Gaining muscle

[fitspogo]

I'm a female 5'1 17years old and around 97lbs. I'm currently working my way up to eating at maintenance cals (i had orthorexic tendencies and was under eating). I get 80-110g of protein daily and I lift 2x a week. I have HS soccer right now but after that ends I'll be lifting 3-4x a week. I want to gain weight, but mostly in muscle. Everyone keeps telling me that if I just lift heavy and eat a lot, it will become muscle and no fat. is this true? I want to be solid, toned, muscular but without cutting. thanks

[hurricane211]

Girl! total respect to you! First off if you eat a lot while working out you WILL gain muscle but depending on how much you eat, most likely you WILL gain some fat along with it. The key is to get the correct calories you need in order to stay lean but still add lean mass. I do have a formula for that. If you like PM me your weight and body fat %. Good luck in everything you do. Punish that body just to build it back up!

Your friend,
Heather

[Bout2break69]

If you eat over maintenance you WILL gain fat no matter hpw heavy you lift. In order to gain muscle you need to eat over maintenence though, so if you want more muscle you will ineveitably need to gain some fat as well. You can however keep the fat gains at a minimum by only eating about 200 calories over maintenece. If you add in 1-2 hiit sessions a week it may make you feel better if and when you decide to attempt gaining muscle, just make sure to add that into your activity factor when you figure out the necessary calories and macros you need. This may be a hard idea to grasp, (trust me, i know, im dealing with it myself too) but the little fat you gain will be completely worth the added muscle! You will have to cut to lose that added fat but you most likely will love how you look and feel moreso than now even before cutting. Heres the link to calculating youre calories and macros that a majority of the people on here use. http://forum.bodybuilding.com/showth...hp?t=121703921
Good luck with everything!

[oregonchick76]

You can't gain exclusively muscle - there will always be some fat with it. And women can only gain about 1lb of muscle per month under perfect circumstances, so you shouldn't be trying to gain real fast. Shoot for about a 1/2 lb gain per week, however many calories it takes to achieve that, and yes, lift heavy.