r/leangains

I’m 5’9, 140 pounds and about 15% bf in my opinion not exactly sure. I’m trying to get lean and finish what has been over a year of weight loss. I’ve been going to the gym regularly doing strength training which has tonned my body but I still don’t look as lean as I want. I have abs but they aren’t super defined and when I sit down i still have pudge and no abs, not super vascular either although it’s increasing in my arms.

My current goal is to get to 130 and then lean bulk but I’m struggling to lose this last 10 pounds and really tone my body. Im just not sure if I can get there at this point as it seems even if I lose a couple pounds I get right back to 140 area.

Stop guessing your macros and following random workouts. Get the exact 90-day science-backed training and nutrition blueprint designed to rebuild your physique from home or the gym.

Hello, I'd like to enjoy two or three glasses of wine, but I'm afraid of losing the muscle mass I've built over the past three years. Since I started exercising, I haven't drunk anything. Note: the calories in the wine don't matter because I'm training calisthenics and burning a lot. What do you think? Do I deserve to enjoy it tonight with soft music playing in the background?

I’ve been going to the gym for the last 2-3 months - I’m 19y old female 160cm and about 44kg. I’ve lost some weight in the past due to stress and I wanted to start building muscle.

At the gym I usually do 3-4 sets of 6-8 reps till failure and I use progressive overload even tho it seems a bit slow with some muscle groups.

My main question is my diet- I don’t know how much I need to eat to effectively build muscle without gaining much fat. My BMR is at around 1.2k kcal , my maintenance at around 1.4-1.5k kcal. I’ve been eating 90-100g protein every day and over the last 6 weeks the gym scale showed 0.4 kg muscle gain (i know it’s not precise but ig it’s okay for tracking progress)

I honestly just don’t know how much I should eat because I really don’t want to gain visible fat (since a 1kg increase in fat does changes my body a lot. )

Also I don’t know if 3 sets either 8 reps is really enough? I just train the muscle till I can’t do the workout with a clean form/ can’t lift the weight anymore.

Another question would be if creatine is something I should maybe start , and how much muscle I could realistically build over the next 3-6 months?

Thanks in advance

I’m 6’1, 24 years old, 190 lbs (15% body fat) and I’m looking to start a lean bulk. Is Upper Lower Split 4 times a week better than 5 times a week?

I’m wondering which is more optimal for someone getting back into lifting.

Been working out for about for about 9 months, when I first started I got addicted and it was my life! But I Really started about 4 months ago and started tracking my calories, I began on a bulk trying to gain as much muscle as possible! At my peak i was around 87kg and 190cm tall. I’m now around 2 months into a cut and I’ve really leaned out. including getting bicep veins and visible ( 4 pack). But my strength and energy is very lacking. I’m eating around per day 200g protein 75g fats and cars depending on if I train or not. But I eat around 2300kcal a day+ cardio. I know it’s normal to go down in weight but I’m losing strength day by day! Opinions please

Hi all - I’ve been working out regularly for the last 6 months. I have made significant progress in the last 6 months and now I am at a point where I want to be fully serious and disciplined to achieve my goals of reaching 15-16% body fat. I have attached couple of my current state pictures (I think currently I’m at 23-25% bf). I have been struggling with calorie deficit on weekends, where I usually end up socializing and drinking with eating out. I also never counted my calories, although on weekdays I eat a balanced diet. Now I want to be fully disciplined to achieve my goals and I have come up with below strategy for macros. My goal is to drop to 15/16% bf. Your guidance will be highly appreciated. Below is my current daily macro goals (my height is 5’10 and weight is 190 lbs):

1. 180-190 grams of protein
2. 140-160 grams of carbs
3. 60-70 grams of fats (I don’t measure my fats but I am careful when cooking like using spray oils).

My weekends have improved now and are the same with the above macro goals with the exception of drinking 200ml of vodka with just lemon water or seltzer. Any changes or suggestions on the strategy? My height is 5’10 and weight is 190 lbs.

Note: for some reason I can’t upload my pictures on the post, but I’ve added in comments. Thank you!

Hey guys, pleasure to meet y'all.

I'm currently 18 years old, 5'11", 176 lbs and I have a chubby build. I wouldn't say that I'm overweight, but I do have fat that could be reduced. I have man boobs, chest fat and a double chin forming that I want to burn all of. I want to get lean, and get a good jawline.

It's very confusing on what my protein intake should be. I'm on a 500/kcal deficit per day, but the protein intake is very hard to know since all of these calculators are saying between 140g and 210g. That's a buffer of 70g, a huge difference that I don't like. How do I know exactly how much protein I need to consume on a daily basis?

Another question which I would love to know the answer to: Will fulfilling the daily protein intake requirement while staying in a caloric deficit help avoid me from losing muscle mass instead of fat?

Thank you everyone. It's a long road ahead of me but I've had enough of being ashamed of my body. I'm getting in the gym and locking in, I'm tired of being fat and feeling miserable, time to change it.

Hey everyone. I’ve seen some conflicting advice on this topic, so I’ll ask it here to see.

Consider the following scenarios:

1. Eat 300kcal surplus 7 days a week
2. Eat in small deficit (say 200-300 kcal each day Monday thru Thursday) and then eat in moderate surplus Friday thru Sunday (300-500 kcal each day Friday-Sunday to allow for some weekend flexibility)

Which is better? If you can build muscle in a deficit, why not go for the second? You will likely end up in a weekly surplus in the second scenario. However, it would be much less than the first scenario.

Thoughts?

Hello,

I have been on a weight loss journey for about 3 years now. I started at 342 lbs and am at 149.4 as of this morning. I started trying to find my maintenance at 1600 calories. I upped it to 1700 on May 1st, and still losing on 1700 cals — is this too aggressive / is my maintenance higher than I think?

29 year old Male, ~150 lbs.

Height 5’9ish.

I lift consistently 3 days per week and stay pretty active overall—average 7-9k steps a day. My weight trend is still drifting downward, even though day-to-day scale weight fluctuates a lot.

Recent averages:
7-day average went from ~151.2 → 150.3
Daily weigh-ins range roughly 148–152
Weekly trend rate is consistently negative

Training:

Lifting regularly
Performance has felt worse lately
Recovery feels poor
Energy feels “dragging” a lot of the time

Other context:

Long dieting history

I’ve become pretty nervous about increasing calories because I’m afraid of fat gain

But at the same time, I’m wondering if I’m actually under-fueling at this point

One thing making me question this is that my testosterone recently came back very low (roughly in the 100–200 range), which has me wondering whether staying at 1700 is digging the hole deeper. I know that I don’t hit the fats that I need to. Some days my fats are 30-40g.

My concern:

Mentally, 1900–2100 calories feels “high,” but objectively I’m still losing at 1700, so maybe my maintenance is actually closer to ~2000–2300?

Questions:

Does 1700 sound too low for a 150 lb active lifter?

Based on the trend, what would you estimate maintenance to be?

Would you reverse diet up slowly or jump straight closer to estimated maintenance?

Has anyone experienced low energy / hormone issues from staying too aggressive for too long?

Trying to find the balance between staying lean and actually functioning well.

I (27M) have been on a bit of a weight loss journey for over a year now and have lost about 34 pounds and am where I think I should be based on weight alone (188 -> 154 at 5 foot 10 inches). I am in that more annoying skinny fat stage now and am starting to work on losing that softer look. For that I saw it's recommended to eat closer to maintenance and spend more time lifting.

For context, I have been eating basically at 1700 calories a day and work out 4-5 times a week with a mix of lifting (PPL) and cardio (running, walking, biking, whatever seems fun). But I want to get close to 2300-2400 now (2600 is my recommended maintenance) as my lifts have gotten better but not as much as I wanted, cardio is good though (ran my first 5K just a few days ago!). I read that I mainly need to make sure I hit about 1 gram of protein per pound so Ive been hitting about 150-160 g protein for almost 6 months now. But Im actually not sure how to increase my calories without just eating a bunch of random stuff. This is a weird problem to have, I used to easily eat 3000 calories a day, but now that I haven't in a while, and am trying to stay to healthier foods, im not sure what to do!

I am pretty good about weighing my food, so here is an example of what I ate yesterday, and on most days:

Pre-morning run (~200 calories, ):

- banana, protein scoop

Breakfast (~500 calories):

- milk (200g), 2 eggs, chicken sausage, grilled chicken (50 g), cheese (15g)

Lunch (I dont eat lunch normally, it doesnt work with my schedule so I snack instead)

Snacks (~500 calories)

- Apple, peanut butter (30g), cottage cheese (200g)

Dinner (~700 calories)

- 4 tortillas, grilled chicken thighs (200g), rice (150g cooked), corn, vegetables,

At the end of the day I have eaten roughly 1900 calories and have hit 160g protein, 81g fat, and 118g carbs.

This means I still have about 400-500 calories left to eat? What would y'all recommend? Like I could just eat a bag of chips or a cupcake or something random, but that feels wrong to do, especially daily.

Not talking about motivation or programming — more the dumb small stuff that should've been solved by now but hasn't.

The thing that slightly ruins your workout or recovery, that you've tried to fix, that nothing really nails.

For me it's grip sweat during heavy lifts. Chalk is messy, gloves feel wrong. Still haven't found the right answer.

What's yours?

So right now I’ve been kind of new to the gym going for 8 months. Ive been going to the gym doing ululululr each week since I enjoy going to the gym and aim for at least 15k steps every day. I’m 6 foot 4 inches at 165lb (I’ve done a 4 week 1200 cal deficit to go from 190lb, and before that I would eat 1600 cals everyday from when I was 240lb which was at the start of the 8 months) and recently I’ve been eating at what I assume is my maintenance 2100-2300 cal 190p 260c and 50f as I’ve been hovering around 165lb for a week now with these calories. Throughout the entire cut I’ve been maintaining my weight on each machine and exercise and reps in the gym but felt really bad every day and never really progressively overloaded in the gym. I’m estimated from the navy body fat calculator to be 17% body fat and looking to get to 10-12% but be lean and toned (pretty much a fight club build but at my height) so I was thinking of trying to find my maintenance as I want to hover around 165-170lb and build lean muscle mass, aka recomp but I’m not sure how to find my maintenance/how much to eat. I really am satisfied with this weight but I have a lower belly that I want to get rid of and just be a lot lower body fat while staying at or around this weight. I basically would like to gain more lean muscle mass/recomp is what im trying to say. Any help would be appreciated.

So ive been cutting for the last 22 weeks ish I am 180cm(5’11) 19m and went from 75kg(165lbs) to 65kg(143lbs) my diet is:
~2020kcal ~200g protein ~215g carbs ~33g fats. Ive been mostly consistent at this diet as it is food I genuinely enjoy, but the diet is sort of starting to get to me and i notice that im really foggy mentally, my head hurts, constant thinking ab food, just everything revolving around food basically.
It would be great if anyone could share some thougts on what my moves could be to look aesthetically better and just make it a bit mentally easier as my relationship with food i feel like got bad, as i cant really eat other food thats not my meal prep and feel fine ab it mentally.

Hey, I’m 15 years old, 190cm tall and currently around 76kg.

I train at home 4x a week with adjustable dumbbells + a bench and also jog 2x a week. I’ve been cutting for a while and lost a decent amount of weight already, so now I’m relatively lean but still have a bit of a skinny-fat look around the lower belly.

I’m planning to start a lean bulk/recomp at around 3000 calories with ~150g protein daily. My goal is to build muscle while keeping fat gain as low as possible.

My question is:

How bad is it really if a decent part of your diet is “junk food” (for example eating a frozen pizza almost every day), as long as:

- calories are controlled

- protein is high enough

- you still get fruits/vegetables and enough nutrients overall

I don’t only eat junk food, but I do eat a pizza pretty often because it’s easy and fits my calories/protein. The rest of my diet is usually pretty protein-focused.

Have any of you still built good muscle and stayed relatively lean eating like this, or does it noticeably hurt progress/body composition long term?

I was thinking about getting to the gym as of recently. I like being skinny but would be loving to have a little bit of muscle, reason for this is that I actually wear a lot of girls clothes and I think it would be awesome to keep wearing them. As of now I eat at maintenance (2300 cal) and eat 120g of protein. Am I doing it wrong?

Hello,

I have made my own full body program for 3 days. Low volume high intensity. 1RIR.

Any feedback on it.

Thanks.

Workout A

​Leg Press: 2 werksets (Reps: 6-8 / 10-12)

​Incline Machine Press: 2 werksets (Reps: 6-8 / 10-12)

​Lat Pulldown: 2 werksets (Reps: 8-10 / 10-12)

​Lateral Raises: 2 werksets (Reps: 12-15)

​Triceps Pushdown: 2 werksets (Reps: 10-12)

​Calf Raises Machine: 2 werksets (Reps: 12-15)

​Workout B

​Romanian Deadlift (RDL) or Seated Leg Curl: 2 werksets (Reps: 8-10 / 10-12)

​Shoulder Press Machine: 2 werksets (Reps: 6-8 / 10-12)

​Seated Cable Row: 2 werksets (Reps: 8-10 / 10-12)

​Biceps Cable Curl: 2 werksets (Reps: 10-12)

​Leg Extensions: 2 werksets (Reps: 12-15)

​Cable Crunches: 2 werksets (Reps: 12-15)

​Workout C

​Hack Squat: 2 werksets (Reps: 6-8 / 10-12)

​Machine Chest Press: 2 werksets (Reps: 6-8 / 10-12)

​Lat Pulldown Close Grip: 2 werksets (Reps: 8-10 / 10-12)

​Cable Lateral Raises: 2 werksets (Reps: 12-15)

​Overhead Triceps Extension: 2 werksets (Reps: 10-12)

​Seated Calf Raises: 2 werksets (Reps: 12-15)

Hello all I am working with a coach and she has me on maintenance calories. I am getting stronger and increasing my weight/ reps each week. However I am seeing no visible muscle. I’ve been strength training for approx 6 plus months… I weigh 119lbs
Hip thrusting 225lbs
Supported Dumbbell RDL 70lbs
Leg extensions 120lbs
Leg press 240lbs

I was very weak after having my baby two years ago but now I am lifting way more even pre pregnancy

First of all, i am a 19m, i weight about 62,5kg, and i have about 1,65cm.

So when i started, i weigheted about 50kg, in about 5/6 months i reach the weight i have today, i go to the gym everyday, and my diet is literally about anything i can eat, i start my morning with 2 bananas, and a piece of bread, my lunch is about rice, beans, meat and sometimes noodles to help reach my calories, after, i drink a shake with milk, hypercaloric, banana and some oats, after that i have dinner, that is basically like my lunch and thats about that.

I wish to reach about 70kg or 65kg, but my friends are saying i should start eating more cleaninly, i was thinking in reaching 65k first, than start a diet.

So what you guys think?

I am traveling for 2 months straight. I will be active but have little to know access to a gym. I am planning on pushups/planks/runs for exercise but i am worried about loosing the muscle mass i have worked to hard to gain through weight lifting.

I am curious if taking creatine will help at all? I usually take it but was considering a break for this trip to lighten the pack but maybe its a necessity?

Thoughts? Thanks