Female trying to gain muscle

freak4iron

gymrat04mf wrote: »

I'm a 19 year old girl trying to build about 7-10 lbs of muscle and also lose just a couple lbs of fat at most. Currently I'm 115 lbs, 18% BF. My goal is to be about 120 lbs with a slightly lower BF percentage (14-16%). Since May I've been working out 5 days a week. I do a lot of weight training and also work a lot on my abs. Recently I've also implemented cardio into my workout routine at 3x a week, after my weight training on those days. I use weights every time I work out. This app tells me I should eat about 2200 calories and 114 grams of protein a day to gain weight (0.5 lbs/week, although I think that's pretty fast), but I have a lot of trouble getting to that amount. I can't even ever make it past 1700 calories in a day, and the most protein I've gotten in one day is around 110 grams but usually it's more like 75. I know I should probably start eating more than 3 meals in a day like I usually do, but it's very difficult with my schedule. I also don't want to gain fat if I can help it. I know it's pretty much an inevitable consequence of gaining muscle, but I'd like to keep my fat gain as low as possible. I want to be more toned and strong, and have it show.

What can I do to reach my goals?

First off you have got a really impressive body and I'm also happy to see you want to take the muscle further! Most girls are all " I wanna be so thin you can see my bones" awesome work girl! It can be tough for me to gain weight, seems like I gotta eat more and train harder then the guy next to me at the same weight.

Its tough for me to get the calories in completely through solid foods so whey has been a life saver for me. I kinda cheat and make high calorie protein shakes a couple times a day. I blend coffee, whey, eggs, peanut butter, coconut oil, and milk. It's easy to get 1000 calories into one shake and they are SO easy to get down. Sometimes I wish it were realistic to just live off them, but mixing it up is important.

Nuts are also awesome for getting protein and healthy fats in ya. I eat 1-3 ounces a day, three hand fully and you probably ate close to 750 calories, at least with my hand.


As far as training goes I wouldn't do more then 20-30 mins of cardio a day, and lift heavy! I underestimated how important lifting heavy really was. I was lifting weight in the 10-12rep range and it took me FOREVER to get stronger. I think I was just doing plates for like 6 months straight before I said something's gotta give. Don't get me wrong it was helping me to look shredded but strength and mass went going up. Then I started lifting in the 3-5 rep range using a spotter and really putting the umph for those last one or two reps....and what do you window in a week I was able to push that same weight for one or two more reps. Once I hit 8 I'd up the weight again.....this helped me gain mass and my weight was going up fast!

I'm sending you a friend request cause I'm honestly really interested seeing you gain those 5-7 pounds, I think you will look fantastic

Btw how did you get your reading 18% b/f? I got mine taking recently by my wrestling coach and he put me at 14% and I think you have more definition then me.

freak4iron

gymrat04mf wrote: »

Thanks guys, I'm going to stick with my recomp plan. But my only question about doing recomp is calorie cycling. For my goals, should I be eating at a slight surplus on training days and at maintenance on rest days? Or maintenance on all days, or what?

If it were me I would eat at a slight surplus all together and do some cardio a few times a week to help combat gaining fat at the same time....that's just me though, you can always cut afterwards too or adjust along way if you're seeing too much fat gain.

gymrat04mf

freak4iron wrote: »

gymrat04mf wrote: »

I'm a 19 year old girl trying to build about 7-10 lbs of muscle and also lose just a couple lbs of fat at most. Currently I'm 115 lbs, 18% BF. My goal is to be about 120 lbs with a slightly lower BF percentage (14-16%). Since May I've been working out 5 days a week. I do a lot of weight training and also work a lot on my abs. Recently I've also implemented cardio into my workout routine at 3x a week, after my weight training on those days. I use weights every time I work out. This app tells me I should eat about 2200 calories and 114 grams of protein a day to gain weight (0.5 lbs/week, although I think that's pretty fast), but I have a lot of trouble getting to that amount. I can't even ever make it past 1700 calories in a day, and the most protein I've gotten in one day is around 110 grams but usually it's more like 75. I know I should probably start eating more than 3 meals in a day like I usually do, but it's very difficult with my schedule. I also don't want to gain fat if I can help it. I know it's pretty much an inevitable consequence of gaining muscle, but I'd like to keep my fat gain as low as possible. I want to be more toned and strong, and have it show.

What can I do to reach my goals?

First off you have got a really impressive body and I'm also happy to see you want to take the muscle further! Most girls are all " I wanna be so thin you can see my bones" awesome work girl! It can be tough for me to gain weight, seems like I gotta eat more and train harder then the guy next to me at the same weight.

Its tough for me to get the calories in completely through solid foods so whey has been a life saver for me. I kinda cheat and make high calorie protein shakes a couple times a day. I blend coffee, whey, eggs, peanut butter, coconut oil, and milk. It's easy to get 1000 calories into one shake and they are SO easy to get down. Sometimes I wish it were realistic to just live off them, but mixing it up is important.

Nuts are also awesome for getting protein and healthy fats in ya. I eat 1-3 ounces a day, three hand fully and you probably ate close to 750 calories, at least with my hand.


As far as training goes I wouldn't do more then 20-30 mins of cardio a day, and lift heavy! I underestimated how important lifting heavy really was. I was lifting weight in the 10-12rep range and it took me FOREVER to get stronger. I think I was just doing plates for like 6 months straight before I said something's gotta give. Don't get me wrong it was helping me to look shredded but strength and mass went going up. Then I started lifting in the 3-5 rep range using a spotter and really putting the umph for those last one or two reps....and what do you window in a week I was able to push that same weight for one or two more reps. Once I hit 8 I'd up the weight again.....this helped me gain mass and my weight was going up fast!

I'm sending you a friend request cause I'm honestly really interested seeing you gain those 5-7 pounds, I think you will look fantastic

Btw how did you get your reading 18% b/f? I got mine taking recently by my wrestling coach and he put me at 14% and I think you have more definition then me.

Thank you! And to answer your question, I got my BF % from the weight watchers scale (so using an electrical current).

beatadr

freak4iron wrote: »

Btw how did you get your reading 18% b/f? I got mine taking recently by my wrestling coach and he put me at 14% and I think you have more definition then me.

Women have more essential fat than men. 18%BF in a female is actually rather lean, as it would be equivalent to 10-12% in a man.

psuLemon

gymrat04mf wrote: »

freak4iron wrote: »

gymrat04mf wrote: »

I'm a 19 year old girl trying to build about 7-10 lbs of muscle and also lose just a couple lbs of fat at most. Currently I'm 115 lbs, 18% BF. My goal is to be about 120 lbs with a slightly lower BF percentage (14-16%). Since May I've been working out 5 days a week. I do a lot of weight training and also work a lot on my abs. Recently I've also implemented cardio into my workout routine at 3x a week, after my weight training on those days. I use weights every time I work out. This app tells me I should eat about 2200 calories and 114 grams of protein a day to gain weight (0.5 lbs/week, although I think that's pretty fast), but I have a lot of trouble getting to that amount. I can't even ever make it past 1700 calories in a day, and the most protein I've gotten in one day is around 110 grams but usually it's more like 75. I know I should probably start eating more than 3 meals in a day like I usually do, but it's very difficult with my schedule. I also don't want to gain fat if I can help it. I know it's pretty much an inevitable consequence of gaining muscle, but I'd like to keep my fat gain as low as possible. I want to be more toned and strong, and have it show.

What can I do to reach my goals?

First off you have got a really impressive body and I'm also happy to see you want to take the muscle further! Most girls are all " I wanna be so thin you can see my bones" awesome work girl! It can be tough for me to gain weight, seems like I gotta eat more and train harder then the guy next to me at the same weight.

Its tough for me to get the calories in completely through solid foods so whey has been a life saver for me. I kinda cheat and make high calorie protein shakes a couple times a day. I blend coffee, whey, eggs, peanut butter, coconut oil, and milk. It's easy to get 1000 calories into one shake and they are SO easy to get down. Sometimes I wish it were realistic to just live off them, but mixing it up is important.

Nuts are also awesome for getting protein and healthy fats in ya. I eat 1-3 ounces a day, three hand fully and you probably ate close to 750 calories, at least with my hand.


As far as training goes I wouldn't do more then 20-30 mins of cardio a day, and lift heavy! I underestimated how important lifting heavy really was. I was lifting weight in the 10-12rep range and it took me FOREVER to get stronger. I think I was just doing plates for like 6 months straight before I said something's gotta give. Don't get me wrong it was helping me to look shredded but strength and mass went going up. Then I started lifting in the 3-5 rep range using a spotter and really putting the umph for those last one or two reps....and what do you window in a week I was able to push that same weight for one or two more reps. Once I hit 8 I'd up the weight again.....this helped me gain mass and my weight was going up fast!

I'm sending you a friend request cause I'm honestly really interested seeing you gain those 5-7 pounds, I think you will look fantastic

Btw how did you get your reading 18% b/f? I got mine taking recently by my wrestling coach and he put me at 14% and I think you have more definition then me.

Thank you! And to answer your question, I got my BF % from the weight watchers scale (so using an electrical current).

Don't put too much stock in those scales. Bioimpadence can be very inaccurate. Generally, to get a more accurate number, you want to get on one of those scales before you drink/eat anything and on it immediately in the morning.