I have noticed this subject of “muscle gain ” coming up a lot more frequently lately. Whether its people just showing me their muscles or having clients blaming their weight gain on their “muscle mass”. I’m here to set the record straight.
I hate to break it to you but you can not gain 10 pounds of muscle in 1 month. Sorry folks. For an average person you will truly notice differences in your muscle strength and growth after about 2 months. That is 8 weeks. Now it is true that some people gain muscle quicker than others. Some even notice a difference after 2 weeks, but this is not typical for most. You might psychological see changes and feel better, and that is great but as for actually results, probably not. Our genetics play a huge role in how quickly we lose weight, gain muscle, where we carry our weight, etc. I come from a very tall, very lean family. My brother’s are both 6’4 and maybe 175lbs, they can both eat anything and everything and never gain weight, I have to work a little differently for that but I’m also a girl, but for the most part Wilburn’s are just tall and lean. We just don’t gain a great deal of muscle mass even while trying. So take a look back at your family and you’ll be able to piece it together a little better.
For bariatric patients muscle gain can be very tricky. Most of the time people are just wanting to lose weight and feel healthier. These are amazing goals and you should feel very proud of yourself for achieving them. Now I do have a few patients that want to come in and get really serious about gaining muscle mass. The truth is, it takes a LOT of work and dedication for someone to gain a significant amount of muscle mass. You have to be very dedicated to a serious strength training routine as well as diet.