Girls that lift heavy!

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  • pzarnosky
    pzarnosky Posts: 256 Member
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    What do you take for supplements?
  • bostonwolf
    bostonwolf Posts: 3,038 Member
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    How many calories do you eat a day?

    Im 5'2, 135 pounds and I eat 1697, is this too much or too little? I train 5-6 times a week. I want to get my free squat up to 215 but im stuck at 185.

    I haven't been training for definition lately, more strength.

    Check out this page. At your age, weight and exercise frequency it says your maintenance calorie intake would be 2021.
    http://iifym.com/tdee-calculator/

    Play around with it a bit. It's been accurate for me but I did have to adjust a wee bit. I'm also trying to lose weight so I eat a deficet to the TDEE number.

    traditionally if you are looking to add muscle, you need to be eating MORE than your TDEE

  • vfit10
    vfit10 Posts: 228 Member
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    Got to love them ladies who lift heavy!!:)
  • saruuhm
    saruuhm Posts: 71 Member
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    Thanks everyone for the insight!!
  • saruuhm
    saruuhm Posts: 71 Member
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    pzarnosky wrote: »
    What do you take for supplements?

    Currently just whey protein post workout, and occasionally pre workout depending on how im feeling!

    Than just my multi and fish oils daily
  • lngrunert
    lngrunert Posts: 204 Member
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    I'm almost exactly the same height, weight and workout frequency as you and I eat 1800-2000 calories a day to maintain.
  • KickinIt23
    KickinIt23 Posts: 24 Member
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    lngrunert wrote: »
    I'm almost exactly the same height, weight and workout frequency as you and I eat 1800-2000 calories a day to maintain.

    I am about the same, glad I am not the only one.
  • upgradeddiddy
    upgradeddiddy Posts: 281 Member
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    How many calories do you eat a day?

    Im 5'2, 135 pounds and I eat 1697, is this too much or too little? I train 5-6 times a week. I want to get my free squat up to 215 but im stuck at 185.

    I haven't been training for definition lately, more strength.

    Personally I think you should probably eatting more...within reason. Based on your height And weight (dunno your age and I'm not gonna ask, my momma taught me better than that) you calorie need is about 1567 per day, not including the roughly 150-200 calories you are burning weightlifting and no telling how much you are burning with cardio so first off you should be eatting a tad bit more. Along with that, macronutrients come king for your fitness goals. Since you want to maintain, your goal should be 45 % of your calories should be coming from carbs, 35% from protein and 20 % from fat. Use your MFP to set that up and start tracking. Hope this helps.
  • saruuhm
    saruuhm Posts: 71 Member
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    How many calories do you eat a day?

    Im 5'2, 135 pounds and I eat 1697, is this too much or too little? I train 5-6 times a week. I want to get my free squat up to 215 but im stuck at 185.

    I haven't been training for definition lately, more strength.

    Personally I think you should probably eatting more...within reason. Based on your height And weight (dunno your age and I'm not gonna ask, my momma taught me better than that) you calorie need is about 1567 per day, not including the roughly 150-200 calories you are burning weightlifting and no telling how much you are burning with cardio so first off you should be eatting a tad bit more. Along with that, macronutrients come king for your fitness goals. Since you want to maintain, your goal should be 45 % of your calories should be coming from carbs, 35% from protein and 20 % from fat. Use your MFP to set that up and start tracking. Hope this helps.

    Thank you! And im 20!

    I think currently it's set to 40% carbs, 35% protein and 25% fat
    I think that leaves my protein intake to 148g which im not sure if I should be having more and 170g of carbs. Maybe I'll try to increase my calories to 1800 than increase my protein and fat but still leave my carb at 170?
  • neilmonaco
    neilmonaco Posts: 13 Member
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    Look under Cardio for weight lifting. They do log calories burned there for weight training. Not sure how accurate it is but better than nothing I think.
    Keep lifting!
    nm
  • tanyaL0L
    tanyaL0L Posts: 23 Member
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    Hi there,

    I recommend 5/3/1 by Jim Wendler. Best program imho, works great for power and strength. If you try a 40p/40c/20f macro split that will help keep lean mass and feed your muscle for your heavy training days and to promote lmm and fat burn.

    Good luck with your progress I know how hard and exciting it can be, I hit 200# squat last week and this plan helped me get here!
  • BrentJulius
    BrentJulius Posts: 89 Member
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    Your macros and calories look perfect to me for your goals/size! I would stick with that and see how your results go for about a month before adjusting.
  • _madshope
    _madshope Posts: 7 Member
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    It's super helpful to calculate your TDEE, which is your BMR + your activity level. That should be your bare minimum, especially if you're wanting to gain some muscle + get stronger. Most, if not all, say to increase your calorie intake by 500-1000 to gain muscle. For example, I am 5'10, + I consume 70g F/ 270g C/ 180g P. I do 1g of protein per pound of bodyweight. I could honestly add 50-100g of carbs and still lean out + gain muscle, but I like to gradually increase it to see how it affects my body personally because everyone is different. + I have steadily inclined on my weight lifting. Food is fuel, and super important in getting stronger. I hope this helped
  • Fujiberry
    Fujiberry Posts: 400 Member
    edited March 2015
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    So you're training for strength, but looking to lose a few pounds, right? Honestly, it's tough to keep your strength while on a cut, and it's usually even harder to increase your lifts. My advice is to eat at maintenance of very slightly below or above so you'll have energy for your lifts. Depends on your energy.

    It could also be that you need to work on your form and set up for squats. Get DEEP. Your hip crease should be below your knees when you squat, as this recruits more of your posterior I chain and will increase their strength.

    Work on your weak points. Are you weakest coming out of the hole? Then work on pause squats. Do you sometimes 'good morning' the weight up? Work on syncing your hips with your chest. Work on breathing properly (big gulp of air, then hold it) and this will definitely add some pounds to your lift. Looking at a powerlifting program will also help.
  • iorahkwano
    iorahkwano Posts: 709 Member
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    5'7", 135lbs, I aim for 120-140g protein and anywhere between 2000-2200 calories. I'm trying to gain lean muscle. I maintain on about 1500-1700 though.

    I lift 4x a week doing Wendler's 5/3/1 major lifts plus some isolation exercises 4 sets of 8 reps.
  • kateabusse
    kateabusse Posts: 13 Member
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    pzarnosky wrote: »
    You can accomplish all of your goals, but probably not at once. You lose fat when you don't intake enough cals for your body to sustain its daily functions. You build muscle when you exercise them and have excess calories (and other stuff) to cause protein synthesis. This is the basic idea of the bulking/cutting phase. The bulking phase is when you see the most results in how much weight you can move. Lifting while cutting is about maintaining your gains and losing the fat around them to see your gains. That said, you absolutely can still gain strength on a deficit, but it will be slower.
    I'm in a cutting phase now and have my macros at 40% protein, and 30 for carbs and fat. I'd drop the carbs lower but I'm training for a 25K and lift 4-5 days a week.

    I like the way you explained this! I have been struggling lately with gaining lean muscle mass, and have also been trying to burn body fat. I used to be 10.8% BF (when I did spin classes 4x a week) and after becoming an RN and working nights I weighed in at 18.7%BF. I want it back down, but my focus has been on the powerlifting. I am working with a trainer and adding in some crossfit-style workouts a few days a week and also some moderate cardio after my lifting sessions. I have been tweaking everything a lot, and really hope it starts working soon! I also have been adding in a lot of new supplements, so hoping for great results! Would still like some advice though!
  • ILiftHeavyAcrylics
    ILiftHeavyAcrylics Posts: 27,732 Member
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    Mine is a little different because I use Fitbit. I have a base of 1600 and then Fitbit adds calories throughout the day from daily activity, plus I add the exercise calories from lifting. So on lifting days I end up around 1900-2000 calories and on rest days I could be anywhere from 1600 to 1900.

    I'm 5'4" 123ish lbs.
  • margojr4
    margojr4 Posts: 259 Member
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    I'm 5'8", 150lb and 20% bf, avg 2000 calories daily. I'm maintaining at 50/25/25 - Its all about dem macros! lol Carbs to feed the muscles, protein to repair the muscles and fat to transport it all. You mentioned carb cycling, for many (like myself) it works wonders. Instead of bulk/cut cycles, the past few years I've used carb cycling to see results. Higher carb days for lifting followed by high protein days to repair.

    I lift 3x week, vinyasa yoga 2x and a few HiiT sessions for cardio in between.

    Like another poster mentioned, if you don't see results in a month or so, change it up. Trial and error (and a lot of patience!) lol

    Good luck! *flexes* :wink:
  • pzarnosky
    pzarnosky Posts: 256 Member
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    kateabusse wrote: »
    pzarnosky wrote: »
    You can accomplish all of your goals, but probably not at once. You lose fat when you don't intake enough cals for your body to sustain its daily functions. You build muscle when you exercise them and have excess calories (and other stuff) to cause protein synthesis. This is the basic idea of the bulking/cutting phase. The bulking phase is when you see the most results in how much weight you can move. Lifting while cutting is about maintaining your gains and losing the fat around them to see your gains. That said, you absolutely can still gain strength on a deficit, but it will be slower.
    I'm in a cutting phase now and have my macros at 40% protein, and 30 for carbs and fat. I'd drop the carbs lower but I'm training for a 25K and lift 4-5 days a week.

    I like the way you explained this! I have been struggling lately with gaining lean muscle mass, and have also been trying to burn body fat. I used to be 10.8% BF (when I did spin classes 4x a week) and after becoming an RN and working nights I weighed in at 18.7%BF. I want it back down, but my focus has been on the powerlifting. I am working with a trainer and adding in some crossfit-style workouts a few days a week and also some moderate cardio after my lifting sessions. I have been tweaking everything a lot, and really hope it starts working soon! I also have been adding in a lot of new supplements, so hoping for great results! Would still like some advice though!

    What are you taking for supplements? It really is about tweaking things and finding what your body responds to. I think what's hardest for me is accepting that it's a gradual process to become fit, not skinny. That desire for instant results and big number drops on the scale isn't going to happen when you're building muscle as you lose fat. Using body fat % is a great technique, I'm glad you use it! Feel free to add me :smiley:
  • kateabusse
    kateabusse Posts: 13 Member
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    pzarnosky wrote: »
    kateabusse wrote: »
    pzarnosky wrote: »
    What are you taking for supplements? It really is about tweaking things and finding what your body responds to. I think what's hardest for me is accepting that it's a gradual process to become fit, not skinny. That desire for instant results and big number drops on the scale isn't going to happen when you're building muscle as you lose fat. Using body fat % is a great technique, I'm glad you use it! Feel free to add me :smiley:

    I am taking a variety of supplements including: omegas, DHEA, creatine, whey protein with BCAAS, pre-workout, and some other general vitamins. I am getting used to reminding myself that it is a gradual process. I was skinny fat when I was the 10.8% so I guess thats not my goal necessarily. I just want to define what I have gained since then as I have been weight lifting much more since then, not doing spin 4x a week, but just a few days of short moderate cardio. It is a process, but we'll get there! Some days are harder to stay confident.