FITNESS MYTHS and EXCUSES YOU CAN'T STAND!!!

- Muscle is not built in a calorie deficit. I'm sorry, it is not. You are not a special snowflake. There might be some really minor gains when in a defict, but chances are, it is just water. Sorry. When your muscles firm up, that isn't a sign of building muscle, its just water. The water in muscles is not fat and hence is considered lean mass, however it is not metabolically active.

This is actually the myth. You sure as hell can build muscle while EATING a calorie deficit. The nice thing is, my body goes to fat to make up the deficit.

Skinny people can't build muscle while in a deficit. Fat people can.

Exactly. I'm eating a deficit, and right now I'm losing 2-4 lbs a week and my muscle is getting ripped. I'm so much stronger today than I was 2 months ago. At work, where I lift people all day long (as a nurse) even the clients can tell how much stronger I've gotten. So yes, fat people, extremely obese people like me, can build muscle while losing weight. Don't be a hater!

You are losing fat which is on top of the muscle... you are not actually building new muscle you are just seeing more of the muscle that was there. Seeing muscle and building strength do not equal more muscle mass. You are netting far too low to be actually building muscle... netting too low increases muscle LOSS.

You will not, outside of very small newbie gains, gain muscle while at a calorie deficit. Most will actually lose muscle while in a calorie deficit. It takes energy and calories to build muscle.

And the poster (Sullus) who said they gained 15lbs of muscle in like 16 months... where's the actual proof of that? Based on your eating for the past few months (according to your diary) there is no way you have built any muscle.. you actually have a better chance of losing it. You need a calorie surplus to build muscle... along with a lot more protein than you have been consuming lately and lifting heavy weights. Outside of newbie gains (which sure aren't just under 20lbs worth of muscle) you haven't built any. Sorry but no. Provided you are properly tracking your intake, you are not fueling your body enough to build muscle.. more so lose it.

I HAVE a calorie surplus. in my fat. You're not properly accounting for all caloric inputs into the process.

My "proof" is that when I started working with a trainer, through ultrasound and math, my lean body mass was calculated at 185lbs.

At my last assessment, it was calculated at 201lbs.

Your intake also needs to be much much higher along with your protein intake to build muscle. Simple as that. When you are eating at a calorie deficit your body will lose muscle mass. You can preserve it with a smaller deficit, protien and lifting heavy. Outside of newbie gains you will NOT build muscle while on a calorie deficit.

All calculations have errors. Lean body mass does not solely mean muscle. It includes everything within your body that is not fat. Just because there was an increase in lean body mass doesn't mean it was a muscle increase.

- Muscle is not built in a calorie deficit. I'm sorry, it is not. You are not a special snowflake. There might be some really minor gains when in a defict, but chances are, it is just water. Sorry. When your muscles firm up, that isn't a sign of building muscle, its just water. The water in muscles is not fat and hence is considered lean mass, however it is not metabolically active.

This is actually the myth. You sure as hell can build muscle while EATING a calorie deficit. The nice thing is, my body goes to fat to make up the deficit.

Skinny people can't build muscle while in a deficit. Fat people can.

Exactly. I'm eating a deficit, and right now I'm losing 2-4 lbs a week and my muscle is getting ripped. I'm so much stronger today than I was 2 months ago. At work, where I lift people all day long (as a nurse) even the clients can tell how much stronger I've gotten. So yes, fat people, extremely obese people like me, can build muscle while losing weight. Don't be a hater!

You are losing fat which is on top of the muscle... you are not actually building new muscle you are just seeing more of the muscle that was there. Seeing muscle and building strength do not equal more muscle mass. You are netting far too low to be actually building muscle... netting too low increases muscle LOSS.

You will not, outside of very small newbie gains, gain muscle while at a calorie deficit. Most will actually lose muscle while in a calorie deficit. It takes energy and calories to build muscle.

And the poster (Sullus) who said they gained 15lbs of muscle in like 16 months... where's the actual proof of that? Based on your eating for the past few months (according to your diary) there is no way you have built any muscle.. you actually have a better chance of losing it. You need a calorie surplus to build muscle... along with a lot more protein than you have been consuming lately and lifting heavy weights. Outside of newbie gains (which sure aren't just under 20lbs worth of muscle) you haven't built any. Sorry but no. Provided you are properly tracking your intake, you are not fueling your body enough to build muscle.. more so lose it.

I HAVE a calorie surplus. in my fat. You're not properly accounting for all caloric inputs into the process.

My "proof" is that when I started working with a trainer, through ultrasound and math, my lean body mass was calculated at 185lbs.

At my last assessment, it was calculated at 201lbs.

Your intake also needs to be much much higher along with your protein intake to build muscle. Simple as that. When you are eating at a calorie deficit your body will lose muscle mass. You can preserve it with a smaller deficit, protien and lifting heavy. Outside of newbie gains you will NOT build muscle while on a calorie deficit.

All calculations have errors. Lean body mass does not solely mean muscle. It includes everything within your body that is not fat. Just because there was an increase in lean body mass doesn't mean it was a muscle increase.

So, it is impossible to reduce body fat while building muscle. It is also impossible to keep muscle mass while reducing body fat. They have to be done at separate times. thanks for the tip.

- Muscle is not built in a calorie deficit. I'm sorry, it is not. You are not a special snowflake. There might be some really minor gains when in a defict, but chances are, it is just water. Sorry. When your muscles firm up, that isn't a sign of building muscle, its just water. The water in muscles is not fat and hence is considered lean mass, however it is not metabolically active.

This is actually the myth. You sure as hell can build muscle while EATING a calorie deficit. The nice thing is, my body goes to fat to make up the deficit.

Skinny people can't build muscle while in a deficit. Fat people can.

Exactly. I'm eating a deficit, and right now I'm losing 2-4 lbs a week and my muscle is getting ripped. I'm so much stronger today than I was 2 months ago. At work, where I lift people all day long (as a nurse) even the clients can tell how much stronger I've gotten. So yes, fat people, extremely obese people like me, can build muscle while losing weight. Don't be a hater!

You are losing fat which is on top of the muscle... you are not actually building new muscle you are just seeing more of the muscle that was there. Seeing muscle and building strength do not equal more muscle mass. You are netting far too low to be actually building muscle... netting too low increases muscle LOSS.

You will not, outside of very small newbie gains, gain muscle while at a calorie deficit. Most will actually lose muscle while in a calorie deficit. It takes energy and calories to build muscle.

And the poster (Sullus) who said they gained 15lbs of muscle in like 16 months... where's the actual proof of that? Based on your eating for the past few months (according to your diary) there is no way you have built any muscle.. you actually have a better chance of losing it. You need a calorie surplus to build muscle... along with a lot more protein than you have been consuming lately and lifting heavy weights. Outside of newbie gains (which sure aren't just under 20lbs worth of muscle) you haven't built any. Sorry but no. Provided you are properly tracking your intake, you are not fueling your body enough to build muscle.. more so lose it.

I HAVE a calorie surplus. in my fat. You're not properly accounting for all caloric inputs into the process.

My "proof" is that when I started working with a trainer, through ultrasound and math, my lean body mass was calculated at 185lbs.

At my last assessment, it was calculated at 201lbs.

Your intake also needs to be much much higher along with your protein intake to build muscle. Simple as that. When you are eating at a calorie deficit your body will lose muscle mass. You can preserve it with a smaller deficit, protien and lifting heavy. Outside of newbie gains you will NOT build muscle while on a calorie deficit.

All calculations have errors. Lean body mass does not solely mean muscle. It includes everything within your body that is not fat. Just because there was an increase in lean body mass doesn't mean it was a muscle increase.

I don't think you understand what you are saying. You say that there's no way I'm actually building new muscle, and then you say that aside from newbie gains you don't build muscle. I'm a newbie, so what are yous saying? Did I or did I not build my newbie muscle? I can guarantee that muscle was not built before, and that I take a large percentage of protein in, and a fairly high amount of calories a day The muscles I've built are or are not being built? I'm a registered nurse and I could give you a basic run through on anatomy and physiology, and how muscles are built and function, but you be too stubborn to try to understand. Maybe stop and think about how bodies function, and can respond differently, and don't assume my deficit is so extreme, and we all function and respond to exercise and caloric intake in different ways. I know it seems extreme at those kind of losses, but it is happening right now. It wont last forever since I eat over 2500 a day. So to tell me that I'm absolutely not building muscle makes you sound like you have no clue what you are talking about.

Yes, you can't build muscle outside of newbie gains... which is maybe a lb or two at most.

Now that you have taken you diary off public and made it private I can't point out specific examples of how low you are consuming. There were days your net calories were close to zero. Your protein was low. There was never one day where your total calories consumed were over 2500 so if you actually are eating enough you don't log it.

You will not, outside of those very small newbie gains I mentioned, gain any real amount of muscle. Gaining strength does not mean muscle increase. Seeing muscle just means you are losing the layer of fat on top of the muscle. Far too often people mistake increased strength and seeing muscle to mean that they have actually built new muscle. With conditions right (calorie surplus, lots of protein, and heavy lifting) a woman can gain maybe 10lbs of muscle in a year.

I assumed nothing about your deficit. It was there before you made your diary private. Over 1000 calories burned through exercise some days... with maybe 1200-1600 worth of calories consumed. Large amounts of exercise entered and not the 2500 calories worth of food you mentioned.

I knew you were going to quote my diary because you seem like the kind of psycho who would do that. - I track mostly on bmf and use mfp to look things up and copy them over, but if I didn't eat 2500 I'd be starving and wouldn't be successful. on rest days it might be 20-22, but not much lower.
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Wow.. attacking someone speaks very loudly of the type of person you can be.

This will be my last post to you because I fail to see the point to waste my time speaking to someone with character like yours. I never once responded with attacks or name calling so don't respond that way to others.

My favorite myth is: going to the gym still counts if you dont post it on facebook. that's just silly. of course it doesnt count.

I have a good friend who is really overweight and her health is starting to suffer. Everything I suggested to her about losing weight she had an excuse for. I told her well why don't you just start out by walking slowly. Oh I can't walk my knees hurt and I smoke so it hurts my lungs when I have to breathe hard. So I said ok just try to start cutting back on your food intake and you can start exercising after you lose a little weight. Her excuse for that was she loves sweets too much and does not think she will ever be able to give them up. I told her well then try eating some fruit in place of your sweets that way you can satisfy your sweet tooth. Her excuse for that was she doesn't like the texture of fruit. I said well try it in a smoothie, then her excuse for that was she doesn't like to drink things she would rather eat it. I said well then at least you could try to cut back on smoking. Then she said the reason she doesn't quit smoking is because she will gain even more weight because it would make her want to eat more in place of the smoking. I give up at this point. What I wanted to tell her is that is she really wanted to do something she would make it happen if not she would find an excuse. She is full of excuses.

ETA: As far as the excuses/myths, they exist because people need to believe they are true. A person has to be truly ready to make a lifestyle change, whether it be quitting smoking, getting healthier, etc. Until they get to that point, they will make excuses. Instead of blasting them for their excuses, how about realizing that they just aren't ready to change, and no amount of belittling or pushing will change their minds.

Yes! This is it exactly! I was extremely fit in my 20s, but having a series of miscarriages and then having three kids in less than three years really left me very overweight and out of shape. That may sound like excuses to some of you, but stress and emotional turmoil take a lot out of a person, and if you don't prioritize yourself, well, they can just keep taking. And they did. Then, of course, I had three kids under the age of three. That was a very busy time in my life, and my husband was working 12-16 hour days, and I literally had no time to myself. I could have ditched housework to exercise, but I didn't. I could have shipped my kids off to a babysitter, but I didn't. That's because of my priorities.

As my kids got older, I was still busy. I was working full-time (I'm self-employed) and home schooling. You want to talk busy? I was (and am) busy. My husband still works 12 hour days. Finally, though, I realized that *I* needed to make myself a priority. *I* needed to change for *me*. Once I made myself a priority, it became a lot easier to get that hour or so of exercise in everyday, and wow, do I feel good about myself. I'm still fat, but hey, I didn't gain weight overnight, and I'm sure as heck not going to lose it overnight.

You might all see those as excuses, but you see, I don't owe you excuses. I wasn't a priority in my own life. Now I am. It's really, truly just as simple as that. And once your friends, acquaintances or family members make themselves a priority, you're only going to hear "excuses." Maybe instead of judging you could try supporting them and letting them know how worthy they really are of being a priority.

explaining how you got to where you are today is different than excusing it.

The thing is, I don't HAVE to excuse it. No one owes an explanation for their fitness/dietary choices to anyone but their doctor; therefore, they don't have to make excuses. They may feel like they need to, but that doesn't mean they owe it. I can guarantee 5 years ago when I had three kids between 2 and 5 that I'd have laughed at one of you telling me I should be working out an hour or two a day. I truly didn't have the inclination to carve out that time -- what would I have skipped? Child care? House cleaning? My work? No. None of those things were things I could just gloss over and ignore just so I could "look good." It wasn't until I realized I needed to get in shape to also *feel* good about myself that it became a priority -- well, that and the fact that my kids are now 7 - 10 years old and I really do have a little more independent time.

What I'm mostly trying to say is that instead of judging people, take a step back, empathize with them (and I mean truly empathize that not everyone is at the same place in life) and then either help them find solutions and realize that they really are worth that extra effort, or just walk away.

To whomever posted the "naked x-rays", that is a great visual! And totally disproves the "big boned" theory.

Hmm, I'm not sure and n of 2 can "disprove" anything.

Certainly some people have bigger bones than others. That's why they are taller, have wider shoulders or hips, longer limbs. And some bones are denser than others. But even healthy dense bones don't really weigh all that much. And they don't look like fat. No one is overweight because of their bones.