How long before I lose weight instead of build muscle?

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  • madameduffay
    madameduffay Posts: 166 Member
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    I noticed that the calories burned on MFP is almost double than actual calories bruned on my HRM. So if you are eating back your calories based on the MFP estimate, you maybe eating too much. There are days that I just cannot eat anymore because I am already satiated.

    I also found that the MFP calories are way over the HRM calories. We all need to be careful about eating back the calories based on MFP.
  • MrsKosal
    MrsKosal Posts: 415 Member
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    You won't start building muscle until you start eating a surplus and progressive lifting.

    Agreed. You aren't building muscle, you are retaining water.


    From my personal experience, I don't agree. I have been lifting heavy for only 6 weeks and I can see a marked difference in my shoulders, chest, and especially my legs. There is definitely muscle there where there wasn't before. I have only lost 2 lbs in that time but have gone done a pants size. This at eating 1500-1800 calories a day.

    I agree! I am doing cardio and lifting. The trainers at my gym can see the muscle difference and they are the ones who told me I am gaining muscle. And I have lost inches. Just nothing really weight wise.
  • jsapninz
    jsapninz Posts: 909 Member
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    Your body appears to be burning fat and turning it into muscle at a pretty equal rate, which is why you are losing inches, because 1 lb of muscle is way smaller than 1 lb of fat. So you should be proud, because you are getting healthier!! And the bigger percentage of muscles you have, the higher your basal metabolic rate is, because muscle eats more calories than fat. So that is good.

    People who are losing "all this weight" probably aren't doing as "intense" of workouts as you. They either are burning fat AND muscle pretty quickly or just not building muscle as quickly as you are. Don't worry about comparing yourself to others! The more overweight you are the easier it is to lose the extra lbs. And rememeber, the goal should be to lose FAT, not just pounds, so you are already acheiving it. If you really want to lose weight, not caring if it is muscle or not, don't eat as much protein and don't work out, and stay under your caloric limit. Then your body will start eating your muscles and your fat at the same time. But I doubt you want to do that!

    Indeed, be careful about "eating back" your calories burned, because as madameduffay said, MFP is a little generous with the amount of calories burned. It is good that you have a hrm.

    Depending on how much your bmr is to start with, 1,200 may or may not be too much of calories for you to eat each day. I know MFP freaks out if you eat less than that, but for some people (say, under 5'), 1,200 may be too much. You should shoot for eating 80% of your BMR for weight loss, not just 1,200. So if your CURRENT bmr (as in, to stay at the same exact weight you are at the moment) is 1,700 you should be eating 1,360 to lose wieght healthily. If you are eating too few calories for all the working out you are doing you may be putting yourself into starvation mode, this is why it is important to judge your bmr accurately. And remember, Body Mass Index doesn't work for people who are super in shape, because it will think their extra muscle poundage is all fat. But I'm assuming you aren't at that point.

    I suggest not to focus on the scale so much (I know it is super hard, I want to be at 130lbs too!) and just keep doing everything properly. Your body will right itself. My goal right now is to only work out as much to lose weight as I plan on continuing after I am at my goal weight. Because I don't want to go to all the hard work of putting on muscle if that isn't sustainable for me. My most important focus is to keep portion control and teaching myself to eat right, because that I need to continue after I reach my goal weight. It will come with time, don't get discouraged!!

    So, in summation, JUST KEEP IT UP!! :D
  • jsapninz
    jsapninz Posts: 909 Member
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    You won't start building muscle until you start eating a surplus and progressive lifting.


    I disagree. You don't have to "eat a surplus" to build muscle! And lifting isn't the only way to build muscle. Hello, marathon runners? Do you think they aren't ripped with muscle?
  • jacksonpt
    jacksonpt Posts: 10,413 Member
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    You won't start building muscle until you start eating a surplus and progressive lifting.


    I disagree. You don't have to "eat a surplus" to build muscle! And lifting isn't the only way to build muscle. Hello, marathon runners? Do you think they aren't ripped with muscle?

    Apples and oranges. Building muscle means growing new tissue, for which you need a surplus of cals. Marathon runners are so lean (i.e. have such low body fat) that you can see their muscles, which would be easily hidden were they not so lean.
  • jacksonpt
    jacksonpt Posts: 10,413 Member
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    You won't start building muscle until you start eating a surplus and progressive lifting.

    Agreed. You aren't building muscle, you are retaining water.


    From my personal experience, I don't agree. I have been lifting heavy for only 6 weeks and I can see a marked difference in my shoulders, chest, and especially my legs. There is definitely muscle there where there wasn't before. I have only lost 2 lbs in that time but have gone done a pants size. This at eating 1500-1800 calories a day.

    Is there new muscle there, or added fluid? How do you know?
  • jacksonpt
    jacksonpt Posts: 10,413 Member
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    You won't start building muscle until you start eating a surplus and progressive lifting.

    Agreed. You aren't building muscle, you are retaining water.


    From my personal experience, I don't agree. I have been lifting heavy for only 6 weeks and I can see a marked difference in my shoulders, chest, and especially my legs. There is definitely muscle there where there wasn't before. I have only lost 2 lbs in that time but have gone done a pants size. This at eating 1500-1800 calories a day.

    I agree! I am doing cardio and lifting. The trainers at my gym can see the muscle difference and they are the ones who told me I am gaining muscle. And I have lost inches. Just nothing really weight wise.

    Again, what you perceive to be happening more than likely isn't what's actually happening.

    That said, people brand new to lifting, or people significantly overweight can built a VERY small amount of new muscle on a deficit. But the gains are small and don't continue.
  • MrsKosal
    MrsKosal Posts: 415 Member
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    Your body appears to be burning fat and turning it into muscle at a pretty equal rate, which is why you are losing inches, because 1 lb of muscle is way smaller than 1 lb of fat. So you should be proud, because you are getting healthier!! And the bigger percentage of muscles you have, the higher your basal metabolic rate is, because muscle eats more calories than fat. So that is good.

    People who are losing "all this weight" probably aren't doing as "intense" of workouts as you. They either are burning fat AND muscle pretty quickly or just not building muscle as quickly as you are. Don't worry about comparing yourself to others! The more overweight you are the easier it is to lose the extra lbs. And rememeber, the goal should be to lose FAT, not just pounds, so you are already acheiving it. If you really want to lose weight, not caring if it is muscle or not, don't eat as much protein and don't work out, and stay under your caloric limit. Then your body will start eating your muscles and your fat at the same time. But I doubt you want to do that!

    Indeed, be careful about "eating back" your calories burned, because as madameduffay said, MFP is a little generous with the amount of calories burned. It is good that you have a hrm.

    Depending on how much your bmr is to start with, 1,200 may or may not be too much of calories for you to eat each day. I know MFP freaks out if you eat less than that, but for some people (say, under 5'), 1,200 may be too much. You should shoot for eating 80% of your BMR for weight loss, not just 1,200. So if your CURRENT bmr (as in, to stay at the same exact weight you are at the moment) is 1,700 you should be eating 1,360 to lose wieght healthily. If you are eating too few calories for all the working out you are doing you may be putting yourself into starvation mode, this is why it is important to judge your bmr accurately. And remember, Body Mass Index doesn't work for people who are super in shape, because it will think their extra muscle poundage is all fat. But I'm assuming you aren't at that point.

    I suggest not to focus on the scale so much (I know it is super hard, I want to be at 130lbs too!) and just keep doing everything properly. Your body will right itself. My goal right now is to only work out as much to lose weight as I plan on continuing after I am at my goal weight. Because I don't want to go to all the hard work of putting on muscle if that isn't sustainable for me. My most important focus is to keep portion control and teaching myself to eat right, because that I need to continue after I reach my goal weight. It will come with time, don't get discouraged!!

    So, in summation, JUST KEEP IT UP!! :D

    Thank you so much! Everything you just said totally clicked for me. I really really appreciate it. I am going to check my BF% and see how that changes my caloric intake.
  • Sidesteal
    Sidesteal Posts: 5,510 Member
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    I disagree. You don't have to "eat a surplus" to build muscle! And lifting isn't the only way to build muscle. Hello, marathon runners? Do you think they aren't ripped with muscle?

    The amount you can gain while eating at a deficit is minimal without assistance. New lifters and obese people, and people returning to lifting have a bit of an edge however.

    Also, marathon runners tend to have very low bodyfat but most of them do not have big muscles.
  • laurenmeyerherr
    laurenmeyerherr Posts: 5
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    where did you go to determine this calorie number? I have the same issue where the scale is not moving - and I lose inches but put them elsewhere - not exactly a great trade.
  • Elizabeth_C34
    Elizabeth_C34 Posts: 6,376 Member
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    You won't start building muscle until you start eating a surplus and progressive lifting.

    Agreed. You aren't building muscle, you are retaining water.


    From my personal experience, I don't agree. I have been lifting heavy for only 6 weeks and I can see a marked difference in my shoulders, chest, and especially my legs. There is definitely muscle there where there wasn't before. I have only lost 2 lbs in that time but have gone done a pants size. This at eating 1500-1800 calories a day.

    Unless you got a body scan done that tells you that you gained muscle, then you have no way of knowing. Conditioned muscle is more volumous than unconditioned muscle (it appears bigger) but there is likely no new mass at least no significant mass. Combine that with loss of fat and water retention, and you've got your answer.
  • cloud2011
    cloud2011 Posts: 898 Member
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    I didn't start losing until I stopped overexercising. I build muscle quite easily, so my focus had to be the quality of my food (more whole foods, fewer processed) and it was just really tweaking what I was eating and trying new recipes.

    When I exercise a lot (4-5 days a week for over an hour, including 1/2 strength 3x week), I feel hungrier. Then, if something forced me to stop exercising even temporarily (injury, illness) I would gain again, because I still had a healthy appetite.

    It's a balance of trying to figure out the right proportion of exercise to calorie reduction. Trainer Bob Greene says not to do both at once, at least in the beginning. I know some people will disagree. I walk briskly and take a lot of stairs, but that's about it.
  • Barribomb
    Barribomb Posts: 284 Member
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    how can one most accurately figure out their BMR?
  • Annafly3
    Annafly3 Posts: 63
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    bump
  • Hopelessbird
    Hopelessbird Posts: 133
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    I don't know about this. I am a short asian female, I know it takes me a long time to gain 1lb of muscle (more than a month). I remember it took me six months to go from 10lb single arm bicep curls to 25lb.
  • laurenmeyerherr
    laurenmeyerherr Posts: 5
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    I don't think I'm over-exercising. Most of what I do is cardio and not weight training. I work out with a personal trainer 1-2 times per week and I shoot for working out 5-6 days per week for no more than 40-45 min. I generally do elliptical, treadmill, swimming, walking or bike riding as exercise though I can't wait for kayak season to start around here! I've been within 100 calories of the net 1200 (below) but it seems like a ton more food than I've ever eaten before and I swear it's too much for me most days. I don't have a problem with being hungry either so not worried I can't sustain whatever that magic calorie number ends up being. I have been at this for 12 days now and no cheating - and I've only netted a loss of a single pound. There are positives - I have more energy, I am more aware of my body shape overall if you get what I mean, I see some small changes starting to happen in larger muscle groups - but this is highly discouraging that the scale doesn't reflect any real change. I am a match to give my husband a kidney - but they won't allow me to do so until I drop at least 20 pounds. I am highly motivated to make this happen not only for him but how cool will it be to go down some pant sizes?
  • jacksonpt
    jacksonpt Posts: 10,413 Member
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    I don't know about this. I am a short asian female, I know it takes me a long time to gain 1lb of muscle (more than a month). I remember it took me six months to go from 10lb single arm bicep curls to 25lb.
    Don't confuse building muscles (growing new tissue) with strengthening existing muscle.
  • Elizabeth_C34
    Elizabeth_C34 Posts: 6,376 Member
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    I don't know about this. I am a short asian female, I know it takes me a long time to gain 1lb of muscle (more than a month). I remember it took me six months to go from 10lb single arm bicep curls to 25lb.

    You shouldn't confuse strength gains with muscle gains. My max legpress has gone from 95 to 210 and I LOST 5 lbs of muscle. Conditioning muscle is not the same as adding new mass.

    P.S. 25 lb bicep curl is AWESOME. I'm only at 15 :smile:
  • dawnemjh
    dawnemjh Posts: 1,465 Member
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    So how do you know if you are gaining/building muscle or gaining weight from over-eating/water retention. If you see the numbers go up, and you are not going down in size???
    Does it matter what macros are if you are eating at surplus to gain leanu muscle mass?
  • Elizabeth_C34
    Elizabeth_C34 Posts: 6,376 Member
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    So how do you know if you are gaining/building muscle or gaining weight from over-eating/water retention. If you see the numbers go up, and you are not going down in size???
    Does it matter what macros are if you are eating at surplus to gain leanu muscle mass?

    You need to go get a body scan done. You can call around to your local gyms and see if they know where you can get a DEXA scan. I have mine done every 6 months at a rehab center. It's about $75-$85 to get one done, but it'll tell you exactly what your body composition is (body fat, lean mass, muscle, water, all of it). It's good to know.

    Othwerise, you can safely assume that unless you are lifting heavy and never done it before and are morbidly obese, that you're not putting copious pounds of muscle on, but that those muscles are simply being conditioned and retaining water.

    My suggestion is to forget the scale period and focus on your fitness goals and sticking to a reasonable calorie restriction (i.e. NOT below 1300 NET calories per day if you're working out really hard). Let the weight come off as a side effect. The scale will drive you insane if you're not careful especially women since we retain more water throughout the month than men do. My weight fluctuates a good 6-8 lbs throughout the day and 8-10 throughout the month. It's the long term trend that matters more.

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