My 5-10 year plan: Need input from lady lifters

lady_jessi

I hope this doesn't sound psycho, but I've got a long term plan brewing in my mind. As a Christmas gift to myself, I'm getting a gym membership and the book, New Rules of Lifting for Women.

Okay, I'm 5'4", 125#. I don't want to lose anymore weight. In fact, I want to gain some eventually. My butt bone is a little too exposed for my liking.

At first, I want to more or less maintain my weight until something happens to my soft little mommy belly. After that, I'd like to up my calories by a couple hundred every so many months, a year, I don't know (I guess until my weight stabilizes). And keep gaining until I feel like I've reached a nice middle ground as far as my own perception of being too skinny or too fat goes. All this while continuing to lift heavy.

Is that realistic at all? I haven't read New Rules yet, so I guess it's a very preliminary plan.

Also, a preliminary question about protein. As of right now, I eat about 80-85g of protein a day. I mean I don't know what New Rules says (sorry, I'm sounding like a dummy), but I don't really want to over-do it on the protein. I read some folks are eating 30-40% of their calories in protein, and I don't think that would be a good plan for me because I'm bad at drinking enough water. I try to get at least six cups, and sometimes I'm chugging down water before bed just to get to that point. My kidneys would probably be so so mad at me if I were eating 140g of protein a day. What's a nice moderate level of protein that I can eat that will give my body what it needs for cell growth without overloading my kidneys?

Thank you in advance for helping the newb.

lady_jessi

Bumpity bump bump

obsidianwings

New rules suggest a 40/30/30 split, so yeah it sounds like you will need to up your protein, and your water for health reasons but it sounds like you already know that.
There is a formula to work out calories in the book, although I have started using the "in place of a road map" post on here instead, I prefer this so I know exactly what I am eating each day rather than having to do exercise calories as well.
Personally I wouldn't bother eating at maintenence until your body is where you want it, what you want to do with your belly will direct which way you want to go with your calories. If you are holding body fat you want to drop it will need to be deficit, if you want to build muscle there (as well as everywhere else obviously) you will need to eat in a surplus.

LuluProteinFueled

Hey there. Not sure what your calorie target is like at the moment but lifting and eating at true maintenance will change your body composition and give you enough energy for heavy lifting. A small deficit (around 200 calories) would be ok if you still want to drop a bit of fat, but you already look quite lean. I would start with a few months at TDEE to give you energy and reset your metabolism (if you have been eating at a substantial deficit). And then after that see what you want to do. TDEE might be enough for your body, or you might need to increase to a surplus to build, or decrease to a small deficit after that.

And the protein is important. 30% is definitely the right amount to shoot for. Bite the bullet and start drinking more water. Your body will thank you.

Increase your calories as soon as you start lifting. Your muscles need the fuel.

meshashesha2012

i agree with the others eat at maintenance. if you start to get too lean then maybe increase your calories by 200 or so until you are back to maintaining

lady_jessi

Right now I have my calories set at 2000. I've got my macros set at 45/40/15. I've been maintaining 125# for 1.5-2 months. I can't remember exactly. 30% protein would be 140g I think. Yikes! How much water do I need to drink to help flush that out? I'm trying to drink more water. Really I am. I don't know why it's so hard for me. I'm a SAHM for goodness sakes, but I feel like I'm drowning just trying to drink 6-8 cups a day.

lady_jessi

Bump to see how water I should be drinking. Eek, sorry if I'm being annoying.

sarahrbraun

Right now I have my calories set at 2000. I've got my macros set at 45/40/15. I've been maintaining 125# for 1.5-2 months. I can't remember exactly. 30% protein would be 140g I think. Yikes! How much water do I need to drink to help flush that out? I'm trying to drink more water. Really I am. I don't know why it's so hard for me. I'm a SAHM for goodness sakes, but I feel like I'm drowning just trying to drink 6-8 cups a day.

8 really should be your minimum.

I know it is hard, but get a water bottle/cup/mug that you like that holds 24oz+...make yourself a goal to drink one by lunch, one by dinner, and one by bedtime. If you drink those 3, you'll have 9+ cups a day. My doctor says *I* personally need 12+ glasses per day to be healthy and hydrated.

meshashesha2012

Right now I have my calories set at 2000. I've got my macros set at 45/40/15. I've been maintaining 125# for 1.5-2 months. I can't remember exactly. 30% protein would be 140g I think. Yikes! How much water do I need to drink to help flush that out? I'm trying to drink more water. Really I am. I don't know why it's so hard for me. I'm a SAHM for goodness sakes, but I feel like I'm drowning just trying to drink 6-8 cups a day.

that's a hella lot of protein :laugh: are you against taking protein powder? sometimes when i need protein and i dont feel like cooking and eating an entire chicken i'll make a protein smoothie (optimum nutrition gold standard) and will mix in 2 scoops of powder. that's 220 calories but like 54 grams of protein. probably not the best way to get protein, if i did it daily but it's good in a pinch

as for water drinking why not try flavoring it with things like cucumbers, lemons, limes, etc?

lady_jessi

Thank you. Do you think I need to drink very much extra taking all the protein into consideration. Perhaps I'm over worrying, but I want to treat my kidneys nicely. lol

lady_jessi

meshashesha20, no I'm not against protein powder. lol I actually sometimes take it just to get to 80g...

but usually not.

kiachu

I think you read some bad info somewhere. Why do you think 140 grams of protein is going to blow your kidneys up?

Eat over maintenance,

Get a lifting routine, lift heavy and often,

Throw a little bit of cardio in here or there if you feel like it

Take creatine

Drink when thirsty

Enjoy life.

Renegade81

im also 5'4'' currently at 123#, and just began a bulking cycle. my macros are at 40/40/20 . im going to gain approx ten lbs myself, this is also my second time around and i think its worked rather well for my body type.. i will be taking in 110grams of protein at minimum.. hope this helps

lady_jessi

Thanks, Renegade81. That does help. Ya' know I read all kinds of conflicting stuff, and it's hard to tell what is the right thing. Do I eat a gram of protein for each pound of lean body mass? Do I eat a gram per pound of body weight? Or do I eat 30% of my calories from protein? The number keeps getting higher and higher. And does it really even matter all that much?

Kaichu, I may very well have read some bad information, but I was under the understanding that a lot of extra protein has to be processed by your kidneys and your kidneys need a lot of fluid to that job.

blondeski

Visit bodybuilding.com. They have way to calculate anything you could ever think of, and they have plans for muscle building, product suggestions, etc.

Right now I'm doing Jamie Eason's LiveFit. The first month is all muscle building, the second month is higher weights and cardio, and the third is HIIT.

In the first month I just gained weight (muscle) and I've been steady at that weight throughout the second month.

kiachu

Thanks, Renegade81. That does help. Ya' know I read all kinds of conflicting stuff, and it's hard to tell what is the right thing. Do I eat a gram of protein for each pound of lean body mass? Do I eat a gram per pound of body weight? Or do I eat 30% of my calories from protein? The number keeps getting higher and higher. And does it really even matter all that much?

Kaichu, I may very well have read some bad information, but I was under the understanding that a lot of extra protein has to be processed by your kidneys and your kidneys need a lot of fluid to that job.

I think your over stressing it with trying ti find a protein to water ratio. Drink other things too, juices, coffee, tea, milks heck diet soda, eat veggies and fruit. It's all water/hydration. Its not like your cramming down 250+ grams of protein(like me). And the RDA requirement is for average deskjob joe, not an individual on a muscle building program. If your really serious your going to be putting a lot of extra damage on your body and it'll need the material for repair on top of the general repair and rebuilding it does.

And are you trying to build muscle, lose bodyfat, or maintain? You seem to have 3 different goals that require 3 different diet and training strategies.

lady_jessi

I will tell you my goal and it might sound a little convoluted which is why I needed some input from ya'll. I want to be stronger and gain weight without gaining a lot of fat, but I want to gain fat too. I just don't want it to all sit around my belly. Like it is right now. XP

obsidianwings

In my opinion it sounds like you need to eat in surplus by a couple of hundred calories on lifting days, eat maintenance on other days. You are going to need more protein theres no two ways about it.

HeidiMightyRawr

For protein I would aim for around 1g per lb lean mass, that's usually seen as a good goal to have. I wouldn't worry about having too much though. Unless you have existing kidney problems, 140g a day is very unlikely to do any harm. I've been having around 140-160g a day on average for the past year and a half at least.

As far as the other points go, it sounds like you have a good plan. Keep the surplus low and you should gain slowly, and (with the heavy lifting) not too much of it will be excess fat. Unfortunately you can't decide where this fat lies though,.