Gaining weight while on calorie deficit, but lifting heavy. Building muscle?

PlaceboFX

So I used to be in really good shape, then was laid up with a chronic illness for about 18 months. That’s finally under control, and I started hitting the weights really hard about 3-4 weeks ago. I’m also at about a 400-500 calorie deficit. I figured I’m technically a newbie again, so might as well take advantage of newbie gains and try to burn fat and build muscle at the same time.
It’s too early to see much change in the mirror or in my clothes, and I don’t actually have too much fat to burn, just trying to get the last bit off my tummy so that I can start to see some definition there. Yet I’m watching the scale slowly creep up. Is it possible that this is muscle growth? Is it just a result of working my muscles super hard so that they’re retaining more and more water? Years ago when I initially got into shape and lost 40 pounds, it was reasonably linear. Scale went down every week. This is definitely new to me, so I’m wanting to understand what’s happening!

tinkerbellang83

Might be a teenie tiny bit of muscle (i.e.noob gain) but most likely it water retention if you've upped and continue to up the intensity of your weight training.

ETA when I was doing progressive lifting programs the water weight would hang on for 4-6 weeks because I was constantly increasing my loads, it's only when I would stick at a (lifting)weight for a couple of weeks it would level off a bit.

mmapags

PlaceboFX wrote: »

So I used to be in really good shape, then was laid up with a chronic illness for about 18 months. That’s finally under control, and I started hitting the weights really hard about 3-4 weeks ago. I’m also at about a 400-500 calorie deficit. I figured I’m technically a newbie again, so might as well take advantage of newbie gains and try to burn fat and build muscle at the same time.
It’s too early to see much change in the mirror or in my clothes, and I don’t actually have too much fat to burn, just trying to get the last bit off my tummy so that I can start to see some definition there. Yet I’m watching the scale slowly creep up. Is it possible that this is muscle growth? Is it just a result of working my muscles super hard so that they’re retaining more and more water? Years ago when I initially got into shape and lost 40 pounds, it was reasonably linear. Scale went down every week. This is definitely new to me, so I’m wanting to understand what’s happening!

A little muscle building but not much. More likely fluid retention from starting a new exercise program along with fluid fluctuations of a woman's cycle.

ElizabethKalmbach

Were you lifting weights before? After an intense lift session, I usually gain about 2-3lbs worth of water weight and if I'm working out 3 days per week, I don't usually see that weight drop off until I've had 2 rest days in a row. This week, for example, I weighed in at 151.8 on Monday pre-workout. Yesterday was leg day, and this morning I weighed in at 154.2. Totally normal. I'm trying to keep my deficit pretty tight at 250 calories/day so that I don't lose too fast, but I expect that by next Monday morning, I'll probably be down to about 151.2 or so. Assuming I've done my math correctly.

Give your new workout 4-6 weeks to settle in and keep an eye on your *trending* over time, and it should work out - though you may need to make some small adjustments to your calories for real world calorie burns rather than the estimates we can get from MFP or other calculators. Try to work with 4-6 weeks worth of data at a time to average out some of the bumps in water weight caused by hormones, salt, and changes to your workout regimen.

GaryRuns

You might gain some muscle while in a deficit, but nothing you'd see on a scale over a short time scale like a week or two. Either what you're seeing is water weight or you're not logging your food as accurately as you think you are and aren't actually in a deficit.

tuckerrj

Just a reminder, the only way to KNOW you're in a calorie deficit is to weigh or measure accurately EVERYTHING that goes in your mouth that has calories. I struggled for many months thinking I was in a deficit until I started precise measuring. Good luck with your endeavors!

sijomial

3-4 weeks you might gain 1lb of muscle if training effectively.

But you could gain more than that in fluid retention/soreness especially when you are returning to exercise.

If your weight continues to climb for an extended period of time then you know you aren't actually in a calorie deficit but are in a surplus.

quiksylver296

http://physiqonomics.com/the-weird-and-highly-annoying-world-of-scale-weight-and-fluctuations

jdhcm2006

I completely get the frustration. I started lifting again after being off of it for about 2 years. I started my program on 1/6 and ever since my scale has been bouncing between the same 3-5 pounds. I haven’t gotten back down to the weight I was prior to lifting, so I’m just assuming once I get past these 6 weeks, things will level back out. I’m eating at a slight deficit and weighing everything that I can on the scale (if I eat at my grandparents or sister’s, I make an estimate). I know it’s just water from sodium (I make myself fried rice and have it 2-3 times a week. Delicious but very high in salt), cycle, and doms. I don’t assume I’m growing muscle bc I know that’s a slow process. If those 2 pounds that I’m up from since starting my program have become muscle, great but I’m not convinced just yet.

The things that I have read and watched has said that if you have a good amount of fat to lose, you can still gain in a slight deficit. Idk how much you have to lose but make sure the 500 calorie deficit isn’t too much. Your body does need the fuel.

This is the week that I finally decided that I’m just going to stick to my program, my calorie goal, keep weighing myself, and just let my body do what it’s going to do. I can’t let myself get caught up in the small fluctuations bc that is a recipe for disaster.

If you are eating at a deficit and you know you are bc you’re weighing your food and following your program, it will all work out in the end. Just try to keep your sanity during the inbetween.

AnnPT77

I agree with others' assessment (muscle gain isn't that fast, water weight from muscle repair is most likely, unless food logging is off (that's not a diss: it's a skill that improves with practice for all of us)).

I'd add that you look as if you might be a premenopausal female. Unless you know your hormone-related water weight shifts very well and are certain that's not involved, that's definitely a thing that can contribute to scale-weight fluctuations of multiple pounds that confuse the net fat-loss picture, with only 3-4 weeks of data, some of which is starting a new diet and reviving a weight-training program.

Do what you can to make sure your logging is spot on (including logging cheat days, unless you believe they're mythical like I do ), and let yourself accumulate enough data to compare scale weights at the same point in at least two, more preferably 3, different menstrual cycles. Since your weight loss is to get where you'd prefer to be, when you're already in a healthy zone, and you'd like to build muscle besides, I think it makes sense to let the situation play out for a while, before adjusting.

Best wishes!

thescouselander77

Yes, it can be done but I think your deficit might be on the high side though. I'm trying to lose a few percent body fat while at least maintaining or preferably building muscle. I'm aiming for a 300 cal deficit while also seting my protein macro relatively high. So far so good and I'm still getting stronger for the time being.

I usually find my weight increases the day after a workout but it's back down the day after. Problem is it's up and down so much over the week that's it's hard to tell what's going on - I've started weighing myself daily now and taking an average over the week. Also, since I'm trying to build muscle and I might not actually lose weight I'm monitoring my body fat percentage using the Navy method which is quite easy to do.