a little weight gain?

[Mair]

I have been using FitBit about a week-10 days.  I was active before, but now I am really paying attention to increases steps or being sure to get to the gym.  I move whenever possible.

I've noticed I'm hungrier than usual.  I respond to my body and eat when I'm hungry.  I've been snacking at night as well, as I'm finding I feel hunger pangs.

I eat very good, healthy food (vegetables, fruits...always), but I've been snacking on "whole wheat multi grain" type crackers with hummus, and I notice have the crackers have a lot of salt.

I have shown a 3 lb weight gain on the scale.  My goal has not been to lose weight, but rather, to gain muscle mass.

Have I gained muscle mass with the leg presses and all the increased steps (even up hill) I've been doing, or is it water being maintained due to the salt, OR am I now beginning to eat more than I should because all the exercise is making me hungrier?

I never touch junk food.  I cook all my own meals, I eat low fat.  I'm a little puzzled.

[Heybales]

More of your kind of exercise is asking for more glucose to be stored, which stores with water.

Your body is doing that, weight goes up since water has no calories, it's not part of the equation for loss or gain from diet.

Could also be sore from last workout, and a good lifting workout will require repair, which means retained water in the muscle for that effort.

Only valid weigh-in day to minimize those things:

Morning after rest day eating normal sodium levels, not sore from last workout.

Also, you'd need to be eating in surplus and have a full body progressive overload routine and be male for the right hormones to even hope to put on 1 lb of muscle a month, along with 2-4 lbs of fat.

So no - you didn't gain muscle that fast.

[whome]

Better take a look at the nutritional info on those "whole wheat multi grain" type crackers - there is nothing about that sort of cracker that doesn't make it high fat and high calories - I just cracked open a box of that sort and their "serving size" is TWO crackers - I mean really, one broken into package with things going stale now and I am expected to only eat TWO of the crackers - 

Good luck to us all

Craig

[KristenAnne]

I never trust the scale... See if you can't find a place that will do a free BMI test. You can also do this by taking your own measurements. The extra salt in the crackers could just make your body hold on to water. I really enjoy veggies with hummus and I get the crunch that I would from chips or crackers.

I would just try to pick a new type of chip with lower sodium. Look up ways to make your own veggie chips! It's easy and this way you control the ingredients.

[Heybales]

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@KristenAnne wrote:

I never trust the scale... See if you can't find a place that will do a free BMI test. You can also do this by taking your own measurements. 

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Since BMI is merely needing height and weight, indeed do it yourself, and it's on Fitbit stats already, your Profile page.

But not sure how that's helpful, because BMI wasn't meant for individual use either despite its misuse by government and companies.

[KristenAnne]

Your BMI can be for individual use. It's all about measurements... Just look at size and not weight.

[Dominique]

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@Heybales wrote:

Also, you'd need to be eating in surplus and have a full body progressive overload routine and be male for the right hormones to even hope to put on 1 lb of muscle a month, along with 2-4 lbs of fat.

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Are you saying a male bulking up would typically gain twice to four times as much fat as muscle mass?

[Naomi94]

Hi Mair,

I think it is unlikely you gained 3 pounds in 10 days. If it were a real weight gain, then that means you consumed well over 10,000 additional calories in 10 days. 

The most likely culprit to your gain is sodium. Sodium causes the body to retain water, water retention shows a false weight gain. To find out, compare your current weight to your weight yesterday. More than half a pound gained since yesterday is probably water weight, and you can reduce it by cutting down on salt and increasing plain water consumption.

It is normal to be hungrier than usual when increasing physical exercise. The best way to know what is really happening is to log your food every day. There are a few calorie counting programs online that will help you determine your BMR, and how many calories you should be eating every day. Below I linked two calculators from the same website. One will help figure out how many calories to eat everyday, and since you are a weight lifter, the other will help you figure out how much protein to eat. 

http://www.freedieting.com/tools/calorie_calculator.htm

http://www.freedieting.com/tools/nutrient_calculator.htm

I hope you found this helpful. I also recommend weighing yourself once a week. That way the water-sodium phenomena will not effect you as much. 

Good Luck

[Heybales]

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@Dominique wrote:

Are you saying a male bulking up would typically gain twice to four times as much fat as muscle mass?

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Studies have shown that rate - if your are trying to gain 1 lb of muscle in a month. I was specific to that time frame.

Back off the surplus though and allow it to take 6-8 weeks and it'll be less fat gain.

Here is easy calculator based on one such study.

http://scoobysworkshop.com/muscle-gain-calculator/

Now usually this guy has more references to studies in his comments, and I have seen this figure as about the max gain for under 2 yrs of training (so still considered newbie) with great program and diet, and the fat that goes along with it, which he fails to mention here.

http://stronglifts.com/how-much-muscle-can-you-gain-in-1-month-naturally/

And then the fullest advice, with more on everything to get the potential max out of the gain, while gaining same amount of fat.

http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/muscle-gain/muscle-gain-mistakes.html

[Dominique]

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@Heybales wrote:

Studies have shown that rate - if your are trying to gain 1 lb of muscle in a month. I was specific to that time frame.

Back off the surplus though and allow it to take 6-8 weeks and it'll be less fat gain.

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Thanks, @Heybales! The links you provided were highly appreciated.

The reason I was asking is I'd like to gain muscle while losing fat. I understand you can't do both at the same time, so I'd like to know what would be the best approach: bulking to gain muscle mass first, trying to minimize fat gain, or cutting fat first, trying to minimize lean mass loss. I'm rather skinny right now (current BMI: about 21), but my body fat % (16-17%) is higher than I'd like it to be (my aim would be something like 10-12%). I'm over 50, which I guess plays a role to some extent.

You wrote in your profile: "Cardio season with triathlon and marathon training, and lifting season to bulk back up what cardio usually takes off."

Do you alternate between cardio and lifting twice a year, or more often? What is your ratio of cardio and lifting during each season?

[Heybales]

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@Dominique wrote:

Thanks, @Heybales! The links you provided were highly appreciated.

The reason I was asking is I'd like to gain muscle while losing fat. I understand you can't do both at the same time, so I'd like to know what would be the best approach: bulking to gain muscle mass first, trying to minimize fat gain, or cutting fat first, trying to minimize lean mass loss. I'm rather skinny right now (current BMI: about 21), but my body fat % (16-17%) is higher than I'd like it to be (my aim would be something like 10-12%). I'm over 50, which I guess plays a role to some extent.

You wrote in your profile: "Cardio season with triathlon and marathon training, and lifting season to bulk back up what cardio usually takes off."

Do you alternate between cardio and lifting twice a year, or more often? What is your ratio of cardio and lifting during each season?

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I usually do a December maintenance or bulk month with lifting focus. Last marathon end of Nov, no run until Feb usually.

So pretty heavy cardio tilted. This year though I've spent 6 weeks doing a bulk again. Achilles injury, last bit of time at gym, ect - might as well bulk. Increased weight on bar 30 lbs of lower and 15 on upper.

Lifting now if really starting out, or starting out again, while having some extra fat stores, is best opportunity to perhaps actually gain muscle while not eating in surplus. But eating at maintenance would be better than deficit.

You get the next to best recovery and improvements (surplus being best) you'll get from exercise eating at maintenance, along with good rest and enough protein and smart program.

At some point, the Fitbit estimate of burn calories will be under-estimated, because you'll have more LBM to FM than your calculated BMR would indicate, and you'll notice weight dropping even as eating level stays the same.

At that point can decide if indeed time to halt progress in lifting and just cut the weight and fat and take a reasonable deficit, or stay at slow pace, or eat more if body comp is closer to where you want it.

But if weight is really about right, and only BF% is higher than desired, go for what you can at maintenance. When improvements on the bar stop, indicating body wants to grow more to lift more, probably time to bulk 5 lbs with surplus, then cut 3-4 later. It is faster than maintenance style recomp changes.