F23, 5’5, 69kg / 150lbs, 38% body fat. training for 1 year. seeking advice on what to do next

[kateetak]

hi everyone. i’m F23. i started to hit the gym regularly just over 1 year ago.

before and after pics, and my first ever body composition reading vs today. both using inbody:

https://imgur.com/a/xFetBrU

i’m 5’5 / 165cm tall. i weighed less than 50kg / 110lbs most of my life. when i first hit the gym, i weighed around 55kg / 121lbs. over a year later, i now weigh around 69kg / 152lbs. i have a good relationship with food and i enjoy eating. i go to the gym around 5-6 times per week: 2 leg days, 3 upper body. i don’t really do cardio apart from warming up and cooling down

when i first started gym, i was skinny fat at 34% BF. from my latest reading today, my BF is 38%. i’ve also been checked using callipers a few months back and it was like 36%.

moreover, i’ve “only” gained 2.3kg / 5lbs of muscle mass in just over a year of gym, which is kinda disheartening if i’m honest. and according to the scans, i’ve gained around 7kg /15lbs of fat

i feel like i’ve hit a plateau and don’t know what i’m meant to do now. i’m very happy with my lower body “gains”. i went from having no ass to having one, but my gains seem mainly driven by fat as opposed to muscle, even though i definitely have some glute muscles. i’m scared that if i lose weight, i’ll lose my lower body gains.

i carry most of my fat in my lower body or back, and don’t carry too much in my stomach. i have no idea how to continue from here. does cutting seem appropriate given that i don’t have a lot of muscle to begin with? or should i aim for maintenance? or even continue bulking?

i’m vegan and probably get in 100g of protein per day… i’m guessing this needs to be up’d?

thanks for any advice!

 

[adrianemarthe]

@kateetak Hmm with noobie gains if a woman is training right she can put on maybe 12 lbs of muscle a year so it makes sense that a lot of it was probably just fat. You carry it well though and it seems like a large part of your goal was just to build an ass which you succeeded in doing even if it was mainly fat. TBH fat is always going to account for much of the volume there anyway—plenty of strong muscular women don’t necessarily have big posteriors relative to their frame if they don’t carry their weight that way.

I’m an inch taller and started at 116 lbs so not too far off from you and it took me three years to achieve an equivalent bulk to 145, where I have just been maintaining since. I work the equivalent of like two jobs and just don’t have the time or energy to stay on top of my fitness and nutrition. Not great at sticking to a program but did try to increase my strength loads the first few years, boosting my 1RM for DL up from about 115 lb to 315 for example.

Since you’re relatively new and don’t make any mention of your workout program or strength I think you can still make strength/muscle gains on a recomp or maybe cut on a slight deficit.

 

[d_parfozzi]

@kateetak How about trying cutting to a lower bf then bulk and repeat?

 

[philtheolus]

@d_parfozzi How about trying

Cutting to a lower bf

Then bulk and repeat?

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[d_parfozzi]

@philtheolus Woah my first time triggering haiku bot. Thanks bot cool

 

[springville]

@kateetak This reading doesn’t seem right. You seem way more muscular all over in the second pic.

 

[justmejoe]

@kateetak How is this 35 body fat

 

[lotharson]

@justmejoe If she's got minimal muscle then the results will skew towards a higher BF%.

 

[kateetak]

@justmejoe as in you think the body scans are completely wrong about BF%?

 

[st831]

@kateetak Too many good advices already, I would summarize in three:

1. Hit the gym harder. More progressive, less reps.
2. Eat more protein. Aim at 2g per kilo. Being a vegan, unless you are tracking, I would say is HARD reaching 100g without supplementing.
3. Eat on a SMALL deficit. Because you are aiming for 130g of protein, doing that is even harder. So I would recommend for you to add some walking. My rec would be walking uphill slowly (treadmill full up, 3km/h). Do that a bit everyday.

Ever that, check if you managed to lose fat and keep the muscles. If you want more muscles, go back to eating more, focus on protein, but don’t miss out on some light aerobics.

 

[hugejames]

@kateetak I’d get into a deficit of only 200-300 max calories below “maintenance” and keep lifting progressively- push the weights and challenge yourself. If you are wanting to lose more body fat for an upcoming event or whatever you can add 45min of stairs or cardio 3-4x a week. This will happen eventually if you get your intake in a deficit while maintaining 125-150 grams of protein but won’t hurt to add cardio for heart health. Just up to how much you want to restrict on your food. If you add cardio you can get a little more but too much will leave you hungry and tired and could lead to binge eating.

 

[sharon_m]

@kateetak One year into training, with your body composition, I suspect you would be able to continue making gains at around maintenance calories for quite some time. It sounds like you're interested in being not necessarily smaller but maybe a little leaner while continuing to build muscle, so a recomp approach seems smart for your goals. It's a long game, but there's no hurry. If you're not already on a lifting program with progressive overload built in, doing so will help provide a better sense of direction and progress than going by appearance and vibes.

But, you've made very visible progress so far! Don't lose sight of that.

 

[aureliasoleil]

@kateetak Hey!

You've already made some fantastic progress, so don't stress over the numbers too much. Maybe try adding more plant-based protein like tofu, tempeh, and legumes to help with your training. If you're feeling like you're stuck, switch things up a bit—add some cardio like brisk walks or cycling, or play around with your reps. Focus on maintaining while adjusting your workouts and diet to build lean muscle. Don't worry about losing gains or getting hung up on the numbers—just enjoy the process and keep going strong!

 

[gkorthodox]

@kateetak a big question here - did you still feel disappointed about your progress BEFORE the inbody?

something tells me the answer is no. your progress is insane! like you say, you have a healthy relationship with food, you enjoy what you eat, your lower body looks incredible, and you exercise regularly!

don’t let a composition reading (which are often fairly inaccurate - but that’s another story haha) ruin your perception of your body, your journey, and your progress. if you’re eating healthy, you’re active, and you’re proud of the progress you’ve made, you’re on the right track.

wishing you the best OP, keep doing your thing! you’re smashing it x

 

[dawn16]

@kateetak 2.3kg of muscle in a year for a woman is a huge amount of muscle to gain. It’s extremely difficult for women to gain muscle. You should be proud of that.

You’ll have benefited from newbie gains too, so it will be harder from now on unfortunately.

The other annoyance is that with muscle gain, comes inevitable fat gain.

I bet if you done a cut now you’d be astonished in the muscles you’ve managed to gain.

 

[itallgood]

@dawn16 It’s totally reasonable for a woman to gain 8-12 lbs of muscle in their first year of training when they’re following a program with progressive overload. OP probably hasn’t benefited much from newbie gains because they’re not on a program. OP probably could pack on another 5 lbs of muscle in the next year without changing anything because they can still take advantage of newbie gains, optimal programming or not, but following a program might change that 5 lbs to 8-10. 0.5 lbs/month is the lower end of the statistical average for women in their first year of training.

 

[christiansinamerica]

@dawn16

It’s extremely difficult for women to gain muscle.

Absolutely false.

 

[dawn16]

@christiansinamerica Pull the other one!

Women have much lower levels of testosterone coupled with the monthly hormonal tornado going on in our bodies.

Again. It’s extremely difficult for women to build muscle, so for the OP building 5.5lbs of muscle in a year is brilliant.

 

[thestvn]

@dawn16 women gain absolute mass more slowly but we gain relative mass at the same rate as men: https://www.reddit.com/r/StrongerByScience/s/FGMi3XN3ni

 

[murderer]

@kateetak Are you following a periodized workout program so you know where you have increased in strength that includes mobility and stability so you move well too?

Are you considering how to strategically fuel your body to ensure building muscle without putting on body fat? I’m also curious your decision to be vegan? Getting 100g protein vegan indicates a lot more calories required to hit the protein goal.

I agree Inbody is inaccurate because it measures water levels, which can be manipulated easily (you can change the Inbody reading of body fat and SMM just by a 20 minute sauna session for example) however, in can assist with determining trends over time. For example, using Inbody to see if SSM is increasing and body fat declining without weight increasing significantly is a good way to use the Inbody, generally. If you want a real accurate assessment of SMM and bf%, a dexabody scan would be ideal

If you want to look more muscular, you need a leaner frame so a properly structured cut might be wise, not a starvation plan (this will reduce muscle). Protein is key but so is energy balance (calories in/ calories out) for maintaining health bf%. If you can ONLY do a vegan diet that IS truly whole food based, you could consider EAAs as they may help with getting Luciene (amino acid) to the levels you need difficult to absorb in a plant based diet alone. If you would consider animal protein sources this option would be best For Your Goals.