I am a beginner wanting to build some muscle

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kaylabean92
kaylabean92 Posts: 55 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
I am a 22 year old, 5'8", 142 lbs female. I have been on MFP for about a month and a half. My goal starting out was to just lose about 10 lbs through cutting calories alone. I have been eating strictly 1200 calories and not noticing any changes really. I then added cardio into the mix to see if that would make a change. It still didn't, so I was told I was probably not eating enough, and I should lift some heavy weights. I am about to start doing that, but I am kind of lost with how to start.

I have been recommended to visit Bodybuilding.com to get a good idea of how to do this and that I should pick out a training program set by one of the professionals on there. I have noticed that they all find great importance in nutrition and using supplements. I am definitely willing to change my eating habits to include more protein, but I am not going to spend money on all these different supplements. Is it completely necessary to use supplements and as strict as they are on nutrition, and shouldn't I still notice changes if I mainly focus on sticking with the training program? Does anyone have any tips for a beginner like me?
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Replies

  • arditarose
    arditarose Posts: 15,575 Member
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    So your goal is to build muscle? Just to get it out of the way, forget about supplements for a minute.

    If you weren't losing before, you were not eating 1200 calories. You were eating at maintenance. Maybe you didn't log everything or maybe you weren't using a food scale. If you still want to lose the fat, start there.

    If you want to gain muscle you need to eat in a calorie surplus, so above your maintenance calories.

    It's great to lift in a deficit if you want to lose fat. But you have to be in a deficit.

  • brower47
    brower47 Posts: 16,356 Member
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    arditarose wrote: »
    So your goal is to build muscle? Just to get it out of the way, forget about supplements for a minute.

    If you weren't losing before, you were not eating 1200 calories. You were eating at maintenance. Maybe you didn't log everything or maybe you weren't using a food scale. If you still want to lose the fat, start there.

    If you want to gain muscle you need to eat in a calorie surplus, so above your maintenance calories.

    It's great to lift in a deficit if you want to lose fat. But you have to be in a deficit.

    All of this.
  • kaylabean92
    kaylabean92 Posts: 55 Member
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    I was definitely weighing everything I ate. MFP was suggesting me eat 1590 cal/day, but I was averaging 1200-1300. And there is no way I was just eating at maintenance, because I always felt hungry. And when I started doing cardio, I was still eating only about 1200 cal/day and not eating those back, because I probably wasn't burning much anyway. If I eat any less then I'm just going to feel starved all day. And I was eating lots of oatmeal, veggies, chicken and other foods that are known to be filling.
  • AllanMisner
    AllanMisner Posts: 4,140 Member
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    To repeat what aritarose said, fat lose comes from your food choice and volume. Consuming just 1200 calories and not seeing fat loss is odd, adding cardio and still not losing fat is odder still. I’m not sure lifting weights will do much for you.

    Go back, dial in the food choices and volume (calories and macros). Find what works for you and then, only then, add exercise as a way to optimize your results.
  • kaylabean92
    kaylabean92 Posts: 55 Member
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    I started out at close to 150 lbs and lost about 7 lbs in a couple of weeks. After that, I haven't noticed anything in about a month :/
  • BigBadWolf__
    BigBadWolf__ Posts: 158 Member
    edited February 2015
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    //IGNORE//
  • kaylabean92
    kaylabean92 Posts: 55 Member
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    BigBadWolf__ wrote: »
    //IGNORE//

    I don't get why some MFP users have to say stuff like this to newbies like me. We all have to start off somewhere.
  • BigBadWolf__
    BigBadWolf__ Posts: 158 Member
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    kaylabean92 wrote: »
    BigBadWolf__ wrote: »
    //IGNORE//

    I don't get why some MFP users have to say stuff like this to newbies like me. We all have to start off somewhere.

    I wasn't saying anything. I had asked a question but realized your original post had already answered it.

    I'm not sure how you didn't lose weight while eating 1200 calories at your height and weight.

    I'm with the other posters, I would recommend revisiting how you track your calories and make sure you capture everything.
  • arditarose
    arditarose Posts: 15,575 Member
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    kaylabean92 wrote: »
    I started out at close to 150 lbs and lost about 7 lbs in a couple of weeks. After that, I haven't noticed anything in about a month :/

    That's a lot to lose in a couple of weeks. Some of it was probably water weight too.

    So you're using a food scale...for everything? All meats/veggies/etc? Are you using the correct entries/staying away from generic ones with the star?

    Have you calculated your TDEE?
  • boxingwoman
    boxingwoman Posts: 3
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    The main site of Bodybuilding.com is focused on selling supplements. You want to go to the forum on the same site, under the Community tab across the front of the page. There you will see a sub-forum for Women. At the top of that are the posts about calculating the calories you need to build muscle. The forum has decent info and does not push supplement use.
  • kaylabean92
    kaylabean92 Posts: 55 Member
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    BigBadWolf__ wrote: »
    kaylabean92 wrote: »
    BigBadWolf__ wrote: »
    //IGNORE//

    I don't get why some MFP users have to say stuff like this to newbies like me. We all have to start off somewhere.

    I wasn't saying anything. I had asked a question but realized your original post had already answered it.

    I'm not sure how you didn't lose weight while eating 1200 calories at your height and weight.

    I'm with the other posters, I would recommend revisiting how you track your calories and make sure you capture everything.

    Ohh, sorry about that. I thought you were being rude, haha.
    Like I said, I spent lots of time prepping, weighing out and logging my food. If I cut it down any more, then I would just feel hungry all the time. I have been told that because I am already smaller then I would come to a point where the weight loss would slow down a bit and that I would just have to work harder and eat less, because my body is getting used to my deficit. I don't know. It's just discouraging to make myself feel miserable for that period of time and to see no changes.
  • arditarose
    arditarose Posts: 15,575 Member
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    OP, where have you been logging? I don't see much of anything logged since last Friday.
  • brower47
    brower47 Posts: 16,356 Member
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    arditarose wrote: »
    OP, where have you been logging? I don't see much of anything logged since last Friday.

    Yeah. It seems you're not consistent in your logging. You may be great at accurate logging on days you log but what about all those days you don't? It might be those days that are responsible for you lack of loss over the past month.
  • kaylabean92
    kaylabean92 Posts: 55 Member
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    brower47 wrote: »
    arditarose wrote: »
    OP, where have you been logging? I don't see much of anything logged since last Friday.

    Yeah. It seems you're not consistent in your logging. You may be great at accurate logging on days you log but what about all those days you don't? It might be those days that are responsible for you lack of loss over the past month.

    I stopped last Friday because I got frustrated, but I'm starting again and adding some strength training as well. I just don't want to go through another whole month of being miserable and not noticing any changes.
  • arditarose
    arditarose Posts: 15,575 Member
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    kaylabean92 wrote: »
    brower47 wrote: »
    arditarose wrote: »
    OP, where have you been logging? I don't see much of anything logged since last Friday.

    Yeah. It seems you're not consistent in your logging. You may be great at accurate logging on days you log but what about all those days you don't? It might be those days that are responsible for you lack of loss over the past month.

    I stopped last Friday because I got frustrated, but I'm starting again and adding some strength training as well. I just don't want to go through another whole month of being miserable and not noticing any changes.

    Okay. Weigh and log every morsel you put in your mouth. Eat some of your cardio calories back. Let us know how you do.
  • kaylabean92
    kaylabean92 Posts: 55 Member
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    arditarose wrote: »
    kaylabean92 wrote: »
    brower47 wrote: »
    arditarose wrote: »
    OP, where have you been logging? I don't see much of anything logged since last Friday.

    Yeah. It seems you're not consistent in your logging. You may be great at accurate logging on days you log but what about all those days you don't? It might be those days that are responsible for you lack of loss over the past month.

    I stopped last Friday because I got frustrated, but I'm starting again and adding some strength training as well. I just don't want to go through another whole month of being miserable and not noticing any changes.

    Okay. Weigh and log every morsel you put in your mouth. Eat some of your cardio calories back. Let us know how you do.

    Thanks for the advice! I am going to try again and eat more protein and try weight lifting as well :)
  • arditarose
    arditarose Posts: 15,575 Member
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    kaylabean92 wrote: »
    arditarose wrote: »
    kaylabean92 wrote: »
    brower47 wrote: »
    arditarose wrote: »
    OP, where have you been logging? I don't see much of anything logged since last Friday.

    Yeah. It seems you're not consistent in your logging. You may be great at accurate logging on days you log but what about all those days you don't? It might be those days that are responsible for you lack of loss over the past month.

    I stopped last Friday because I got frustrated, but I'm starting again and adding some strength training as well. I just don't want to go through another whole month of being miserable and not noticing any changes.

    Okay. Weigh and log every morsel you put in your mouth. Eat some of your cardio calories back. Let us know how you do.

    Thanks for the advice! I am going to try again and eat more protein and try weight lifting as well :)

    Good. Keep it up. Love to hear people going the weight lifting route ;)
  • watto1980
    watto1980 Posts: 155 Member
    edited February 2015
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    kaylabean92 wrote: »
    I was definitely weighing everything I ate. MFP was suggesting me eat 1590 cal/day, but I was averaging 1200-1300. And there is no way I was just eating at maintenance, because I always felt hungry. And when I started doing cardio, I was still eating only about 1200 cal/day and not eating those back, because I probably wasn't burning much anyway. If I eat any less then I'm just going to feel starved all day. And I was eating lots of oatmeal, veggies, chicken and other foods that are known to be filling.

    You need to log your food everyday. There is a pattern happening in your diary, you log food for 5 days straight, maybe you get frustrated at not getting instant results, then you don't log food for 3 or so days. You are probably eating more calories on the days you're not logging so at the end of each week you are likely averaging around maintenance calories - resulting in no weight loss.
  • JYolani
    JYolani Posts: 2
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    I recently had similar challenges. I couldn't loose weight. I went physical and was having some issues that were slowing down my metabolism. I recommend having physical first.
  • tomatoey
    tomatoey Posts: 5,446 Member
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    You're 5'8" and 142 pounds - how much do you want to lose? Might be better to stay at maintenance for a while or a little over.

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