Female Calories/Macros for cutting

SGibz

Hello all,
So my girlfriend is in her journey of getting lean muscle mass and has reached a "plateu". She is currently consuming 1700 calories with macros set at 45% protein/ 35% carbs/ 20% fat. Im curious to hear everyones thoughts/opinions about what works best for them. I suggested she increase her calories to improve muscle mass and cut at somepoint there after to get the lean musclar toned look, but maybe there are more effective strategies out there? Thanks in advance for your input....

ChriJMitch

What is her current training regiment like? Easiest way to bust a plateau is to shock the body by changing workout, male or female. Plateaus usually arise from your body meeting an environmental challenge without further challenge being presented; it adapts and then stops when the requirement is fulfilled. This article is pretty good at explaining plateaus/lack of results in a program: http://www.acaloriecounter.com/weight-training-results.php

SGibz

Appreciate the input.

She trains in the gym 3-6 days per week with 3 days going to weights and 1-3 days allocated to cardio. The philosphy we take to
training is not to count the reps but to give it your all...so intensity in the gym is always high whether it be more reps or heavier weight with proper form.

ChriJMitch

Couple ideas for her to try. I'm also not an expert by any means, but I have failed enough times at getting bigger to know what messes up progress:

1) She could try some shock treatment and do a week or two with a couple HIT sessions and less weights (obviously she would need to eat back the calories to avoid muscle loss). I did P90x plyometrics and ab routines a couple times over three weeks, and it helped me build up my core and lower body muscles for a bit, as well as all those tiny stabilizers, which helped me lift WAY better on upper body workouts for some reason. I think it allowed me to keep better form. Still not sure why it worked, but it did. Good ol' fashioned butt kicking.

2) She might have better success tracking weight/reps/sets for a bit. I hate it, its tedious, and you gotta carry pen and paper around that gets nasty and sweaty.....but the thing is, giving your all one day at the gym is sometimes not gonna be equivalent as it is on a different day. It can be hard to tell the difference by "feel", but it becomes very apparent when it is written down. This might be the issue. Have her do the tried and true progressive loading (I think I linked an article how to do it in my last post), see where she ends up in 4 weeks. I bet she gets back on track.

3) She could try adjusting her diet. Is she eating enough protein? Is she eating the right calorie surplus? Any supplements she is taking? I swear by creatine. My workouts with it are night and day. I can't hit my final rep on those hard sets without it, the extra endurance is crucial.

4) If she is giving her muscles the right signals to grow, but she is stuck, perhaps her rest phase is what is bad? Enough sleep? Lots of water? Not too many other stressors (mental or physical)? Might be something to check out.

Hope this helps. Tell her I say good luck! She will break it soon enough.

SGibz

Much appreciated Chris, I really like 3 and 4. We actually just bought some preworkout (Weapon X). I like it because it gives you a focused surplus of energy/strength without the jitters. We've been doing it for 2 weeks now so it hasnt been that long, none the less Im pleased with how its working. I also like the rest concept...sometimes less is more. Ill show her your post and maybe she'll listen when it comes from you lol.

ken_m

Pics of girlfriend