Is it true that you gain muscle first and THEN the weightlos

Options
13»

Replies

  • LorinaLynn
    LorinaLynn Posts: 13,247 Member
    Options
    And $5 worth of gold costs the same as $5 worth of cow manure, but no one would argue if I said gold is more expensive than poop. :laugh: I wish we could all just agree that the "by volume" is implied.

    That all said... Any new or increased exercise routine can cause fluid retention and a temporary stall or gain on the scale. And the scale is a craptacular way of viewing progress anyway. So take measurements, take photos, go by how clothing fits, and weigh yourself, and if all four of those methods of gauging your progress are going in the wrong direction... rethink your plans. If most of them are going in the right direction, you're on the right path.
  • mmapags
    mmapags Posts: 8,934 Member
    Options
    No.

    Most likely water retention from exercising. It takes a lot of time, and a lot of calories to put on pounds of muscle. It doesn't happen by accident, or by mistake. You can't build muscle without knowing it.

    People that have muscular builds spend years working hard to look like they do, it doesn't happen by accident in a week while you're trying to lose weight. It's just water. Eventually it will go away once your body adjusts to the exercise.

    In the case mentioned above, I guess I am just lucky! I have lost 5 inches in my waist and only two pounds. Now to give credit to what the above poster is saying I did lose 10 lbs right of the bat, first week of P90X but then I gained eight back. So...in my experience you can Weigh more but have it be muscle...it must be that way because I only lost 2 lbs in three weeks but also got rid of Five inches. My body just seems to be agreeing that muscle does weigh more than fat and I sure won't be correcting it! HA LOL My hips, legs and thighs can keep right on beliveing muscle weighs more than fat because it's working well for me. :wink: :wink: :happy: :happy:
    edited for spelling :)

    I really think what you said in this post is the key. There is so much focus on "weight" loss. Is that the best goal or is "body recomposition" the best goal. As ninerbuff said, it's unlikely to build muscle in a deficit but you can train and condition the muscle you have. If your focus is just on losing weight, you will lose lean muscle mass at the same time. Then have to go and build lean muscle back.

    This is just my opinion and everyone has to do what's best for them but I'm choosing strength training with HIIT and steady state cardio with running and bike (outdoors now that spring ahs arrived!). I'm not losing very quickly. Abut 8 lbs in about 12 weeks but I've lost inches and gained strength. I probaly ahven't gained any new muscle tissue but I've brought what muscle tissue I had back from shrinkage and I'm much tighter. I'm down 2 inches at the waist and my clothes are loose and I'm wearing things I haven't fit into in years. I've recently done what heybales is suggesting and increased my food intake to a very slight deficit to feed any possible muscle building and I am still losing inches.

    As my body fat reduces a little more, I'll go to no deficit and probably a slight overage to work on building some muscle then again into a slight deficit to continue to reduce body fat. I guess my point is, I think it's better to focus on building fitness and reducing body fat rather than losing weight. If your leaner and healthier, who cares what the scale says??!! The scale is a lying cheating miserable @#%&*!
  • tigersword
    tigersword Posts: 8,059 Member
    Options
    No.

    Most likely water retention from exercising. It takes a lot of time, and a lot of calories to put on pounds of muscle. It doesn't happen by accident, or by mistake. You can't build muscle without knowing it.

    People that have muscular builds spend years working hard to look like they do, it doesn't happen by accident in a week while you're trying to lose weight. It's just water. Eventually it will go away once your body adjusts to the exercise.

    In the case mentioned above, I guess I am just lucky! I have lost 5 inches in my waist and only two pounds. Now to give credit to what the above poster is saying I did lose 10 lbs right of the bat, first week of P90X but then I gained eight back. So...in my experience you can Weigh more but have it be muscle...it must be that way because I only lost 2 lbs in three weeks but also got rid of Five inches. My body just seems to be agreeing that muscle does weigh more than fat and I sure won't be correcting it! HA LOL My hips, legs and thighs can keep right on beliveing muscle weighs more than fat because it's working well for me. :wink: :wink: :happy: :happy:
    edited for spelling :)
    That's definitely water weight fluctuations. You lost 10 pounds of water weight, then gained back the water, and lost 2 pounds of fat. You do not lose 10 pounds of fat in a week (that would take a caloric deficit of 35,000 calories under your maintenance level, or burning 5,000 extra calories a day.) You also don't gain 8 pounds of muscle in matter of a few weeks.

Categories