Started lifting heavy weights and continually gaining weight

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kabakken
kabakken Posts: 22 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
I'm asking this on behalf of my brother and I'm not sure what to tell him.

He's about 360 lbs, 6'6" and about 7 weeks ago he started a heavy lifting routine as well as running intervals/doing the elliptical about 4 or 5 days a week. He used to lift in high school (played football) but hasn't done much since then. He did not gradually work into lifting again, he just kind of jumped in and started at a high intensity 5 days a week. He told me he's been steadily gaining weight since he started. He seems to be doing everything right - he alternates days of lifting so he's not working the same muscles two days in a row, and doing cardio. He wants to gain muscle but more importantly lose weight/go down in size (at least for now).

I know muscles retain water starting a new routine - especially when heavy lifting is involved... but since it's been almost 2 months since he started, I wanted to check. Do muscles hang on to that water weight for that long when starting a routine? Or is he doing something wrong?

Thanks for any insight!

Replies

  • Barneystinson
    Barneystinson Posts: 1,357 Member
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    Is he eating at a caloric surplus?
  • elizabethblake
    elizabethblake Posts: 384 Member
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    Has his diet changed?
  • koosdel
    koosdel Posts: 3,317 Member
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    Is he eating at a caloric surplus?

    It's all about the diet.
  • ncole3
    ncole3 Posts: 164
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    It depends. What is the diet like? What is his water intake? If those 2 things are not in place, then it could explain the weight gain, not loss.
  • hpsnickers1
    hpsnickers1 Posts: 2,783 Member
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    Tell him to lay off the cardio some. That is way too much cardio and he is stressing his body.

    http://www.marksdailyapple.com/chronic-cardio/
    http://www.marksdailyapple.com/chronic-cardio-2/
    http://www.marksdailyapple.com/case-against-cardio/

    Tell him to check out Primal Blueprint Fitness and apply it to his routine in some way. And to check out the forums at Mark's Daily Apple - heck - he should run through Primal Blueprint 101 on the site and read through some of the articles. He doesn't have to follow the lifestyle but the articles above will give him a good idea of what that much cardio can do the human body.
  • Wyoruby
    Wyoruby Posts: 175 Member
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    He might be gaining muscle which is going to make the scale jump up! Have him check his measurments see if they are changing. Also tell him to add in more protein into his diet to help feed those muscles!! I've found that if I eat at least 45% protein a day my scale will drop. And make sure he is drinking enough water he wants to take his weight and divide that in half and that is the amount of oz he should drink in a day. Also on days he does lift he will want to drink more to help with the water retention in the muscles.
  • SHBoss1673
    SHBoss1673 Posts: 7,161 Member
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    It's extremely difficult to gain muscle mass and lose weight at the same time, couple that with what has been said above (it's all about the diet) and you have some issues to contend with. Now I won't say you shouldn't be doing resistance (weight training) while attempting weight loss (you should), but it should be with an eye towards maintaining your current lean mass as opposed to building muscle (a heavy lifting program). 2 days of moderate lifting full body (with 3 days between) would be what I would recommend if weight loss is desired, that should be enough to maintain lean mass while losing weight.
  • kabakken
    kabakken Posts: 22 Member
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    d
  • kabakken
    kabakken Posts: 22 Member
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    Is he eating at a caloric surplus?

    He said he doesn't feel like he's eating any differently... but he hasn't been specifically tracking. I'll tell him to do that - and add more protein.
  • Strobins05
    Strobins05 Posts: 716
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    Tell him to lay off the cardio some. That is way too much cardio and he is stressing his body.

    http://www.marksdailyapple.com/chronic-cardio/
    http://www.marksdailyapple.com/chronic-cardio-2/
    http://www.marksdailyapple.com/case-against-cardio/

    Tell him to check out Primal Blueprint Fitness and apply it to his routine in some way. And to check out the forums at Mark's Daily Apple - heck - he should run through Primal Blueprint 101 on the site and read through some of the articles. He doesn't have to follow the lifestyle but the articles above will give him a good idea of what that much cardio can do the human body.

    Great tip, thanks for the info!
  • myofibril
    myofibril Posts: 4,500 Member
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    it should be with an eye towards maintaining your current lean mass as opposed to building muscle (a heavy lifting program). 2 days of moderate lifting full body (with 3 days between) would be what I would recommend if weight loss is desired, that should be enough to maintain lean mass while losing weight.

    I think this is very good advice given the context of your brother's particular situation.

    First and foremost he needs to get a good idea of what he is actually consuming calorie wise. Not what he presumes, but what in reality he is intaking. That is the most obvious answer.

    However, given his high starting weight he doesn't really need to worry as much about muscle loss as a leaner individual. This is because he should be able to handle a steeper deficit through diet and still see a preferential % of fat lost in comparison to lean body mass given his current weight.

    He doesn't need to worry about muscle building at this stage or if he follows a good routine at any point. Why? Because obese individuals have a lot of existing muscle mass to begin with. Getting to be such a high weight and then actually living with it, moving it around and such causes sufficient stress on skeletal muscle, which in turn necessitates them to grow in order to support the weight they are expected to cope with. There are very few advantages to being particularly overweight but this one of them. It is like being under a barbell all day...

    He can safely par down his routine until he shifts a fair amount of weight. The focus right now should be diet and moderate amounts of exercise for him. Also, low intensity steady state cardio will be just fine for him in this context.
  • tangal88
    tangal88 Posts: 689
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    Also remember to assess any supplements he may be taking.

    Some supplement drinks, powders that are taken to assist the muscle building or recovery process can cause water retention. Creatine, some filler agents added to pre workout or post workout drinks. etc.

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