Daily weight gain after workout....muscle myth...

cherbapp

Ok so I see a lot of people questioning weight gain when they begin or intensify a workout program....and so often they are told that they gained muscle. In a day...lol...or even in a week...this is NOT going to be what's showing on the scale. Here's why:

Yes muscle weighs more than fat by volume. However it only weighs 18% more. A gallon of body fat weighs 7.4 pounds. So if it were replaced with muscle, you would weigh 1.4 pounds more. However there is no way you lost that huge volume of fat and rebuilt that volume of muscle in a matter of days. And if that did happen to a 200 pound person, their body fat percentage would have gone down 3.5% in that short of a time. Not gonna happen!!

So...as a numbers person...I had to do the math on this and share it...hope it helps! Yes, muscle is smaller than fat and burns more calories, but immediate weight loss after workouts is water retention to repair the muscles you already had. They will be stronger, but this is a long term process...not happening overnight.

Anyway, sorry if this is old news to you....but thought it might help someone.

On the subject...for comparison, if your weight stayed exactly the same, and you lost 7.4 pounds of fat and replaced it with 7.4 pounds of muscle, your body would take up 3 cups less volume. So yes, you can shrink yet weigh the same. This is how water displacement works to measure body fat percentage.

126siany

Trainers on here have said something to the effect that the slight weight gain at the start of an exercise program has to do with extra fluid to protect and repair the micro-damage you're doing to your muscles with the workouts. Makes sense to me.

mmapags

Trainers on here have said something to the effect that the slight weight gain at the start of an exercise program has to do with extra fluid to protect and repair the micro-damage you're doing to your muscles with the workouts. Makes sense to me.

This is correct. Water and glycogen to repair and rebuild.

Skych123

good info :bigsmile:

ninerbuff

I EXPECT clients to gain weight when they start with me........................................there should be some water retention and glycogen storage after my sadist workouts for them.:devil:

A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 28+ years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition

thistimeismytime

I've heard this SOOOOO many times I've lost count! Someone will start working out and gain 5 lbs--obviously it's muscle mass, right?? :huh: Ummmm---no, it's water, sorry!! But it's still a good thing, and it's temporary.

Most people have no clue how hard it is to build muscle, especially for a woman. 5 lbs of muscle would be a great gain for a YEAR of dedicated training.

paprs

Thank you for posting this!

I've worked out for the past 6 days, including a lot of resistance training, while staying at or below my net calorie goal... and yet this morning I had gained 2 lbs since last week. I'm hoping it's just the temporary water retention everyone has mentioned.

raeleek

You said that you don't start to stack on muscle within a day or a week of working your muscles. How long does it take. I'm asking legitimately.

I've only really been working on myself for a few months but I can see the difference in my arms and legs especially. What would you consider a normal amount of time for muscle growth?

AnvilHead

You said that you don't start to stack on muscle within a day or a week of working your muscles. How long does it take. I'm asking legitimately.

I've only really been working on myself for a few months but I can see the difference in my arms and legs especially. What would you consider a normal amount of time for muscle growth?

Read the first post in this thread, some very good (and truthful!) information there:

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/361381-women-and-weight-training

cyndymar

thanks lost lots of incges and yes scale is the same lift weights 3x a week this helps

mmapags

You said that you don't start to stack on muscle within a day or a week of working your muscles. How long does it take. I'm asking legitimately.

I've only really been working on myself for a few months but I can see the difference in my arms and legs especially. What would you consider a normal amount of time for muscle growth?

For a woman, in a calorie surplus and doing everything right with strength training, you can gain about 1/2 pound every 2 week at best. For a man, double that due to testosterone. In a calorie deficit, you don't gain muscle but, understand when people say 'gain muscle" many times that is not exactly what they mean. To "gain muscle" is to workout and eat in a way to cause hypertrophy.

For most of us that is not what we really want. We want our existing muscle tissue to get more developed and look better and be stronger. That can take a few weeks to start and yes that developed muscle tissue will be a little heavie and biggerr. But we will not have "gained" muscle tissue. We just built up the muscle tissue we already had. Nothing wrong with that. In fact, that is awesome!!

cherbapp

Thank you for this! I was trying to figure this out as well...Encouraging as well as helpful!

(the post right before this....thought I quoted...oops!)

raeleek

You said that you don't start to stack on muscle within a day or a week of working your muscles. How long does it take. I'm asking legitimately.

I've only really been working on myself for a few months but I can see the difference in my arms and legs especially. What would you consider a normal amount of time for muscle growth?

Read the first post in this thread, some very good (and truthful!) information there:

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/361381-women-and-weight-training

FANTASTIC! Thank you for this post! :happy:

raeleek

You said that you don't start to stack on muscle within a day or a week of working your muscles. How long does it take. I'm asking legitimately.

I've only really been working on myself for a few months but I can see the difference in my arms and legs especially. What would you consider a normal amount of time for muscle growth?

For a woman, in a calorie surplus and doing everything right with strength training, you can gain about 1/2 pound every 2 week at best. For a man, double that due to testosterone. In a calorie deficit, you don't gain muscle but, understand when people say 'gain muscle" many times that is not exactly what they mean. To "gain muscle" is to workout and eat in a way to cause hypertrophy.

For most of us that is not what we really want. We want our existing muscle tissue to get more developed and look better and be stronger. That can take a few weeks to start and yes that developed muscle tissue will be a little heavie and biggerr. But we will not have "gained" muscle tissue. We just built up the muscle tissue we already had. Nothing wrong with that. In fact, that is awesome!!

Thank you for your reply! I appreciate all the information I can get! :happy:

Aleluya17

I notice about a pounds worth of gain after I go and weight lift, but it's just the fluid inside my muscle tissue during the repair process. After a day or two it's like it was never there.

mmapags

Thank you for this! I was trying to figure this out as well...Encouraging as well as helpful!

(the post right before this....thought I quoted...oops!)

Glad to help!