so they say muscle weighs more than fat...

P

persnikitty

New member
ive been exercising now for 2 weeks. the first week i was only walking about 30 minutes. the 2nd week i started using 5 lb weights and still walking for 30 minutes. ive got my routine to now 30 minutes weight lifting and 30 minutes walking.

last week i weighed myself as 218. this week as 220. ive cut out soda from my diet, and have been eating under 1,500 calories a day.

so anyways, they say muscle weighs more than fat, but really, how much muscle can a person gain in only 1 week, say of just doing my kind of routine? maybe its just me, or my scale, hell i dont know, i could just be freaking out right now... lol. but i highly doubt i gained 2 lbs in muscle.

mainly what i want to know is how much muscle can one gain in a week or two of regular exercise?
 
First of all what "they say" is wrong. Muscle does NOT weigh more than fat. Muscle is denser than fat, so a pound of muscle takes up less space than a pound of fat.

Next, you cannot gain muscle doing the exercises you're doing while eating at a calorie deficit. It's simply impossible. 5 lb weights are not going to give you any muscle gain. In order to gain muscle you will have to lift REAL weights - heavy weights - properly (i.e. in sets of reps where you approach failure near the end of your sets).

A woman who is lifting weights properly, who is lifting HARD, who is lifting on a regular schedule (3x a week or so) and who is eating the proper diet to gain muscle (which means MORE calories and at least 1.25g of protein per pound of body weight) can gain 1-1.5 lbs of muscle per week during the first year of training. That's generally considered to be the maximum - assuming the woman doing the training is busting her ass to gain muscle.

What happens with most people who start exercising and don't pay attention to their food is that they start eating more to compensate for the exercise they're doing. Unless you're watching what you eat and paying attention to your calories and nutrients, then exercise isn't going to cause you to lose weight.

I suspect what's happening to you is that you're retaining a little water from starting a new exercise program (which happens to everyone - fluid builds up in the muscles when you first change things up) and you're eating more to make up for the extra exertion.

Start with your diet - and I mean "diet" in the holistic sense of "what you eat" not as in "going on a". How many calories are you eating? What kind of nutrients are you getting? Are you eating enough protein? Are you eating healthy fats? Are you getting complex carbs and whole grains? Are you snacking on things you shouldn't be unconsciously after working out?

Start there. And I'd also suggest you read the thread titled "The Conceptual Side of Weight LIfting" that's stickied in the exercise area of the board. That'll give you a lot of information on the proper way to lift weights. :)
 
KaraCooks said:
Start with your diet - and I mean "diet" in the holistic sense of "what you eat" not as in "going on a". How many calories are you eating? What kind of nutrients are you getting? Are you eating enough protein? Are you eating healthy fats? Are you getting complex carbs and whole grains? Are you snacking on things you shouldn't be unconsciously after working out?

Start there. And I'd also suggest you read the thread titled "The Conceptual Side of Weight LIfting" that's stickied in the exercise area of the board. That'll give you a lot of information on the proper way to lift weights. :)
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well like ive said ive cut soda out. i am a meat eater. i have stopped frying my foods. i only eat when i get hungry, because i do not like doing the 6 meals a day thing. i try to get some fruits and vegetables in my diet which i should do more of (working on that lol) sometimes eat around 1,700 calories, some days can be less depending on what i eat. i dont stave myself. im not much of a snacker because when i eat i like to eat meals rather than just a granola bar for example.

but i havnt gone very far into this thing yet, i just didnt expect the scale to say 2 pounds gained ><
 
A woman who is lifting weights properly, who is lifting HARD, who is lifting on a regular schedule (3x a week or so) and who is eating the proper diet to gain muscle (which means MORE calories and at least 1.25g of protein per pound of body weight) can gain 1-1.5 lbs of muscle per week during the first year of training. That's generally considered to be the maximum - assuming the woman doing the training is busting her ass to gain muscle.
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I agree, to build muscle you REALLY have tp bust your ass at the gym - I weight lift 3-4x times per week and I have a very INTENSE workout - I lift to muscle failure and do drop sets. I'm only eating between 1200-1700 calories per day but I'm consuming 90-150 grams of protein and I KNOW I've built up a couple pounds of muscle since I started on Jan 9.

Walking is a GREAT way to lose weight though! Keep it up - but if you want muscle mass - start hitting the heavy weights.

Ignor what the scale says for a while - just base it on how your clothes fit - my scale goes up and down alot - but my clothes are looser and I'm wearing a pair of jeans right that last months would have cut off circulation.
 
I can fluctuate as much as 5 lbs in a day due to water weight. Your body also tends to retain a little extra water right after a workout. So it could just be water.

It wouldn't hurt to log your food intake at something like fitday.com and check your nutrition - not just calories, but protein etc. 1500 calories is awfully low for your weight, and you might do better with more calories and better nutrition. Of course, knowing exactly what you eat helps a lot to determine that :D
 
so denser, as in cubic inch per cubic inch, muscle weighs more than fat, right? Now that I can understand.

That would certainly explain how some people are losing inches but maintaining or increasing their weight in instances.
 
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