Muscle gain or fat gain?

incircles_lp2

I have been busting my but for the past 2 weeks working out and have gained 5lbs.

I'm sure this is muscle, but this is such a huge DE-motivator! I want to give up!

What are the chances that this is actual FAT gain vs. muscle gain? I know muscle weighs more than fat, but like I said, this is not helping my self confidence lately.

twilight1542

The answer isn't quite soo simple......

1. How are doing calorie wise?
2. Are you drinking enough water?
3. Are you consuming too much sodium--if you overdo sodium your body will retain water to make up for it?
4. Are you doing only cardio? cardio & weight training? weight training only? cardio burns calories, but weight training builds muscle, which improves your bodies ability to burn more calories all day. Weight training with heavy weights and low reps builds bulky muscle and weight training with light weights and high reps builds lean muscle.

Muscle does weigh more than fat....2x as much I believe....so if your doing a lot of weight training with heavy weights it's possible that you've gained muscle weight.

The best tip I can give though is to always weigh yourself at the same time of the day, under similar circumstances. For example, I always do it after working out, which is always before I have dinner. But the other day I had an early dinner and a late workout. I was peeved because I had gained weight. But when I weighed myself the following day following my normal routine I realized that I actually hadn't gained any weight... I was weighing my dinner instead of myself.....So find a time of day that works for you and stick with it because weight can fluctuate quite a bit throughout the day.

visiologist

It's almost certainly water. There is no way you (or anyone, save a guy on steroids) can gain 5 pounds of muscle in 2 weeks.

Mike

SHBoss1673

yep, lots of reasons you can gain weight.

for you to gain 5 lbs of fat in 2 weeks you'd have to eat WAAAAY over your maintenance calories every day and do very little exercise.

There are lots of factors involved in weight.

Besides fat and muscle, the body also does specific things when you change, start, or add to a work out routine. Whether that's just upping your workout times or intensity, or adding whole different workout types to your routine, the body will change in accordance. Is it possible you've gained some muscle or fat over 2 weeks? Sure, but probably not 2 lbs, that would be very unlikely.

First, when you start doing more, or harder routines, you recruit more of the existing, but normally unused muscle fibers into active work. This requires a larger store of glycogen, glycogen is a water and glucose mix that fuels the muscles, our body holds onto a certain amount of it in an around muscles that are used often and will draw on it for activity. When you increase your activity level, it stores more, this means more water retention, thus more weight. Also remember that on any given day, depending on lots of factors including hydration level, your intestines, time of day, sodium and potassium intake, and about a million other little factors, your weight can fluctuate up to 10 lbs (5 lbs above to 5 lbs below) your current "real" weight.

Don't get to upset about small weight fluctuations, and try not to become to obsessive about your weight.

dporter1183

Try measuring your inches lost. I know some people who lose inches before lbs.

colombiana444

I have been busting my but for the past 2 weeks working out and have gained 5lbs.

I'm sure this is muscle, but this is such a huge DE-motivator! I want to give up!

What are the chances that this is actual FAT gain vs. muscle gain? I know muscle weighs more than fat, but like I said, this is not helping my self confidence lately.

i am going through the exact same thing. I know it is discouraging, but after researching and being advised by MFP peers.... It's very likely that you are retaining water since you are using muscle groups that you weren't using as much before. in my case, i've gained 2.5 lbs in 2 days....

incircles_lp2

Thanks for the advice everyone!