Need some advice/input on weight gain!

justrun52

I'm wondering how much muscle I can build on average in a week.

Some background: I exercise about 5 days week, and alternate between strength training (lunges, squats, push ups, sit ups, etc w/ 10 lb weights) and my stationary bike vigorous effort. I've just started running again because I signed up for a 10k next week. I've been pretty sore since running and go about 3 to 6 miles 3 times a week.

I've put on about 3.5 lbs the last few weeks, and I have been upping my calories to about 1800 and burn about 200-300 each workout so I should be netting calories for maintenance (not weight loss or weight gain). I weigh 108 lbs and am 5'3''. My body fat is about 19% (according to my bathroom scale). Hope those stats help for you health gurus out there.

I don't think I necessarily look bigger in the mirror, but I'm a little concerned about the weight gain. Should I decrease my calories? Could I be putting on muscle? Is it water weight?

Thanks for the help!

Mokey41

For sure you didn't put on 3.5 lbs of muscle but you probably are retaining some water for muscle repair. You'll have to see how it goes over a few more weeks to know if you need to tweak your calories.

Greenrun99

water weight.. Little to no muscle gain... make sure you aren't underestimating your activity.

Cindym82

More than likely it's water weight. When you do intense cardio and haven't done it before you tend to retain water

evileen99

You'd be lucky to put on 1/4 pound of muscle a month, and that's with using weights much heavier than 10 pounds.

It's most likely water weight.