Am I eating too much? or Just right?

[samantha_17]

Hey everyone. My stats are
Female
5'4"
20 years old
148 pounds
30% Bodyfat

I'm trying to build some muscle for the next 5 months

this is what I started eating two days ago...have never really normally ate this much before till i figured i needed to bulk:
(All Clean sources):
proteins: chicken breast/salmon/tuna/shrimp/protein powder/
Carbs: Oatmeal/Sweet Potato/
Fat: Salmon/nuts/peanut butter

and here's my macros---
Protein: 168g
Carb: 145g
Fats: 53g

around 1700-1750 calories give or take.

is this too much for my weight and height?...or you think i could bulk for a little less??? thanks.

[Demagogue28]

It looks like you got some good food lined up for your diet. I'm curious, as a female with 30% BF why are you deciding to bulk? What are your goals? Why do you want to gain muscle?

Are you taking any supplements?

[samantha_17]

hey there...thanks for your reply

....My goal is to enter a figure competition within a year or so, so I'm trying to build some muscle .....and then lean down to around 12% Bodyfat. (=

[samantha_17]

oh...and I'm taking a multivitamin..pre-workout Nitric Oxide, and Whey protein powder

[Tommy510]

Hey everyone. My stats are
Female
5'4"
20 years old
148 pounds
30% Bodyfat

I'm trying to build some muscle for the next 5 months

this is what I started eating two days ago...have never really normally ate this much before till i figured i needed to bulk:
(All Clean sources):
proteins: chicken breast/salmon/tuna/shrimp/protein powder/
Carbs: Oatmeal/Sweet Potato/
Fat: Salmon/nuts/peanut butter

and here's my macros---
Protein: 168g
Carb: 145g
Fats: 53g

around 1700-1750 calories give or take.

is this too much for my weight and height?...or you think i could bulk for a little less??? thanks.

food choices are almost exactly what im eating, good luck with your goal!

[chaosad420]

Hey everyone. My stats are
Female
5'4"
20 years old
148 pounds
30% Bodyfat

I'm trying to build some muscle for the next 5 months

this is what I started eating two days ago...have never really normally ate this much before till i figured i needed to bulk:
(All Clean sources):
proteins: chicken breast/salmon/tuna/shrimp/protein powder/
Carbs: Oatmeal/Sweet Potato/
Fat: Salmon/nuts/peanut butter

and here's my macros---
Protein: 168g
Carb: 145g
Fats: 53g

around 1700-1750 calories give or take.

is this too much for my weight and height?...or you think i could bulk for a little less??? thanks.

Try eating that number of calories for a couple weeks and monitor weight change. One lb. of weight change weekly equals 500 calories/day over or under maintenance.

I'm not overly familiar with female bodybuilding, but 30% bf seems kind of high to start a bulk. At your current stats, you would have to lose 32 lbs. of fat to approach 12% bf (assuming you didnt lose any lbm in the process). Start bulking and that number goes even higher.

Good luck on your journey!

[betty5952]

Well, IMO if you are at 30 % you need to build muscle. Building muscle with 'clean' nutrients and heavy lifting followed by a cut...should work fine. She may have been likely eating 1700 calories daily anyway....so nothing wrong with cleaning up food choices and beginning resistance training.

I do agree that OP should monitor progress weekly, I would probably go by the mirror etc

With females, I really think it just depends on where a girls head is at as to how she feels a bout weight/the number on the scale and how BADLY she wants to get where she is going. It will take putting on some muscle with serious dedication in order to be competitive in figure, but of course it can be done. You could diet down first then bulk or take advantage of current strength levels and drop calories by maybe.....50-100 per week til you hit maintenance and just eat clean.

[chaosad420]

Well, IMO if you are at 30 % you need to build muscle. Building muscle with 'clean' nutrients and heavy lifting followed by a cut...should work fine. She may have been likely eating 1700 calories daily anyway....so nothing wrong with cleaning up food choices and beginning resistance training.

I do agree that OP should monitor progress weekly, I would probably go by the mirror etc

With females, I really think it just depends on where a girls head is at as to how she feels a bout weight/the number on the scale and how BADLY she wants to get where she is going. It will take putting on some muscle with serious dedication in order to be competitive in figure, but of course it can be done. You could diet down first then bulk or take advantage of current strength levels and drop calories by maybe.....50-100 per week til you hit maintenance and just eat clean.

Well put. Motivation/dedication is one of the biggest factors in successful bodybuilding. My original post wasn't intended to be discouraging, just realistic.

When females say bulking I assume it's similiar to male bulking, i.e. gain muscle and the fat that goes along with it. I'd hate to see the OP gain another 10% bf and see an obese person staring back in the mirror. That could easily be a negative motivational factor.

Both of your recommendations dont appear to actually be "bulking", at least in the way it's used by males. Sounds more like cutting or body recomposition (losing vs. staying the same weight). Both sound like good choices.