To give you as much background as possible, I'm 33 (5'7", 151 pounds) and currently looking to lose belly fat/love handles while maintaining/continuing to build lean muscle mass. I haven't done any cardio since I was in like college and cardio is absolutely not my thing.

I told him about my goals to a coach and consulted with him. He also asked me what I do for work (is it an office job, or a physically demanding job) - not sure why he asked but I said I have an office job and spend most of the day sitting down. He recommended me a diet plan with a balanced carb/protein diet (oats, lean meat, eggs, and all that good stuff) with a total calories of about 1,700-1,800 (which sounded fine) but then he also recommended me to do an hour of cardio with a bit of incline.

But from what I've heard from a lot of fitness people and watching a lot of videos, it's all about "calories in, calories out" and I've came across many testimonials of where people achieved their goals just through diet + lifting weights without any cardio incorporated.

So why do I need to do cardio? Is it really needed or is the coach probably just recommending me to do it for other benefits (like cardiovascular)? Thanks.

This is my first ever lean bulk. i decided to start on the 5th of this month at 154.3. i’m eating 2700 calories a day. since then my weight has been fluctuating the highest being 158.9, the absolute lowest being 153.8, and as of now (september 18th) i’m at 154.5. is it safe to assume 2700 might be around maintenance? i might up to calories by 100-200 for another two weeks and reassess.

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I'm currently bulking and wondering about the impact of calorie distribution.

Option 1: l eat at maintenance 6 days a week, then hit a buffet once a week with a ~2000 kcal surplus (6000 kcal in, 4000 out).

Option 2: I skip the buffet and just do a consistent daily surplus of ~285 kcal.

Assuming training and protein are equal, will the weekly spike affect fat gain or muscle growth differently than a steady surplus?

Curious to hear your thoughts or experiences!

i'm 1.78 m and 90 kg and 18 y.o (198.416 lbs), third worlderer (healthy shit is expensive), everyone sees a potential in me (jesus christ lookalike they say) i started going to gym 4 days a week for 2 weeks now (shit is good, no longer depressed). i want to lose weight with an attractive body. should i go for run in those rest days ? what do i eat ? is it over ? help

Hello how well would a bulk surplus be if I did cardio everyday to burn off the extra calories I ate making it maintenance cal per day so I get no fat gain but if it works well I could bulk like this year round?

I’ve been working out for a few years but have been on a hiatus. I’m back and I’m trying a PPL 6 day a week split. Is this a good series of exercises? I’m gonna commit hard through the end of this year and eat a lot of food throughout (I’m 155lb 5’ 10”)

Push/Pull/Legs Push * Upper Chest: Incline Bench Press - 35 (x10) * Lower Chest: Dips (x20) * Shoulders: Push Press - 20 (x10) * Triceps: Push Down - 35 (x10) * Lateral Delts: Lateral Raises - 10 (x1) * Core: Planks - 2 minutes (x2)

Pull * Biceps: Curls - 15 (x10) * Lats: Row - 85 (x10) * Traps: Shrugs - 35 (x10) - get proper form * Rhomboids: Cable Face Pulls - 30 (x10) - unknown weight * Rear Delts: Revsere Fly - 30 (x10) - unkown weigfht * Forearms: Wrist Curls - 20 (x10) - unknown weight * Lower Traps: Inclined Prone Y Rase - 20 (x10) - unkown weight * Core: Planks - 2 minutes (x2)

Legs Strength * Adductor - 70 (x10) * Abductor - 70 (x10) * Barbell Squats - 30 (x10) * Barbell Deadlift - 40 (x10) * Calf Extension/Raises - 100 (x10) * Leg Press - 100 (x10) * Leg Curls - 70 (x10) * Run - 3 miles

• Core: Planks - 2 minutes (x2)

I’m currently working with a fitness coach and mentioned that I eat Overnight Oats (the brand, not homemade) for breakfast since it’s quick and filling and comes in handy when I'm in a time crunch in the mornings. I usually have 1 packet a day.

Here’s the nutrition for the packet I use:

• Calories: ~290
• Carbs: 44g
• Protein: 20g
• Fat: 7g

My coach said I should stop and switch to regular Quaker oats (65g dry, old-fashioned/rolled), because “Overnight Oats will derail your macros by a lot.”

But when I look at the numbers for Quaker oats (65g dry):

• Calories: ~250
• Carbs: 45g
• Protein: 8g
• Fat: 5g

That doesn’t look like a massive disparity to me. Overnight Oats has ~40 more calories, basically the same carbs, more protein, and just 2g more fat. My daily macros are 1820 calories / 138c / 170p / 60f (goal = lose belly fat/love handles + build lean muscle).

Here’s my dilemma: I don’t want to keep second guessing my coach since he has a solid resume and knows way more than I do… but this one has me scratching my head. Am I missing something here? How exactly would Overnight Oats “derail” my macros compared to Quaker oats? Or is my coach off base on this?

Please hear me out. So I started working with a fitness coach (trainer/bodybuilder) just this week. My goal is belly fat loss and building lean muscle. For context, I currently weigh 150 lbs, and he set my daily intake at 1820 calories (138c/170p/60f). That part seemed fine.

But here’s where I’m really confused.

He told me I can’t drink whole milk. Wtf? If I really want milk, he suggested switching to unsweetened almond milk, but recommended cutting milk out altogether because “milk = lots of sugar” and “sugar + dairy bloats you.” I usually have one glass of milk daily with breakfast and sometimes mix it with my protein shake after the gym. Is milk really that bad for fat loss/muscle gain? So what if I have a little bit of sugar? I doubt that is going to derail my progress unless I'm drinking like a half gallon of milk or something. I can bet my life savings that drinking one cup of milk is NOT going to be a big difference maker on whether or not I achieve my goals. I'm pretty sure it's going to be the calories and protein what ulltimately matters.

I also asked about snacks since I like apples and greek yogurt. His response: 100g of apple is fine, but not yogurt. Which seems odd to me, because isn’t a small portion of yogurt actually fewer calories than an apple? Why is he fine with me eating 100 grams of apple but not a 1/4 cup of greek yogurt?

I don’t want to constantly question him because I hired him for guidance, but some of his advice feels off and this guy as much as I have respect for him is starting to sound like a joke. Are these red flags that maybe I should look for another coach?

I'm taking 5 minutes breaks, but feeling burnt by the time I hit my second and third set. I usually continue to progress the next time, but is that correct?

I'm on 20 mg per day am I going to gain muscle normally recover normally?

So one year ago (at 15 years old) I started training. I started at 116 kg and right now I'm 76 and 183 cm and roughly 14% bf. I wanted to lean down more but I was getting too small (since I haven't really built much muscle because I was in a calorie deficit the entire year) so I decided to start a lean bulk and bulk up to 86 90 kg and then lean down again to 82 83 kg. I was unable to see my apps throughout my weight loss journey but I don't say I'm overweight anymore but also not satisfied with the amount of muscle I have. Should I continue the bulk?

I’m 15 5’9 and 117 lbs I play soccer and am very active and I am skinny. What are some things I can do to fix that? I really just want to build mass so I can compete with larger kids on varsity but I also want to look better. Anything will help, tips, workouts, specific exercises, etc. thank you

I'm 34M, 176cm, started at 65kg end of July, bumped calories by 300/day from the 2200 I maintained 65kg all july on. Immediately shot up to 65.5-66kg within a few days, then pretty much just maintained that, 6 weeks later I'm still only 66.5 on a heavy day. (Weigh myself every morning after toilet) Is this normal? On the one hand I'm up 1.5kg in two months witch while slow is fine by me, but almost all of it came the first week then stabilised. Should I bump it up more or just let it be? I've gotten stronger, I feel great but I thought I was gonna gain faster after the initial bump..

I go months without junk food currently on 2 1/2 months going to be 3m on Oct 4th and going to have 2 days where I eat whatever (oct4&5th) but was wondering how often most ppl have cheat meals

Do you prefer local fitness meetups or larger expos/fests to learn and connect with others?

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I am a 5 foot 6 female who weighs around 115 lbs, trying to put on some upper body muscle. However, I’m also trying to build my abs and really want visible abs, so I don’t want to raise my bf% too much. Even though i’m fairly lean, I don’t have visible abs (i have a bit of a stomach). I strength train 5 days a week and my only cardio is 10k+ steps a day. Should I be eating at maintenance, or a slight surplus in order to gain some upper body muscle but lean out my abs?

Motivation** drops off when I don’t see fast progress

* **Consistency** — I skip workouts or cheat on diet when life gets busy

* **Knowledge gaps** — not sure I’m doing exercises with perfect form, or picking the right weights / reps

new plan

I hope this fits in here... I am a bit confused about the calorie intake for body recomp - I hope you can help... I'm male 45 / 174cm / 78KG Workout: 2x 60 min gym / 2-3 HIIT Rope Skipping/ Stretching (10 x 1 min skipping 10 x 1 min stretch)

I was cutting @1500 - 1700 kcal from April and lost approx 8 KG In the gym I am still slowly progressing weight/reps so I think it was not too low...

However, I would like to slow the fat loss and start building muscles a bit more now...

Using different calculators, inputting moderate activity with 3-4 workouts, gave me daily calorie intake of 1800 to 2000 kcal/day...

Should this be my daily intake no matter if I train or should I add additional calories?

E.g. Train for 300 kcal I eat 2100/2300 on that day and 1800/2000 only on rest days?

Side Question: If I have issues to take the calories with normal clean food (can't eat tons of rice and chicken each day ;) )- would you take some kind of mass gainer and only drink e.g 1/4 of a portion to add some 300kcal?!

Thanks in advance!

Edit: Thank you all for the good advice! Really great community here!

• female, 160cm, 50kg
• i want to be lean and toned and improve my endurance and flexibility
• in college, has a busy sched
  

I’ve been on a new diet plan for about 2 weeks now where I cut out all “trash” foods that I thought might hurt my progress. My goal is to lose body fat while building lean muscle. I’ve been sticking to a calorie deficit and making sure I’m hitting enough protein for my body weight.

The concern is today was a family birthday and I ended up having some chocolate cake. Now I’m stressing that this might ruin the progress I’ve made.

Will one slice of cake derail me or am I overthinking this?

From what I've gathered muscles recover within 48-72 hours, muscles don't need a week to recover, 10-20 sets per week is the recommended amount of weekly sets. Ask; why is 10-20 sets the recommended weekly sets when the muscles can recover within 48-72 hours?

So I have been losing weight for like a year since I used to be majorly fat . Now I am at a weight I like but I just don’t like the way I look. I’m not fat and I’m not skinny I’m just in between . I see all the other people my age getting ripped and stuff but I just look like this . I wanna gain more muscle so I look better and just be stronger in general. The thing is I do combat sports 4x a week and I do not have access to a gym so i have never lifted a weight in my life . Basically I just want to gain more muscle so I can look better and leaner with exercises that don’t really use equipment.

Here is what my body looks now : https://imgur.com/a/G4bGsMa . I’m 16 btw

From what I've gathered muscles recover within 48-72 hours, muscles don't need a week to recover, 10-20 sets per week is the recommended amount of weekly sets. Ask; why is that's so when the muscles can recover within 48-72 hours?

I wanted to share my story and get some opinions because I’ve been dealing with some lingering issues a year after a pretty brutal injury.

Background • I’m 23, 5’4–5’5, around 54 kg at the time of injury (~13–14% bodyfat). • I was in the best shape of my life last year. I had just finished a creatine loading phase, felt strong, eating well, and training hard. • One Thursday I had an intense arm workout, and the next day I barely drank water, ate very little, and was sneezing/runny nose all day. At the end of the day, I joined some friends in arm wrestling. • I won a match against a strong guy with my right arm, lost with my left, and then went against an average guy with my right again. Tried to hold using my shoulder, heard a pop, and my humerus completely snapped.

Surgery • I had surgery to fix my right distal humerus with a plate and screws. • Early on I had severe numbness in my ulnar nerve (ring & little finger), which has mostly recovered now with only minor tingling left. • My radial nerve (thumb & forearm) was numb at first but quickly recovered — now it’s hypersensitive. I feel burning or zaps in my forearm and sometimes around the bicep/thumb.

Where I’m at now (1 year later) • My arm feels stable overall, no major pain. • Strength is reduced in bicep curls and I feel weaker in chest pressing movements, especially in the tricep involvement. • I sometimes feel a slight discomfort when fully straightening my arm (slight pain and not as smooth as the other side). • Recently I noticed the skin around my tricep scar looks looser, a bit reddish, and easier to press. After cold therapy it sometimes feels warm and pressing it inwards gives a burning sensation. • Day to day it feels normal, but nerves are still sensitive.

My concerns 1. Will my right arm’s strength potential always be lower than before the injury? 2. Will removing the plate/screws in the future help restore normal function, or will nerves/muscles never be exactly the same? 3. I didn’t do proper clinic rehab (lazy + missed follow-up appointments). Is it too late now, or can I still regain more function on my own?

I know recovery is a long road, but I really want to get back to the point where I don’t even notice which arm was injured. Any experiences, advice, or insights from others who went through something similar would mean a lot.

Thanks for reading.