Can I gain muscle without gaining weight?

"You can't gain muscle without eating at a surplus"

This is absolutely the number one biggest bit of bro science that I see every day. Absolutely you can. Not as much, and not as quickly, but you very much can gain muscle and lose fat at the same time.

Caveat: It's not easy.

If you are eating at a slight deficit, and are working out with weights heavy enough to be in the 2-8 rep range before failure, and are getting enough protein (THIS IS KEY) then you will gain strength and muscle.

You don't need to eat at a surplus, but you do need to take in enough protein. How much is enough? That's up for debate and is another hotbed of bro science. I tend to err on the side of caution and take in about 1g of protein for every pound of lean body mass (which you can find calculators to estimate for you).

Eating gobs of food to make up a huge surplus is the reason why a lot of gym people get into harmful bulk/cut cycles. You don't need to put on a pound of fat for every pound of muscle, then lose muscle trying to burn that fat off. It's dumb, and I don't get why people think it's the right way to do it.

The calories you burn working out and generally living will come from the food you eat first, and when that runs out, your body will attack fat stores, and only when those are gone (or nearly gone) will it work on metabolizing muscle tissue. Unless you're eating at a severe deficit, your body will have enough calories from the food you eat and the fat you have on you to use the protein you're eating to repair damage. It won't be as fast, or efficient as putting on muscle while you are swimming with calories from eating a lumberjack's diet, but it will go on.

If you are eating at a severe deficit, about the most you can hope for is that the lifting you do will offset the loss of muscle, but if you can find a balance (that's the hard part), then you can gain muscle and lose fat.

Note, you will not do either quickly. If you are looking to crash your fat, or bulk up in a hurry, you should probably concentrate on one or the other. If you're happy to make a lifestyle change to lift heavy and eat right for the foreseeable future, then you absolutely, 100%, assuredly CAN lose fat and gain muscle.

A pound is a pound regardless of what it is. 1 pound of muscle does not weigh more than one pound of fat. 1.1 pounds of muscle weighs more than 1 pound of fat or vice versa. Muscle is more dense and takes up less room.

"You can't gain muscle without eating at a surplus"

This is absolutely the number one biggest bit of bro science that I see every day. Absolutely you can. Not as much, and not as quickly, but you very much can gain muscle and lose fat at the same time.

Caveat: It's not easy.

If you are eating at a slight deficit, and are working out with weights heavy enough to be in the 2-8 rep range before failure, and are getting enough protein (THIS IS KEY) then you will gain strength and muscle.

You don't need to eat at a surplus, but you do need to take in enough protein. How much is enough? That's up for debate and is another hotbed of bro science. I tend to err on the side of caution and take in about 1g of protein for every pound of lean body mass (which you can find calculators to estimate for you).

Eating gobs of food to make up a huge surplus is the reason why a lot of gym people get into harmful bulk/cut cycles. You don't need to put on a pound of fat for every pound of muscle, then lose muscle trying to burn that fat off. It's dumb, and I don't get why people think it's the right way to do it.

The calories you burn working out and generally living will come from the food you eat first, and when that runs out, your body will attack fat stores, and only when those are gone (or nearly gone) will it work on metabolizing muscle tissue. Unless you're eating at a severe deficit, your body will have enough calories from the food you eat and the fat you have on you to use the protein you're eating to repair damage. It won't be as fast, or efficient as putting on muscle while you are swimming with calories from eating a lumberjack's diet, but it will go on.

If you are eating at a severe deficit, about the most you can hope for is that the lifting you do will offset the loss of muscle, but if you can find a balance (that's the hard part), then you can gain muscle and lose fat.

Note, you will not do either quickly. If you are looking to crash your fat, or bulk up in a hurry, you should probably concentrate on one or the other. If you're happy to make a lifestyle change to lift heavy and eat right for the foreseeable future, then you absolutely, 100%, assuredly CAN lose fat and gain muscle.

It isn't really bro science at all, I know exactly what you're saying, but a body re-composition takes longer a simple surplus and then a cut cycle makes much more sense. You called cutting and bulk cycles harmful so it's not really worth listening to much else you said.

You can, but it requires a lot of caveats.

Not eating too little, not eating too much, getting enough rest, properly working the muscle groups etc. You can gain muscle, but it's going to be at a very slow rate even if you're new to lifting. You can try to follow a lean gains program, but for me.. I just have found bulking and cutting cycles just to work better.

Why do you need to be at that magic number? For YEARS I have weighed myself every day and been devastated/ecstatic at the results. I had NEVER done a push up until 4 weeks ago and now I smash them. I couldn't even lift shopping bags as I was so weak.

I am now training to climb Everest and the only thing I need to be is strong. I have noticed a spectacular change in my body shape, definition, etc. and I am eating more than I ever did, and training hard with weights.

I would much rather be in better overall shape and weigh more

Good luck in your training!

Thanks, guys! Yeah, I was planning on going harder with the weights after the DVD. That being said, I absolutely will gain muscle from the DVD because I have very little upper body strength. I can do two push-ups and can barely life 4-pound weights more than 10 times. 30DS requires a lot of weight exercises that are killing me!

Anyway, I suppose I'll see how my weight is after 30DS and I might decide to continue with cardio instead (training for races). Of course, I'll take an after picture and if I look better, I won't care if I weigh more! Thanks again. :-)

I don't mean to be rude or mean or anything, you do what you want, but the fact that you are more concerned about getting to this "magical weight" of 105lbs is more important to you than the fact that you can barely lift 4lbs (a gallon of milk is around 8lbs) is very confusing to me. I agree with the others, get rid of the scale. If you eat more and gain muscle you will gain some weight, but you'll look and feel better, so ignore the number on the scale. Best of luck!

Thanks, guys! Yeah, I was planning on going harder with the weights after the DVD. That being said, I absolutely will gain muscle from the DVD because I have very little upper body strength. I can do two push-ups and can barely life 4-pound weights more than 10 times. 30DS requires a lot of weight exercises that are killing me!

Anyway, I suppose I'll see how my weight is after 30DS and I might decide to continue with cardio instead (training for races). Of course, I'll take an after picture and if I look better, I won't care if I weigh more! Thanks again. :-)

increased strength does not equal increased muscle mass, it's important to know that. so you may get stronger, but you're not going to build mass.

Aside from that, until you realize there is a difference between the scale and health & asthetics I can't help you. The scale is really quite meaningless as a singular tool for measuring health. While being lighter may mean that your bf can pick you up, being lighter does not equal being healthier or fitter . . . besides at 110 pounds I could pick you up and throw you around like a rag doll (I'm 5'3"). Good luck to you.

Stop focusing on a number on a scale and focus on the lbs your lifting.

*protein farts*

Thanks, guys! Yeah, I was planning on going harder with the weights after the DVD. That being said, I absolutely will gain muscle from the DVD because I have very little upper body strength. I can do two push-ups and can barely life 4-pound weights more than 10 times. 30DS requires a lot of weight exercises that are killing me!

Anyway, I suppose I'll see how my weight is after 30DS and I might decide to continue with cardio instead (training for races). Of course, I'll take an after picture and if I look better, I won't care if I weigh more! Thanks again. :-)

I don't mean to be rude or mean or anything, you do what you want, but the fact that you are more concerned about getting to this "magical weight" of 105lbs is more important to you than the fact that you can barely lift 4lbs (a gallon of milk is around 8lbs) is very confusing to me. I agree with the others, get rid of the scale. If you eat more and gain muscle you will gain some weight, but you'll look and feel better, so ignore the number on the scale. Best of luck!

This tbh. I'd be far more worried about your apparent severe lack of muscle than a measley 5lb.

What is up with females and weight!!!

BODY COMPOSITION BODY COMPOSITION BODY COMPOSITION >
THROW AWAY YOUR CHIT USELESS SCALE!!!

Kid know's what he's talking about, throw that **** out, get big gains. I don't even own a scale, *gasp* I know I'm doomed to be a lard, oh wait, that's a load of bull. People on this forum are so obsessive, it can't be healthy to worry this much about weight. "Omgah I just ate a snickers gotta go weigh myself n see if I got fat". If you don't have fat to burn what do you think your body is going to turn to...that's right!