Muscle Weight Gain??

So I'm getting pretty discouraged.  I've been working out 3-4 times a week, and I'd been pretty good at maintaining my weight at 174.  I've tried eating healthily (a well-balanced 1600 cals a day), but I tend to deviate on the weekends.  Let's just say, I havent been QUITE as vigilant with my diet as i have been with my fitness.

BUT, that being said I've been working out a lot and it's not like I go to burger king all the time (if anything, twice a month or so hah).   

 

Anywho, after working out 3-4 times a week for the last month and a half... I have noticed some more muslce definition, but my clothes still fit the same if not a bit tighter.  And the big kicker is I've gained two pounds.  Family members have told me I look thinner, but rarely do we ever believe others when it comes to our appearance, right? ;-)

 

I guess I'm just wondering what anyone else's experience with muscle gain has been and how you differentiate between that and the "bad" weight gain.

well for starters, don't go by the scale. My scale has, no joke, told me I weigh two pounds more, ten minutes after I just weighed myself. Measure yourself! And if you say you're seeing more muscle definition, well that requires some fat to be going away, so it stands to reason that your weight gain is due to muscle and not fat. And I wouldn't say never believe family members. My family can be pretty brutally honest . But seriously, two pounds is pretty insignificant. Just drink plenty of water and be a little more diligent with your diet (I know its sooo tough, believe me there are brownies in the kitchen tempting me as we speak). I'm sure it'll come off easily.

I agree. Don't go by the scale alone, look at your measurements. You say that your clothes fit a bit tighter...the question is where? I know when I gain muscle mass in certain areas for example my back and specifically my lats then my clothes don't fit properly. The same with shoulders and legs. However, in reverse, I notice that pants get a bit roomier in the waist, butt and hips as these areas tighten up with additional muscle (firmness) as the fat deposits become smaller.

I have a scale that measures weight, % of body fat, % of body water, muscle mass and bone mass. When I see a rise in weight, I look at these other numbers to see if they have also gone up and usually it is muscle and bone mass.

I'd rely more on your BMI not a scale.  People are so consumed with the numbers on a scale. It should be more about inches of fat lost.  Think about your diet more closely.  Burger King should NOT be in your diet, at all. Not even 2x's a mo.  Even if you have one 'cheat' day a week - and I recommend ONE not a whole weekend, try and make healthy choices.  Often people tend to reward themselves on their 'cheat days' with such high fat foods, large amount of calories, etc.  In my opinion, a cheat day should still be healthy choices but allowing yourself the small slice of cake, or one slice of pizza that you had been craving, etc.

Best of luck!!!! Keep up the hard work, it will pay off!

Original Post by fitnessgirll:

I'd rely more on your BMI not a scale. 

How does that work?  Your BMI is based on your weight which comes from the scale.  Besides, BMI can't tell the difference between fat weight and muscle weight.  I'd think it would make more sense to go by your measurements if you think you're likely to be building muscle.  The tape measure will let you know if you're really thinner than before.

Body fat calipers are tools used to measure body fat. They act as calculator that assesses the percentage of fat in a person's body.

There are a number of body calipers available in the market, with the Accu Measure digital caliper being the most popular. The brand offers models for both adults and children. Most physical fitness professionals are using this brand to measure their own and their clients' body fat.

Some P.T.'s do not recommend the use of calipers [I personally don't soley rely on them but use them as an adjunct] to measure fat since they deem it too prone to inaccuracy. Other alternatives [that we offer at our facility but may be more difficult to find in other gyms] when it comes to measuring fat in the body include body fat analyzers, that make use of a bioelectrical impedance technique, and hydrostatic weighing, where the person is submerged inside a tank of water for a bout of underwater weighing.

Calipers are affordable and you can use them in the privacy of your home. Either way, relying soley on a numeric scale is still not a very good indicator of FAT loss - only weight loss.

fitnessgirll, yes, it's all true, but BMI= Body Mass Index and it has absolulety nothing to do with fat and skinfolds. BMI = mass in kg / height in m squared, like in 55/(1.62*1.62) = 21, which means that a 120 lb 5'4'' person has a BMI of 21.

You use the wrong term.

Yes. I. Did. So goes replying quickly using a sidekick! I had too many things going on in my head. It's why I corrected myself with the next post! ;)