so I was thinking the other day, if you are gaining more muscle than fat, wouldn’t you expect the scale to go up more each week than if you were just gaining fat?
since one pound of fat is 3500 cals and one pound of muscle is like 750 (?), then if you are gaining mostly muscle, it would make sense for the scale to go up more each week than if you were gaining pure fat?
I gained 1.5 pounds this week and my strength went up like crazy. I am thinking most of it must have been muscle, but didnt think it was possible to gain that much in a week.
like GetSwole said, Pounds of fat = pounds of muscle on the scale. However, as far as volume is concerned, 1 lb of fat is much greater than 1 lb of muscle
Volume wise think about a pound of beef verses a pound of whipped butter. So muscle weights more than fat the same way lead weights more than glass.
You don’t suddenly gain a pound of muscle. That 24 ounces of muscle you think you gained is probably water, food, and maybe a little bit of muscle. The new muscle tissue that’s caused you to make these new jumps in strength has probably accumulated over a couple of weeks. Today just happens to be the day that you both gained weight and made some PRs.
But I know if I look on the scale and see I’m as heavy as I’ve ever been, then I feel like I’m ready to hit some PRs.
Unless you have DEXA data to back it up or skinfolds taken by an experience tester with all other conditions are the same, you don’t really know.
Just because muscle has around 750 kcal per pound doesn’t mean it only takes that much to gain a pound of muscle, otherwise every obese person would be giving Cutler a run for his money. The 750 kcal is what can be extracted if the muscle needs to break itself down during exercise for fuel.
The actual process of new muscle being built - rather more new muscle being built than broken down as it is an equilibrium process with breakdown and growth occurring simultaneously - will likely take more than 750 kcal per pound as it takes energy to build that muscle on top of what it contains when broken down.
Sometimes the increases in the turnover due to exercise are quite great and a large amount of calories (and protein) is required just to get recovery and back to where you were before the workout in terms of muscle mass.
The most likely way to get growth with minimal caloric intake increases is to eat as well as possible as you will be able to alter the nutrient partitioning through careful food selection. This is especially true of those who handle carbohydrates poorly.
As for the strength and weight gain, it could have been due to water. Just having more water in your muscles increases the leverage. If you are skinny, then you are likely able to gain up to 3-4 pounds of muscle a week with optimal training, nutrition, and supplementation. I am assuming recovery has been optimized and stress minimized.
[quote]Peter Orban wrote:
Unless you have DEXA data to back it up or skinfolds taken by an experience tester with all other conditions are the same, you don’t really know.
Just because muscle has around 750 kcal per pound doesn’t mean it only takes that much to gain a pound of muscle, otherwise every obese person would be giving Cutler a run for his money. The 750 kcal is what can be extracted if the muscle needs to break itself down during exercise for fuel.
The actual process of new muscle being built - rather more new muscle being built than broken down as it is an equilibrium process with breakdown and growth occurring simultaneously - will likely take more than 750 kcal per pound as it takes energy to build that muscle on top of what it contains when broken down.
Sometimes the increases in the turnover due to exercise are quite great and a large amount of calories (and protein) is required just to get recovery and back to where you were before the workout in terms of muscle mass.
The most likely way to get growth with minimal caloric intake increases is to eat as well as possible as you will be able to alter the nutrient partitioning through careful food selection. This is especially true of those who handle carbohydrates poorly.
As for the strength and weight gain, it could have been due to water. Just having more water in your muscles increases the leverage. If you are skinny, then you are likely able to gain up to 3-4 pounds of muscle a week with optimal training, nutrition, and supplementation. I am assuming recovery has been optimized and stress minimized.[/quote]
very interesting stuff fellas. thank you! didnt realize it was such a complicated process.
One should focus on the paragraph in its entirety, not just the 3-4 pounds part. The context was someone who is far from genetic potential and makes major changes to training, lifestyle, and diet to remove any obstacles for growth.
It also does not assume growth will occur at that rate for a long time. Over time the rate will slow even if the intake is increased to compensate for increased muscle mass.
I am certainly not making that claim for those who are already in excellent shape. In such cases ‘growth’ is usually due to supercompensation, not just nutrient stores, but also during times of recovery after over-reaching.
It takes roughly 2000-2500 kcals to build a lb of muscle.
1.5lbs isn’t much, could easily be explained by fluid fluctuation’s, stomach contents, etc, or it could be a gain of 1.5 lbs of lean mass in a week, there really is no way to tell. The big thing this that you are getting bigger and stronger.