How much weightlifting...

roguex_1979

...would a woman need to do to build such significant amounts of muscle that she puts on weight? Whenever I see someone saying 'I've been to the gym and am eating right, but I've put on weight', invariably someone always says 'Maybe you've put on muscle. Muscle weighs more than fat!'

But seriously, is it possible for a woman to build up so much muscle that since their last weigh in a week or even two weeks ago that they have put on 2-3lbs of it?

Do tell me if I'm wrong. :indifferent:

EvgeniZyntx

Water weight. Yes.
2 lbs of muscle in two weeks. Lolz.

Elleinnz

LOL - so true - I cringe every time I read that .....

Average Natural WOMAN: between 0.12 – 0.25 pounds of muscle per week (or about 0.5-1 pound of muscle gained per month) - and that is if you eat 250 to 500 calories above your TDEE, and train your butt off lifting HEAVY....

http://www.aworkoutroutine.com/how-much-muscle-can-you-gain/

IronSmasher

It's water weight, or often an exerciser who is not monitoring their intake of food will start exercising, but also take up cake eating (because they deserve it).

Some specifics would make it easier to clarify, rather than us making broad snarky comments.

but it would take an incredibly gifted individual, to accidentally achieve that which others spend a lifetime chasing.

Sarauk2sf

It's water weight, or often an exerciser who is not monitoring their intake of food will start exercising, but also take up cake eating (because they deserve it).

Some specifics would make it easier to clarify, rather than us making broad snarky comments.

but it would take an incredibly gifted individual, to accidentally achieve that which others spend a lifetime chasing.

^^this

LBM is not only muscle, it's everything except fat and includes water. When you start exercising, you can store about 4g of water + glycogen. Your LBM has increased, but your muscle has not.

p1tst0p

This has also happened to me, weeks upon weeks of staying the same so I change it up at the gym hoping to make a difference (lots more running and more weights/circuits). Low and behold this week, 2-3 lbs on, thats with a 400 cal deficit a a day from TDEE and 5 gym sessions. This is very frustrating!

Lyadeia

This has also happened to me, weeks upon weeks of staying the same so I change it up at the gym hoping to make a difference (lots more running and more weights/circuits). Low and behold this week, 2-3 lbs on, thats with a 400 cal deficit a a day from TDEE and 5 gym sessions. This is very frustrating!

Perfect example of why the scale should NEVER be our only determinant of success. You should also measure other things such body circumferences in key areas like waist and hips, body fat percentage, etc. and possibly even keep a record of success by taking pictures for comparison.

I personally weigh 4 pounds MORE right now than I did this time last year. However, my body fat % has gone down from about 27% to 22% during that time, and I am wearing smaller clothes. Last year I was comfortable in size 10, but now I am wearing size 6. If I let myself get upset and frustrated over those 4 stupid pounds, I would have given up! And by giving up, I would basically be saying that it's OK for me to be a bigger size because the number on the piece of scrap metal on the bathroom floor is smaller.

p1tst0p

Yep agreed, my body fat is the same now as when I was 4 or 5 lbs lighter (when I dieted and did no exercise), so I must be making positive changes whatever the scales say. I looked at my body fat this morning and it was very slightly up on what it was before the new gym routine (less than 0.5% up) but I have noticed this can fluctuate day to day on my scales hence I haven't paid alot of attention to the changes.

I do normally skip the scales and just take my measurements, today everything is the same apart from legs which are very very slightly up but I think this must be my muscles initial reaction to the weights.... I just think sometimes it is easy to get into the trap where you want positive feedback from the scales, hence why I rarely get on them, it just demotivates me!