Crossfit and Macros

jadu1536

I have been doing cross fit and Macros for over a year now.. first I lost some weight and now I have gained some. I can't tell if my weight is increasing in a direction thats bad for my health or if I'm just gaining muscle. In pictures I look leaner than I used to, but the scale shows an increase, and body fat is the same. It's frustrating to not know for sure, but I am trying to follow macros and workout. Has anyone else tried tracking macros? Do you notice anything like this?

AnnPT77

Lots going on here.

How much weight gain, how fast?
What workout(s) are you doing, more specifically maybe, plus how often, and for how long have you been consistent? (Different Crossfit boxes do somewhat different things, seems like.)

If female, gaining around a pound of muscle mass per month would be a big success, and less than that is probably more likely (especially if not eating in a surplus, non-young, not getting near-optimal overall nutrition especially protein, not doing a good mass-focused progressive strength program faithfully, and more). So, if faster gain than that, less likely to be muscle.

Looking leaner: Suggests not mostly fat gain.

Body fat? If it's from a BIA scale, could be off by 3-5% at least, though trend direction could still be meaningful if you ignore outlier readings. If we trust it for trends, same BF% at higher weight would be more pounds of lean mass (possibly muscle mass) because same percent of a higher weight is more pounds, right?

Following macros is essentially equivalent to calorie counting, plus paying attention to nutrition, given that each macro has a characteristic calorie level (fats, 9 calories per gram; carbs & protein, 4 calories per gram). So, people calorie counting & working at good nutrition are doing the same thing as counting macros, results should be comparable.

Calorie level is the key direct driver of bodyweight changes: Eat more than maintenance calories, gain weight. Muscle or fat? What was the stimulus that would cause muscle mass gain: What workout(s) are you doing, how often, etc.? If not enough stimulus, more fat gain. If enough stimulus, more muscle gain, but maybe some fat along with it.

Like I said, IMU Crossfit boxes can vary, and your schedule would matter. I'd expect good Crossfit to add some strength, muscle, over time, but not be optimal purely for the goal of building muscle compared to some other approaches (as Crossfit's usually a mixed workout, not laser-focused on the muscle-gain goal - good stuff, but one gets what one trains for). Just a guess, though.

ETA truth in advertising: I'm not a Crossfitter. Some of my friends have been. Those who've been consistent have had good (visible, performance) results. Focus has seemed to be different at different locations, a bit, depending on background of the folks running the place.

Fflpnari

Ive been doing crossfit and follow macros.
What are you macros at? Weight height age. use a food scale? tracking 100%?

Onedaywriter

I’ve been doing crossfit for about 3 years. I was large with high body fat- big belly probably way too much visceral fat. I lost weight very quickly to a point. Then I really focused on cico and mainly protein macro and was actually a little thin. It seems like for me fat and carbs just fall in when protein is right (30% protein/30 fat/40 carbs).

I gained back about 7 -10 lbs but my clothes fit totally differently. Shirts that were tight in the gut (at the lighter weight) are now tight in the shoulders and hang over my gut. My “body fat” impedance scale has no clue whatsoever- telling me that as I gained weight I gained body fat percent as well. It seems more based on calculations rather than reality. So if that’s how you’re measuring body fat ignore it! Only other possibility is that I lost visceral belly fat and gained subcutaneous fat somewhere else- doesn’t seem so though.