Muscle vs Fat?

[Superfly64]

Hiya, I'm pretty new to all this and have been training properly with weights, a personal trainer and upping my protein intake for 3 wks. I'm also following weight watchers. Although I know I need to watch what I'm eating, WW keeps me on track and I find counting points easier. Before I started the weights, just doing the diet I was loosing 1-3 lbs a wk. I'm aware that muscle is denser than fat but I can't help but notice my scales are the same and have been for the past 2 wks. I am looking more trim....I know the muscle is replacing the fat but how many lbs of muscle should I be gaining a wk?? Does anyone have a rough idea? Also how long will it be before the scales start to go down?? Is it just slow to start with? Thank you!

[kjake55]

You won't/can't gain lbs of muscle in a week. Oh God, if only! There would be a lot of very happy women around here if it were only so, myself included!

If the scale is not going down then you are 1) overeating 2) retaining water, 3) overeating or 4) overeating.

It's just that simple really. You are bound to lose more in the 1st couple of weeks due to water loss after that to stay healthy you should lose roughly 1-2lbs per week. I did WW for a long time and I was very successful with it so if its working for you stick with it. Others here will likely tell you to dump the program asap but do what works for you and you alone.

Make sure you are eating correctly, working out hard (you didn't mention what your workout is) and tracking everything and you will see changes, you just have to be patient. Good luck reaching your goals!

[oregonchick76]

Under ideal conditions, women can only gain about 1lb of muscle per month (eating right, enough protein, enough calories, lifting enough, etc). Except in newbie phase, one can generally not gain muscle and lose fat at the same time - but you're a newbie so you can capitalize on that. If you are staying the same weight, you probably are carrying more water and/or not eating in a deficit so not losing as much fat as you had expected.

Personally I would aim to lose maybe .25 lbs per week and lift heavy.

[thepowerwithin]

Weight loss is not linear and it's not that unusual to go 2 weeks without seeing a change on the scale. I am not familiar with WW and points, but I would find it difficult to know if I was indeed in deficit without calculating calories. Also, you are not too far from an ideal weight, at which times fat loss slows down quite a bit.

[ptnetwork]

Muscle only weighs about 20% times more than fat. But, muscle retains water many times more than fat. Depending on the time you measure yourself each day, your weight can vary by a pound or two. I've measured myself before and after a workout and saw a difference of a pound (due to sweat loss alone). I used this during a weight lost competition which graded me on losing each time I stepped on the scale. If I wasn't eating as good that week, I would weight myself after my workout. I lost 1 to 2 pounds a week for 10 straight weeks and won the competition. This goes to illustrate that it's not about losing each week, it's about getting on a steady and slow goal. Losing weight fast is just starvation and you'll train your body to store fat to protect itself against diets.

Muscle also looks fantastic. I weigh 15 lbs more than I did 10 years ago but I look 100% better. Don't worry about your weight. Focus on your shape. Build your core. Get rid of flabby arms and sagging gluts. Weight is meaningless unless you're only interested in winning a pull-up contest. I used ipersonaltrainer.net and their iphone app. Worked great for me and changed my life forever.

[Echo814]

Muscle only weighs about 20% times more than fat. But, muscle retains water many times more than fat. Depending on the time you measure yourself each day, your weight can vary by a pound or two. I've measured myself before and after a workout and saw a difference of a pound (due to sweat loss alone). I used this during a weight lost competition which graded me on losing each time I stepped on the scale. If I wasn't eating as good that week, I would weight myself after my workout. I lost 1 to 2 pounds a week for 10 straight weeks and won the competition. This goes to illustrate that it's not about losing each week, it's about getting on a steady and slow goal. Losing weight fast is just starvation and you'll train your body to store fat to protect itself against diets.

Muscle also looks fantastic. I weigh 15 lbs more than I did 10 years ago but I look 100% better. Don't worry about your weight. Focus on your shape. Build your core. Get rid of flabby arms and sagging gluts. Weight is meaningless unless you're only interested in winning a pull-up contest. I used ipersonaltrainer.net and their iphone app. Worked great for me and changed my life forever.

Umm, how does muscle weigh 20% more than fat? A lb is a lb regardless of what it is, simple math. Muscle takes up less space than fat since it is denser.

[gwnorth]

Umm, how does muscle weigh 20% more than fat? A lb is a lb regardless of what it is, simple math. Muscle takes up less space than fat since it is denser.

Muscle weighs more by volume vs fat.

[Echo814]

Muscle weighs more by volume vs fat.

I agree if you take the same volume, or 3 dimensional space, the muscle would obviously weigh more, but how other posted wrote it sounded like the incorrect "muscle weighs more than fat" to me.

[kingjacoby585]

Muscle LIKE

[Superfly64]

Thank you everyone for your advice. Although I have been watching what I eat quite well I think im really going to keep an eye on things. I have noticed im looking trimmer and need to get the psychological scales out of my head ....I say that....Ive actually dropped 2 lbs since I posted this.....fingers crossed things are on the move now!! : ) x