it is probably not "muscle"

ndj1979
ndj1979 Posts: 29,145 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Going to lay this one out there, because lately it seems like I am seeing this one a lot and it makes my head hurt.

It usually goes a little something like this…

OP comes into thread and says they are not losing and are on a 1200 calorie diet and are doing 30 minutes a day of "exercise", which does not involve a lifting program where one progressively lifts heavier weights.
Posters come into the thread and say "oh, you are just gaining muscle"

Sigh, I am sorry but a 1200 calories diet and doing a 30 minute a day cardio based program that MAY have some resistance training built into it, you are not gaining muscle.

Can you build muscle in a calorie deficit? Yes, you can but it is usually limited to two populations…

1. The obese beginner that starts out and is doing weight training where they lift progressively heavier things.
2. High performance athletes.

For the 90% of the rest of us we are not going to build muscle in a deficit.

Building muscle is hard work, and the fact that some think that it will just magically appear on a 1200 to 1400 calorie diet drives me crazy.
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Replies

  • Sued0nim
    Sued0nim Posts: 17,456 Member
    69610a5aa6c18765750144ecb56a8464140386a909c5d63f6b70f8176f6b9fc1.jpg
  • Sued0nim
    Sued0nim Posts: 17,456 Member
    Teen boys...you forgot teen boys

    And total newbies to progressive weight training

    Ya know in the funky voodoo section
  • SrJoben
    SrJoben Posts: 484 Member
    edited March 2015
    Word.

    This drives me nuts when people explain a few pounds of rapid scale weight change as gained muscle. It doesn't work like that. Muscle builds sloooooooowly.



    edit: High performance atheletes can't build muscle on a deficit either. o_O
  • malibu927
    malibu927 Posts: 17,565 Member
    In for actual science
  • ndj1979
    ndj1979 Posts: 29,145 Member
    SrJoben wrote: »
    Word.

    This drives me nuts when people explain a few pounds of rapid scale weight change as gained muscle. It doesn't work like that. Muscle builds sloooooooowly.

    seriously …I ran a bulk from October to February and gained ten pounds and it was not easy. And of that tend pounds, I am guessing that only above 5 of it was muscle; I am assuming a 1:1 ratio
  • barbecuesauce
    barbecuesauce Posts: 1,779 Member
    And if 1200 isn't the right calorie level for you, you're probably going to lose strength/muscle. Found that out the hard way.
  • riffraff2112
    riffraff2112 Posts: 1,757 Member
    I hear ya. I gained almost immediately but I was pretty huge (fat) to begin with and had a genetic predisposition to be thick.
    It takes years of work to gain muscle and I agree 100% with ya. Definitely a misconception that needs to go away.
  • PeachyCarol
    PeachyCarol Posts: 8,029 Member
    edited March 2015
    So glad to see this cleared up. Of course if they're only eating 1200 calories, they need to eat more to lose weight, right? :trollface:

  • ndj1979
    ndj1979 Posts: 29,145 Member
    mamapeach910 wrote: »
    So glad to see this cleared up. Of course if they're only eating 1200 calories, they need to eat more to lose weight, right?

    i guess it depends on the person, stats, etc….

    1200 can work for some..

    I know I would be a miserable, hungry, SOB if I did it….
  • PeachyCarol
    PeachyCarol Posts: 8,029 Member
    ndj1979 wrote: »
    mamapeach910 wrote: »
    So glad to see this cleared up. Of course if they're only eating 1200 calories, they need to eat more to lose weight, right?

    i guess it depends on the person, stats, etc….

    1200 can work for some..

    I know I would be a miserable, hungry, SOB if I did it….

    I was being a smarta$$. I'm stuck with 1200. I'm old and short, though. The eating more to lose is the other advice that's given when people gain. Because starvation mode.

  • ndj1979
    ndj1979 Posts: 29,145 Member
    mamapeach910 wrote: »
    ndj1979 wrote: »
    mamapeach910 wrote: »
    So glad to see this cleared up. Of course if they're only eating 1200 calories, they need to eat more to lose weight, right?

    i guess it depends on the person, stats, etc….

    1200 can work for some..

    I know I would be a miserable, hungry, SOB if I did it….

    I was being a smarta$$. I'm stuck with 1200. I'm old and short, though. The eating more to lose is the other advice that's given when people gain. Because starvation mode.

    sorry, I missed that …LOL

  • zoeysasha37
    zoeysasha37 Posts: 7,089 Member
    Love this thread !! Wish everyone would read this !!
  • TCO76
    TCO76 Posts: 242 Member
    But what if one just tracks their cals? Surely then they will build muscle....

    Or lotza creatinz......
  • ndj1979
    ndj1979 Posts: 29,145 Member
    MrM27 wrote: »
    TCO76 wrote: »
    But what if one just tracks their cals? Surely then they will build muscle....

    Or lotza creatinz......

    Huh?

    i read that as sarcasm ...
  • eric_sg61
    eric_sg61 Posts: 2,925 Member
    In B4
    "But I only want long, lean muscle not bulky muscle"
    "I get bulky really easily"
    "I am on the StairClimber 5 days a week and my legs are getting HUUUGE"
  • ndj1979
    ndj1979 Posts: 29,145 Member
    eric_sg61 wrote: »
    In B4
    "But I only want long, lean muscle not bulky muscle"
    "I get bulky really easily"
    "I am on the StairClimber 5 days a week and my legs are getting HUUUGE"

    Lol

    Yes all this too....
  • CharlieBeansmomTracey
    CharlieBeansmomTracey Posts: 7,682 Member
    some woman argued with me one day when she said she was doing the brazilian buttlift and was gaining new muscles in her glutes that werent there before(eating at a deficit) and she knows it was new muscle because she could tell by how it felt. oy vey
  • ndj1979
    ndj1979 Posts: 29,145 Member
    CharlieBeansmomTracey wrote: »
    some woman argued with me one day when she said she was doing the brazilian buttlift and was gaining new muscles in her glutes that werent there before(eating at a deficit) and she knows it was new muscle because she could tell by how it felt. oy vey

    That is when you request in person inspection
  • Spedangie
    Spedangie Posts: 108 Member
    SO true. You do not gain significant "Muscle weight" just because you are exercising (mainly aerobic activity) on a regular basis. And you simply cannot attribute weight gain to "oh it's muscle gain" because you have been using machines or free weights for a couple of weeks. It just doesn't work that way.

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