How fast can the body build muscle?

M

mahkeymike

New member
Ive always wondered this.Eating healthy, and lots of exercise, how fast can the body build muscle, or bring back (dormant) muscle?If theres such a thing as dormant muscle?

I recently went from 200-185lbs in 3 weeks.My body fat% has dropped from 30%-24% My water % is the same as last week but ive gained 2lbs but my fat% went from 26%-24%.Also i can see the fat comming off my face, and waist.And went down 3 waist sizes.

My diet is very strict and im eating roughly 8,000-9,000 Calories a week and burning 12,250 + a week just doing cardio alone.But i also hike once or twice a week for two or three hours.I figured my deficit is something around 4 lbs a week loss, which i know isnt good in the long run, but ive went from 205-150 in 3 months doing this same diet before, and it has taken 5 years to get back up to 200 and i went completly off the diet.
 
NickP said:
Hi Mahkeymike,

Im not exactly sure what the question is here. Would I be correct in saying that you are asking how fast you can build muscle? If so how much muscle would you like to build? Im assuming that you dont want to put on any fat whilst you are building the muscle?




Nick Papaziakas
Author, Coach & Bodybuilder
- mahkeymike you can scan through this website and you will probably find a lot of your answers about building muscle.
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No nick, sorry if my post is misleading.I just want to loose fat, and tone up my existing muscle's.But im curious if im building new muscle in the process because i can visually see my body getting leaner,and my fat % is going down, but im a few lbs heavier then last week.So my guess was water weight, or muscle, but my water % is the same,so i just wanted to know if its possible to build muscle in a course of 3-4 weeks.
 
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So you are eating about 1200 calories a day, may I ask what you are eating in a typical day?

It will be very hard to put on muscle or impossible while you are in such a deficit, however it may avoid catabolism.
 
monkey101 said:
So you are eating about 1200 calories a day, may I ask what you are eating in a typical day?

It will be very hard to put on muscle or impossible while you are in such a deficit, however it may avoid catabolism.
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Morning:
coffee black w/ 1 tsp sugar +15 Cal
few chunks of cantaloupe +50 Cal
1 hour session of cardio -700 Cal
instant oatmeal w/water(no milk) +160 Cal

afternoon:
can of tuna in water (straight out of can) +100 Cal
few chunks of cantaloupe +50 Cal
45 min session of cardio -450 Cal
cup of vegetable soup +100 Cal
Turkey breast on 1 slice of multi-grain bread +260 Cal
few chunks of cantaloupe +50 Cal

Early dinner:
grilled chicken breast,cup of soup,veggies +350 Cal
45 min session cardio -450 Cal

Late dinner:(roughly 2-4 hours before bed)
snack on baby carrots,celery,red peppers,cucumbers +100 Cal
few chunks of cantaloupe +50Cal

Comes to 1285 Cal , but roughly give or take i may eat less or slightly more, generally i try to keep my portions less then 400 Cal for any meal.Dinner can vary between chicken,griled salmon(occasional),or a shrimp or chicken stir-fry.

I looked up catabolism, wikipedia says breakdown of molecules, and i got lost from there on.

I dont feel unhealthy, ive got alot of energy all the time.I may be in a calorie deficit, but my body isnt complaining.I do take organic whole food supplements.
 
A) I can't already tell you're eating too little, and B) You're going to get VERY bored, VERY fast if you continue that diet.

What's your height, weight, age, and sex?
 
Matt said:
A) I can't already tell you're eating too little, and B) You're going to get VERY bored, VERY fast if you continue that diet.

What's your height, weight, age, and sex?
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Im 5"7, 186, 29, male.And i actually love my diet.I feel like im forceing myself to eat 1200+ calories.I dont feel bloated anymore, and my energy level is through the roof.

I really just want to know about how fast muscle can build.The reason im asking is because before i started my diet, i had this upper chest mass that would get rock hard if i would tighten up.But would be soft normally.Now that i have went back on a diet, and started exerciseing on a daily basis, that mass is rock hard even without tighening up.Im just wondering if this is dormant muscle, that is active again, and if so, is it possible for it to weigh more then when it was in a softer state?
 
It's mentioned a ton of times on here that you build muscle while in a caloric surplus. 1,200 calories is borderline starvation for most people. You feel good now but it's probably not going to last and you're going crash from it. Steve would be the guy you'd want to ask on here.
 
Your BMR is 1880, so call it 1.9k. Ideally you should be eating no less than 1,400, otherwise you'll be on the fast track to starvation mode.

And yeah, you have to eat in a caloric surplus to gain muscle mass.
 
LoveFool said:
It's mentioned a ton of times on here that you build muscle while in a caloric surplus. 1,200 calories is borderline starvation for most people. You feel good now but it's probably not going to last and you're going crash from it. Steve would be the guy you'd want to ask on here.
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Well then it sounds like i was in caloric surplus for 2 years, and went from 150-200.I guess i built some muscle along with 30 lb's of fat.ive lost 15 of it so far, so i guess i got 15 more to go.Hopefully Steve will chime in and help me figure out the best route to take.
 
Yea but during those 2 years that you gained actual fat, were you strength training and trying to build muscle? Or were you eating in a caloric surplus and not using it toward strength training?
 
LoveFool said:
Yea but during those 2 years that you gained actual fat, were you strength training and trying to build muscle? Or were you eating in a caloric surplus and not using it toward strength training?
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I wasnt doing any exercise what so ever.And the way i was eating im surprised i only gained 50lbs in those two years.
 
mahkeymike said:
I wasnt doing any exercise what so ever.And the way i was eating im surprised i only gained 50lbs in those two years.
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Exactly. You ate more but didn't do your strength training so you gained fat instead of building muscle. Everyone on here is going to tell you that you're not eating enough calories to build up your muscle. If you up your calories and add weight lifting, you're not going to get fat. Even if you see a small change on the scale. You're going to build your muscles back up.
 
I really need to be patient.I went up from 185 -186, but today i weighed in at 183 with 23% body fat.Im definitly lossing fat, and maybe gaining alittle muscle back.I just wish someone would tell me how much, or how fast muscle can build.

What kinda makes me mad is that nobody has brought up the fact that someone with 25% + body fat is less likely to put their body in starvation mode, then somebody with 15% body fat. Lets look at this realisticly, if you have excess fat, your body will burn that before your muscle.Its crazy to think otherwise, especially with exercise and slightly less calories then the body needs to function.
 
When I started strength training, I gained a little weight in the first 3 weeks (2lbs) on a caloric deficit. I was very very out of shape. Its possible to gain some muscle at first, but its not likely. Also it drops off sharply and you will continue to lose mass (you can minimize this by doing strength training and getting enough protein - powder or from food sources).

I believe that you can still gain strength. I was able to go up quickly in my deadlift and still progress in my squats and chin-ups/dips (i was losing weight though, so these last two I'm unsure how much I progressed). However, I started to really struggle on bench (just now progressed past 110, which I was stuck at for a while. I would go up and down, up and down. I think that had a lot to do with moving up too fast too. Same with overhead press. I don't know if that is typical, or just my arms are sissys.

Its more or less same rules as losing weight as it is for gaining. You don't want to gain more than 2lbs a week. Thats probably high too if you are looking to minimize fat gain (which anyone who was previously dieting will want to do.)

You need to work on one thign at a time. Diet first, then bulk.

Good luck.
 
jeffisbig said:
You need to work on one thign at a time. Diet first, then bulk.
Good luck.
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Im not trying to bulk.Im by nature, stocky.I want to slim down, but because of asthma, i was on steroids, since i was 4yrs old.I think i have alot of dormant muscle mass to tone up.Its probably whats causing me to gain a few pounds, but loose fat & water %.My belt doesnt even fit me anymore, im gonna have to buy a smaller belt, or poke new holes in this one.I fit about a 32 waist, going from a 36.Thats 4 sizes.Good thing i kept my 31's from 2yrs ago.
 
mahkeymike said:
What kinda makes me mad is that nobody has brought up the fact that someone with 25% + body fat is less likely to put their body in starvation mode, then somebody with 15% body fat. Lets look at this realisticly, if you have excess fat, your body will burn that before your muscle.Its crazy to think otherwise, especially with exercise and slightly less calories then the body needs to function.
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I think it's the other way around. It's one of those "that sucks" kind of things. I'm pretty sure that when you aren't getting enough to eat, your body will burn through a small amount of fat but mainly burn muscle instead.

Starvation mode is going to happen when you're eating below your daily calories for a long period of time. It will happen to anyone whether you're 200 or 100 pounds. It's just a matter of your body knowing it's not getting enough of what it needs to run efficiently everyday.
 
LoveFool said:
I think it's the other way around. It's one of those "that sucks" kind of things. I'm pretty sure that when you aren't getting enough to eat, your body will burn through a small amount of fat but mainly burn muscle instead.

Starvation mode is going to happen when you're eating below your daily calories for a long period of time. It will happen to anyone whether you're 200 or 100 pounds. It's just a matter of your body knowing it's not getting enough of what it needs to run efficiently everyday.
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What i dont understand is this.If muscle burns fat,and your excercising those muscles, regardless of how many calories you consume, those muscles should want to burn fat before other muscle.Especially if you have a good amount of fat your body doesnt need.I just dont understand the logic behind any of this, and if i am loosing muscle, im loosing 10 times as much fat.
 
mahkeymike said:
What i dont understand is this.If muscle burns fat,and your excercising those muscles, regardless of how many calories you consume, those muscles should want to burn fat before other muscle.Especially if you have a good amount of fat your body doesnt need.I just dont understand the logic behind any of this, and if i am loosing muscle, im loosing 10 times as much fat.
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Not really. Because if you're supposed to be in a caloric surplus to gain muscle, it isn't going to be "regardless of how many calories you consume". Your muscles need more calories to get bigger. I don't think there's a way around it.

Muscle burns more calories than fat. I think fat is about 12 calories per pound. I'm not sure about muscle. So if you lose muscle, you're not going to burn as much fat because fat burns calories a lot slower.

Nothing is how we ever want it with weight loss. Just because a body is holding a lot of fat it doesn't need, doesn't mean the body is going to burn it off just like that before going after the muscle first. I don't know the exacts on any of it. If Steve was still on the forum he'd be able to answer you exactly.
 
The body doesn't work with logic "in mind." It works with survival "in mind."

If it was really good at getting rid of fat and preserving muscle, we wouldn't be sitting here typing on our keyboards. We wouldn't have survived as a species.

You see, way back when food wasn't readily available, easily storing fat was a necessity. This was back when berries were a staple and saber tooth tigers roamed around, so we're talking more years than you can fathom.

But that's how evolution works.

A "man" would have to store fat easily so he could survive the months where food either died or ran for the equator. On the flip side, it didn't have to be good at building muscle b/c having muscle above a baseline, functional level isn't necessary.

To put it clearly, our bodies are good at gaining and staying fat.

Read this:

http://weight-loss.fitness.com/weight-loss-through-exercise/10566-misconceptions.html#post282037
 
Alright, well im not gonna argue about it.I will just assume, im not building any extra muscle.And maybe i am losing some muscle, but the fact remains, im loosing fat.And all the muscle i had under the fat is starting to show through.

But does muscle have only one density?What i mean is two people could both have same size arms, but ones muscles are harder then the others.That would mean muscle can have different densitys,and therefore weight more or less.

My analogy of this is comparing different cuts of meat.Some cuts are lean like sirloin, and is tougher to eat, other cuts like filet mignon are fatier and more tender. After all both cuts are considered a muscle on a cow.And my guess is those areas of the cow have different densitys.

Although ive never took a square inch of both cuts to see which weighs more.

So my point of the analogy is that if you have muscle on your body that you havent used in awhile, but havent lost it yet, it gets softer, and the physical weight changes.Then you start working those muscles again, and they get harder, changing its physical weight again.

I dunno thats my theory, take it with a grain of salt.
 
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