Advice - am I building muscle if I'm not gaining weight?

thatsnumberwang

Hi friends! I've been on a quest to build my lean muscle mass, but I'm having some difficulty figuring out whether I'm eating enough to maximize muscle gain while not putting on a whole bunch of fat. I've been lifting heavy (squats, deads, etc., recently doing StrongLifts 5x5) for about two months. Right now I'm eating around 2300 a day + an extra 150 on lifting days. My diet is pretty good and I get a decent amount of protein - at least 100g/day, and I aim for 120. By all counts, it *should* be over maintenance calories for me, as I'm 120lbs and I was maintaining at 1900 for several weeks a couple months ago. Actually, MFP thinks I should be gaining a lb a week. :laugh:

Here's the thing: I'm not gaining any weight, and my measurements haven't changed in over a month. I also don't feel like I'm losing fat, although I guess I could be. I do see a *tiny* bit more definition, but not as much as I would expect to see in the course of two months. My strength is increasing (yay!), but that could be CNS-related.

So, what do you think -- is it possible I'm still gaining muscle, even though the scale is doing zip? I don't want to sabotage my gains by eating too little, but I have trouble believing that I really need *more* food (I already feel like I'm stuffing my face). Any other advice to maximize my gains? I'm doing a post-workout whey shake, but am still waffling on creatine (I don't want a whole lot of water weight to blur the little definition I have and discourage me).

Thanks in advance for the advice! :flowerforyou:

DopeItUp

There's no way someone can tell from a post on a forum. To get your body fat percentage, get a DEXA scan or do one of those hydrostatic tests. Or get tested with calipers or even a BIA device. They all have varying levels of accuracy but that's the only way you're gonna find out if you're losing fat/gaining muscle or neither/both..

harebearva

If your not gaining or losing, your most likely in the area of recomposition which is basically trading fat for lean muscle. This process does tend to keep fat gains to a minimum but it will also yield slower results as far as gaining muscle mass. Eating more would put you more into a bulking situation where muscle is likely to gain faster but a bit of fat will as well.
Not everyone gets the water retention "bloated" result from creatine. You could try it for a month and see what you think. You DO NOT need to do a loading phase, just simply start taking a 1/2 teaspoon daily. Make sure you drink enough water, it will draw water into muscles making them appear fuller but can dehydrate you if your not careful. If you don't like teh effects of it, then stop it and the water will go away in a week or two.
Hope this helps

LesliePierceRN

Here's the important question.. Are you getting stronger? Or is that static too? (nevermind, saw the answer after I posted the question) Sounds like you're trading muscle for fat right now. I used to powerlift, I was one of the strongest women around, but the scale never budged.. but boy, the weights I could throw around budged, up and up and up.

thatsnumberwang

There's no way someone can tell from a post on a forum. To get your body fat percentage, get a DEXA scan or do one of those hydrostatic tests. Or get tested with calipers or even a BIA device. They all have varying levels of accuracy but that's the only way you're gonna find out if you're losing fat/gaining muscle or neither/both..

Thanks for the input. I measure my body fat using BIA about once a month, and it went down a tiny bit in the past month (about 0.5%), but that's in the window of unreliability, so I'm not sure how much stock I put in it.

For the folks who are suggesting I'm in a recomposition mode -- is that generally a good thing? Or is it more like I'm doing both things in a half-@ssed kind of way?

harebearva

Recomp is not a bad thing. Here's a great website where you can read all of the ins and outs. CHeck out the articles section.

http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/