is it possible

to gain 9 pounds of muscle in 5 weight training sessions? i recently began lifting weights again (at the ymca on the fitlinxx machines) and have noticed my weight go up 9 pounds in this amount of time. "flo" is already gone so i'm not retaining fluids and i'm not constipated and can't think of anything else to attribute it to.

if i'm gaining roughly 5 pounds a week by lifting weights and don't want to gain any more weight... should i just... stop lifting weights?? i'm so confused. i'm trying to tone my muscles and to get stronger but i still want to be little ~ just not "fragile". i want to actually be able to SEE the muscles that i have and to build more but that darn scale is effing my head up!! so again, did i really gain 9 pounds of MUSCLE in two weeks? is that even possible???

I would say that it probably isn't possible to gain 9 lbs in 5 sessions but I will say that if it is muscle that you are gaining, I wouldn't worry so much about what your weight is.  9 lbs of fat is an issue.  muscle isn't so much of an issue as muscle actually burns more calories at rest.  It could have something to do with the weight lifting though.  I wouldn't worry yet.

It is absolutely NOT possible to gain 9 pounds of muscle in 5 weight training sessions. It is difficult to gain that much muscle in 6 months or longer, much less 5 sessions.   

A couple of things here:

- By the loooks of your profile you have made some spectacular progress. Congrats and keep it up. Since you are at or below your goal weight it is going to be extremely important for you to focus on body composition instead of body weight alone. In other words, as you start resistance training you will gain muscle tissue in the coming months and this will lower your body fat percentage. This is a good thing! To measure body composition (lean tissue vs. fat tissue),  I would suggest using a good quality bioelectrical impedance analysis (BIA) scale. Just keep in mind that when estimating body fat percentage with BIA, it must be done at a consistent time of day and under consistent conditions. I generally suggest measuring in the morning, after using the restroom, before eating/drinking and get on the scale butt naked. This will ensure consistency. If you see your weight go up a few pounds but your body fat percentage decreases, this is again a good thing. I know it is difficult to kind of throw the NUMBER of pounds out the window but body composition is going to be more telling of your success.

- When first starting a weight training program, imflammation causes you to retain some water. This may equate to 3-5 pounds of additional body weight. This is temporary however so hang in there.

- Are your clothes still fitting the same and has the scale you are using been calibrated recently?

Hope this helps a little.

my clothes are a "bit" snugger actually and i think i've just figured out what the problem is. i've recently (about 3 weeks ago) been put on a medication to help prevent my migraines and i believe that it has changed my bmr. (the medication is elavil.)

so, even though i'm still eating the same things... my body wants to hold onto them rather than flushing them out like normal. well that stinks. i guess i'll just add my cardio back into the routine to balance out this medication. (i needed to do keep doing that anyway but was afraid of losing too much weight so i cut it out )

do you know of a good quality bia scale that you can recommend that someone of little means such as myself might be able to purchase? i currently use the tanita ultimate II and it gives a body fat% but there's no way that my body fat is actually 6%!!!

Generally Tanita scales are fairly accurate. Do you have your age, sex, height and activity level programed into the scale? Also, are you measuring under consistent conditions as mentioned above?

Anyway, Tanita does have some nice scales. I woul suggest any of those at the following link:

http://www.tanita.com/InnerscanScales.shtml

Keep in mind that while BIA scales are not 100% accurate, they are consistent as long as you are. They will provide you with accurate trends of changes in body composition. 

it didn't have an option for activity level but yes, i programmed all the other factors into it. and yeah, i always measure butt naked first thing in the morning after using the bathroom and before consuming anything. (i even take my jewelry off, lol! not that it makes a difference but i do it all the same )

it only shows my age (of course) and my height and body fat% and the bfp can range anywhere from 6-12% which is why i thought it to not be quite as accurate as it should be. (i can't imagine my fat percentage changing that much from day to day, lol!!) and when i did the inbody 250 at my surgeon's office a couple of months ago it showed my pbf as being 22.7% while on that same day (about 2 hours earlier but still without eating or drinking anything) my tanita showed 12% i believe so i'm not sure that i really trust it right now.

It sounds like you need one that has a few more settings. For instance, the ones found in most physician offices have several different algorithms that are used to calculate body fat % for a variety of lifestyles....if you are sedentary, somewhat active, regularly active, athlete, etc.... This is absolutely necessary for accurate meaurement.

The link to the scales i sent previously will all have this ability.

ya, thank you so much for that link! i was looking at them and the one at the top (with the most functionality ~ and also the most expensive, lols!) is the one i'm going to get i believe. gotta wait until payday next week to order it but it will answer most if not all of the questions i have about myself and what my workouts are doing for me. thank you!!

they also have another line of scales that is probably more expensive :) But maybe worth checking out.

http://www.tanita.com/IronManScales.shtml

oh wow, thanks!! i'll have to wait a little longer but that $300 one looks YUMMY!!!