Training & Nutrition - Muscle Growth

Ok guys I have a question about how long it takes to gain muscle mass. Over the past couple weeks I have noticed a slight weight increase in myself. Over that same period I started a new job that is somewhat labor intensive (my upper body muscles are sore the day after I work). So my question is, could I see a weight gain of say about 2 - 2.5 pounds over such a short period of time? Or is the weight gain due to other factors? I always watch what I eat and rarely if ever go above 1800 calories a day. So I don't think I'm gaining "fat" but I guess I'd never know if some of things I've been eating are causing me to store more fat. Thanks in advnace for your responses!

Ok guys I have a question about how long it takes to gain muscle mass. Over the past couple weeks I have noticed a slight weight increase in myself. Over that same period I started a new job that is somewhat labor intensive (my upper body muscles are sore the day after I work). So my question is, could I see a weight gain of say about 2 - 2.5 pounds over such a short period of time? Or is the weight gain due to other factors? I always watch what I eat and rarely if ever go above 1800 calories a day. So I don't think I'm gaining "fat" but I guess I'd never know if some of things I've been eating are causing me to store more fat. Thanks in advnace for your responses!

Speaking from my own experience, over the course of 2 1/2 months I gained 7lbs in muscle down in college. I think it's possible that you gained that much so quickly

Some questions though: have you ever worked out before? and if you did, did you gain muscle mass that quickly? What time of day are you weighing yourself? Your most true weight will be in the morning, or at least at the same time of day everytime you weigh yourself. Otherwise, you might have just eaten something heavy like a jumbo strawberry or a brick or something.

In general, you'll gain both fat and muscle if you have a caloric excess and you work out. You will lose both fat and muscle if you have a caloric deficiency (more fat than muscle if you eat enough protein and work out). In rare cases you can gain muscle and lose fat at the same time, generally if you start a workout program and are quite unfit to begin with.

Two pounds is within the realm of water weight fluctuations. If you want to know how your body composition is really changing, I suggest a body fat measurement.

My experience as a female-bodied person probably isn't typical for a male-bodied person, but in a year of working out, lifting weights moderately heavy, etc. I have gained about 1-3 lbs. of lean mass. But I think that men doing bulking routines can gain a couple of pounds a month, most of it lean.

well I had been at my lowest weight in a long while because of restrictions on my diet because of gallbladder problems. I was at 145.5 with probably 15% body fat. I'm 5'8. Over the past couple weeks I've "shot up" to 149.5. I hadn't worked out in a while either because of the gallbladder issues. I can't do a body fat comparison because I don't really know what it was before I gained the weight back. I was at a steady 147 after the surgery to remove the gallbladder so I know this weight gain wasn't a response to a new diet. I'm also pretty sure I didn't have a 7000 calorie surplus in the past couple weeks. Like I said, I rarely if ever go above 1800 calories a day. It may also have something to do with my stomach.....and those kind of issues ;) Sometimes I get backed up but 2 pounds worth seemed like a little much.

I think what you are experiencing is what's called "beginner gains." Its not uncommon for someone starting a new work out program to make a lot of gains in the first 6 weeks, espically if your genericly gifted.

Enjoy it, after that it gets harder and harder to make gains as time goes by.

Bill

I think what you are experiencing is what's called "beginner gains." Its not uncommon for someone starting a new work out program to make a lot of gains in the first 6 weeks, espically if your genericly gifted.

Enjoy it, after that it gets harder and harder to make gains as time goes by.

Bill
ok, that makes sense. I hadn't anticipated having such good "workouts" at my new job. I man a brick oven at a local (to Texas) place called EZ's. Well, the prepping for the day uses a lot of upper body strength including pressing dough balls into flat dough so we can make our pizza. Too bad our pizza isn't low fat :lol:

ok, that makes sense. I hadn't anticipated having such good "workouts" at my new job. I man a brick oven at a local (to Texas) place called EZ's. Well, the prepping for the day uses a lot of upper body strength including pressing dough balls into flat dough so we can make our pizza. Too bad our pizza isn't low fat :lol:

If you just started working at EZ's... I think I know why you're gaining weight. ;) Even if you're confident that you are only consuming 1800 cals per day (keeping a food journal is the ONLY way to know for sure). Altering your macronutrient profile can easily cause changes in your body composition. Even if your caloric intake remains equal. It is definitely plausible that an untrained male could gain 1 lb per week of lean mass during an new workout regimen. Most men can expect LBM gains in the range of 10 lbs per year.

If you just started working at EZ's... I think I know why you're gaining weight. ;) Even if you're confident that you are only consuming 1800 cals per day (keeping a food journal is the ONLY way to know for sure). Altering your macronutrient profile can easily cause changes in your body composition. Even if your caloric intake remains equal. It is definitely plausible that an untrained male could gain 1 lb per week of lean mass during an new workout regimen. Most men can expect LBM gains in the range of 10 lbs per year.
well I've actually never eaten there. My diet has remained the same since my surgery.

well I've actually never eaten there. My diet has remained the same since my surgery.

I would say that your new job would cause you to lose weight. Look at the build up of people that have labour intesive jobs. Roofers, landscapers, etc. They are actually quite lithe in their build. For you to gain muscle mass, you would have to be doing this job for more than a month (that's how long it takes for the neural adaptations to take place that allow muscle gain), and you would have to be taking in more calories than you were previously taking in. You can't make muscle out of nothing, and 1800 calories a day won't put muscle on you. I would say that the weight gain is attributed to drinking more water.

I would say that your new job would cause you to lose weight. Look at the build up of people that have labour intesive jobs. Roofers, landscapers, etc. They are actually quite lithe in their build. For you to gain muscle mass, you would have to be doing this job for more than a month (that's how long it takes for the neural adaptations to take place that allow muscle gain), and you would have to be taking in more calories than you were previously taking in. You can't make muscle out of nothing, and 1800 calories a day won't put muscle on you. I would say that the weight gain is attributed to drinking more water.
that's what I was thinking. That it takes a few weeks if not a month or more to see weight gain in the form of muscle. Also, like you said I would need to be takingin more calories to build muscle but I haven't really upped my caloric intake. So it's either water weight (quite a bit isn't it?) or the other thing I won't go into ;)