is it muscle...or just fat?

kashia09

Hello all . I would really appreciate some input here. I've been doing cardio and strength training (free weights and machines) for about two months now. I have been consistently losing weight, but a couple of days ago when I got on the scale it said I had gained a couple of pounds, so I checked my measurements and I had lost inches, but gained weight....this of course didn't really make sense to me and the "gaining" part definitely didn't make me happy. I know that muscle weighs more than fat, but never really thought about how muscle or gaining muscle would factor in when doing weigh ins...in my head, the number on scale go down..good....number on scale go up...bad. It's not like I gained 10lbs or anything, but even just the couple of pounds was concerning since I've been consistently losing since I started MFP. I know that weight can fluctuate, with water weight and lord knows what else, especially when you're a chick, but it raised some questions...so I guess that left me wondering how much does muscle/ muscle gain matter in the world of the scale conscious?

liftingbro

More than likely you are holding water weight. Eventually it will come off, not to worry.

jrich1

More than likely you are holding water weight. Eventually it will come off, not to worry.

This... when you lift weights your muscles retain water to help heal.

jrich1

Also Muscle and fat weigh the same :laugh: There I said it.. but its not as easy to pack on pounds of muscle as MFP might think.

kashia09

This... when you lift weights your muscles retain water to help heal.
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hmm...I did not know this....that's VERY good to know....yay, thanks

liftingbro

This... when you lift weights your muscles retain water to help heal.

hmm...I did not know this....that's VERY good to know....yay, thanks
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Yes, the more sore you get the more water you are likely to be holding. That's not to say you are not holding water if you are not sore.

aj_rock

An untrained individual working out for the first time can reasonably expect to put on 1-2 pounds a month. The folks who come up with those numbers assume perfect form training and a caloric sufficiency though.

I'd say a couple pounds in a couple months of training makes sense for muscle gain.

TrainingWithTonya

Technically, when you train with weights you are training the muscle to store more glycogen to be able to fuel future workouts. When you store glycogen, it is stored in 3x as much water. So, if you store 1 gram of glycogen, it is stored in 3 grams of water. Glycogen stores are generally small in people who don't lift weights. When you lift weights, though, you can literally triple the amount of glycogen your muscles can store. People who are just starting out with weight training will notice this a lot more then people who are long time lifters, but even long time lifters will notice a muscle pump after a workout, which is the packing of glycogen and water into the muscle to be ready for the next workout. Because it is stored in the muscle and because it doesn't register as fat on a body composition analysis, it has mistakenly been identified as a muscle gain. It is not actually added muscle fiber or even added size to current muscle fibers. Actual increases in muscle fibers and muscle fiber size take months or years of training. So, no, what you are experiencing isn't muscle gain. While technically, it is water weight, it's actually beneficial water that is needed to store the glycogen so you can do more in the gym, which burns more calories, which burns more fat, which makes you smaller. So, don't stress this little bit of water weight because in the long run it is beneficial so that you can do more with your workouts. It's a natural adaptation of the body to be able to more efficiently fuel your activities. So, focus on your inches, body composition, and abilities in your workouts instead of the scale.

kashia09

thank you guys for the comments...they are greatly appreciated and they definitely help