Gained 1 Kg with lifting weights - confused

Sipah

Right so male 5'9/5'10. I was 87.3 kgs last week. This week I started weight training plus cardio and I have gained 1 kg and increased my calories, because I was feeling really weak and tired eating 1200 calories a day.

Now I know that once you lift weights you retain water and stuff. So I should be gaining weight. But is 1kg normal in a week?

EdTheGinge

I'd suggest 1200 isn't enough so upping it is a good idea, also it's probably a combination of muscle and any increase in calories are likely to show a small gain until your body adjusts.

taeliesyn

Eat more dude, I'm 5'10.5 about 80kg & losing on about 2260cal a day + exercise calories.

meerkat70

it will be water. i can go up by a couple of kilos for two days post weight training, especially if i'm using big muscles.

and yes, eat more.

Warchortle

I shouldn't have laughed, but you realize what lifting does right? Breaking your muscles to rebuild build them with calories that don't exist is pointless.

nexus9053

lifting weights on a calorie deficit is not pointless as it will help you to maintain what muscle mass you already have.

Warchortle

lifting weights on a calorie deficit is not pointless as it will help you to maintain what muscle mass you already have.

A guy eating 1200 calorie isn't going to maintain much of anything at that rate.

Sipah

Eat more? Really? I am aiming to be 75 kgs. So need to lose another 12 kgs or so. What would the logic be - I am not questioning the idea, I am just trying to better understand how it works.

Boogage

You do need to eat quite a bit more. I'm f/5ft 4 and I get sick if I eat 1200 and exercise consistantly for a few weeks. The increase in weight is normal as your muscles will hold onto a lot of water for repairs. You won't really gain muscle yet as that's a very slow process and is almost impossible eating at such a deficit. If you're just trying to retain muscle then you can eat at a deficit and should start losing weight again in a couple of weeks. If you're trying to build muscle but stay lean then you need to eat at maintenance and eat back exercise cals or eat at a small surplus but you will gain a small amount of fat along with muscle. I'm no expert but this the way I understand it to work

jetlag

Right so male 5'9/5'10. I was 87.3 kgs last week. This week I started weight training plus cardio and I have gained 1 kg and increased my calories, because I was feeling really weak and tired eating 1200 calories a day.

Now I know that once you lift weights you retain water and stuff. So I should be gaining weight. But is 1kg normal in a week?

I can gain 1kg in a day.unless you weigh yourself daily, you'll never know whether it's normal or not.

neandermagnon

if you were undereating before (1200 cals/day is undereating for most of the human population) then when you start eating more, you gain weight because of water and glycogen

glycogen is your body's short term energy reserve, it's a carbohydrate that's stored in the liver, and it's stored along with water. When you undereat in the short term, your body burns it for energy. Fat is your long term reserve, your body burns that too, but it's burned slowly over time while glycogen makes up any immediate shortfall. If you fast for a day, you'll be burning glycogen. If you eat at a calorie deficit for a week you'll burn fat and glycogen. If you undereat (i.e. too big a deficit) your body burns all its glycogen and you're left feeling weak and tired... this sounds like what's happened to you. When you eat more, your body replaces the glycogen, and you have a lot more energy, but glycogen is stored along with water and you may gain several pounds of scale weight as you return to eating normally again. Rest assured that this is healthy and that the weigh you're gaining is *not fat*. It's water and glycogen. So keep on doing weight training and keep on eating more. Once your glycogen stores are refilled, you'll see weight loss again, from the fat that you're losing providing you're eating at a deficit... you need a moderate deficit, not too big. Enough to see slow and steady fat loss while you're not feeling deprived or exhausted from lack of food

Boogage

Ok so you're still trying to lose and just trying to retain muscle. Have you tried calculating your tdee and deducting 15-20% (I'm not sure how many lbs in a kg but the less you have to lose, the smaller your cal deficit should be). This should give you a better estimate of how many cals you need to eat whilst still losing weight. FYI when I work out a lot the scale often doesn't move or goes up but I've learned that it must all be water as when I stop working out I get big drops over a couple of weeks and my size decreases so the working out is making a positive improvement even if my scale doesn't show it.

Sipah

Thanks for all the info. The information about glycogen helps a great deal as I understand whats going on. So thanks.

As for my BMR, TDEE and stuff. I used this website to calculate the rate at which I need to eat: http://scoobysworkshop.com/accurate-calorie-calculator/

Based on that it said I should eat 1745 calories a day. So I am doing that on top of some weight training/cardio.

I have basically been reading the forums/threads and came to the conclusion that I should exercise along with dieting to be lean and healthy. That includes eating back exercise calories and doing a moderate amount of exercise daily.

But it seems for weights etc I need to eat more than 1700 calories to retain muscle mass let alone build it.

neandermagnon

you can't lose fat and build muscle at the same time (okay there are specific exceptions, e.g. noob gains)

if you're eating at a deficit (less than you burn off) for fat loss, then train and eat to maintain lean body mass, i.e. keep the deficit moderate, and the leaner you are already, the smaller the deficit should be (or the more you should eat), because the leaner you are the more likely you are to lose lean mass along with the fat.

if you are already lean and want to gain muscles, you need to eat at a surplus, i.e. more than you burn off, and train really hard so that the weight you gain is muscle, and not fat. YOu can expect some fat gain when doing this, but by keeping the surplus moderate you minimise it, and also you can do a cut (i.e. eating for fat loss for a while) to get rid of it.

You can't do both at the same time.... occasionally though, in people who are new to weight training who are overfat, gains in lean mass while eating at a sensible deficit do happen, so if you're in that category, eat at a sensible deficit for slow fat loss, and it's possible you may gain a little muscle while losing fat. Then, when you're lean, you can eat at a surplus and start training for muscle gains.

neandermagnon

just for some perspective as to appropriate sized deficits:

(TDEE is all the calories you burn in a day, i.e. BMR + activity calories (including all exercise calories)

For someone who's already lean, who wants to lose remaining stubborn fat - eat 10% less than TDEE

for most people who want to lose fat, i.e. moderately obese, 20% less than TDEE is fine

for the severely obese, who have a lot lot lot of fat to lose, they are usually fine on a 30% deficit

if you're in between those categories, there's 25% and 15%... be honest with yourself and where you are, and it's a good idea to get your body fat percentage measured reliably, because you may be carrying more or less fat than you think. for the above defintions, already lean = in the healthy range of body fat % for your gender. this does not necessarily correlate with being in the healthy range for BMI

Boogage

Sounds good. Most people seem to like to get down to a good weight/bf% before thinking about bulking. Otherwise it can just make you feel even more fat . Keep up the strength!

Sipah

Thanks. I started off at 102 kgs. I had lost 15 kgs in the past 7 months. So I am by no means lean. Rather between the man boobs and beer belly I thought instead of just walking and dieting maybe add some weight training to burn more calories and enhance my weight loss.

I was eating at 1200 calories for the past 2 to 3 weeks because i wanted to burn roughly a kg a week. It just left me fatigued. So I upped it to 1700 calories and I am honestly feeling a lot better. With my regular walks/jogs and exercise I am feeling better and eating at a healthy level from what I can gather.

I was just confused by the 1 kg weight gain in 1 week when from what I have read to gain weight I would have to be eating like 3000 calories a day and I know I haven't done that.

But thank you for the information. It was just odd to see me gain that much weight in such a short time. But you explained all of that.

In your opinion would weight training still benefit me if I ate at a deficit? The aim being enhanced weight loss and retaining muscle mass.

Boogage

Yes I do think you should keep up the weight training. If you eat at a large deficit (I know you've upped your calories now) then you will lose weight quickly but you will likely lose more muscle than fat.

By keeping the deficit small and working your muscles using weights you will keep a lot more of your muscle and the majority of what you lose will be fat.

Also the weights should help you look more toned as you approach your goal weight. I made the mistake of eating at too large a deficit for a long while and even though I was often using weights to strengthen my muscles, my body didn't have enough fuel to make the training worthwhile. I am left looking untoned, almost anorexic and with more extra skin than I could have hoped for if I'd trained and eaten properly from the start.

I'm at my goal weight but I'm now trying to reverse the damage by bulking up a bit again and eating and training properly to recomp my baggy body (I'm basically trying to get back to where you are now!). I don't think your body will look anything like you desire either without a good amount of calories and strength training.

Eating at a reasonable deficit and strength training to maintain your lean body mass (muscle) is the best route for you to take right now IMO

Weight loss may appear slow or even seem to halt at times but it really is just water and your body trying to repair the muscles. As I said before, I can stay the same or gain while I'm doing a lot of training but as soon as I have a couple of weeks off, any added weight and more just falls off as my body releases the water because my muscles no longer need it for repairs because they aren't being worked hard.

I find it easier to accept that I am really losing weight and that the scale is fooling me if I feel my biceps after training, they get really pumped up but I know muscle doesn't build that fast so then I imagine all the muscles in my body are retaining like that for repairs (with water and whatever) and I find it easy to imagine why my weight is staying the same or rising temporarily.

Stick with it and reevaluate your progress in a few weeks.

sarahrbraun

Thanks. I started off at 102 kgs. I had lost 15 kgs in the past 7 months. So I am by no means lean. Rather between the man boobs and beer belly I thought instead of just walking and dieting maybe add some weight training to burn more calories and enhance my weight loss.

I was eating at 1200 calories for the past 2 to 3 weeks because i wanted to burn roughly a kg a week. It just left me fatigued. So I upped it to 1700 calories and I am honestly feeling a lot better. With my regular walks/jogs and exercise I am feeling better and eating at a healthy level from what I can gather.

I was just confused by the 1 kg weight gain in 1 week when from what I have read to gain weight I would have to be eating like 3000 calories a day and I know I haven't done that.

But thank you for the information. It was just odd to see me gain that much weight in such a short time. But you explained all of that.

In your opinion would weight training still benefit me if I ate at a deficit? The aim being enhanced weight loss and retaining muscle mass.

OK...I understand you WANT and NEED to lose weight...I personally have 50lbs (23kg) to lose before I am anywhere NEAR a healthy weight. When you strength train, you can weigh MORE, but look like you weigh less.

This picture is a prime example. The picture on the left is in 2009 or 2010. I was about 195lbs (89kg). I actually went on to GAIN 15kg before I hit my all time highest weight. The picture on the right is about a year ago, after losing about 15kg. EXACT same top. In the first picture I wore a 42DD bra and size 16/18 pants. In the second one, a 38C bra and size 12/14 shorts.


gray top pics by crochetmom2010, on Flickr

this picture here represents about a kg weight loss over SEVEN MONTHS of weight training.


2/13, 4/13, 9/13 by crochetmom2010, on Flickr

just keep doing what you are doing, and eventually the weight will come off, and you will end up with a body you are happy with.

ETA: I eat close to 2000 calories a day. Nothing is a forbidden food for me. I'm sure that my results would be better if I ate cleaner...but I just don't feel like it right now.

neandermagnon

In your opinion would weight training still benefit me if I ate at a deficit? The aim being enhanced weight loss and retaining muscle mass.

Absolutely. Not only will it help to protect against losing muscle mass along with the fat, you will also see big strength gains. While gaining actually muscle mass is not possible eating at a deficit, you can still gain a lot of strength with the muscle mass you already have. So definitely hit the weights, keep on making sure you're eating enough and also that you're getting enough protein. Aim for slow and steady fat loss while not feeling deprived. Weight training also helps with bone strength, providing you're eating enough calcium, so there's that too. Bone loss is another risk from very low calorie diets.