Desperatly Seeking Muscle!

[dizzygrinch]

Hello, Im new here, and upfront I want to apologize if I post in the wrong section, or perhaps ask questions that may have been asked many times before. First, my main goal is to gain muscles. I am small framed, only 5 ft. tall, but I have a pretty high bodyfat percentage, I think. I am 35 yrs old, have had 3 kids, and I think my metabolism has slowed way down. I have been lifting, not competitive or anything like that, several years ago. I have started up again about 6 months ago, but just not gaining muscles. I do have a hard time eating enough, so I do have to rely on a whey protien 2 or 3 times a day. I supplement with creatine and glutemine, but I am looking for other supplements to perhaps boost things along. Im not ready for steriods yet, would like to try all options first. Oh, and I started taking DHEA, but was wondering what other supplements would help me along. Thanks so much for any help!!

 

[RADAR]

Hello, Im new here, and upfront I want to apologize if I post in the wrong section, or perhaps ask questions that may have been asked many times before. First, my main goal is to gain muscles. I am small framed, only 5 ft. tall, but I have a pretty high bodyfat percentage, I think. I am 35 yrs old, have had 3 kids, and I think my metabolism has slowed way down. I have been lifting, not competitive or anything like that, several years ago. I have started up again about 6 months ago, but just not gaining muscles. I do have a hard time eating enough, so I do have to rely on a whey protien 2 or 3 times a day. I supplement with creatine and glutemine, but I am looking for other supplements to perhaps boost things along. Im not ready for steriods yet, would like to try all options first. Oh, and I started taking DHEA, but was wondering what other supplements would help me along. Thanks so much for any help!!

first of all you need to learn to eat the right foods, and do cardio to get that body fat percentage down,fat hides muscle an excellent supplement would be cardio breeze or thermorexin from the af store

https://www.anafit.com/shop/


RADAR

 

[Daisy_Girl]

Welcome.

Post up your SPECIFIC diet and training program. All the supplements in the world will not do anything if these two things are not 100% on target. Supplements - glutamine, creatine, etc - are simply that .... SUPPLEMENTS to a good diet and training program. They do not take the place of, nor do they counteract a poor diet or training.

If you post EXACTLY what you eat everyday and what you do for training, we can tweak it and give suggestions on what you could be doing differently.

 

[Sassy69]

Hey dg - welcome to the boards! Yes! Definitely post up your diet so we can talk about some specific things that will get you started. DIET is 80% of your ability to reach a fitness goal. It seems like there should be pills you can take to help things, but there really aren't. Trust me, I've tried them ALL. Supplements are nothing more than SUPPLEMENTS to an already well-established diet & training regimen. It does take a bit of time to get things goign to see significant change, but it all needs to be tight and consistent, with DIET being your number one focus, training next and cardio as appropriate to your goals & body. I can attest to this - I have been lifting since I was 16 - I'm 40 now. But I didnt' actually get the whole diet & training thing to work until I started competition in 2000 and put the two together on a focused and tight program. I'm not saying you need to go into competition mode to accomplish anythng, but the concept is the same - takes DIET and TRAINING to accomplish your goals. Of the two, DIET is the MUST. To illustrate, if you aren't eating enough, particularly protein, you aren't providing the ingredients to build muscle. If you aren't eating enough carb then you aren't providing your body the fuel it needs for energy and it may be looking to your existing muscle to burn energy. Any of these and any combination of these will defeat the whole purpose of training if you don't eat right for what you are trying to accomplish. And contrary to popular belief, you have to EAT to LOSE BODYFAT.

RE: Steroids -- if someone tells you that X steroid or Y drug will make you lose bodyfat and lean out, tell them to go fuck themselves. (Or I will do this at your request.) This is often the shortcut recommendation guys will give to a lady who is walking around the gym looking for some way to start losing weight. THEY DON"T WORK THE SAME FOR WOMEN AS FOR MEN. And also, because you are totally new to this, have not established a tight diet & training regimen and are higher bodyfat, steroids are not anything to even bother considering.

 

[musclemom]

Oh, and I started taking DHEA, but was wondering what other supplements would help me along. Thanks so much for any help!!

I'm not crazy about a relatively young, assumedly premenopausal woman taking DHEA ... it's not going to do much for you, honestly. Listen to these smart, savvy folks here! I'm a newbie putz myself when it comes to training and diet, but supplements I know a bit. You really have to bear in mind, just because it's available over the counter in health food stores does not make it harmless; DHEA can have some very major, permanent sides.

Diet is such a major, major factor. It's almost like you don't believe it until you see it in action, though (been there, done that). The quality of the food, the proportion of carbs to protein, it makes all the difference in the world.

Just a thought to keep in mind with regards to training, particularly to gain muscle, don't dismiss the value of classic compound moves done heavy, i.e., bench, squat, deadlifts, pushups, pullups, pulldowns. They're hard, they work. I've heard about it, and seen it happen in my own body, you can be doing things like curls and so forth and not really seeing growth, but once you add in compound moves, bam, your whole body starts shifting.

 

[dizzygrinch]

Hello, thanks so much for the replies. It seems obvious to me now that I really need to work on my diet. I can tell you right now, I dont eat enough. I think my thinking is wrong, because I was trying to eat less to lose weight. I have a lot of food sensitivities, so I dont have much to choose from. For example, today I ate:

whey protein drink upon waking, cup of coffee

couple of hours later, 1 piece of chicken, peas, baked potatoe

then all hell broke loose, my dog died, didnt have much of an appetite, but did eat cottage cheese couple of hours ago.
So today was a really fucked up day, pardon my french. My usual day is:

protien drink and coffee in the am upon wakeing, Im allergic to eggs and oats, and extremely sensitive to wheat. Breakfast is hard to choose from. couple of hours later I try to eat peanut butter, sometimes if Im staying home and not going out, Ill have it on wheat bread, then couple of hours later another whey protien drink, then dinner Ill usually have a steak, or , you know it just dawned on me as I am typing (it really puts it into pespective) I dont eat enough! I eat fruit only couple times a week, if even that much, veggies and salad, about the same! I live off of peanut butter, cottage cheese, and whey drinks. oh, I do snack on cashews, I share them with my bird! someone needs to kick my butt, I cant believe my family and I are alive, I dont cook hardly enough. Thank god for school lunches lol! My training is now 4 days a week, I do try to lift as heavy as I can, but I find I get tired to quick, so I end up slacking in the end. I run out of energy. Well, I think I answered my own questions here a bit, so I guess I should really put some effort into my diet. Man, I suck. But, Im gonna change!!

 

[Sassy69]

Yep looks like you are answering your own questions. To help you get started on the right track start at the "Are you new to EF Ladies Board - START HERE" sticky at the top of the board.

To help keep your thinking clear, as you 've seen by listing out what you eat (i.e. your habits), you should do the exercise of entering what you eat into a food counts program like www.fitday.com (free account online) and see what you are really eating (or not eating).

Obviously you aren't even eating enough to fuel your 4 days workout routine, so you are actually putting yourself further at deficit because your body is going to turn to your muscle for energy when it isn't getting enough to fuel its activities ---> skinny fat and losing strength in muscles.

Let me give you an example of what happens when you don't eat enough --- my mom. She's 5'5" about 140-150 lb and was 40% bodyfat. She walks 5 miles / day EVERY DAY OF THE YEAR (regardless of weather & lives in N. Minnesota), does a step aerobics class at least 3 x/ week and has recently started doing some resistance training. She's 64 this yr and geneally in killer shape. HOWEVER, she doesn't eat enough protein. She & my dad are real big on fruit & stuff, but I'd bet she eats 2-3 servings of chicken/day. Guess what - her knees pop out of joint. Why? Cuz she doesn't have enough muscle to hold them in place. How weird is that.

But she can't figure out why she's 40% bf w/ all teh stuff she does. She doesnt' eat enough protein to preserve her muscle and she only very recently started doing resistance training to do the process of muscle tear down & build up. She's basically a cardio bunny. And she yells at ME for eating so much protein. Which of us has a 15" bicep??

So read that sticky very closely. THe Shadow's Project is a great diet to follow, or you can also take a look at the "Body for Life" book by Bill Phillips. You don't have to follow the trainign, but the diet is a great intro to the fundamentals of nutrition that I think is your biggest issue. There are ways to work around your food sensitivities -- I don't eat carbs other than potatos (so no wheat issues). My protein sources are chicken, turkey, eggs, steak, bison, tilapia, cod, orange roughy. YOu can skip the eggs easily. I use absolutely no dairy because I have no lactose tolerance from following competition diet for the last 9 months. You can look to some of the soy & tofu products possibly for cheese, etc.

I also think its important for you to get some good starchy carbs in you for energy. It looks like you follow somethign close to the Atkins diet (i.e. high fat, low carb) - which can be great for a while, but it absolutely sucks as a long term diet.

 

[velvett]

Hello, thanks so much for the replies. It seems obvious to me now that I really need to work on my diet. I can tell you right now, I dont eat enough. I think my thinking is wrong, because I was trying to eat less to lose weight. I have a lot of food sensitivities, so I dont have much to choose from.

protien drink and coffee in the am upon wakeing, Im allergic to eggs and oats, and extremely sensitive to wheat.

How are you with dairy?

 

[musclemom]

... protien drink and coffee in the am upon wakeing, Im allergic to eggs and oats, and extremely sensitive to wheat... Breakfast is hard to choose from. couple of hours later I try to eat peanut butter, sometimes if Im staying home and not going out, Ill have it on wheat bread,

First off, I'm so terribly sorry you lost your dog My pets are my furry kids, my sympathies so don't be too hard on yourself for a few days!

Now, when things have settled ... speaking as a celiac (intolerant of gluten) for over five years, if you already KNOW you're sensitive to wheat, stay away from it, seriously. You aren't doing yourself a favor by frequently eating something you have some problems with. Save eating it for really special occasions. I'd kill to be able to have a chocolate chip cookie just once a year.

Okay, there are a lot of other breakfast cereal grains that substitute for oatmeal and are wheat free: buckwheat comes to mind immediately. There is a slow cooking variety called groats and now a quick cooking variety that reminds me quite a bit of cream of wheat. Rice is good substitute and there are a lot of varieties (if you go into a health food store), that are higher protein and more satisfying than plain old white Minute Rice. A quick, easy high protein breakfast: add about 3 ounces of cooked white chicken to a half cup of cooked brown rice, about +/- 300 calories, just under 30 grams of protein, 22 carbs (numbers depend on the rice you use). You could add some broccoli or other veggies you have lying around.

Breakfast doesn't HAVE to be oatmeal or eggs, and those of us with food issues are forced to be creative.

A word about peanut butter ... man I love the stuff, I'm a total freak for it, but I just can't get around the fact that it's really not all THAT high protein for the calories (1/4 c. of 1% Friendship cottage cheese = 45 calories, 8 gm protein, 1 gm fat; 1 T. of natural peanut butter = 90 calories, 3+/- gm protein, 8 gm fat).

... My training is now 4 days a week, I do try to lift as heavy as I can, but I find I get tired to quick, so I end up slacking in the end. I run out of energy. Well, I think I answered my own questions here a bit, so I guess I should really put some effort into my diet.

I can honestly tell you, running out of energy like that is a direct result of diet, because it happens to me. I will totally wilt if I don't eat properly (for me, that means paying particular attention to protein intake) on weight days, it's particularly noticeable for me with my deadlifts.

 

[Sassy69]

Good advice! (That's why its the EF Ladies board...!)