Girl needs help with diet

A

Angel Rising

New Member
HI. I am about to try HST and though i have been lifting on and off for a few years but i haven't yet been able to get the results i want.

I am 6ft, and need to add some muscle mass (having little muscle mass at the moment) but also have some fat to lose. i have a hard time working out my diet so that it is clean and the right amounts etc.

From Bryan's BMR formula I have worked out i need around 2300 to add muscle (I think!) Can anyone help me devise a meal plan so that i get the right amount of protein, fats and carbs.

i know this is a lot to ask so any information, advice is much appreciated.
 
Forgot to add that i had been thinking of calorie cycling to get rid of the fat while building as much muscle as possible. never done it before though.

On the 'off' days, or cardio/rest days, i would do less calories then on my HST days. Does this sound ok?

Wasn't sure if I should do maintenance or below maintenance levels on these days though.

Any advice.
 
Well women are physiologically and hormonally different from men, and unfortunately the hormone most connected with muscle growth is testosterone, which women are typically much shorter on than guys, but then you don't want to do pro-body building so you can still get good results with consistent training, as the women I personal train always notice muscle development and tone in about 4-6 weeks.

Generally speaking, best results are gained by "bulking" and "cutting" periods, because growth requires above-maintainance calories while losing fat requires below-maintainance calories, so doing both at the same time is quite difficult. Think of your body developing in weeks and months, rather than days. Unfortunately not enough studies have been done on hypertrophy in women, but follow the same training principles as what has worked for others in the past, such as HST and plenty of protein and carbs, followed by a cutting period with restricted calories when you are happy with your growth. You will get the fastest results this way.
 
I replied on the other forum about diet being extremely important. Good proteins = chicken, turkey, fish, low/nonfat cottage cheese. Carbs from vegetables, some fruits and some whole grains. I feel best on a 40/40/30 zone-type diet but I increase my protein when I'm trying to build muscle & increase carbs when I'm riding my bike a lot.

Log onto fitday.com & get an account to track your diet. It is free. If you have to log what you eat, you'll be more careful about what you put in your mouth!

I don't calorie cycle. I think if you eat cleanly every day, you'll be fine. You build muscle outside of the gym & you must feed the process.
 
Thanks. i have been onto fitday. Basically I am working out what amount of carbs, protein,fat i need at each meal to get the right calories and working out what will supply those then setting up an eating program that is simple and going from there. A bit of trial and error I guess.
 
Like Peak_Power said, you'll have best results if you have a firm goal in mind - either gaining muscle or losing fat, but not both. Guys have it easier than women because of our hormones, and even we have extreme difficulty doing both at the same time.
 
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