I eat chicken everyday for lunch with rice and broccoli, just the easiest meal for me to cook in the air fryer. But I'm hoping I can come and leech some seasoning/marinades that you guys would do daily? I'm a lazy cook who's looking for some quick ideas that will have at least some flavour. Thank you!

I’ve been trying to build my glutes for years, doing things wrong and eating wrong etc. The last year I’ve been doing everything right and eating about 1800 calories a day. I’ve barely noticed any change in my glutes but I’ve also gained so much weight and my waist is 5 cm bigger.

I’ve tried reading up on it but everywhere it says something different. “Yes you can grow your butt while eating in maintaining calories! No you need to eat a surplus!” I’m SO confused. My goal isn’t a huge bubble butt because I know that’s not possible for me, I would just like it to be a bit more lifted and toned. I don’t want to give up my slender waist and arms for a mediocre butt, I’d rather be flat and slim all over.

Please can someone tell me if it’s now possible for me to grow/tone and round my glutes without gaining more weight? I’m currently eating at about 1500-1600 and that’s where I maintain. I have also started lifting heavier than before. I don’t know what to do anymore.

Just wanted to ask

Hello!

As the title suggests, I not sure what to do next. I'm currently 5'6, \~130 lbs, navel measurement \~28.5 inches. I've been lifting and doing some ab training for a couple months now, but ab definition still isn't great (only visible in darker lighting, not visible at all in regular lighting).

My goal is to hit just under 10% body fat and have well defined abs all day in any lighting. Not sure if I should keep cutting (currently around 1800-1900 calories) or transition to a lean bulk. Is my body fat still too high or do I just not have enough muscle?

Any insight is greatly appreciated!

Workout assistance:

I am currently a 15 year old male, and I’m super skinny (40kgs) and only like 155cm tall. I please need help with a workout routine. However I don’t have access to a gym at all, the only thing I have is my mom moms bright pink 3kg dumbbells. 🙃 My goal though is to build an attractive, athletic and muscular body, so I can look good, and feel confident in my body, and who knows… maybe my crush would like me? (Jk lol, I’m not doing it just for my crush to find me attractive) but yeah I guess my goal is the looks, not necessarily the actual technical strength/fitness. (Even though that’s very important for your health, I feel as if my strength/fitness is at a good level, and I don’t really want to focus on that.) But anyways yeah, I wanted to know if anyone can recommend me a good workout routine please?

Diet assistance:

As mentioned earlier, I’m really skinny and I need to bulk up. I wanted to know if anyone has any recommendations, tips or advice in terms of diet. However, I don’t eat eggs or fish, and for dinners I can only really eat what my mother makes me. With protein shakes, a lot of them are only for 18+, so I’m a bit limited there. I also wanted to know if it’s okay to eat chocolates, junk food and that sort of stuff, because I always hear people say you should just eat salads and stuff, but I’m trying to bulk up, so should I rather still try to eat healthy, or should I rather take advantage of the fact that I’m trying to bulk up, and actually eat things I enjoy with lots and calories, and should I rather also try to prioritize the calories over trying to eat healthy foods like fruit or veg?

I swear I am going crazy. It's been like this every day for months.

Just to give you a brief overview: M26, 64kg, 176cm tall, hit the gym 5x a week, walk 12/13k steps per day and run 7km once a week just to keep my heart healthy.

It's been months now that I am HUNGRY. Always hungry. I could eat an enormous amount of food (like I just did) and feel still hungry and not bloated at all.

My working days are pretty much all the same:

- Wake up, walk 45min, go to work, have breakfast, go to gym, have lunch, go home in the late afternoon, have dinner, sleep. I have 3 meals a day, of which breakfast and lunch always the same:

1. Breakfast: 500gr skyr or greek yogurt, 100gr banana, 100gr mixed berries, 20gr oats, 12gr nuts, 9gr psyllium husk, 5gr chia seeds, 5gr honey, 3gr cinnamon powder.

2. Lunch: 150gr salmon, 230gr sweet potatoes, 250gr red peppers, 300gr zucchini, 60gr black beans, 5ml olive oil + seasonings. Twice a week I switch salmon with sardines or mackerel.

3. Dinner: 350gr chicken wings+drumsticks, 450gr butternut squash, 1 corn on the cob, 7ml olive oil, 6gr butter, seasonings. (Other dinners are stuffed peppers with champignon mushrooms, onion, tomatoes, beans and lean beef mince, or steak with eggs and avocado, etc etc).

2550kcal roughly per day from Monday to Friday. On weekends, I eat twice a day, usually my chicken wings+drumsticks and veggies for lunch and then other meals (I like to cook and experiment) for dinner. Every day, week days and weekends, I consistently hit 275gr carbs, 85/90gr fats, 185gr protein and 60gr of fiber a day.

Today? Today I worked from home. So, I woke up and immediately went to the gym, went home, had my coffee and started preparing my lunch after a while. I was hungry as hell.

I had:

- 50gr sourdough bread with 50gr cottage cheese.

- 400gr chicken wings+drumsticks, 400gr butternut squash, 200gr sweet potatoes, 1 corn on the cob, 6gr butter, 7ml olive oil, 30gr parmesan cheese.

After this, despite being an extremely balanced meal of 1500kcal (135gr carbs of which 20gr fibers, 66gr of fats and 110gr of protein) I was STILL hungry and had:

- 220gr carrots, 300gr spaghetti squash with a dip of 70gr cottage cheese and 5gr honey.

2 fucking kgs of food consumed between 12 and 14. AND. I. AM. STILL. HUNGRY.

What the hell should I do? I eat whole foods, I eat balanced meals, I eat fibers, eat proteins, have a variety of veggies. What the hell am I supposed to do more.

My weight is always the same. Consistent. I ended up a cut two months ago and since then my weight is consistent.

Theoretically speaking, if I already had well defined abs when I was a teenager but gained weight as an adult would I be able to reduce my fat around my abdomen just by doing bench press and maintaining a caloric deficit?

My current fitness plan is to cover multiple cardio activities while calculating my caloric balance with the food I eat and aim for a deficit. I’m just wondering if the above theory would work.

I work from home most days and I have a doorway pull-up attachment. On days I WFH I’d do a pull-up session during my lunch break as an addition to my gym training. These pull-up sessions are usually 4-8 sets to near failure (8-15 reps).

Been doing this for a few years and I do think that it helped with my back width, however idk how much of my back gains are caused by the pull-ups or by my gym workouts

I was thinking of setting an alarm to do a set if pull-ups every hour when working from home, on top of the lunch break sessions, and gym workouts. Then I start to wonder if just one set of pull-ups dispersed in hourly increments, where I’d lose the pump and TUT, would actually benefit my back gains.

Would these sets add up to some meaningful gains or is it just junk volume? Will the total volume help me adapt or will it cause me to burnout to premature deloads? Any advice is welcomed!

I've been thinking about how much equipment is actually necessary when the main goal is building muscle while keeping training structured.

A basic setup can cover a lot, but limited loading options and exercise selection may become frustrating over time. On the other hand, buying more equipment doesn't automatically make a program better.

For those following a structured training approach, how do you decide when your home setup is genuinely limiting progress?

I'd be interested in examples where someone made meaningful progress with a small setup, and what specific limitation eventually justified adding equipment. I'm more interested in training principles and practical experience than a shopping list.

Hey, so I just finished my 2 month Iong cut. I did progressively overload on all the exercises by quite a lot But, my muscles are really really flat and look almost the same size as they were 2 months ago. Today I did a carb refeed (400g carbs) and barely see any difference in muscle fullness or size? Is it because it takes 2-3 days to fully fill glycogen? In total, I have been training 4 x a week for 10 months. My goal is to gain back the muscle size and fullness. So please guide. Thanks for replying in advance.

Maybe this is obvious for many but not for me.

I am an ectomorph I would say, it's very easy to lose weight but to gain or maintain it's a challenge.

But how does it work with workouts and gains? If I workout without increasing the calories I will just get strong and defined but not muscular? And if I increase the calories the weight will go obviously up but what cause a lean gain vs a bulk? I'd like to take advantage of my skinny look and have a sleeper built physique one day. I'm working out 3 times a week since february and gained 5 kg but I m starting to have a bit of a swollen belly and some fat over my abs while in the rest of the body seems quite lean

Hey, so I just finished my 2 month Iong cut. I did progressively overload on all the exercises by quite a lot But, my muscles are really really flat and look almost the same size as they were 2 months ago. Today I did a carb refeed (400g carbs) and barely see any difference in muscle fullness or size? Is it because it takes 2-3 days to fully fill glycogen? In total, I have been training 4 x a week for 10 months. My goal is to gain back the muscle size and fullness. So please guide. Thanks for replying in advance.

I know nothing can be achieved quickly but..as a beginner struggling with right workout plan and diet, it becomes very complicated. Due to which one wastes a lotta time finding the true path

MY GOAL - is to get a lean aesthetic body with clear visible abs..V taper and bigger biceps within 18-24 months. Is it possible? If yes then I’ll be really grateful if anybody can guide me through pls..

I go to the gym but I don’t have a trainer sadly :(

Weight around 64kg..skinny fat kinda

Im a 46kg 14y/o and 160/161cm, yet still have that skinny-fat look.

Im a complete beginner for fitness, so I’m lost and don’t know how to actually do it. I know I have to eat more protein, but how much? Should i jog or just briskwalk? How long and how often?

Also, I’m about to start Muay thai and have already had my first class. There, we were weighed on a scale that shows stuff like your weight, bodyfat%, muscle mass, etc. Its rated like “Bad-Normal-Excellent” or something like that.

It says my weight is normal leaning on the skinny side, fat % normal, and muscle mass almost excellent — then why do i still have that skinny-fat look?

I was thinking of working out, training, and jogging/walking every week. But I’m not sure if its too much or what.

I’m 18 years old, weigh 57 kg, and my height is 5'10". My body is skinny, but my facurrently on a calorie surplus to gain weight and build muscle, but I’m worried that my face might get fatter too.

Does anyone have any advice on how I can gain muscle and healthy weight while keeping my face lean?

I’m a 70 kg 25y/o guy, I am going gym for last two months not having any protein powder or anything else till now. But maybe I may having it from January continuously. The thing I am having is, I’m having belly fat which we as Bengali normal have but overall body is quite okay, not fat induced. With continuous training I am strengthening my muscles also. But to reduce belly fat i'm quite confused. Because some people says, you reduce carbs consumption, belly fat will automatically get reduced. Some people says, increase your weight having good fat with abs exercise, later you just start cutting.
I'm quite confused hearing so many things. What you think on this?

This year I started my running journey from zero and reduced my lifting, from February I was running 3 days a week and lifting 3 days a week until I completed a half marathon at the end of June in under 2 hours 10.

Since the end of June and with my new found fitness I ended up getting back into football, so I currently run 2 days per week, play football 2 days per week and lifting 3 days per week.

It’s also worth saying that in January my weight peaked at around 88kg maybe at around 30% bodyfat, and since then I have reduced my weight to around 72kg and I probably sit around 16-18% bodyfat, eating around 2000kcal per day for fat loss. For context I’m 30, 176cm tall male.

I’m currently at a bit of a cross roads and not sure what to do. On one hand I want to continue the fat loss and aim to get to \~12%, but on the other hand I feel as though I’ve been in a deficit for so long that I need a break. My strength has reduced in the gym and all of my running this year has been in a deficit, so definitely feel my performance could improve.

I have another half marathon booked for next April, so want to avoid another training block whilst losing fat if possible!

What would others who’ve gone through similar fat loss recommend?
\- carry on the cut
\- take a period at maintenance
\- reduce my deficit

Any help appreciated!

Progressive overload seems straightforward until your home gym equipment limits how gradually you can increase resistance.

If your adjustable dumbbells jump by several pounds or your cable machine uses larger weight increments, how do you structure progression?

Do you increase reps first, add sets, improve execution consistency, or use smaller plates and accessories?

I'm interested in how people keep progression objective when their home gym doesn't offer the same loading options as a commercial gym.

Female, 35, 5'9" 155 lb. Goal weight 145. Averaging 1650-1750 kcals a day each week. 110-150 g protein a day. 3-4 liters of water. 7-8 hours of sleep, 10k steps on average, and 4 days weight training progressive overload with a coach. pull, glute/ham, push, quad/glute, started 5 weeks ago and have lost at least 3 pounds down from 158/160 fluctuations to 154/156.

This time last year I lost 20 pounds in 6 weeks doing the same thing but with twice as many steps and a more strict deficit of like 1400-1600 and intense yoga most days. I didn't drink any alcohol but went from 180 to 160.

Is two beers really that bad on a Friday night and hurting my progress? I feel like the social benefit far outweighs whatever progress I could be losing but i also really want to get back to my normal weight asap.

Also will i gain it all back right away when i start eating maintenance again if i stay just as active?

Thank you.

30, 183 cm, and 65 kg. I went from 50 kg to 65 kg (calisthenics) and now want to build muscle while losing fat to achieve a lean, shredded physique.

I’m not interested in bulking.

Goal (70-75)

I’m happy to take as long as it takes.

How do I accurately calculate my calories and macros, and adjust them as my body changes to maximize muscle growth while minimizing fat gain?

Looking for practical, (effective) advice on how to track progress and know exactly when to adjust my intake.

Thanks!

My goals have been to minimize fat gain while building muscle. I've been rather successful so far by eating 100-200 calories above maintenance (not having gained fat at all).

I've thought of the idea of feast and fast days (eating 5,000+ calories one day, fasting another). Has anyone followed with protocol with similar goals to mine, and if so, what was your experience?

Any insight is greatly appreciated!

I want to see my steps at a glance for the week on my phone as a widget. Is there a better one than Deez Steps?

https://apps.apple.com/us/app/deezsteps/id6814634601

Currently sitting at 203lbs with 30% body at 5'7. I always thought I'm not that bad looking but now I'm starting notice that being average with good social skills is not enough. I feel I always seen people who are slimmer and fit tend to be more attractive in social and dating settings. This just a curiosity I have notice upon myself and other on how they treat people are obese vs slim. Please share me your thoughts.

Hey everyone, does anyone here use at-home gym equipment rather than going to a public gym?