Possible to gain 2 lbs muscle per week?

[mac520]

I have been tracking my weight since the start of this semester.

1/12 I weighed 161.5
1/29 I weighed 166.5

That comes out to about 2.05 lbs/ week.

Is it possible that that is all muscle or is most of it just fat?

I just got frustrated last semester when I got stuck at 160 forever and couldn't gain a pound. So I upped my calories from 3500 to 4000. It seems like that 500/day difference is making me add 2lbs/week instead of the 1 I had aimed for.

Should I cut back to 3500? or stay at 4000?

It's hard to tell whether I'm gaining fat or muscle since it's such a short period of time to judge.

[SeaHawk22]

I didnt read past the title, but it is highly unlikely even chemically..


I am not going to give you any ideas but the first time I did something many years ago I gained 20 pounds in 12 weeks but it was not all muscle.

[rivet0r]

I have been tracking my weight since the start of this semester.

1/12 I weighed 161.5
1/29 I weighed 166.5

That comes out to about 2.05 lbs/ week.

Is it possible that that is all muscle or is most of it just fat?

I just got frustrated last semester when I got stuck at 160 forever and couldn't gain a pound. So I upped my calories from 3500 to 4000. It seems like that 500/day difference is making me add 2lbs/week instead of the 1 I had aimed for.

Should I cut back to 3500? or stay at 4000?

It's hard to tell whether I'm gaining fat or muscle since it's such a short period of time to judge.

Give it another week, if it wasn't water then the scale will show. If you bump up another good amount, I suggest dropping the calories.

[Ryan314]

Almost entirely impossible to gain 2 pounds of pure lean muscle per week, let alone 1 pound of pure lean muscle. Some of it will be fat. The amount depends on your calorie intake and how clean your diet is.

[mac520]

I just don't know what the middle ground is! Apparently 3500 maintains my body weight and 4000 causes me to gain 2 lbs/week. There's something wrong with the laws of thermodynamics. That, or I'm miscounting.

[anonymous]

[mac520]

You're assuming that all other variable are constant. Maybe adding 500 calories per day causes your body to feel overloaded and it starts to slow down the metabolism? Maybe you're not averaging over a long enough period of time? Water intake? Did you fail math?

Why not aim for 3750 per day?

Hah, I've probably taken more math than 99% of the people on this forum. I realize that it was probably a bad assumption, but I was merely frustrated and trying to vent and exaggerate my point.

Under a more sophisticated statistical analysis I got a gain of 0.2252 lb/day or 1.58 lb/week. I suppose I need more days to get a more reliable number. For example, if I assumed that an additional 1 lb day was due to additional water weight (I drank an unusual lot of water beforehand), my gain drops down to 1.35 lb/week.

Do most people weigh themselves naked in the morning or weigh themselves when they go to the gym? Because I find my weight fluctuates a lot during the day and it's preventing me from getting accurate values for my weight. I know in the long run it will average out, but if that long run means 1 month+, it could be too late and I could have already gained an extra 10 lbs of fat.

Edit: Decided to reduce the cups of oats I eat a day from 2 to 1. This cuts 300 calories, mostly from carbs, which I was a little heavy in.

[kobrien21]

with injections probably

[anonymous]

[Phosphate bond]

I just don't know what the middle ground is! Apparently 3500 maintains my body weight and 4000 causes me to gain 2 lbs/week. There's something wrong with the laws of thermodynamics. That, or I'm miscounting.

There is nothing wrong with the laws of thermodynamics Not all forms of bodyweight contain 3500 calories per pound (muscle ~600-750 calories lb).

That being said it could very well be you were slightly undereating and increasing calories 500/day merely resulted in a water shift from the more complete glycogen storage.

[dinger8]

i beleive it is possible but rare and not per week but maybe in one week
i dont check my body fat often but i think that about a third or more of weight gained will be fat

[mac520]

There is nothing wrong with the laws of thermodynamics Not all forms of bodyweight contain 3500 calories per pound (muscle ~600-750 calories lb).

That being said it could very well be you were slightly undereating and increasing calories 500/day merely resulted in a water shift from the more complete glycogen storage.

Hang on. If muscle is only worth 750 calories per lb, then why do people eat 500 above maintenance? Why not just 110 calories above maintenance? That would produce 1 lb of muscle per week.

Can you explain more about what glycogen storage is? I have never understood it.

[Phosphate bond]

Can you explain more about what glycogen storage is? I have never understood it.

Glycogen is mostly water. Every additional gram of glucose you store (4 calories per gram) needs three additional grams of water.

[Vietgoboi]

I just don't know what the middle ground is! Apparently 3500 maintains my body weight and 4000 causes me to gain 2 lbs/week. There's something wrong with the laws of thermodynamics. That, or I'm miscounting.

experiment with 4000 calories a day for next 2 week, afterward lower or add depending on your result. (Experimenting is key)

[Phosphate bond]

Hang on. If muscle is only worth 750 calories per lb, then why do people eat 500 above maintenance?

Well more than likely they really aren't eating 500 calories over.

You have to consider some of that extra energy is being used for increased gym performance and Increased T4 to T3 thyroid conversion (ie, thermogenesis)

So even if the scale moves up 1 lb per week not all that weight is fat.

[hooked4life]

Hah, I've probably taken more math than 99% of the people on this forum.

Age: 19

- stfu.

that is all.

[Blindead]

So what if he's 19? You really think bodybuilding.com has a large math major population? Seriously?

[xBODOMx]

So what if he's 19? You really think bodybuilding.com has a large math major population? Seriously?

No, but it has a large engineering population from what I've seen.

ANYWAY, no, it isn't possible in my opinion. At least some of it will be fat. Measure your body fat every two weeks under the same circumstances and then calculate it out.

[callmegumby]

Gonna be a math fight on a bodybuilding forum? Nice...

You can calculate your water weight gain with this simple formula...

(-1^(n-1) * x^(2n-1))/(2n-1)!