Why am I gaining muscle?

That’s how exercising works. Eventually you’ll lost the fat. Try exercises specifically designed to burn fat, and a diet.

Note that muscle is more dense than fat, so you will probably flatline for a while before beginning much of a weight descent.

Keep it up!

The more muscle mass you have, the more energy your metabolism requires and thus make you burn more fat, and at the same time store less energy in the form of fat. Sure you’ll add a few pounds at first because muscle mass is heavier, but it will let you loose much more pounds of fat in the long run.

Yeah I know right, 4 thumbs down for gaining muscle.

I think I’m missing something. Why is muscle bad?

@bobbinhood Just what I was wondering. Society these days…

@bobbinhood The problem here is that he isn’t losing weight, just gaining muscle mass. When you’re trying to lose weight, you’re probably doing so because you’re consuming more food than your body needs. Which means at first, when you start exercising, you’re just amping your body up to consume all that extra energy that was previously being stored as fat. Initially, this leads to an increase in muscle mass rather than a loss in fat.

Don’t knock it. The more muscle the better.

When I started my new, physically demanding job (imagine working out 8 hours a day), the gut I gained during my unemployment disappeared quickly but it was another two weeks or so before the bathroom scale registered the two inches I lost around my waist. There is nothing wrong with gaining a little muscle, especially when that muscle may well keep you from collecting fat in the future.

The problem here is that people especially women look at the numbers on the scale and freak out when they see any number over 100 and/or can’t fit into a size 0 “doll clothes”.

Personally, I consider any woman that you can’t nibble on without chipping a tooth on their skeleton to be more disgusting than a girl who wears a size 26, especially since toothpicks like that are often too busy fussing about their weight to really care about anyone other than themselves.

Just keep eating right and exercising, and take solace in the fact that you will be free of the physical and mental issues that many skinny people have. Malnutrition and neurosis are bigger turn-offs than a few extra pounds, especially if those extra pounds are well-toned muscle.

@noyesa Fair enough. I suppose I’ve just never tried to separate the two. When I think of losing weight, I think of losing fat rather than actually considering the overall body weight. I suppose if the goal was a particular weight rather than simply being healthy, muscle would be undesirable. Since muscle is actually a good thing, I was confused that she was distraught over gaining it. I think @jerv had the right idea – she’s probably just looking at the number on the scale rather than the overall condition of her body. (I’m not assuming she’s female; I actually looked at some of her other questions, one of which confirms this.)

@bobbinhood My first hint was when I looked at the OP’s profile and the third line started with, “I’m a girl…”.
Last I checked, girls were female…. unless you’re picking up hookers in Thailand.

@jerv Way to make it so much easier than it had to be. :P