r/femalebodybuilding

I want to start supplementing with creatine. I bought creatine monohydrate that id like to use. However, I have my first ever modeling shoot coming up and am scared of the water weight gain that comes with starting creatine.

For context, I have been bodybuilding for 1.5 years, weigh 122 with 27% body fat. Will starting the creatine a week or two before my modeling shoot make me appear as I’ve gained weight? Also, I am not doing a loading phase.

Any advice or stories are welcome!

Hiiii girls<33 anyone who has been on anavar have tips on how to eat? I'm looking to put on muscle but not body fat (ofc lmao). Was thinking of eating is a small deficit.

I'm planning to increase my calories in the next cycle, but I'm not entirely sure if that makes sense.

Stats:

F / 25 / 165 cm / 62.7-63kg / 15-20% body fat

10,000 steps/day on average, training PPL 6x per week and working in a warehouse.

After the last few weeks following my big Tirzepatide diet, I gradually increased my calories to an average of ~1,825 kcal. Despite that, I was still losing 200–300 g per week with just 10–20 minutes of Zone 2 cardio daily.

Starting yesterday, I'm running 5 mg Anavar for 8 weeks.

Question:

Should I drop the cardio completely and focus on weight maintenance, or should I actively aim to keep losing weight?

I’m really unsure. My AI coach says maintaining weight is enough because of the additional water retention from Anavar, and that I'll try to eat 1800-2000 Calories on average im planing on hopping onto Retatrutide because of my binge eating issues and klow for better regeneration and in hops of healing an shoulder injury.

In my last Var cycle, I was almost 10 kg heavier and still lost weight on ~2,000 kcal, but I don’t remember how much cardio I was doing back then, because I don't have a way to track my cardio.

Hey r/femalebodybuilding, 5'0, 110 lb 38F here.

So strength training/muscle building has been a hobby of mine for about a decade now. I have no desire to compete in shows, I just love having visible muscle and being capable and strong (not to mention all the other health benefits of resistance training). Lately I've fallen off the wagon for about 6ish months and I notice my strength has gone down noticably (because duh, of course it would).

I would love to get back into a routine and enjoy my hobby again, but I'm really struggling with energy and recovery. I work in a shipyard/in construction and I am absolutely shot by the end of the day. My toolbag weighs probably 30lbs and I'm carrying it around with me up and down stairs, ladders, etc. Then I'm using vibrating pneumatic air tools all day. My job often requires that I'm climbing around on things (with the tools) or scrunching myself up into super unergonomic positions. I'm also ascending/decending (no exaggeration) hundreds of stairs a day. I don't wear a pedometer because I'm sure the vibrations from the tools would freak it out, but I'm probably averaging at least 20,000+ steps a day.

I do my best to get as much quality sleep as possible even though I typically wake up by 4:30am. The main things I can think of to change are trying to work out in the morning before work and eating more during the day. I struggle with the first thing because I already wake up so early and I'm kinda attached to my morning routine. I struggle with the second thing because it's hard to house a substantial meal in 20-30 minutes and then go back to doing my work feeling too full/slow and a lunchbox would be one more thing to have to keep track of. I have a feeling more food is probably the answer (if there is one) so I'm going to try eating more in the morning to see where that gets me. What I actually wonder though, is whether it's even possible to work out enough to stimulate muscle growth and also recover from the workouts *and* the beatdown that is my job.

Can anyone here relate? What helped you?

165cm 24yo female
59-60kg (starting weight in Jan)
Currently around 63kg now

I've been going to the gym properly since January this year - I went a little before that but got pretty sick and had to take a full month and a half off, so lets just round it to 5 months total /consistently/ - I've been on a calorie deficit, I weightlift x3 times a week ( full body, 3 sets, 8 -12 reps close to failure), usually spending around 2 hours in the gym. I normally walk there and back, and the total steps for that is about 11k steps, so 11k steps x3 a week. I started attending kendo classes since the start of this month. Sometimes on days outside of the gym sessions I do take more walks where possible, always aiming for the 10k steps.

I'm unemployed and have been job searching since August , so going to the gym has been my one constant in keeping me sane.

I started skinny fat - very little to no muscle, and higher fat content.

I take creatine, collagen and multivitamins, I have cleaned up my diet, am watching my calories(tracking on builtwithscience): I'm for the most part in a small calorie deficit (apart from the odd day, family meals out etc) and ensure I always hit my protein requirements everyday.

But I seem to just be gaining more and more weight. I recognise that my water weight is the thing that is consistently going up, my muscle has too, but my fat loss has been extremely slow.

I know the overall trend is good, but I can't help feel demotivated when I know there are people losing in 1 month what it took me to lose in 5.

I do have subclinical hypothyroidism, and I am on depo provera, so I know this is likely the contributor, but as someone who used to consistently be underweight, with low food intake, I don't understand how I over the past few years have done nothing but gain weight, despite doing everything much healthier. I probably tanked my metabolism due to the chronic undereating.

I just want to look lean, but I'm finding it so challenging to see the results I'm wanting.

Maybe I'm doing something wrong? Who knows. Any advice would be amazing 😞

Since images aren't allowed, here is a text format, reduced results version of my FQ results.

There are actually around 23 data entries, but I've just showed 1 from each month.

FitQuest body composition trend — one check-in per month:

21 Jan 2026
Weight: 60.0 kg
Fat mass: 19.2 kg
Muscle mass: 22.5 kg
Total body water: 31.5 kg
BMR: 1251 kcal

26 Feb 2026
Weight: 60.9 kg
Fat mass: 19.3 kg
Muscle mass: 23.1 kg
Total body water: 32.3 kg
BMR: 1273 kcal

16 Mar 2026
Weight: 62.0 kg
Fat mass: 19.1 kg
Muscle mass: 24.1 kg
Total body water: 33.5 kg
BMR: 1309 kcal

24 Apr 2026
Weight: 63.5 kg
Fat mass: 18.4 kg
Muscle mass: 25.5 kg
Total body water: 34.8 kg
BMR: 1350 kcal

15 May 2026
Weight: 63.7 kg
Fat mass: 18.2 kg
Muscle mass: 25.6 kg
Total body water: 35.0 kg
BMR: 1353 kcal

Overall change from 21 Jan to 15 May:
Weight: +3.7 kg
Fat mass: -1.0 kg
Muscle mass: +3.1 kg
Total body water: +3.5 kg
BMR: +102 kcal

I have been craving hot pot like crazy, has anyone ever brought a scale to a hot pot restaurant? I know the sodium is high but that’s a given but it’s all you can eat so I feel like I’m getting more bang for my buck but I at least want to track it