early stages of new exercises regiments. The trick is to be patient – once that fat burns off, the muscle tissue pushing up beneath layers of adipose will give way to toned, beautiful limbs.

Other Possibilities

Of course, there are some instances in which your body may be accumulating fat and undoing your hard work at the gym. Most commonly, people who undertake regular exercise don’t also change their dietary habits. While exercise does burn calories, it increases levels of ghrelin, the hormone that promotes hunger. Without strict portion control and regular meal planning, you may feel the urge to eat more than normal.

Excess stress also contribute to exercise problems, as exercise is a form of physical stress in itself. It’s a good, constructive form of stress, but when it’s coupled with excess stress at work, home, or within your relationships, a person’s body can respond negatively to new exercise routines.

It’s important not to lose sight of your wellness goals no matter your level of fitness. With a guiding, helpful expert at your side, you can achieve your desired fitness level and commit to a health-positive lifestyle, but the first step must come from you. Rather than putting it off until next week and the next and the week after that, make an appointment with the team at Velo Sports Rehab to learn about your body’s limitations and strengths with a Functional Movement Assessment. We can provide expert insight into injury recovery, improving athletic performance, and correcting long-term misalignments or injuries. Contact us today for more information or to make an appointment.

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All fashion considerations aside, wearers of high heels know how painful the experience can be after only a short period of wear. Unsurprisingly, long-term wear of high heels and other similar footwear can lead to postural changes in your body, which can in turn result in lower back pain, metatarsalgia, plantar fasciitis, knee and ankle pain, and calf strains.

The structure of high-heeled shoes raises the arch of the foot off of the ground, therefore eliminating the plantar fascia’s capability to act as a shock absorber and placing the ankle in an unsafe, unstable position.

Whether you’re looking for pain relief after a long night out or have suffered from foot or ankle pain for many years, there are many ways to help ease the pain and help return your body’s posture to a more beneficial and healthy alignment. Here are a few:

1. Preventative Exercise

By strengthening the muscle groups in your lower body, you can offset the day-after pain of wearing high heels and prevent injuries from occurring. Calf raises help strengthen the arches in your feet, step stretches for your Achilles and calf, and toe spreads and squeezes for your arch supports will help your body quickly recover from foot injuries and pain.

2. Regular Stretches for Relief

Foam rollers, calf stretches, and seated stretch exercises can help keep your body loose and ease your day-to-day pain with just a few minutes of daily stretches. Healthline has a great resource that demonstrates stretches to ease plantar fasciitis pain along with visual aides to help you practice.

3. Ice

It’s not always the most comfortable form of injury treatment, but it’s one of the most effective. For joint inflammation and pain, you can incorporate icing into your treatment regiment. Using a frozen water bottle as a substitute for the aforementioned foam roller, you can both stretch and ice your arches at the same time to stay loose.

4. Massage Treatment

Depending on the severity of your pain, you may benefit from regular massage treatments for your lower body pain and misalignments. Studies have shown that even ten minutes of deep tissue massage can relieve plantar fasciitis and other lower body afflictions without the need for medication or invasive procedures. Of course, everyone’s body responds differently to treatments and injuries alike, so consulting with an athletic physician, trainer, or massage therapist before beginning treatment is advised.

To help reduce your pain due to plantar fasciitis, arthritis, or high ankle and knee injuries, contact Velo Sports Rehab in Bellevue, Washington. Our trained sports medicine professionals can devise a treatment regiment based on your body’s strengths and weaknesses and help you recover from injury in a safe and healthy way. Call our offices today or click here to make an appointment.

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