Ok I answered on another post about lean muscle growth causing a gain in weight and thought it was important to post my last comment in a new topic.

The first thing I want to say is that if you are still in your initial loosing phase you more than likely would not see a gain in weight from an increase in muscle mass. More than likely you are going to have a high bodyfat percentage and yes new muscle growth is going to help you burn fat but until the percentage of bodyfat drops significantly you should still see a decline in weight. Now some even when they reach what their goal weight is may still have a high enough bodyfat percentage that they may not see a difference on the scale one way or the other. When you get to this point stop looking at the scale for a while for progress. Look instead at measurments and clothing fit.

Using me as an example I will try and explain. When I was doing my double centuries in 2006 I weighed between 180-185 and had a bodyfat percnentage of around 16-19%. At my lowest weight 168 before I started riding my body fat was around 22% so what happened? I gained around 14 lbs but dropped 3-6% bodyfat. What this says is that more than likely while loosing the initial 175 lbs I lost muscle and fat which is normal but as I increased my exercise and training for the endurance rides the lean muscle gains basicly removed a lot of the remaining fat and repalced it. I gained 12lbs and still was able to wear the same clothes. For a lot of people it is hard to find someone to do bodyfat measurements properly but if you can,try and get it done. If you cant clothing is an alternitive way but not totaly reliable.

Now I was at 168 lbs in October of 2002 but didnt start my intense training until January of 2006 it wasnt until I met up with my Sports Nutritionist that all this started making sense. She was the one who guided me in the right direction and probably had more to do with my survivng the Double Centuries than anyone else.

So what do I watch more the scale or bodyfat percentage? Watch them both as each can show a trend. Obviously if the scale is going up and you have not been exercising guess what you are just gaining weight. If you are loosing weight but your bodyfat is stagnant you are loosing muscle mass. If you are gaining weight and losing size/lower bodyfat then lean muscle is being added and this is what we all strive for. What or where your numbers should be depends on what you want to do with your body. I am not a professional cyclist and have to live a normal life but I am still trying to find the right ratio and did struggle last year and am now in the process of repairing the damage done.

I will try and answer any questions that might arise and hope this will help some of you.

I know that muscle burns calories and fat doesn't. Thats about the extent of my knowledge and I am trying to gain a few pounds since my BMI is getting close to 19 now. So I will just keep reading and try to learn something. Thanks Damon!

Damon, you always manage to put things in terms that anyone can understand. I always look forward to your detailed explainations because it makes things clear in my mind. Thanks for this post.

Gina, the picture of Samantha is darling!

Thanks for this post, Damon! I've been treadmilling daily and haven't seen much weight loss
since but clothes are fitting better. My got is less puffy... Is there anything in the literature
about best ways to target that awful visceral fat? Is one type of exercise best???
I'll take my answer on the air!

treadmilling at 90% target heart rate for 20-30 mins per day.

Mickee,

From what I can see there is no one exercise to remove visceral fat and from what I understand because of where some of it is located it may not all be able to be safely removed. It appears that the removal of subcontaneous fat assist in the removal of visceral fat and from the studies I was able to look at cardio exercise was the recommended activity. So you are on the right track but whether or not you will rid yourself of it all I dont know.

Damon, thank you for starting this thread. It is quite informative.

Thanks Damon... where would I be without all you folks walking the walk, riding the ride and stepping the step
out there in Neighborhood-land?! (answer is.... more isolated... less informed and lacking the motivation to carry on
the good fight!) THANKS BUNCHES!