Getting fit for the first time

Be aware that if you're gaining muscle, the scale will go up for a bit. Muscle weighs more than fat, so if you're losing fat and gaining muscle, it starts to balance itself out.. making the scale show the same number but the body is changing. Try to use a tape measure and measure yourself once/twice a month, it will give you a better reading than the scale will when gaining muscle. Also progress pics help too.

LovelySavannah wrote: »

Be aware that if you're gaining muscle, the scale will go up for a bit. Muscle weighs more than fat, so if you're losing fat and gaining muscle, it starts to balance itself out.. making the scale show the same number but the body is changing. Try to use a tape measure and measure yourself once/twice a month, it will give you a better reading than the scale will when gaining muscle. Also progress pics help too.

Unfortunately, muscle gain, especially for women, is very slow. Even under the best of conditions, a woman who adds 1/4 pound of muscle mass (new muscle tissue) per week would be getting an excellent result. "The best of conditions" includes a professionally-designed, sound, progressive weight training program; adequate protein intake; sound overall nutrition; relative youth; and a calorie surplus.

In a calorie deficit, but with other positive conditions in place, those new to weight training can add a small amount of muscle mass, but it would be unrealistic for a woman to expect it to reach that 1/4 pound per week level.

However, most beginners do add significant strength quickly, in the early stages of a sound strength training program. When they observe this, in combination with the water weight retention (and related slightly "pumped" appearance that comes with it), they think they've gained noticeable muscle mass (new tissue). However, the strength is coming overwhelmingly from neuromuscular adaptation, essentially better recruitment and utilization of pre-existing muscle tissue, not the creation of new muscle tissue.

So, the beginner may be stronger, and look better . . . but is probably gaining minimal muscle mass, if any, in a short time period.

Regardless, strength training is well worth doing.

On the other hand, 1/4 pound of fat loss per week would be so slow that most people would perceive that as "not losing weight" - it would take many weeks at that fat loss rate for the loss to be visible on the scale between the routine daily water weight fluctuations that are part of having a normal, healthy body; not to mention changes in digestive system contents in transit, depending on what's been eaten. (Digestive transit can take 50+ hours.)

Pretty much no achievable rate of muscle gain will outpace any reasonable pace of fat loss, sadly.

It's water weight, likely, OP. But yes, tape measure and photos are good adjuncts to a body weight scale, though most often those changes occur more slowly than scale weight changes (there are exceptions).

Best wishes!

I agree with the previous answer, you should search for more information in the web like posts, youtube videos, blogs, etc., is the same thing that I do by the way. You have to be constantly informed, because you are concentrating in two things losing weight and gain muscle ammm and don't forget to fill your daily protein intake, feel free to add.