Scared to gain to much fat

TabathaBurress

Hey y’all! I’m Tabatha and new to bodybuilding , I’ve been lifting all my life but with no REAL knowledge of what I was doing until recently, I was diagnosed with a serious medical condition 10 months ago and lost ALLL my muscle and fat , I went down to 82 pounds , now at 110 I’ve been lifting the past 8 or 9 months and have started to see my progress getting good but now platueing , I’ve had multiple people tell me I need to gain more weight to see more progress , I’m at 14% body fat right now , I want to gain the weight so bad to gain the muscle but I’m already at 2500 calories and I’m only a 5’2 19 year old female , I feel like upping it anymore will just cause fat gains , anyone have advice ?

AnnPT77

I hear you: The psychological side can be tough!

More information would help people help you.

Is your profile photo you? Is that when you were heavier, or now?

14% bodyfat is quite low for a woman like you or me, not necessarily a healthy place to sit generally. Even bodybuilding competitors, who reach that level pre-comp, don't necessarily hang out there all the time.

If you are not gaining at 2500, over a whole menstrual cycle or more - are you still having cycles? - then eating more would be the right answer. I'm a li'l ol' lady, age 65, eating 2500 pretty often (and usually well above 2000) at 5'5", 125 pounds, sedentary outside of workouts, maintaining weight. 2500 is really not crazy-high for an active 5'2" 19-year-old, truly.

You're at prime age for muscle-mass gains, but that takes nutrition . . . and calories, in addition to your well-planned workouts.

Can you convince yourself to add calories slowly, maybe 50-100 daily, monitor for a couple of weeks (even a whole monthly cycle, if you're super anxious), see what happens on the scale over a longer interval? You might see a water retention jump at first, but that should level out. Even if you get to 100 calories over maintenance, it'll take over a month of that to add a pound of fat; and if your workout routine and nutrition is on point, some of the added pound would be muscle, not fat.

Fastest muscle gain is likely to come alongside a manageably small fat gain. If you want that muscle, you can lose the tiny amount of fat involved, I promise.

Cheering for you!

TabathaBurress

That profile picture was before I lost all the weight and no unfortunately I haven’t had a cycle in a while since my medical condition, I’ve added 100 calories which puts me at 2500 , I was at 2400 before but now I’m at 2500 , I want to gain it so bad and your post has really helped me with some insight , just wondering why is it not sustainable to be at 14%? What are the negative impacts staying really lean ?

rheddmobile

Osteoporosis for one thing… some of the elite female runners have come forward to detail how bad a low body fat is for women over the long term. It’s worth a Google search for the long read.

I don’t know if this will help, but I feel like if I were in your shoes it would help me. Remember that if you do gain too much fat, it’s not the end of the world. Fat comes off! You have control over your own fate, within the limits of your health. You can make mistakes in your training and then fix them, mistakes are not permanent. So it’s okay to take risks and not be so in control all the time.

TabathaBurress

Y’all really are helping me with some insight , I completely agree with what you said and to be honest i need to stop trying to be so in control becusse it’s just slowing down my progress , I guess my biggest fear is gaining the weight and not being Abel to “cut “ efficiency and get it back off

al0481113

TabathaBurress wrote: »

just wondering why is it not sustainable to be at 14%? What are the negative impacts staying really lean ?

When you are under 20% your body decreases producing feminine hormones. It's really okay if you don't want to have kids in future. Such kind of natural birth control. Also your immune system gets weaker, nerve system suffers, the risk of cardiovascular issues increases. It's not good at all. Normal percentage of body fat guarantees the better physical and mental health 👌☺

cupcakesandproteinshakes

TabathaBurress wrote: »

That profile picture was before I lost all the weight and no unfortunately I haven’t had a cycle in a while since my medical condition, I’ve added 100 calories which puts me at 2500 , I was at 2400 before but now I’m at 2500 , I want to gain it so bad and your post has really helped me with some insight , just wondering why is it not sustainable to be at 14%? What are the negative impacts staying really lean ?

It’s hard to give advice when we aren’t medical professionals and don’t know what the condition was. The priority has to be to get your period back. You need to keep eating more if you aren’t gaining weight.

Regarding the mental side of it - maybe seek some counselling or therapy if it’s really bothering you.

JBanx256

TabathaBurress wrote: »

What are the negative impacts staying really lean ?

Do a quick Google of "Female Athlete Triad"

You're looking at loss of bone density (hard to lift or be very active when your bones are snapping like twigs, eh?), amenorrhea, etc.

Extremely low bodyfat is one thing to visit and has a concrete cut-off date, say getting onstage for a physique competition. But it's definitely NOT where you want to take up residence. There are reasons bodybuilders immediately begin to re-gain weight as soon as they are done with their shows (getting bodyfat that low (meaning stage-ready) can screw up men's hormones too).

ninerbuff

TabathaBurress wrote: »

Hey y’all! I’m Tabatha and new to bodybuilding , I’ve been lifting all my life but with no REAL knowledge of what I was doing until recently, I was diagnosed with a serious medical condition 10 months ago and lost ALLL my muscle and fat , I went down to 82 pounds , now at 110 I’ve been lifting the past 8 or 9 months and have started to see my progress getting good but now platueing , I’ve had multiple people tell me I need to gain more weight to see more progress , I’m at 14% body fat right now , I want to gain the weight so bad to gain the muscle but I’m already at 2500 calories and I’m only a 5’2 19 year old female , I feel like upping it anymore will just cause fat gains , anyone have advice ?

To GAIN muscle, you'll also GAIN fat. And vice versa.



A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition

AnnPT77

TabathaBurress wrote: »

Y’all really are helping me with some insight , I completely agree with what you said and to be honest i need to stop trying to be so in control becusse it’s just slowing down my progress , I guess my biggest fear is gaining the weight and not being Abel to “cut “ efficiency and get it back off

IMO, "control" can be finding and implementing the methods that will take you toward your goals. (Some boldness, even bravery, is required.) Limiting your progress is restricting, which is one form of control; you can stay in reasonable control while implementing strategies other than restriction.