Muscle while eating at a deficiency?

jenniator

Hey everyone,

I was wondering if you can gain muscle while eating at a deficiency. The reason I'm wondering is because I was losing about 1-2 pounds a week just from doing cardio before. I do one hour of cardio 5 days a week. But about 2 in a half weeks ago, I've started incorporation strength training in my routine a few times a week. Last week I lost 2.2 pounds and eating 1,600 calories. This week I'm eating the same amount, doing the same amount of cardio, lifting weights every other day, and I actually gained some weight back! I also haven't lost anything for 5 days where I always lose something every few days. So I was wondering could gaining muscle be a result of this? I'm just wondering since I thought a person couldn't get muscle eating at a deficiency. Please let me know because it's really discouraging to work so hard and see no results.

Phrick

No weight loss is ever linear - weight fluctuations are part of the deal. It's water retention from the weight lifting, not fat gain, and it'll go away.

TimothyFish

Anytime you exercise, you are strengthening your muscles, whether you are eating at a deficit or not. In theory, you could gain muscle weight more quickly than you lose fat weight and end up gaining some weight, but it is unlikely that the weight gain you experienced is due to that. It is more likely that you strained some muscles and they are swollen with extra water while they are healing. Once they heal, you should lose the extra weight quickly, and yes, the muscles you strained will be bigger than they were before.

haysavam

I ran into an over training problem a few weeks back. I would spend 3+ hours at the gym but then I wanted to eat everything in my fridge. Right now I've scaled back my workouts and am not eating back my calories burned from working out. Now I'm back on track. Not sure if this is the solution to your problem, but it may help.

3dogsrunning

Yes, you can gain muscle while at a deficit under certain circumstances, however, it will be a very small amount.

What is likely going on is as someone else mentioned, water retention. Not like bloating. When we start new exercise or increase intensity our muscle store more glycogen which is what the body uses for energy during exerise. Glycogen requires water to be stored which is why it is referred to as water weight. It is completely normal and will level off. Right now it is masking your fat loss.
This is one of the reasons why the scale is not always a reliable indictor of progress.

LoraF83

3dogsrunning wrote: »

Yes, you can gain muscle while at a deficit under certain circumstances, however, it will be a very small amount.

What is likely going on is as someone else mentioned, water retention. Not like bloating. When we start new exercise or increase intensity our muscle store more glycogen which is what the body uses for energy during exerise. Glycogen requires water to be stored which is why it is referred to as water weight. It is completely normal and will level off. Right now it is masking your fat loss.
This is one of the reasons why the scale is not always a reliable indictor of progress.

Yep.

jenniator

Thank you guys I really hope it is water retention from swollen muscles. That makes sense since I have been pushing myself quiet a bit when I'm training muscles and cardio. But nothing that is too much for me. Does anyone know how long it takes to go away?

jenniator

Someone said muscles I strained will be bigger. Darn and here I thought I was gaining some muscle and so proud of myself.

sgthaggard

At the very least you're maintaining the muscle you have - that's something to be proud about, no?

3dogsrunning

jenniator wrote: »

Thank you guys I really hope it is water retention from swollen muscles. That makes sense since I have been pushing myself quiet a bit when I'm training muscles and cardio. But nothing that is too much for me. Does anyone know how long it takes to go away?

I don't know if it exactly goes away, unless you stop exercising (which I don't recommend), but it levels off and your fat loss eventually catches up. The scale will start moving again.
Keep in mind, glycogen levels are always changing throughout the day. How active you are, what you eat can affect it. Just keep going.

sgthaggard wrote: »

At the very least you're maintaining the muscle you have - that's something to be proud about, no?

This too.

jenniator

sgthaggard wrote: »

At the very least you're maintaining the muscle you have - that's something to be proud about, no?

That's true, but I am just a bit disappointed since I really believe I was getting a little bit of muscles and I was seeing results from my strength training. I've never had muscles since I never strength trained, so it was really excited for me. But to hear there just swollen is a bit heart breaking. But I guess I should've known they weren't real since they are pretty big for a short time.

3dogsrunning

jenniator wrote: »

sgthaggard wrote: »

At the very least you're maintaining the muscle you have - that's something to be proud about, no?

That's true, but I am just a bit disappointed since I really believe I was getting a little bit of muscles and I was seeing results from my strength training. I've never had muscles since I never strength trained, so it was really excited for me. But to hear there just swollen is a bit heart breaking. But I guess I should've known they weren't real since they are pretty big for a short time.

You have muscles, maybe not big ones but you have them. As you lose bodyfat, you will see more definition in your muscles (people often confuse this with gaining muscle).
Gaining strength is a good thing too.
Don't be disappointed.

LoraF83

jenniator wrote: »

sgthaggard wrote: »

At the very least you're maintaining the muscle you have - that's something to be proud about, no?

That's true, but I am just a bit disappointed since I really believe I was getting a little bit of muscles and I was seeing results from my strength training. I've never had muscles since I never strength trained, so it was really excited for me. But to hear there just swollen is a bit heart breaking. But I guess I should've known they weren't real since they are pretty big for a short time.

You can gain strength without gaining actual muscle. And you can lose fat to reveal the muscle you already have.

If you want to actually gain muscle, you'll need to eat at a surplus while lifting. The extra calories will make the scale go up, some of which will be muscle and some of which will be fat. This is called a bulk. After a bit of time, you then cut calories again to strip away the fat. Bulking is hard....especially for women. It's hard to gain muscle.


But....you've got 69lbs to your goal, so you're nowhere near ready to do a bulk or anything like that. Just keep lifting, cutting calories, and losing the weight. You've got awesome muscles just waiting to be uncovered and you'll get the look you want in the end. Be patient.

Liftng4Lis

It's normal for the muscles to retain water when beginning a new exercise program. As far as gaining muscle while in a deficit, you will see newbie gains for a window of time. After that, it is extremely difficult (almost impossible), but you will be retaining muscle, by continuing to strength train. Great job!

jenniator

Thank you so much everyone for the encouraging words. It is good I am getting stronger and I will keep doing my best