This is a question that comes up often—especially once clients start adding exercise into their routine.
The short answer is: yes, it’s possible—but not likely in a meaningful way.
Building muscle requires energy. Your body needs enough fuel not only to support your workouts, but also to repair and grow muscle tissue afterward. In a calorie deficit, your body is doing the opposite—it’s pulling from stored energy (fat) to meet its needs. Because of that, muscle gain becomes much slower and more limited.
What exercise does very well during this time is help preserve the muscle you already have. This is incredibly valuable, because maintaining muscle helps support your metabolism, strength, and overall body composition.
Where confusion often comes in is with the scale.
It’s very common to start working out and then see the scale slow down or stall. A lot of people assume this means they’re gaining muscle and losing fat at the same time. While that sounds encouraging, it’s usually not what’s happening.
- Water retention from new exercise: When you introduce or increase workouts, your muscles hold onto more water as part of the recovery process. This is temporary, but it can mask fat loss on the scale.
- Small inconsistencies with food: Extra bites, small portions, or “off-plan” moments can easily add up, especially when they happen regularly.
- Normal body fluctuations: Weight loss is not perfectly linear. Your body will adjust, pause, and then continue.
None of this means exercise isn’t working—it absolutely is. It’s improving your strength, helping you maintain muscle, and supporting long-term results. But it’s important to understand its role.
Exercise enhances your results. It doesn’t replace consistency with your nutrition.
If your goal is fat loss, the biggest driver will always be staying consistent with your plan. The workouts are a powerful addition—but they aren’t the main reason the scale moves.
So keep exercising. It’s one of the best things you can do for your body.
Just don’t rely on muscle gain as the explanation if progress on the scale slows down. Stay consistent, trust the process, and give your body time to respond.