Female Bulking Advice Needed
Barbellgirl
Posts: 544 Member
First a little background. I’m a 46 year old mother of three. In mid-June, I started lifting weights with good results. I was able to take my body fat from 24% to about 18%. Now that I can see what I have to work with, I want to bulk (focus on adding muscle mass).
My plan is to gradually increase my calories from 200-300 below TDEE which is where I’ve been the last month, to TDEE, then eventually ~200 over TDEE. Increasing my daily calories by about 150-200 a week at a time. I’ve not been able to find much about bulking for women. I don’t think it’s much different than men, but I’m not sure. So any advice would be appreciated.
I plan to continue my strength routine which is a full body routine done four times a week based off of the Strong Curves and Starting Strength Programs. Basically it’s all the compound exercises of SS with some of the glute specific exercises of SC.
My macros are 40% protein, 30% carbs, 30% fat. I practice 14/10 intermittent fasting, and my diet is pretty clean by choice. I plan to start taking a casein protein powder at night, and also start taking creatine. Any other recommendations or advice will be greatly appreciated. I’m particularly curious about cardio and any tips for minimizing fat gain. Fat burners are something I’m curious about, but I don’t want to mess up my metabolism.
I’m attaching photos taken in the last few days to show where I am now. Thank you in advance.
My plan is to gradually increase my calories from 200-300 below TDEE which is where I’ve been the last month, to TDEE, then eventually ~200 over TDEE. Increasing my daily calories by about 150-200 a week at a time. I’ve not been able to find much about bulking for women. I don’t think it’s much different than men, but I’m not sure. So any advice would be appreciated.
I plan to continue my strength routine which is a full body routine done four times a week based off of the Strong Curves and Starting Strength Programs. Basically it’s all the compound exercises of SS with some of the glute specific exercises of SC.
My macros are 40% protein, 30% carbs, 30% fat. I practice 14/10 intermittent fasting, and my diet is pretty clean by choice. I plan to start taking a casein protein powder at night, and also start taking creatine. Any other recommendations or advice will be greatly appreciated. I’m particularly curious about cardio and any tips for minimizing fat gain. Fat burners are something I’m curious about, but I don’t want to mess up my metabolism.
I’m attaching photos taken in the last few days to show where I am now. Thank you in advance.
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Replies
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Tagging.
I will add more later but typing from my phone so this reply will be short. It's not intended to be rude.
No point in fat burners especially in a caloric surplus.
You don't really need casein at night but if you want to, have at it.
I would go about 100 cals/week increase and monitor change in weight if any.
Creatine is legit but it will cause some water weight gain. You may want to do this while holding cals steady so you can accurately track weight.
In other words if you move into a surplus and ramp cals up during the addition of creatine you will potentially have a mess trying to figure out your rate of gain from the caloric increase.0 -
Thank you. I've been taking creatine for the last month, just not consistently. I'll slow down on the calorie increase schedule maybe stay where I am currently which is 1700 calories and start taking creatine every day and monitor my weight for a few weeks.0
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Just throwing this out there, a friend of mine mentioned it to me (I'm still reading into it) that studies have shown that people gain muscle easier due to nutrition partitioning and sensitivity to insulin. The less lean you are, the more prone you are to gaining fat while in a caloric surplus. So you can add lean muscle mass and have minimal fat gain.0
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Tagging!0
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In to learn:-)0
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You look amazing!
Tagging...0 -
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in on this
you look amazing
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Thanks SideSteel, that is a great article. Sometimes I read so many different things that my head spins. I'm going to spend the next two weeks at just under (1700) what ScoobyWorkshop calculates as my TDEE(1800). The reason for that is that I also plan to cut back on a little of the cardio I've been doing (lowering my TDEE). I'll be giving Lyle's 'happy medium' approach a go. Thanks again.
If you think of anything else that would be helpful please let me know.
Thanks ladies for the compliments. I hope to be able to motivate and inspire ladies over 40 eventually. Age really is just a number and not an excuse. 0 -
Tagging.
I will add more later but typing from my phone so this reply will be short. It's not intended to be rude.
No point in fat burners especially in a caloric surplus.
You don't really need casein at night but if you want to, have at it.
I would go about 100 cals/week increase and monitor change in weight if any.
Creatine is legit but it will cause some water weight gain. You may want to do this while holding cals steady so you can accurately track weight.
In other words if you move into a surplus and ramp cals up during the addition of creatine you will potentially have a mess trying to figure out your rate of gain from the caloric increase.
Agree with this. Also, to add emphasis to the timing of creatine. Get your base set first. It sounds like you have been taking it intermittently. Take it consistently before you go into a bulk so you know what it 'real' gains rather than creatine water weight gain.0 -
Tagging.
I will add more later but typing from my phone so this reply will be short. It's not intended to be rude.
No point in fat burners especially in a caloric surplus.
You don't really need casein at night but if you want to, have at it.
I would go about 100 cals/week increase and monitor change in weight if any.
Creatine is legit but it will cause some water weight gain. You may want to do this while holding cals steady so you can accurately track weight.
In other words if you move into a surplus and ramp cals up during the addition of creatine you will potentially have a mess trying to figure out your rate of gain from the caloric increase.
Agree with this. Also, to add emphasis to the timing of creatine. Get your base set first. It sounds like you have been taking it intermittently. Take it consistently before you go into a bulk so you know what it 'real' gains rather than creatine water weight gain.
Yep, that's what I'm going to do. The one I take is called Orotine by Metabolic Augmenting Nutrition (MAN) and it's dosage is 4 capsules at 3000 mg. I've been taking two a day. Today I'm going to start taking two in the morning and two in the evening. I assume the dosage of 3000 mg is for men. I weigh 111 lbs so I thought it wise to start at a 1/2 dose. Does that sound right to you?
P.s. this is the brand used by the American heart association study, apparently most of them on the market have no studies tied to them at all which is why I chose it. I'm open to trying something else though.
I forgot to add that it promises zero bloating and zero water retention. We'll see. 0 -
Tagging.
I will add more later but typing from my phone so this reply will be short. It's not intended to be rude.
No point in fat burners especially in a caloric surplus.
You don't really need casein at night but if you want to, have at it.
I would go about 100 cals/week increase and monitor change in weight if any.
Creatine is legit but it will cause some water weight gain. You may want to do this while holding cals steady so you can accurately track weight.
In other words if you move into a surplus and ramp cals up during the addition of creatine you will potentially have a mess trying to figure out your rate of gain from the caloric increase.
Agree with this. Also, to add emphasis to the timing of creatine. Get your base set first. It sounds like you have been taking it intermittently. Take it consistently before you go into a bulk so you know what it 'real' gains rather than creatine water weight gain.
Yep, that's what I'm going to do. The one I take is called Orotine by Metabolic Augmenting Nutrition (MAN) and it's dosage is 4 capsules at 3000 mg. I've been taking two a day. Today I'm going to start taking two in the morning and two in the evening. I assume the dosage of 3000 mg is for men. I weigh 111 lbs so I thought it wise to start at a 1/2 dose. Does that sound right to you?
P.s. this is the brand used by the American heart association study, apparently most of them on the market have no studies tied to them at all which is why I chose it. I'm open to trying something else though.
I forgot to add that it promises zero bloating and zero water retention. We'll see.
Just stick with pure creatine monohydrate - 5g a day.0 -
Locking for admin purposes so we can track active threads. Please feel free to PM either myself or SideSteel to unlock if you have further questions, including a link to this thread, and we will unlock so you can pose them.0
This discussion has been closed.