Gaining weight with heavy lifting (female)

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  • shunkawakon
    shunkawakon Posts: 37 Member
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    Rae - Thanks so much for your input. Actually, I have been adding different things like squats and deadlifts in addition to Jamie Eason's program because I have read alot about how essential they are. I understand that her program may not be the best out there, but it was a good start I needed into understanding heavy lifting as well as putting a lifting schedule together. I hope to learn from her program and develop my own, I needed a little discipline in "scheduling" before structuring my own. I bought NROLW when I had already begun Jamie's program, but I buzzed through it and took notes and have been putting some of that to use as well.

    I'm a beginner in the weight lifting world. Just trying to learn alot and do stuff right!


    Also, thanks for the tip into the fact that I am probably already eating maintenance. All this input is extremely helpful. Love the MFP world! Answers come very fast.
  • Huffdogg
    Huffdogg Posts: 1,934 Member
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    shunka: if you are a beginner looking to do a program designed for maximum results for beginners, check out Stronglifts 5x5 or Starting Strength. Much better programs IMO.
  • wedjul05
    wedjul05 Posts: 472
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    Can I hijack this post a bit as I've starting back lifing and up'ed my weights recently. Not following any plan, just my own programme.

    I am doing the weights 2 times a week, cardio with it also (running on treadmill). I run outside also 2-3 times a week, about 1 hr each time.

    I've gained 3+1/4lbs in 4 weeks but I notice that I'm alot leaner, clothes fit better, mummy tummy is going down.

    I don't get to eat all my exercise cals back but I eat a portion of them each day I workout.

    Should I eventually see a lbs loss on the scales? I'm not as obsessed as I once was with what the scales say but it would be nice to see the # come down eventually.
  • butjuli
    butjuli Posts: 56 Member
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    bump....I'm also 5'2 and lifting heavy. This is a great reference thread, thanks for posting!
  • sisierra
    sisierra Posts: 707 Member
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    bump!!
  • ChitownFoodie
    ChitownFoodie Posts: 1,562 Member
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    Bump
  • kdeaux1959
    kdeaux1959 Posts: 2,675 Member
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    I started heavy lifting about a month ago. I also added 200 more calories to my diet. I feel AMAZING when I lift heavy, but that also means that I cut my time that I spend doing my cardio as well. I do alot of HIT training along with the weight lifting. I just weighed myself today, and saw that I have gained 5 pounds. I'm not freaking out or anything, but my question is this:

    If I keep lifting heavy for another month, and eating the same (if not a little more calories), then can I turn around in a month and start upping my cardio and lower my calories (AKA cutting?) I've looked and read about this alot when it comes to body builders. Will this work? Should I be worried about my weight gain?

    Stupid questions I know, but I'm curious about the whole "cutting" phase and trying it out...

    Check the tape measure. Don't worry about the scale so much. If you are losing inches, then it is muscle that you are gaining and not fat...What you really want to do is lower your fat percentage. Some of the healthiest men I know of are 25 lbs over their "IBW"... They may have a BMI of 27 or 28 BUT they are lean... Low percentage of body fat... It is hard to determine the difference between "overweight" and "athletic" by scale alone... But if your clothes are fitting looser,then I would not worry about the other....
  • erickirb
    erickirb Posts: 12,293 Member
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    most likely the gain you are seeing is just water weight, as when strength training your muscles retain water to protect the muscles and aid in recovery.

    If you are in a caloric suprlus you would have have gained "real weight", and once you get use to the workouts your body will shed the majority of the water. As for your cut upcoming cut, there is no reason to add more cardio, you can just reduce caloric intake, if you add cardio, you don't need to cut your cals, as it is all about deficit (which can be diet along, or cardio and diet combined) the smaller your deficit the less muscle you will lose while cutting.

    I am currently cutting and I only do 20 minutes of cardio one day/week with 4 heavy lifting sessions focusing on compound moments. You have to be careful of cardio during a cut as the extra cardio can also lead to the loss of lean muscle mass.
  • ZoeLifts
    ZoeLifts Posts: 10,347 Member
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    Bump! Good info!
  • Zumbagurl64
    Zumbagurl64 Posts: 155 Member
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    just curious ladies......what is your definition of "heavy" weights? I've been doing weights for some time now, but since closer to my gw, being more focused on toning and building more muscle.... thnx for your input! Gayle ** btw I'm 5'4, 130 lbs....
  • jnh17
    jnh17 Posts: 838 Member
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    I started lifting heavier about when you did and have gained 4 lbs. There's no way it's fat. I mean, how could it be if I'm not eating over maintenance EVERYDAY? I eat between 1700-1900/day (probably not enough. I'm thinking I'll up it - I 'm 5'11). However, my clothes aren't looser and the tape isn't going down, either. I mean, I cool with it. It hasn't really been that long and I don't have tons of fat to lose.

    I have been pretty good at meeting my target protein everyday (about 150g). I think my 4lbs is a combo of muscle and water -- mainly water though.
  • Spamee
    Spamee Posts: 148 Member
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    bump for the good info here
  • RikanSoulja
    RikanSoulja Posts: 463 Member
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    Buy a tape measure. Check those inches out instead of using the scale or just use a combination of both if you'd like.
  • turnerm65
    turnerm65 Posts: 58 Member
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    bump..
  • lporter229
    lporter229 Posts: 4,907 Member
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    Bump
  • KatieJane83
    KatieJane83 Posts: 2,002 Member
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    just curious ladies......what is your definition of "heavy" weights? I've been doing weights for some time now, but since closer to my gw, being more focused on toning and building more muscle.... thnx for your input! Gayle ** btw I'm 5'4, 130 lbs....

    Lifting "heavy" is different for everyone. There is no set weight where suddenly it's considered heavy. What it means is that you're lifting at a weight where by around the 6th-10th rep or so you are really struggling. If you are not hitting muscle fatigue by around this point, you are not lifting heavy. Obviously, the amount of weight it takes to hit that point is different for everybody, and will increase the more you lift and the stronger you get. But, if you can breeze through 20 reps of something than it is not heavy! lol
  • Klamber26
    Klamber26 Posts: 212
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    just curious ladies......what is your definition of "heavy" weights? I've been doing weights for some time now, but since closer to my gw, being more focused on toning and building more muscle.... thnx for your input! Gayle ** btw I'm 5'4, 130 lbs....

    Lifting "heavy" is different for everyone. There is no set weight where suddenly it's considered heavy. What it means is that you're lifting at a weight where by around the 6th-10th rep or so you are really struggling. If you are not hitting muscle fatigue by around this point, you are not lifting heavy. Obviously, the amount of weight it takes to hit that point is different for everybody, and will increase the more you lift and the stronger you get. But, if you can breeze through 20 reps of something than it is not heavy! lol

    But if you're struggling so much that you lose form, then it is too heavy. In my opinion, the best is when you feel an unpleasant burn that you can push through, but not when you get really shaky or wobbly. Pushing to failure is a bad idea. Start doing that with compound lifts and it's an injury waiting to happen.
  • katmont
    katmont Posts: 32 Member
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    Bump
  • lilsassymom
    lilsassymom Posts: 407 Member
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    BUMP
  • Fabnover40Kat
    Fabnover40Kat Posts: 300 Member
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