gaining weight as I gain muscle?

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Collinsclan22
Collinsclan22 Posts: 76
in Health and Weight Loss
My first 8 lbs or so came off so easily - as did the first 12 or 13 inches. Now, I seem to be losing inches/flab, and definitely getting in shape, but I'm gaining a little weight (about 2 lbs over the past 3 weeks). Could I be gaining muscles mass? I do cardio 6 days a week, and strength straining 4-5 days a week. I have a 1200 calorie limit on here, but since I usually burn at least 350 calories in exercise (average is about 400), I usually allow myself about 1450 a day. I don't want to cut my calories more than that, it just doesn't seem healthy given how much I am working out. Any help would be appreciated!
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Replies

  • tomhancock
    tomhancock Posts: 100 Member
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    Could certainly be muscle gained, hard to tell without looking at you.

    My question is, ignoring the scale are you happy with your results? a muscular 135 pound woman often looks much sexier than the same woman out of shape, but weighing 120.

    It sounds like your diet and exercise routine is pretty good, so I would just stick with it and pay more attention to how your body looks and less to the numbers on the scale.

    Just my opinion.
  • psuLemon
    psuLemon Posts: 38,411 MFP Moderator
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    I can tell you it isn't muscle mass. You need a caloric surplus to increase lean muscle mass unless you are talking noob gains or are morbidly obese. The weight gain is water. I have a feeling it's from not eating enough calories. Also, why are you doing cardio 6 days a week, I am curious. In reality, if you are trying to tone up, then the biggest thing you need to do is drop cardio to 1-2 days a week and do WT 3-4 days a week and if possible one yoga day.


    So the first 10 lbs are generally easy as it's very little fat loss, it's more water weight due to the change in diet/routine. So my question comes down to, how much do you weigh and how tall are you. Once you provide this we can determine caloric needs. Also, as you approach your goal, the smaller the caloric deficit can be as your body will fight harder to preserve body fat. It does this as a defense mechanism to provide energy.
  • dlwyatt82
    dlwyatt82 Posts: 1,077 Member
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    The scale gets really annoying when you start lifting. Make sure you're taking your measurements as well. According to my bathroom scale, I've put on something like 8 pounds since this time last week (ack!), but when I measured myself this morning, I had lost a full inch each from waist, hips and neck.
  • Collinsclan22
    Collinsclan22 Posts: 76
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    I am just shy of 5'5", I started at 164, I'm now at 153. Ideal for me is 135 (I got down to 139 4 years ago and loved the way I looked and felt). I am doing cardio 6 days a week to help drop the weight. When I was 139, I was slim, but not strong. This time, however, I LOVE the tone and curves that I'm getting. My husband even commented on my butt this morning- I've never had curves so defined before. Now it's just my mid section and inner thighs that I really want to work on (and those extra 18 lbs)! thanks for the input so far.
  • Diamond241
    Diamond241 Posts: 16
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    The same has happened to me. I'm gaining weight, but I'm losing inches. I'm happy with losing inches :)
  • albayin
    albayin Posts: 2,524 Member
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    The same has happened to me. I'm gaining weight, but I'm losing inches. I'm happy with losing inches :)

    To me too, but I am gaining weight but NOT losing inches. I am getting really really frustrated.
  • mmapags
    mmapags Posts: 8,934 Member
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    I believe you are eating too little and doing too much cardio. I plugged you data in at www.fat2fitradio.com. For moderately active, the calories it gave me back at your age height and weight was 2124. At your current activity level you are very active. I pretty much think Psulemon nailed it. You cannot gain muscle beyond slight newbie gains in a deficit. You are likey seeing a water weight gain from not eating enough and lifting is contributing to that. If I were you, I would do exactly as he recommeded. Up your intake, reduce your cardio and lift heavy 3x per week. The changes that you are seeing in your body will continue and you will get more shapely and leaner. If that keeps happening, do you really care what the scales says?
  • albayin
    albayin Posts: 2,524 Member
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    I believe you are eating too little and doing too much cardio. I plugged you data in at www.fat2fitradio.com. For moderately active, the calories it gave me back at your age height and weight was 2124. At your current activity level you are very active. I pretty much think Psulemon nailed it. You cannot gain muscle beyond slight newbie gains in a deficit. You are likey seeing a water weight gain from not eating enough and lifting is contributing to that. If I were you, I would do exactly as he recommeded. Up your intake, reduce your cardio and lift heavy 3x per week. The changes that you are seeing in your body will continue and you will get more shapely and leaner. If that keeps happening, do you really care what the scales says?

    Can you or dear Mr. Lemon explain to newbie here why not eating enough could lead to "water gain"? I honestly want to know. :) thanks.
  • Captain_Tightpants
    Captain_Tightpants Posts: 2,215 Member
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    Nope, you may be toning your muscles but the weight gain isn't from muscle mass if you're on a calorie deficit. Much more likely it's water retention. Check your sodium intake.
  • UrbanRunner81
    UrbanRunner81 Posts: 1,207 Member
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    I can tell you it isn't muscle mass. You need a caloric surplus to increase lean muscle mass unless you are talking noob gains or are morbidly obese. The weight gain is water. I have a feeling it's from not eating enough calories. Also, why are you doing cardio 6 days a week, I am curious. In reality, if you are trying to tone up, then the biggest thing you need to do is drop cardio to 1-2 days a week and do WT 3-4 days a week and if possible one yoga day.


    So the first 10 lbs are generally easy as it's very little fat loss, it's more water weight due to the change in diet/routine. So my question comes down to, how much do you weigh and how tall are you. Once you provide this we can determine caloric needs. Also, as you approach your goal, the smaller the caloric deficit can be as your body will fight harder to preserve body fat. It does this as a defense mechanism to provide energy.

    ^^^ yep.
  • saragato
    saragato Posts: 1,154
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    I believe you are eating too little and doing too much cardio. I plugged you data in at www.fat2fitradio.com. For moderately active, the calories it gave me back at your age height and weight was 2124. At your current activity level you are very active. I pretty much think Psulemon nailed it. You cannot gain muscle beyond slight newbie gains in a deficit. You are likey seeing a water weight gain from not eating enough and lifting is contributing to that. If I were you, I would do exactly as he recommeded. Up your intake, reduce your cardio and lift heavy 3x per week. The changes that you are seeing in your body will continue and you will get more shapely and leaner. If that keeps happening, do you really care what the scales says?

    Can you or dear Mr. Lemon explain to newbie here why not eating enough could lead to "water gain"? I honestly want to know. :) thanks.

    If I'm not mistaken, the logic is your muscles after a workout are "injured" and they need stuff like protein and other things including water to help them heal. If they're constantly being "injured" and you're either not giving them proper healing time or you're not eating enough of what they need, your muscles will retain water kind of like a hoarder to ensure that they can heal. If I'm wrong then someone with more knowledge on that correct me, but I think that's the gist of it.
  • wildboar1
    wildboar1 Posts: 88
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    Congrats on doing cardio 6 days a week, ensuring that your body does what it has evolved to do -- which is rapidly adapt to exercise. You're probably only burning 1/4 of the calories you think you are. Since you are counting your excercise calories, you are most likely eating too much food.

    Hence why you should never count exercise calories in regards to losing weight.
  • Collinsclan22
    Collinsclan22 Posts: 76
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    Wow, that sure is a wide range of responses!! I think I'll stick with what I'm doing for a couple more weeks, and if I don't see the results i'm hoping for I'll drop a cardio day (or 2), but I love cardio so much, that will be difficult!!
  • mmapags
    mmapags Posts: 8,934 Member
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    I believe you are eating too little and doing too much cardio. I plugged you data in at www.fat2fitradio.com. For moderately active, the calories it gave me back at your age height and weight was 2124. At your current activity level you are very active. I pretty much think Psulemon nailed it. You cannot gain muscle beyond slight newbie gains in a deficit. You are likey seeing a water weight gain from not eating enough and lifting is contributing to that. If I were you, I would do exactly as he recommeded. Up your intake, reduce your cardio and lift heavy 3x per week. The changes that you are seeing in your body will continue and you will get more shapely and leaner. If that keeps happening, do you really care what the scales says?

    Can you or dear Mr. Lemon explain to newbie here why not eating enough could lead to "water gain"? I honestly want to know. :) thanks.

    I'll give it a shot. If you are not eating enough, your body is going to resist loss as a survival tactic. Retaining water is one of the ways it does this. Also, when you are lifting, you muscle tissue take in water and glycogen to repair and rebuild. The combination of those 2 things would be the probable culprits if the scale goes up. Especially given that the OP is eating so little and exercising so much and suddenly shows a gain. Based on her intake and burn, if it's accurate, she sure didn't eat 7000 or so extra calories to gain a couple of pounds!
  • spngebobmyhero
    spngebobmyhero Posts: 823 Member
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    that is very possible, check out this story:

    http://www.nerdfitness.com/blog/2011/07/21/meet-staci-your-new-powerlifting-super-hero/
  • psuLemon
    psuLemon Posts: 38,411 MFP Moderator
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    So the others gave a good reason for why it's water weight. But below are three good links. They should be read multiple times. The first, pretty much describes why you shouldn't do cardio and resistance training together. In a nutshell, your body will compete for resources to repair itself. The second one talks about weight loss vs fat loss. And here is the simple way I put it, weight loss makes you look good in clothes, but fat loss makes you look good naked. Doing lots of cardio and eating low calories, make you lose muscle. Muscle is what makes you look good. You will look a lot better in a naked at 145 lbs @ 20% body fat, as compared to 130 @ 20% body fat because you have an extra 12 lbs of muscle. This is even more demonstrated by spngebobmyher's post on Staci. The last link describes the outcome of a high calorie deficit.



    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/504130-why-i-m-not-for-cardio-and-resistance-concurrently

    http://www.metaboliceffect.com/topic/38-nutrition-lifestyle.aspx


    http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/fat-loss/why-big-caloric-deficits-and-lots-of-activity-can-hurt-fat-loss.html



    So to take it one step further, I did a experiment with a person on MFP. She is 36 yr old, 5'5, and was 154 lbs. She did zero cardio and lifted 4 times a week. Days she lifted, she ate 2100 calories and days she didn't, she ate 1800 calories. Below is what she responded with.

    "I just wanted to thank you for your help. You helped me a few months back and I just wanted to give you an update on my progress. 12 weeks ago I started at 154 and 28% bf. I got my bf remeasured last Friday and it was 24%. But I only lost 1 pound. It is crazy to me but I have learned to ignore the scale. You were right that keeping consistent and not giving up my body would finally adjust.

    Thanks again for your help!

    Stephanie"
  • j9saunders76
    j9saunders76 Posts: 2
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    I'm gaining weight also. Im only trying to lose 5 lbs..no I'm not overweight at all but just trying to get rid of my mommy fat around my middle. I started at 138 and am now 140 in 3 weeks. I've been hiking with 6 lbs of ankle weights a so I think my legs are chunking up. I feel my back fat less jiggly...and I think my stomach is getting less wiggly...I should have measured myself to gauge and not used weight.

    Good for you for losing inches..:wink:
  • psuLemon
    psuLemon Posts: 38,411 MFP Moderator
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    I'm gaining weight also. Im only trying to lose 5 lbs..no I'm not overweight at all but just trying to get rid of my mommy fat around my middle. I started at 138 and am now 140 in 3 weeks. I've been hiking with 6 lbs of ankle weights a so I think my legs are chunking up. I feel my back fat less jiggly...and I think my stomach is getting less wiggly...I should have measured myself to gauge and not used weight.

    Good for you for losing inches..:wink:

    You should stop concentrating on weight and start concentrating on cutting fat. If you lose weight, it doesn't mean you will lose it all from your belly. You make lose .5 lb from your arms, .5 from our calves, etc.. But if you start heavy weight training and have a small calorie deficit, then you will cut body fat and that is what gives you that hot in a bathing suit look.
  • albayin
    albayin Posts: 2,524 Member
    Options
    So the others gave a good reason for why it's water weight. But below are three good links. They should be read multiple times. The first, pretty much describes why you shouldn't do cardio and resistance training together. In a nutshell, your body will compete for resources to repair itself. The second one talks about weight loss vs fat loss. And here is the simple way I put it, weight loss makes you look good in clothes, but fat loss makes you look good naked. Doing lots of cardio and eating low calories, make you lose muscle. Muscle is what makes you look good. You will look a lot better in a naked at 145 lbs @ 20% body fat, as compared to 130 @ 20% body fat because you have an extra 12 lbs of muscle. This is even more demonstrated by spngebobmyher's post on Staci. The last link describes the outcome of a high calorie deficit.



    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/504130-why-i-m-not-for-cardio-and-resistance-concurrently

    http://www.metaboliceffect.com/topic/38-nutrition-lifestyle.aspx


    http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/fat-loss/why-big-caloric-deficits-and-lots-of-activity-can-hurt-fat-loss.html



    So to take it one step further, I did a experiment with a person on MFP. She is 36 yr old, 5'5, and was 154 lbs. She did zero cardio and lifted 4 times a week. Days she lifted, she ate 2100 calories and days she didn't, she ate 1800 calories. Below is what she responded with.

    "I just wanted to thank you for your help. You helped me a few months back and I just wanted to give you an update on my progress. 12 weeks ago I started at 154 and 28% bf. I got my bf remeasured last Friday and it was 24%. But I only lost 1 pound. It is crazy to me but I have learned to ignore the scale. You were right that keeping consistent and not giving up my body would finally adjust.

    Thanks again for your help!

    Stephanie"

    Thank you again to all who answered my question on "water weight gain".

    However, for 99% of my life time I think I will be wearing some sort of clothes. So looking good naked is important but I still want to look better with clothes on. So down in weight is still in my mind. I will continue with my study and go ahead reading the links. :)
  • psuLemon
    psuLemon Posts: 38,411 MFP Moderator
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    Thank you again to all who answered my question on "water weight gain".

    However, for 99% of my life time I think I will be wearing some sort of clothes. So looking good naked is important but I still want to look better with clothes on. So down in weight is still in my mind. I will continue with my study and go ahead reading the links. :)

    Down in weight doesn't mean down in dress or pant size. Down in body fat is where tighten the body. So would you rather be a size 8 or size 6 for example? The more muscle you have and the less body fat you have, the "skinnier" your body will be. You can stay the same weight and drop clothing size. In fact, I recently did that. I lost a total of 1 lb but I am down another notch in my belt. Weight is purely meaning and when you start concentrating on cutting fat, you will see huge results. Just check out the links below and you will see what I mean.



    http://nerdfitness.com/blog/2011/07/21/meet-staci-your-new-powerlifting-super-hero/

    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/392784-skinny-fat-vs-fit-photo?hl=skinny+fat

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