It must be muscle

Options
2»

Replies

  • awnurmarc
    awnurmarc Posts: 125 Member
    Options
    In most cases, if you gain weight you always gain muscle and if you lose weight you always lose muscle. The question is how do you maximize the ratio of muscle to fat when you gain weight and minimize the ratio when you lose weight.
  • 47Jacqueline
    47Jacqueline Posts: 6,993 Member
    Options
    I'm so tired of this. I cannot fathom the complete lack of common sense in someone who says with a straight face that a pound of one thing weighs more than a pound of something else
  • Blackdawn_70631
    Blackdawn_70631 Posts: 283 Member
    Options
    awnurmarc wrote: »
    In most cases, if you gain weight you always gain muscle and if you lose weight you always lose muscle. The question is how do you maximize the ratio of muscle to fat when you gain weight and minimize the ratio when you lose weight.

    That's why I started weight lifting when I hit Maintain. I guess it's just hard for me to understand when other people said they lost weight while lifting. But then again, I eat to feed my muscles so they'll grow.
  • Sued0nim
    Sued0nim Posts: 17,456 Member
    edited February 2016
    Options
    Blackdawn_70631 wrote: »
    Machka9 wrote: »
    Blackdawn_70631 wrote: »
    Then there's also extra muscle - if you were to line up 1 pound of muscle to this length of fat, it would probably be 4 pounds (or so) of muscle for this single length of 1 pound of fat. So when this one pound of fat is gone, it is replaced with four pounds of muscle.

    So for the same volume of fat and muscle, there's a 1:4 weight ratio?

    Just for envisioning purposes ... if a cup of fat might weigh 1 pound then a cup of muscle might weigh 4 pounds?

    Yeah. Like that. Not saying you would gain four extra pounds for every pound of fat lost. But the idea is a little bit like that.
    I'm not an expert, so I don't know. It's just my own theory and what I've read online.
    Either way it goes, something is going on because we look better yet have gained weight.

    No absolutely not like that

    It's more like a 0.8:1 ratio

    As detailed earlier
  • Scamd83
    Scamd83 Posts: 808 Member
    Options
    The other week I seriously increased the number of pull/chin ups I perform and noticed my arms looked a lot fuller. So I'm sure there's something to be said about an increase on the strain on your muscles leading to some sort of temporary increase in size to begin with. Something something water glycogen etc.
  • Blackdawn_70631
    Blackdawn_70631 Posts: 283 Member
    Options
    mangamadayan wrote: »
    It can happen. I weigh about 195 pounds now and still can fit into the pants and shirts I used to wear 2 years ago at 170 pounds except that sleeves and thighs are tight enough to tear the pants, and some pants won't pull past the thigh.

    That's good as an example right there.
  • Hotshot_Barretta
    Hotshot_Barretta Posts: 67 Member
    Options
    Ok let me start out by clarifying a pound of fat weights the same as a pound of muscle. So muscle weights more than fat? It's something our grandparents said 20 or 30 years ago when science also said black people have a lower IQ. Just to give you background there. Now, moving forward a pound of fat v. A pound of muscle on your body will look different. It is possible to be getting smaller and gaining weight with muscle. However, more likely is that your water intake isn't sufficient enough to cover your increased workout, and it's water weight because 4 pounds of pure muscle takes a bit of time to build on.
  • Hotshot_Barretta
    Hotshot_Barretta Posts: 67 Member
    Options
    Especially if it's new, and muscles are still really sore. The muscle swells and water stays on unless you flush it out with. . . More water
  • Machka9
    Machka9 Posts: 24,899 Member
    Options
    47Jacqueline wrote: »
    I'm so tired of this. I cannot fathom the complete lack of common sense in someone who says with a straight face that a pound of one thing weighs more than a pound of something else

    Did anyone say that in this thread?

  • ForecasterJason
    ForecasterJason Posts: 2,577 Member
    Options
    3dogsrunning wrote: »
    Machka9 wrote: »
    Is the idea .... muscle weighs more than fat, I've been working out a lot, I've gained a little bit of weight, perhaps the weight gain is muscle ... ever true?

    Is there actually a time when that can happen?

    I know that after a hard workout, it is normal to gain a little bit of water weight, which will go again in a couple days.

    But what about lasting weight gain of, say, a kilogram or two because of muscle development?


    I've always presumed the whole "it must be that I'm gaining muscle" thing was just wishful thinking, but I just thought I'd see what you thought.

    And if it can actually happen, how could a person tell?


    The water weight doesn't necessarily go away after a couple of days. Your glycogen stores goes up as well when you start exercising or increase intensity. It requires water to be stored and can be a couple of pounds of added weight. And it typically stays there until you reduce or stop exercising. If you are in the process of losing weight, eventually the fat loss will catch up and you'll see the scale go down but this is often the reason people don't see the scale move for a few weeks.

    If you are at maintainance, this weight might appear and stay there with you.
    So if someone gains 2-3 lbs of water/glycogen weight from exercising (whether cardio or weights), you're saying that could be a permanent increase in weight (assuming one is simply eating at maintenance calories and keeps the exercise up)?
  • peaceout_aly
    peaceout_aly Posts: 2,018 Member
    Options
    This most definitely is true. I went from being 110 lbs. to being 114 lbs. after increasing my lift weight significantly, however I have obviously less fat on my body. Wish I would have taken measurements and had a BMI study done to accurately log everything though.
  • Gurney_Halleck
    Gurney_Halleck Posts: 18 Member
    Options
    47Jacqueline wrote: »
    I'm so tired of this. I cannot fathom the complete lack of common sense in someone who says with a straight face that a pound of one thing weighs more than a pound of something else

    Who said that?
  • RoxieDawn
    RoxieDawn Posts: 15,488 Member
    Options
    Did anyone consider "newbie gainz" in the beginning of a weight lifting program and also recomping (build muscle and loose fat at the same time per se). Of course newbie gainz taper off after 5-7 weeks, and recomping requires maintenance calories plus a really slight deficit. IF the deficit is too large then a person is not recomping.

    It can happen if all the parameters are set right for both to happen at the same time.

    Also carbs retain water, muscles retain water and you will gain water weight exceeding way too much sodium. These are three times when water is at bay.

  • blues4miles
    blues4miles Posts: 1,481 Member
    Options
    There was a study done recently-ish on a bunch of young men in their 20s who ate 2.4g per their total weight in kg per day while on a drastic deficit for 4 weeks while doing 6 days a week of resistance training (lifting) and high-intensity interval training. (Link here: http://ajcn.nutrition.org/content/early/2016/01/26/ajcn.115.119339.abstract?sid=78fc4efb-e348-43c3-9701-2a59be984e27) I don't have access to the full steady, but Alex Hutchinson who writes the Sweat Science article on Runner's World talks about it a bit too (http://www.runnersworld.com/sweat-science/gain-muscle-lose-fat).

    Anyways, they had two groups both doing the same exercise and same 'cut' in calories. The group that consumed 2.4g per kg of body weight lost more fat and gained more muscle than the 'control' group who was doing all the same exercise and calorie reduction but 'only' 1.2 g / kg of protein. Alex writes about it since as he puts it it's the 'holy grail' where folks lost weight and gained muscle in 4 weeks.

    Caveats - they were dudes in their early 20s so you know their testosterone is going to be a lot better than the average person's. 1.2 g / kg of body weight is still a LOT more protein than most people consume, forget trying to do 2x that. Also most people aren't lifting weight and doing intense exercise for 6 days a week.

    So yes, I believe a young man consuming enough protein and killin' it in the gym 6 days a week could potentially do the mythical recomp at a calorie deficit. But the problem is, this just doesn't apply to most people. Women and even older guys just aren't going to have the natural aid of the testosterone levels these guys did. And I don't know anyone trying to lose weight who is casually consuming that much protein. Yes some people are, the serious bodybuilders and keto folks know protein is important. But for the rest of us mortals, probably not.

Categories