Muscel gain females

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Hi Ladies,

I run all the time sometimes I run 5k twice a day and I love it... But now I really want to achieve a rather toned look, I have started doing squats, lunges, press ups, dips etc etc and have incorporating a BodyPump class into my week once or twice. I eat well usually monday - Friday consuming approx 1800-2100 calories in a day.. usualy burn approx 600-800 I have been finding myself alot hungrier since lifting weights what should i do? I feel as though eating more than 2100 calories will just be too much for my body and I will start gaining weight like crazy???

Replies

  • wftiger
    wftiger Posts: 1,283 Member
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    Only way to know how your body reacts is to try it. Muscle is very important for anyone so it is certainly worth kicking that part up a notch. Maybe cut down your cardio to give time/energy to strength?
  • sarahroseconroy
    sarahroseconroy Posts: 37 Member
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    Ok great thanks for your advise! :)
  • myfitnessval
    myfitnessval Posts: 687 Member
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    well truly the only way to really GAIN muscle is to be in a calorie surplus and basically bulk. apparently its a LOT harder for females but it can be done with some patience and hard work. i definitely plan on bulking up my glutes, back, and calves once i hit my target weight. just to even out my odd spots lol
  • norabeth
    norabeth Posts: 176 Member
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    This happens to me every time I enter the 3 phase of ChaLean Extreme. My advice would be to eat more lean protein and a healthy balance of healthy carbs. The intense hunger usually passes for me in about 2 weeks or so. Hope this helps
  • Ge0rgiana
    Ge0rgiana Posts: 1,649 Member
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    Eat. This is your body telling you that you are NOT feeding it enough. Muscle building requires adequate sustenance. Try a small increment, like 100 cals a day. As for gaining weight, stay off of your scale. If your clothes start fitting tightly, then you have a reason to worry.
  • sarahroseconroy
    sarahroseconroy Posts: 37 Member
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    Ok cool yes i was thinking instead of trying to wait out the hunger until dinner time not worrying and having an apple, banana, yoghurt etc to bridge the gap.. that wasy i win by having something healthy and under 150 calories! Right?
  • wareagle8706
    wareagle8706 Posts: 1,090 Member
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    Ok cool yes i was thinking instead of trying to wait out the hunger until dinner time not worrying and having an apple, banana, yoghurt etc to bridge the gap.. that wasy i win by having something healthy and under 150 calories! Right?

    Yep, I would. And also, don't listen to the girl who said you have to be in a surplus to be able to gain muscle. Simply not true.
  • myfitnessval
    myfitnessval Posts: 687 Member
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    Ok cool yes i was thinking instead of trying to wait out the hunger until dinner time not worrying and having an apple, banana, yoghurt etc to bridge the gap.. that wasy i win by having something healthy and under 150 calories! Right?

    Yep, I would. And also, don't listen to the girl who said you have to be in a surplus to be able to gain muscle. Simply not true.
    actually it is true. women lack the same amount of testosterone as men which is why when we lift we dont bulk up all huge like dudes. and after the first few months of lifting, it becomes impossible (not impossible but incredibly difficult for most people) to increase muscle mass while in a deficit. you can get by the first few months losing fat while gaining muscle from all the stuff i've read about it but after that not really.
  • Lina4Lina
    Lina4Lina Posts: 712 Member
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    Women can gain muscle without gaining bulk. Basically more muscle fibers become engaged and you become stronger. This can happen while in a calorie deficit. I know because it has happened to me.

    To gain bulk, you need the right amount of hormones, hours of lifting daily over years and yes a calorie surplus.
  • geekyjock76
    geekyjock76 Posts: 2,720 Member
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    You can certainly experience some lean muscle accretion while in a deficit but that is generally true for beginners of resistance training. Basically your body recognizes the new adaptation and sees creating muscle as a priority. However, very soon after that, your body will then do a reality check and realize feeding developing muscle tissue is too metabolically expensive - and not a real priority - and redistribute energy sources elsewhere.

    If your focus is on increasing lean muscle, I would cut out as much cardio as you can. Additionally, as a woman, the most actual muscle you realistically can gain is 1 lb per month. On the other hand, there isn't a cap to how much fat you can gain while on a surplus. An acceptable tradeoff, or partitioning is 1 lb of muscle to 1 lb of body fat gained.

    I would highly recommend that your body fat be no higher than 19% to 24% to start a bulk cycle. Since you'll gain fat along with muscle, you will need to set an upper limit of acceptable body fat percentage. Typically for women it's between 27% to 29%. Once you reach that determined upper limit, stop the bulking cycle and slowly begin working back down to maintenance calories.

    If you are currently experiencing a deficit, slowly increase calories back near predicted maintenance. Be very patient about it. Make sure you recalculate TDEE since your Resting Metabolic Rate may have decreased which would give you a lower TDEE than previously estimated. From there, slowly add increments of 2% to 5% additional calories over the course a few weeks. Generally speaking, ectomorphs need a larger surplus, thus need to eat more to gain muscle. In contrast, endomorphs should pursue a very small surplus since they gain very easily.
  • MireyGal76
    MireyGal76 Posts: 7,334 Member
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    If you are hungry, eat. Snack on almonds, or cottage cheese. After your workout, down a protein shake... have a chicken sandwich... if you want muscle, you need to feed your body when it wants it.

    I know the day after boxing... I typically eat like a pig. I swear I'd eat my desk at work if I wouldn't have to pay for it. I have a bag of raw almonds in my desk and take 10 or 20 of them with a glass of water... they help silence the beast.

    Seems to be working for me. :-)
  • jjefferies7
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    Pretty much the ONLY way you can gain muscle while not in a deficit is if strength training is a new stimulus. After the newbie stage I would only recommend gaining about 1-2lbs per month to minimize fat gain, any more than that and it will mainly be fat that you will have to lose later.
  • Sarauk2sf
    Sarauk2sf Posts: 28,072 Member
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    Ok cool yes i was thinking instead of trying to wait out the hunger until dinner time not worrying and having an apple, banana, yoghurt etc to bridge the gap.. that wasy i win by having something healthy and under 150 calories! Right?

    Yep, I would. And also, don't listen to the girl who said you have to be in a surplus to be able to gain muscle. Simply not true.

    It is true, unless you have 'newb' gains for women will not be more than 1 - 2lb at most. The only other time is when someone is significantly overweight (although I am not sure of the statistic for muscle gain in this circumstance).
  • Lift_hard_eat_big
    Lift_hard_eat_big Posts: 2,278 Member
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    Women can gain muscle without gaining bulk. Basically more muscle fibers become engaged and you become stronger. This can happen while in a calorie deficit. I know because it has happened to me.

    To gain bulk, you need the right amount of hormones, hours of lifting daily over years and yes a calorie surplus.

    I think people are confusing gaining strength and building muscle mass while on a deficit. Yes you can gain strength while on a deficit, but one can't build muscle mass while on a deficit unless you're a newb, back from a break off of training, you're a genetic freak, are obese, or you're on the juice.
  • SammieDe1
    SammieDe1 Posts: 3 Member
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    Try having a snack that is protein... :) (you need extra protein if you want to build muscle)
  • Sarauk2sf
    Sarauk2sf Posts: 28,072 Member
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    Getting back on track with your question, you really need to work out what your TDEE is (maintenance) and as long as you eat at a deficit you will not gain weight (a few newb pounds aside). The best thing to do to estimate this is use one of the online calculators and then tweak based on results you are seeing. You will need to assess over a period of weeks and not days though as water and to a lesser degree, food weight, can mask the 'real' movement in your weight.

    However, rather than playing around with trying to work out maintenance, if you are hungry, up your calories by 100 - 200 and see how it goes. And the same applies with regard to needing to assess over a longer time period than a few days or even weeks.
  • chrisdavey
    chrisdavey Posts: 9,834 Member
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    eat enough to gain about 1lb per week. Take an average and see if you are eating enough. Adjust if necessary and rinse and repeat.