r/gymadvice

Looking for advice on finding a sustainable, balanced routine for my body type. I'm 5’3 with a naturally curvy frame—I gain and lose weight easily, but I keep falling into "all-or-nothing" cycles and currently feel a bit "skinny-fat."
My Goals:
Glutes: Build shape, upper-glute projection (the "shelf"), and overall firmness.
Midsection: Toned, flatter stomach without looking overly shredded or hyper-muscular (aiming for an aesthetic similar to Georgina Rodriguez).
Sustainability: Break the restriction cycle, find a solid macro balance, and keep my results long-term so I can feel confident.
Past Dieting & Current Situation:
Previous Diets: I've done extreme low-carb/1,200-calorie diets in the past. I lost weight everywhere except my stomach, lost energy, and couldn't sustain it.
Carb Sensitivity: High-carb intake often leaves me feeling soft or bloated rather than energized.
Protein: My protein intake is currently way too low (~20g/day).
Questions for the Community:

1. Nutrition: For short, naturally curvy lifters who feel sensitive to high carbs, what daily protein target and macro split worked best for recomping (building muscle while leaning out)?
2. Training: What specific exercise selection and progressive overload strategies helped you target the upper glutes without overbuilding your waist/quads?
3. Calorie Baseline: Would you recommend starting at a slight deficit, maintenance, or a small surplus given my goal of toning up while building glute shape?
   Any insight from people with similar body types or fitness journeys would be massively appreciated!

First photo is my goal physique.
Next photos is my progress since September 2025.

I went from 62 kg to 54 kg.
Kept around the same kg’s in muscle.

Can someone please advise how to build a booty and how to achieve my goal physique.

I feel like I have not been growing any muscle except for my upper body and that you can only see when I pose in my last 2 photos.

I feel so good in my skin since I lost the weight, I’m super happy about it but I am in between minds if I still need to cut or something else to get to my goal. Also, I feel like in the photos it looks like I barely made any progress. My belly is flat but not ‘lean’ as how I would like it (see last slide to see my belly goals) therefore I’m thinking cutting till 16-19% bodyfat I’m now 21-22%. But I also would love to gain muscle in my legs and build a booty but it just seems impossible.

I track my macros, I hit my protein most of the time, train 4-5 times a week.

I'm 5'8 and 121 lbs for reference but I genuinely don't understand because it feels like I have a lot of muscle and I'm not skinny at all.

I got a DEXA scan done and it said I was 17% bodyfat. I need to cut down to 14-15% bodyfat desperately but that will require me to go down from 121 lbs to 117 lbs, and I really don't think it will make me look that skinny because I don't look skinny to begin with.

How is it that I'm 121 lbs yet I don't look frail or super skinny?

Would it be safe to cut down to 117 lbs at my height? It's only a 4 lbs decrease from where I'm at and would ensure I go from 17 --> 15% bodyfat

i wanna lose some weight and i don’t really know if im considered chubby or fat, but i definitely need advice on how to maximize results. i play volleyball and have played for abt 6 years, so i have a decent amount of muscle from that. i really wanna grow glutes and have a decent amount of muscle definition. i don’t get a gym membership until about october, but i can work out at home w treadmill and adjustable weight dumbbells. any advice will help.

I’ve always had this weird bump-shaped arms and it particularly shows on photos. I don’t know if it’s my triceps, my shoulders or something else but it looks bad and I’ve never seen anyone else with arms like that. I am not overweight either and I usually train regularly even though not a lot.

Can someone tell me what’s wrong with the upper part of my arms and if some exercises could help make them look leaner / less crooked?

im trying to get to like 185-190 without getting gaining much body fat percentage, if anyone got tips let me know. (been working out for one year)

@ 185 BW

Hi I’m just 16 but I hope I’m welcome, I want to ask people who absolutely despised their physiques worked it out? It’s at the point where I’m very ashamed to take of my shirt when Im swimming with friends or family. These are really the only pictures I have of myself, there’s only one of me in the gym since I’m too embarrassed to take photos because I’m afraid people will think I look stupid. I’ve only been training for about a year. I love the gym but I feel like it’s caused me more mental problems then good ones. This mostly stems from me being extremely skinny growing up, I still am but not as bad as before. There’s been days I’ve been really going thru about hopping on but I won’t really get into that since I know myself I’d never do it. How did u deal with this type of hate for ur own body. PS sorry for blurring pretty much everything I’m just really ashamed of this post and taking zero chances 🥹.

I’m a female (126lbs 158cm on creatine) and been going to the gym eod since february but see only little to no progress. Yes i do see a difference in my bicep / tricep but for someone who’s been going for almost a year now it seems like nothing and it honestly makes me lose motivation. I’m still a student so sadly i cannot go everyday and it gets in the way of my splits. I try getting 8-10k steps a day and do cardio + abs every split. I’m not sure if i’m lifting too heavy or too light, and how to balance my splits. I’m afraid if i don’t do biceps every workout it won’t grow at all since i do eod. Can anybody give me a good split or atleast fix my horrible split and simplify it? I’m trying to achieve way bigger arms, a more masculine physique and eventually a v taper. I’m also clueless on muscles and all i do is repeat the same 2 plan eod, i have no idea on what delts and traps are and i really wanna change. Im also willing to work on legs too but i really dont wanna have bulky legs. It’d be awesome if i get some help here

I eat healthy too and count macros
3 glutes day, 2 arms and back (i train quads too on one glute day)

idk what to do. I’ve been doing more reps on my left arm since I’ve noticed but gawd damn, it feels like my right arm is the only one growing. I’ve been going to gym for 2 months now so I still have a long way to go but any advice is appreciated 😭🙏

How do you guys manage sleep when training early?

I work out at 5 a.m. four or five days a week because it’s really the only time I have available between work and having three kids. The problem is that I often stay up late putting the kids to bed, getting things done around the house, or working late. That sometimes leaves me with only 4–6 hours of sleep.

Would you continue training consistently despite the lack of sleep, or only go on mornings when you’ve gotten at least seven hours? I don’t want to lose my consistency, but I also know recovery matters. What has worked for you?

hello people!! i'd rly love some advice abt what i should be doing at the gym (which i will have access to in less than a week, as i'm going to university).

i'm 137 pounds as a 5'2" female, so pretty much overweight. i don't have strong dislike for my body, but my back rolls make me incredibly self-conscious. i also have this weird section of my stomach that juts out, and i have no idea what the hell that is. maybe it's js my stomach being my stomach. anyways, i'd also love to gain more upper arm strength and visible biceps, and train my legs more. my inspo is 1000% leanbeefpatty. as for what i have been doing, it's mainly been running for the past few months (inconsistently) and doing calisthenics (relatively consistently) bc i didn't have access to gym, so i didn't see much progress.

i also can't get a personal trainer, so advice on diet and exercises/sets would be appreciated, too!

I'm 25 y/o female who wants to start going to gym and i took gym membership for a year but haven't been there even once. I am not going because in my plan I don't have a personal gym instructor and I have never stepped into the gym before in my whole life so I don't know how to do any exercise, what exercise is for which region, and what if i do any wrong exercise and i get a strain. I have all these fears because of which i am not going to the gym. What should i doooooooo......need serious advice!!!!

I already have an hourglass shaped body but now fat has started accumulating in my belly region and i have gained a lot of weight, i just want to regain my normal body shape again and strengthen my muscles...no bulking!!!

Open for suggestions.

This is my current physique, im kind of in dillema to what to do, in a sense of do i keep cutting to around 10-13BF%, which is probably fastest option, or do I shift my main focus on lean bulk where i gain some kg on but still wander around 12-15BF%