Broad question - what occurs more quickly, muscle gain, or fat loss?

Alextown · 10-21-2005, 11:36 AM

Yes, very broad, infinite varibles...but a curiosity nevertheless. Maybe unanswerable, if so let me know, and I'll punish myself with Romanian Split Squats...

kaply · 10-21-2005, 11:39 AM

Which would you rather do, eat or starve? [img]smile.gif[/img]

Well, not quite so literally. Some people have a problem putting down food, some people have a problem with eating less. Of course this isn't taking into account the person's current build.

Buk · 10-21-2005, 11:45 AM

A 240 pound man with 38% body fat could loose 20 pounds of fat faster than he could gain 20 pounds of muscle - most of the time.

A 200 pounder with 10% body fat could gain 10 pounds of muscle faster than loosing 10 pounds of fat - maybe.

RipStone · 10-21-2005, 12:53 PM

Way too many variables. I'll use myself for an example. I'm 5'8", hovering just under 160lbs and 10-12% bf. If I starved myself for a week I can gauruntee I would lose over 7lbs(in fact I lost 5lbs in 2 days when I had the stomach flu about 4 months ago). If I ate a ridiculous amount of calories, like 1500-2000 cals over maintence, I would probabaly gain 2-3lbs a week, but maybe 30% of that would be muscle.

I guess IMO fat loss/gain comes a lot easier then muscle gain. Afterall, most people are either fat or skinny.

Alextown · 10-21-2005, 01:30 PM

yeah, I thought that's what I would hear. I had to pose the question though, it was nagging at me.

Here's my story - I'm 41, 5'11", 204 lbs. Figured out what my calorie intake should be three weeks ago, and started consuming 500 under that daily. Had my rest week, but have since started RR&D v2.0, and, do cardio 3 times a week (30 mintues on a treadmill, walk/run).

I was 206.5 three weeks ago, only lost 2.5 lbs so far. But, my pants do fit better - thank god - so I know I'm losing fat. I just couldn't get my hands around which was happening to a greater degree - muscle gain or fat loss.

Blackjack · 10-21-2005, 01:37 PM

Gaining lean muscle mass, in my humble opinion, is much more difficult that losing excess weight. But it's much more fun. You get to eat mass quantities and pick up massive iron. I'm sure it depends on the person though.

wtflestoppoules · 10-21-2005, 01:53 PM

2.5pounds in three weeks is a pretty good rate of fat loss. If you think about it, in a year, you will have lost approx. 45 pounds! Even better, in that 2.5pound loss you have, you might have gained lean body mass, which means that even more fat loss could have occured!

Marykaa · 10-22-2005, 01:26 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Buk: (EXERT)

A 200 pounder with 10% body fat could gain 10 pounds of muscle faster than loosing 10 pounds of fat - maybe.

Specially if he is a Mesomorph.. but I wonder.. do you think it's the same if he is an Ectomorph or an Endomorph..?

bipennate · 10-22-2005, 11:55 PM

If you are a newbie, especially with a decent amount of weight to lose, then the weight will come off first. Muscular hypertrophy will take ~6-8 weeks to begin developing. Before that, increases in strength are due primarily to neuromuscular adaptation.