Adjusting to building muscle

jseward20

Hi all,

I am looking for some advice and support with my journey I started with my personal trainer at world health. I started about a month ago with the goal of becoming more toned and decreasing body fat. I started at 130 and 17.5% BF (I am 5'8"). The first phase was called the "adaptive phase" where my muscle were adjusting and getting used to weights and certain movements (I did have previous experience with weights but she was introducing me to different exercises and movements). We did the adaptive phase for about 4 weeks. After completing the adaptive phase, my trainer re did my body analysis and I am not at 16.9% BF and weigh the same. I noticed a difference in my mid section (which doesn't surprise me as I don't usually hold a lot of day there) I have now started the "isolation" phase. This is where I will be isolating muscle groups and exhausting them to the extreme. I am working out six days a week and am already stressed out after this first week. I am mostly stressed because my metabolism is through the roof and I am having a really hard time adjusting to eating so much! I am also having a hard time incorporating complex carbs into my diet as I never used to eat them before AT ALL. I am getting better and have oats for breakfast with fruit and yogurt before I workout (I train at 6am everyday). I then have a post workout shake consisting of fruit whey protein powder and oats. Then I have a mid morning snack which is usually an apple and Greek yogurt again. Lunch is usually vegetables brown rice and chicken. Mid day snack is usually greek yogurt again with carrots. I have been totally eliminating complex carbs at supper...and having chicken with vegetables. I am then hungry before I go to bed and have greek yogurt. I find my blood sugars are all over the place and am having a hard time figuring out how to control them throughout the day. The other thing I am stressing about is I am not fitting into my size 26" jeans well anymore I can feel muscle building but I have this layer of fat that is still there. My trainer tells me this is normal as we are building muscle right now before we move to the next phase of shredding any remaining fat with things such as HIIT. So these are my questions

1) Should I add more complex carbs to my diet?
2) Are there any other women who have had a hard time adjusting to an increase in appetite? I sort of have a phobia about complex carbs so this is quite a mental battle for me
3) Does anyone else have this issue with clothes getting tighter during this phase?

I would love some support here as I am having such a hard time adjusting. I used to be 125-127lbs skinny girl but I really wanted to add definition and not just be "skinny" but now since I've started this journey I feel gross because my clothes are tight and I have this layer of fat over top of my muscle. I am also stressing over what I am to do when I want to maintain my new toned physique (when I get there) obviously this will be a question for my trainer but I am such a stress ball right now I just want some re assurance or advice from anyone! When I research these topics, a lot of it seems to be falling into the bulking-cutting phases of body builders...so I am assuming that is sort of what I'm doing but just not as extreme.