Weight lifting

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greenday2805
greenday2805 Posts: 2 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
Anyone else out there tend to do both cardio and weight training at the gym ? I know it's an all round fat burner but don't feel I can rely on the scales due to muscle gain ? Anyone work around this issue?

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  • singingflutelady
    singingflutelady Posts: 8,736 Member
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    As a woman, the most you can gain in muscle a month with a surplus and the perfect progressive overload lifting plan is maybe 1/2-1 lbs so muscle gain really isn't an issue.
  • kathrynjean_
    kathrynjean_ Posts: 428 Member
    edited October 2016
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    You're not going to gain any appreciable amount of muscle lifting weights unless you are purposely eating at a caloric surplus. (I say appreciable amount because there are some instances where people will have noob gains, but this is limited to very specific circumstances and can be overblown.) As well, it's much harder for women in general to gain muscle.

    It is very possible that you will see an increase in water weight after beginning a structured lifting program, but this will even itself out and shouldn't interfere with the scale reading long term.

    Many people do both cardio and weights, depending on their goals.
  • sammyliftsandeats
    sammyliftsandeats Posts: 2,421 Member
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    Weight lifting (especially new activity) can cause water retention due to repair to your torn muscle fibres.

    There's lots of people who do both - generally they do cardio on their off days from lifting.

    If you're eating at a deficit and you're accurately measuring, then what you need is patience. It will come off.
  • Dano74
    Dano74 Posts: 503 Member
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    Muscle gain isn't big or dramatic... you're doing really well with 1 lb. a month and that's at a caloric surplus.

    No need to work around the issue if you're in fat loss mode.

    ... and I kind of assumed there. Are you in fat loss mode?
  • gregproctor44
    gregproctor44 Posts: 237 Member
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    Wait.....You are all saying you need to be in a calorie surplus to build muscle? This is not accurate.
  • kathrynjean_
    kathrynjean_ Posts: 428 Member
    edited October 2016
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    If you reread my post, I said that she wasn't going to gain appreciable amounts of muscle without eating at a surplus. I mentioned noob gains as an example, but as I said, those occur under specific circumstances and are still limited. It's not going to be to the extent that OP needs to completely disregard the scale weight because she is packing on massive amounts of muscle or something.

    Alternatively, the OP could recomp - which is a way to gain muscle without eating at a surplus - but that is a very slow process and means staying around the same weight. Once again, if the OP was attempting a recomp, they could still use the scale as a tool.
  • sammyliftsandeats
    sammyliftsandeats Posts: 2,421 Member
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    gregproctor44 wrote: »
    Wait.....You are all saying you need to be in a calorie surplus to build muscle? This is not accurate.

    Yes, because building muscle requires surplus energy. And that surplus energy is coming from extra calories.

    Of course, a progressive overload weight lifting routine is needed as well.
  • rugratz2015
    rugratz2015 Posts: 593 Member
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    greenday2805 wrote: »
    Anyone else out there tend to do both cardio and weight training at the gym ? I know it's an all round fat burner but don't feel I can rely on the scales due to muscle gain ? Anyone work around this issue?

    I do - the scales are not showing any real weight loss, however I am fitter, stronger and more toned, plus have dropped a dress size. People are noticing that I've lost weight/my body shape is changing.

    I would suggest you take measurements (compare monthly) and look at how your clothes fit, rather than concentrating on the scales :smiley:
  • Dano74
    Dano74 Posts: 503 Member
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    gregproctor44 wrote: »
    Wait.....You are all saying you need to be in a calorie surplus to build muscle? This is not accurate.

    True... for those new to lifting/deconditioned retraining as some studies have illustrated, which OP may be. Even so, naturally built muscle isn't going to be bonkers scale moving enough to credit the scale increase as being associated with multiple pound weight gains during the week.
  • singingflutelady
    singingflutelady Posts: 8,736 Member
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    gregproctor44 wrote: »
    Wait.....You are all saying you need to be in a calorie surplus to build muscle? This is not accurate.

    @gregproctor44 not saying that at all. Just pointing out that with a surplus a woman can only gain 1 lbs a month of muscle so obviously not in a surplus they will gain less than that. Gaining muscle, especially for women, is difficult.
  • BrentJulius
    BrentJulius Posts: 89 Member
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    Yeah, scales suck, it's good to check once a week but not the end all. Keep an eye for how you look, how your clothes feel, even then it can be tough because you see yourself everyday, people will start to notice and say things like "hey, have you been working out" haha, but it's true.
  • Dano74
    Dano74 Posts: 503 Member
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    greenday2805 wrote: »
    Anyone else out there tend to do both cardio and weight training at the gym ?

    Also, Yes. :)

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