Muscle > fat?

allehp

I've been awfully good, and staying within my calories. I've been dieting for almost two weeks and jogging for almost five. My weight went down three pounds, and seems to have stuck there. Am I gaining muscle? Is this normal? Anyone else having the same issues?

shreddingit

Dont worry your doing good. It takes a while to build muscle and a lot of hard work so no your not gaining muscle. just keep your foods healthy an keep working out.

crystal_sapphire

Dont worry your doing good. It takes a while to build muscle and a lot of hard work so no your not gaining muscle. just keep your foods healthy an keep working out.

exactly. OP you're doing great. However, it takes a long time and a calorie surplus to build muscle.

SafariLara

Yeah I always get to the point were i plateau but still lose inches. I think thats when I'm gaining muscle. Measure yourself!

katschi

You CANNOT gain muscle in 2 weeks! This is such a common misconception when peoples' weight loss stalls. It takes months, not weeks to gain muscle and then at the most 3-5 lbs. (without steroids) Ask any legitimate bodybuilder.

Your body is adjusting and probably holding on to water.

Muscles don't weigh more than fat but when toned, do take up less room.

1 lb muscle = 1 lb fat

The comment below mine is a very good answer to your question!

Lyadeia

When you are starting out a new program of diet and exercise, you always either gain a little or stay the same for a few days in the beginning. This is normal and happens to us all.

When you exercise, muscle fibers get torn (every time). The process of muscle repair includes water retention (among other things such as soreness for some). This normally last anywhere from 2 days to 2 weeks. Afterwards, muscles become much more efficient at the rebuilding/repair process and your body doesn't hold as much water unless your diet is too high in sodium or you are not drinking enough water. Once the water retention stops, you'll notice the scale move more.

You are losing fat by eating less and exercising more...but the scale measures everything in your body, not just the fat. That's why so many people have a tendency to give up during their first month, when the truth is, the real results come in during month 2. That's when the fat loss shows up on the scale because the water retention is gone. :flowerforyou:

xlacijeanx

I think the others pretty much summed up what I was going to say. It is normal- I've noticed some people drop a lot of weight the first month or 2 then stall, or they stall the first month or 2 then drop crazy fast. You've been doing great, so just keep it up! Do watch your sodium intake, and make sure to drink that H2O!

TrainingWithTonya

Exercise (even as little as one hard workout session) trains the body to store more muscle glycogen to fuel later hard workouts like what you just did. When you store that muscle glycogen, you store it in 3 times the same amount of water. So, if you store 1 gram of glycogen, you store 3 grams of water with it. That's actually a good thing because it makes your body more efficient for later workouts. While you aren't gaining muscle fibers that fast, you are storing that glycogen and water in the muscle so it is considered a lean tissue gain and not fat, that is why some trainers will tell you that you are gaining muscle. That's why there is so much confusion on boards like this about gaining muscle when you first get started.