Females building muscle

47 and trying to add muscle but a little too scared to gain weight. I just finished taking off 35# to get to 137 (5'7). I have been maintaining at that with lifting and running. I have a beach trip in March and another trip in June. I do not want to look heavier than I am. I may try to just recomp until fall and then after running season, start a small bulk.

I've been bulking since October (summer where I'm at) and have not actually put on weight - my muscles have grown. The only bad side effect has been my stomach is a bit more rotund than I'd like it to be...

So basically last year I was not eating enough food to grow much muscle due to lack of knowledge, etc. Now I am currently eating at maintenance which is over 2,000cal due to my activity level. I'm going to see if my weight moves in the next couple of weeks and if not then I will start reverse dieting. Feel free to add me!

me too

FitGirl0123 wrote: »

Looking to add some fellow females working on building muscle

Me

At 114lbs at moment (gained 4lbs in the last month). Ive been hitting the gym regularly and the motivation is slowly returning. Trying to get to 135 lbs. Feel free to add!

FitGirl0123 wrote: »

Looking to add some fellow females working on building muscle

Would love to have you add me! Trying to work on building muscle after finally losing most of the weight I wanted. I'm a total noob and would love to learn from all of you!

Recently finished a 5 month bulk which resulted in a substantial amount of gains. I just started my cut last week.

Trying to gain muscle.

Probably just getting fat.

Noot30 wrote: »

Hi Ladies, can I ask a probably stupid question - when bulking/ cutting, how do you know how long to do either? What are the benefits to a cut/ bulk cycle rather than just progressive weight increases? I guess my short question is, why would i start a bulk/ cut? I've been lifting weights for about 6 months, and am finding I'm reaching a bit of a plateau in my increasing weights, and wondering if a bulk/ cut might help...

Thanks - sorry if this is in the wrong place, or I'm being dense....

First, do you want to gain more muscle and recompose your body or just get stronger?
Bulking and cutting isn't for the weak hearted, but it's incredibly rewarding.
Recomposing screws a lot of people's heads up as it's difficult to tell just what is going on and a bulk and cut cycle takes the mystery out of it. To bulk you eat 250 ish calories over maintenance to go for a half a pound gain a week. If you've worked hard and lifted 3 x week all body progressively getting heavier you'll have possibly gained 1/4lb muscle. Getting adequate protein and lots of carbs is key.
You do this til you can't do any of your pants up anymore and can't stand it!
It's worth doing a good ish long bulk but there gets a point when you will probably just be laying down a higher ratio of fat. People like to think you can just gain muscle without the fat, you can minimize it, but fat will be added, amongst other things.
I did a 3 month bulk and gained about 8 pounds. I started at 123lb though and very low body fat.
Most people gain a lot more, but I like to be light on my feet.

Then comes a slow cut, where you play it smart and target fat loss only.

It's amazing because it's very black and white, you can see what's happeneing and feel the strength gains in the weight room.

tephanies1234 wrote: »

Stopped dieting around early December and reverse dieted up to what I think is maintenance which is a "sloppy" 2200, but still testing it out. I tried that amount for two weeks and stayed the exact same weight every day. Brought it up to a "sloppy" 2300 this week to see what happens. Lifts still going up pretty much across the board, although upper body is still my weakest. Funny thing, I have never been able to do a pull up in my life, even at my lightest weight, and now about 8 pounds higher than my lowest dieting weight, I can do pull ups like I've done them all my life and I wasn't even practicing! Yay for a stronger back and arms!

Add me if you would like!

lol. I love how you call it a "sloppy" 2200. That's kind of where I am right now. I'm pretty sure my sloppy 2000 might be 2200. I'm gaining like crazy though. I have the most crap TDEE.

Congrats on your pull ups! What do you do to practice them? Every time I try and can't do one I just give up.

Joining in. I am kind of at a standstill here. I lift heavy 3-4 days a week. I had thought of trying an amateur-ish recomp and had MFP set to eat over my maintenance cals on lifting days and under maintenance on off days. But I am nervous about fat gains and really am not eating up to my lifting day cals ever.
Suggestions? The scale has remained pretty much consistent for about 6months but I'm lifting progressively more. I would love to lean out and have some more muscle definition but I also want to keep increasing my lifts.
Impossible? Is a cut what's going to show definition?

arditarose wrote: »

tephanies1234 wrote: »

Stopped dieting around early December and reverse dieted up to what I think is maintenance which is a "sloppy" 2200, but still testing it out. I tried that amount for two weeks and stayed the exact same weight every day. Brought it up to a "sloppy" 2300 this week to see what happens. Lifts still going up pretty much across the board, although upper body is still my weakest. Funny thing, I have never been able to do a pull up in my life, even at my lightest weight, and now about 8 pounds higher than my lowest dieting weight, I can do pull ups like I've done them all my life and I wasn't even practicing! Yay for a stronger back and arms!

Add me if you would like!

lol. I love how you call it a "sloppy" 2200. That's kind of where I am right now. I'm pretty sure my sloppy 2000 might be 2200. I'm gaining like crazy though. I have the most crap TDEE.

Congrats on your pull ups! What do you do to practice them? Every time I try and can't do one I just give up.

I think I got my first pullups from lat exercises and an increase in general back strength. I've been working them for about 7 months now whereas I never bothered with them before. I know people say they don't help to teach you to pull up and you need to do negatives and all these other things to practice a pull up, but I haven't bothered with pull ups this whole time. I literally gave up until the past week I just felt like doing it and I did.

I'm sorry about your crap TDEE. I still do some cardio though after each training session. I have a desk job so the gym is the only real movement I get during the week and I tend to go over my calorie goal everyday freakin day because I suck lol! It's only 15 minutes of hell....sorry, light running on the treadmill...very light.

Feel free to add me. I've just had my macros refigured for gaining a bit of muscle. This is my first week and the nutrition plan is running smoothly.

Sorry, I quoted my post instead of posting. So...reposting..

So, just to avoid disappearing into a neverending google search....you'd suggest I just hang out at maintenance, keep lifting and eventually some of the padding should go away?
And.....I calculated maintenance around 1700 (age 40.5/height 5'1"/weight 138/heavy lifting 3x a week).
Seem right??
and...THANK YOU!