why doesn't exercise make my muscles bigger?

[tara]

I have a quick question I’m wondering if anyone knows. I’ve been exercising a lot since I started my diet. I have never exercised this much in my life. I started walking and then now I jog nearly every day. I also do sit ups and reps with a small set of dumb bells. What I’d like to know is why I never actually build any muscle on my arms, for example.

I would think that because I’m giving my muscles such a workout, they should be getting bigger or more defined or something like that. That isn’t the case. As far as I can tell, I’m losing weight but not gaining any muscle. Anyone know why?

[KraftyJo]

Muscles take a lot of calories to build and a certain balance of proteins, fats, and carbs to really promote growth. You may just be burning fat and you could be strengthening your muscles but maybe because you're on a weight loss program, you're not designing your diet around building.

[Penny]

Perhaps you're not pushing yourself hard enough. Or maybe you're not working the right muscles. You could be building muscles, just not the ones you think. You might want to talk to a trainer.

[jenny25]

If you need a certain number of calories every day in order to build muscle, is it therefore impossible to build muscle on a reduced calorie weight loss diet? If you're doing the right workout, wouldn't the body turn the energy from stored fat into muscle?

[ChristySmiles]

Have you tried thinking about using slightly heavier weights? Are you sure that you're doing exercises that are accessing the muscles that you think should be getting bigger? Are you really giving yourself enough time to actually grow them? Have you measured to make sure that you aren't just thinking that they're not growing but they actually are?

[tobetinytina]

It’s hard to build one and lose the other of fat and muscle. It’s easier to build both muscle and fat or lose muscle and fat than it is to send fat levels down while building muscle.

You need to make sure that you’re doing some specific muscle building exercising and eating the right foods. Balance your carbs, proteins, and good fats very well and avoid those bad fats like the plague.

[bigbobby]

That's really interesting. I'm really glad that I happened to come across this thread. Thanks so much, everybody. I was wondering why I never build any muscle throughout my exercising to lose weight. I'm losing weight pretty steadily but I've always been curious about how all the exercise that I've been doing has only been leading to fat loss and not to muscle gain since I've never worked out this much in my life, so I'd really have thought that it would have an impact.

Thanks guys!

[ChristySmiles]

Have you had any better luck, Tara? How are things coming along. I'm always curious to know if things pan out when they ask questions like this :)