Weight Gain from BJJ?

[alexinc]

I started BJJ 6 months ago. One of the reasons I started was to get back to my college shape (5'9" and currently about 15-16% body fat, was trying to get to 9-10%). I train 4-5 times a week consistently. Everyone I talked to told me the fat would melt away in a few months and I would get lean pretty quickly, since I only have 10-15 lbs to give.

I started at 162 lbs thinking I would get down to 155 within 6 months. I have GAINED weight at 166. What's the deal? I definitely have gotten visibly stronger but I doubt I have gained 4 lbs of muscle. All the guys at my academy that aren't heavyweights all have a slim build, even the guys that are over 55 years old. Maybe bjj doesn't affect everyone the same, but I'm a little dumbfounded at the weight gain.

 

[Chucknate]

I started BJJ 6 months ago. One of the reasons I started was to get back to my college shape (5'9" and currently about 15-16% body fat, was trying to get to 9-10%). I train 4-5 times a week consistently. Everyone I talked to told me the fat would melt away in a few months and I would get lean pretty quickly, since I only have 10-15 lbs to give.

I started at 162 lbs thinking I would get down to 155 within 6 months. I have GAINED weight at 166. What's the deal? I definitely have gotten visibly stronger but I doubt I have gained 4 lbs of muscle. All the guys at my academy that aren't heavyweights all have a slim build, even the guys that are over 55 years old. Maybe bjj doesn't affect everyone the same, but I'm a little dumbfounded at the weight gain.

You're eating too much

 

[rwmma]

That is weird....a big part is also your diet. You probably put on some muscle so I wouldn't use your weight as a benchmark and more how you feel

 

[bradlabo]

I lost almost 30 pounds when I started BJJ but in the last year or so I have gained weight back in muscle mass (about 5lbs). So if you were already somewhat lean it is not hard to believe that you just put on muscle.

 

[Fargone11]

I would guess diet as well. I'm slender and when I started BJJ anything I had to lose melted away.

 

[Juden]

Did you train something else before you started? When I started I put on some fat because the techniquetraining replaced half of my regular lifting and running sessions. Now when there is more rolling I feel like it's better for lsing weight but it still not the same as training hard with running and weights just for fitness. And it definitely is nowhere close to the cross country skiing I used to do. Seriously, try it if you get the chance, it's pure and sweet pain.

 

[neomage2021]

I started BJJ 6 months ago. One of the reasons I started was to get back to my college shape (5'9" and currently about 15-16% body fat, was trying to get to 9-10%). I train 4-5 times a week consistently. Everyone I talked to told me the fat would melt away in a few months and I would get lean pretty quickly, since I only have 10-15 lbs to give.

I started at 162 lbs thinking I would get down to 155 within 6 months. I have GAINED weight at 166. What's the deal? I definitely have gotten visibly stronger but I doubt I have gained 4 lbs of muscle. All the guys at my academy that aren't heavyweights all have a slim build, even the guys that are over 55 years old. Maybe bjj doesn't affect everyone the same, but I'm a little dumbfounded at the weight gain.

That's not how the laws of thermodynamics work. Flat out you are eating too much. YOu cant gain muscle mass or fat without excess calories plain and simple

 

[PabloMEX]

Change up your meal plan if you want to lose, but it is entirely possible you bulked up a bit from working out. What kind of bf do you have now at 166lbs?

 

[Abninfamy]

You could have put on some muscle mass. I know over about a 2 week period, I stayed at 226 pounds, but I lost 2-3 inches off my waistline.

Once I started counting calories I watched it melt off though. I eat 1500-2000 calories daily, train 3-4 times a week and cardio 1-2 times a week. I've been losing 2.5 pounds every week for the past 12 weeks

Oh, if you're really interested in weight loss, make sure you're pushing yourself during your rolls. If all you're doing is "flow rolling" or going really light, you're not going to see the caloric expendature like you would if you're breaking balls for 20 minutes straight.

 

[Makhno]

That is strange. I'm guessing it has to be diet related, but even then, it seems like you would have had to really increase your caloric intake to put on weight while training that much. When i'm training (not able to presently) I find I have to eat tons just to maintain my weight. And i'm sure you've seen Jagcorps' photos.

 

[ShadowNINku]

I tend to put on weight from training sometimes due to being hungrier and needing the extra calories to recover and repair all the damage done. I eat well and am pretty lean when I'm not training at about 200 lbs with 1-2 days of really heavy weight training per week.

 

[Livenlearn]

I tend to put on weight from training sometimes due to being hungrier and needing the extra calories to recover and repair all the damage done. I eat well and am pretty lean when I'm not training at about 200 lbs with 1-2 days of really heavy weight training per week.

qft

You were probably just on the heavier side of your healthy weight range to start with. As such, your body didn't feel any imperative to shed significant weight.

Don't stress the gain. Assuming your body at this point feels fully acclimated to the stress you've been putting on it and has beefed up/reinforced enough to handle it, observe your food intake for a couple of weeks. More likely than not, it is higher than you think- just a little bit extra every meal. Trim it down a little, and the weight loss will come.

 

[Makhno]

qft

You were probably just on the heavier side of your healthy weight range to start with. As such, your body didn't feel any imperative to shed significant weight.

This makes sense to me. When i first started training, my weight stayed around 145 for about the first four months. I had to adjust my diet to make 140 the first time I competed, then i just kept getting lighter without trying. I ended up around 130, but since i've been away from the mats, i'm probably close to 140 again.

 

[knees_n_elbows]

ive gained 8 pounds of muscle this year and lost the little body fat that i did have.

 

[Jagcorps_esq]

Diet is the biggest part of losing weight.

That being said, you may be hydrating a lot now, whereas before, you were much less hydrated.

So, you may have lost fat, gained some muscle and may be carrying more water.

 

[Dogstarman]

Honestly, you seem really skinny and light for your height. Putting on a little weight doesn't sound like a bad thing in your situation.

 

[greedysob]

I started BJJ 6 months ago. One of the reasons I started was to get back to my college shape (5'9" and currently about 15-16% body fat, was trying to get to 9-10%). I train 4-5 times a week consistently. Everyone I talked to told me the fat would melt away in a few months and I would get lean pretty quickly, since I only have 10-15 lbs to give.

I started at 162 lbs thinking I would get down to 155 within 6 months. I have GAINED weight at 166. What's the deal? I definitely have gotten visibly stronger but I doubt I have gained 4 lbs of muscle. All the guys at my academy that aren't heavyweights all have a slim build, even the guys that are over 55 years old. Maybe bjj doesn't affect everyone the same, but I'm a little dumbfounded at the weight gain.

All of the stories of fat "melting" away are usually from people who had more to lose to begin with. It's much easier to drop from +20% body fat to 15 then it is to get from 15 to 12%. And then to get to single digits, that's even harder.

I dropped fast when I got back into training last year, but after the first 25 lbs things started to slow down. I've had to start watching my diet to make progress.

Btw, gaining 4 lbs of muscle in 6 months is not that far fetched.

 

[rms13]

Have you actually checked body fat before or after? Scale weight doesn't mean much. You can still be leaning out and gaining muscle. How do you look in the mirror?

 

[eembach]

Are you training hard? Or just focusing on technique?

 

[alexinc]

I haven't done a body fat test, just going by approximates. When I was in school I would get tested enough to know where I stood. Gauging from the mirror, I'd still place myself around 15% +/-.

My arms, chest, and forearms have noticeably gotten larger. That's where maybe a slight boost of muscle mass has come in but my stomach and waist line is about the same (32/33). My gf doesn't like muscle mass, so she's the one that pointed it out that they have gotten "out of control". Not that I'm big, I'm definitely not, I'm definitely one of the smaller guys in the academy, she's just exaggerating. She just keeps saying that the mass has noticeably increased but my stomach has stayed the same. I agree with what she's saying and I'm trying to figure out what I'm doing wrong, though I think it's the diet.

Aside from a pinched nerve that took me out of rolling for a few weeks, I've doing all aspects of the class - warm up, technique, and 30-60 min of rolling. I'm sweating and my cardio has increased quite a bit since I started. I'm starting to think maybe it is the food. I'm definitely eating more than before, but I didn't exercise at all before! I thought at a half a year I would've lost a few inches in the waist and get back to 29/30.

I mean it's probably my diet, but I figured I could have maintained the same diet and still lost fat since I didn't exercise at all for years prior. I do have an appetite, but I eat fairly cleanly. Banana or apples in the morning, brown rice and fish or chicken for lunch, pasta or fried rice or etc for dinner usually. No soda, no coffee, no sweets, only water. Obviously I know pasta is not the best food, but I just eat what I can cook at home, I guess I'm not trying to eat TOO cleanly if you get what I mean, more realistic sort of diet.