Female/not building lean muscle anymore

[goatnakilt]

Hey guys,
I’m 5’7, 22yo 135lbs female. I started lifting heavy two years ago after I recovered from an eating disorder via modeling career.

It’s been very difficult for me to gain any muscle or bulk. I was completely atrophied and couldn’t move the barbell when I started. I put on about 20lbs through increasing my calories/lifting heavier/progressive overload but it’s not storing well.

I eat about 2,500+ calories that consist of protein/carb/fat. I do 3 days a week of full body w/ percentages and one day of HIIT.

I’m getting increasingly frustrated as I see other women breeze through my max weights within months of lifting or when I don’t see any strength or physical results. My trainer says it’s because I’m not pushing myself hard enough, or that I need to increase calories.

I don’t know what else I can do. I always give 100% and follow my workouts to a T. I’ve been force feeding myself so often that I don’t even enjoy eating food anymore/I end up gagging it down.

I feel ashamed that even my 100% isn’t enough for results. Any recommendations that will help me feel like this isn’t all for nothing?

[jay283]

Don't be so hard on yourself. You're doing your best and that's enough. Trainers can be tough but maybe you could have a serious convo with your trainer so that he could get where you're coming from and see that you are trying your best.

I'm not the best to give advice on heavy lifting but applaud yourself for being able to do so at such a young age. About the force feeding thing maybe come up with cool recipes which actually make the food taste good, force feeding isn't the answer. Best of luck.

[mavd]

Hey guys,
I’m 5’7, 22yo 135lbs female. I started lifting heavy two years ago after I recovered from an eating disorder via modeling career.

It’s been very difficult for me to gain any muscle or bulk. I was completely atrophied and couldn’t move the barbell when I started. I put on about 20lbs through increasing my calories/lifting heavier/progressive overload but it’s not storing well.

I eat about 2,500+ calories that consist of protein/carb/fat. I do 3 days a week of full body w/ percentages and one day of HIIT.

I’m getting increasingly frustrated as I see other women breeze through my max weights within months of lifting or when I don’t see any strength or physical results. My trainer says it’s because I’m not pushing myself hard enough, or that I need to increase calories.

I don’t know what else I can do. I always give 100% and follow my workouts to a T. I’ve been force feeding myself so often that I don’t even enjoy eating food anymore/I end up gagging it down.

I feel ashamed that even my 100% isn’t enough for results. Any recommendations that will help me feel like this isn’t all for nothing?

1. Your trainer is right. Increase calories and effort.
2. Talk to your doctor because it sounds like the ED behavior may be resurfacing.
3. I recommend you look at pictures of yourself before and now. How is that not worth anything??

[ProYeo]

I eat about 2,500+ calories that consist of protein/carb/fat. I do 3 days a week of full body w/ percentages and one day of HIIT.

I’m not pushing myself hard enough, or that I need to increase calories.

How much P/C/F? Have you read the nutrition stickies at the top of the female forum? You require a certain amount of protein in order to build, you require a certain amount of fat for brain function, hormone health, etc. The rest of your calories aren't as important with the minimums met.

depending on your activity level and workload, you may need more calories. There are plenty of calculators online that determine your caloric and macro minimum requirements for gaining - but they are estimations. YOu have to experiment to find what works. If you aren't gaining, you aren't eating enough.

I'm 5'2", my maintenance depending on what I'm doing can be as high as 3500... gaining can take 4000+. I'm not suggesting you jump that high, only giving you some numbers to see one person's experience.

Properly fueled, you do the work. Progressive overload, increasing volume, increasing weight. But not properly fueled, you just spin your wheels. And the unfortunate reality is that to gain muscle, you gain fat. The trick is to slowly gain while doing that hard work - it's a bit of a balance to maximize muscle gain and minimize fat loss. But both will happen, that's why so many people on here discuss bulk and cut cycles.

[Partyrocking]

Can you post a day of your program?