Fat vs muscle - gained 10 pounds in last 1 month

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lukasgorny
lukasgorny Posts: 7 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
I was wondering if someone had a good explanation for me. Here is my scenario. I was at 128 a month ago, waist circumference: 86 cm, arms: 25 cm, and belly: 79 cm. Today I’m my waist and belly are the same, my arms are at 27 cm and i gained 10 pounds. I cannot imagine that adding 2 cm in muscle adds up to 10 pounds. Or does it? Looking for a good explanation about my weight gain.

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  • cmriverside
    cmriverside Posts: 33,962 Member
    edited July 2021
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    yeah, no, you didn't gain 10 pounds of muscle in a month. Are you tracking your food intake? Have you been eating at your level of calories for [whatever] your goals?

    Are you doing a lot of heavy weight-lifting?


    It's probably water. Here: read this good explanation -

    https://physiqonomics.com/the-weird-and-highly-annoying-world-of-scale-weight-and-fluctuations/

  • lukasgorny
    lukasgorny Posts: 7 Member
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    I’ve been staying in my calorie budget of 1900.
  • goal06082021
    goal06082021 Posts: 2,130 Member
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    Yeah, you absolutely didn't put on 10 lbs of muscle in four weeks eating 1900 cal per day. It's probably water.
  • steveko89
    steveko89 Posts: 2,216 Member
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    goal06082021 wrote: »
    Yeah, you absolutely didn't put on 10 lbs of muscle in four weeks eating 1900 cal per day. It's probably water.

    Assuming you're not roided into oblivion, there's no way that's 10lbs of muscle. Based on the realistic rates below, 2lbs could be muscle. Generally speaking, gaining weight with a stable waist circumference is a great indicator of muscle gain in my book. Even for men, water weight is going to fluctuate, especially if you've changed diet and exercise habits.

    p81czqygxv2s.png
    Source: https://www.precisionnutrition.com/rates-of-fat-loss-and-muscle-gain#musclegain
  • lukasgorny
    lukasgorny Posts: 7 Member
    edited July 2021
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    Is the water weight eventually going to come down and how long does it take? I’m within my sodium range so I’m not gaining water weight because of that.
  • Luluetduet8
    Luluetduet8 Posts: 49 Member
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    I might see a doctor. Weight gain very quickly can be an issue if it’s not related to your diet (excess calories).
  • JeffMatchett
    JeffMatchett Posts: 43 Member
    edited July 2021
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    Luluetduet8 wrote: »
    I might see a doctor. Weight gain very quickly can be an issue if it’s not related to your diet (excess calories).

    It is almost definitely related to diet. Assuming they recently started eating more to bulk, they are likely taking in more carbs. More carbs -> more insulin, more insulin results in higher sodium retention -> more water retention. It's likely largely water and glycogen storage. If you continue trying to gain mass it will probably not go anywhere. Negative affects of sodium in diet are largely overblown. You should be more concerned with increased potassium intake than reducing sodium, to be honest.
  • lukasgorny
    lukasgorny Posts: 7 Member
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    6sp0iu3cvz59.jpeg

    Here is a picture from a month ago, 10 pounds lighter. I feel like I gained more muscle but I’m also not sure if I’m dilussional. Btw, my stomach is all skin so nothing I can do about it.
  • iam4scuba
    iam4scuba Posts: 39 Member
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    steveko89 wrote: »
    goal06082021 wrote: »
    Yeah, you absolutely didn't put on 10 lbs of muscle in four weeks eating 1900 cal per day. It's probably water.

    Assuming you're not roided into oblivion, there's no way that's 10lbs of muscle. Based on the realistic rates below, 2lbs could be muscle. Generally speaking, gaining weight with a stable waist circumference is a great indicator of muscle gain in my book. Even for men, water weight is going to fluctuate, especially if you've changed diet and exercise habits.

    p81czqygxv2s.png
    Source: https://www.precisionnutrition.com/rates-of-fat-loss-and-muscle-gain#musclegain

    I thought the consensus was that the more muscle you have, the quicker you can gain more absolute mass.

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