Lifters... what do u make of my diary today?

jo_marnes

I'm trying to up my cals a little, gain some lean muscle and a little fat (amenorrhea due to low body fat %?).

I am 112lbs, BF% a guess at around 15%, trying to switch from excessive cardio to more resistance training.

Don't look back too far.... Jan was a rest month while I was away on hols and a trial not logging. Dec is more accurate of what I was eating/ exercising...

Today's exercise was P90X back and biceps.

Input appreciated xx

Gunsentry

You can do a clean bulk, increase your calorie count with a balance of protein, carbs and fats.

But you will only gain mass if you progressively overload your muscles with resistance training.

Building muscle will take time (months, years...) if you are a beginner you will however gain some LBM in the first few months after that the gains will taper off.

particleastro

Always good to see another girl get into lifting, youll love it!

I'd be interested to see where your carbs are coming from, from an initial read it looks like mostly sugar. Im not familiar with the brands so I might be wrong. Also make sure you get a protein serving in the morning when you wake.

You want to make sure your calcium is nice and high, not only to allow your bones to strengthen under load but also to provide enough contractile potential for your muscles. An increase in Vit D3 will help absorb more calcium. Also make sure your getting enough iron (go take a comprehensive blood test, youll thank yourself for it). im not sure how the health service works in Aus, but here in the UK a proper, full on blood investigation costs about £100.

Other than that keep an eye on the scales and see if your mass is increasing. Make sure you have eaten a big, balanced meal before weight training. If you prefer to train in a fasted state get some BCAA or EAA ( its better for you to look them up yourself!) to negate the catabolic processes that occur during training.


On a training point, keep in mind that any strength increases in the first few weeks are likely to be neurological rather than truly muscular in nature. Your Central Nervous system will improve faster than your muscles, and WAY faster then tendons and ligaments. Dont be tempted to go too far too fast.

Keep in touch!

Good Luck,
JU

TavistockToad

what are your macros set to? you seem to have very high carbs and rather low fat for around 2000 cals?

jo_marnes

Conflicting info on my macros.... people saying do the 30/30/40 but at the same time saying 1g protein per lb lean mass, 0.4g fat per lb. So I've gone with the second option which, when put into a 30/30/40 format, doesn't meet my calorie goals (it's under). 95g protein = 20% of my daily intake, fat is set the same and so 60% (the gap) is carbs. I do eat a fair amount of sugar, but on the most part they are natural sugars. Sure, cookies arent and choc isn't, but hey, I don't eat fast food/ pizza/ wheat etc. No one is perfect right? The winners gym bar yesterday is actually a protein bar.... I'd run out of tuna ;-)

jo_marnes

Any more input anyone?