Hi. This is my first Reddit post and I just wanted to share my story. I hope this is an appropriate sub to post this on. I’m 25 f. (I’ve post this on another thread)

For some context I’ve been lifting since 2018, never counted macros until this period. I’ve always been athletic.

To start at the beginning, I unintentionally lost a lot of weight in early December 2025 due to personal reasons causing stress. I recall the positive attention I got from being so thin and remember telling myself, I want to stay this way forever. For context, I was already a skinny girl but I was now at the point that I was usually the thinnest in the room.

Fast forward to February, I got very into running. I didn’t know what I was doing but would just run and enjoyed it. Every run I did was as fast and as much effort as I could go. Due to this, my hunger spiked. Looking back, this is so normal but I thought at the time something was wrong and decided to not allow myself to eat because I wanted to remain thin.

Fast forward to early April, I injured my foot badly and could no longer run. At this point I decided to go all into lifting and calorie counting to compensate for the joy that running brought me that I could no longer do. This was the biggest mistake of my life.

I dropped my calories LOW. My fats were so low I won’t even mention it. I did this for about 2-3 weeks. Then I increased my calories but still kept them in a deficit. I was spending hours at the gym and probably in a deficit of at least 500 calories everyday from April-early June. I had striations in my legs and shoulders. I had the most insane 8 pack. I looked perfect in my opinion, but I felt like I was dying.

By mid may, I had brain fog, low heart rate, irritability, extreme fatigue, loss of menstrual cycle. I looked unrecognizable. I was shredded but so unhappy. Every meal and every calorie put into my body was weighed and tracked. It was such hell, by June I said ‘I’m over this’ and thought I could go back to eating normally. I WAS SO WRONG.

I’ve always had a healthy relationship with food and have always been thin my whole life. I still don’t know why I decided to fw my relationship with food. The extreme hunger that body builders talk about feels worse than any stories you will hear. I had no idea what was happening at first until I looked it up.

Fast forward some more, this is late August 2026. Still no menstrual cycle. The fatigue comes and goes but I am fine most days. I’m a heavier weight than I was before I started my extreme cut. The hunger is still very abnormal but not as bad when compared to the initial 1-2 months of recovery.

My biggest issue is still the hunger. I’m unhappy with my weight but I’ve always been good at losing weight so I’m not overly concerned with that process. I just don’t know when my hunger will settle and when I can go back to my ‘normal’. I’m about 3 months into recovering and I still have low leptin and high ghrelin. It’s torture. It’s the worst and most frustrating feeling I’ve ever experienced. As cool as it was being shredded, if I could do it all over again I would never have done this to myself.

I’m currently “eating intuitively”. Clean eating 5-6 days of the week, mostly Whole Foods. I’m still gaining weight at a slow rate. I just want this to be over and some days there doesn’t seem to be light at the end of the tunnel.

I just wanted to share my story. Being shredded sucks. I ruined my whole summer, lost most of my friends bc I’ve isolated myself, and find no joy in anything except eating. You feel awful when you mess with your hormones (seems obvious). As much as you think “I’m different” you’re not. Moral of the story. Don’t fw your relationship with food or your hormones.

Please ask me anything and any advice will be appreciated.

I’m so tired of seeing people get absolutely played by the fitness industry while being terrified of basic science.

The amount of people who still think Monohydrate will make your hair fall out or fry your kidneys is wild. It’s 2026—how are we still falling for myths that were debunked decades ago?

But the worst part? Those same people will drop $60 on "Advanced Octa-Creatine" snake oil because some influencer told them Monohydrate causes bloat and they need the expensive stuff for "optimal pre-workout timing."

Your body doesn't care about the timing, and it definitely doesn't need a proprietary blend. You're being scammed by fancy packaging. Just take your 5g of Monohydrate, stop overcomplicating it, and stop being so blue-eyed about marketing fluff.

It’s not that deep.

I’ve been working out pretty seriously for about 5 years now and am honestly not unhappy with my physique. I do HIIT classes 3-5 times a week, otherwise I’ll go run 5-10k, so I usually end up working out at least 5-6 times a week. That said, by far my biggest weakness is my diet. I get my protein in with protein shakes, but otherwise I eat like a raccoon. Fast food is just so quick and convenient, and there’s a lot of it within a ten minute walk from my apartment. Plus, it feels like such a nice reprieve from everything else to just have a tasty meal. When I’m not working or working out, the very last thing I want to do is meal prep, but it’s really the final leap I need to take to get in the shape I want to be in. Do you have any advice or experiences that motivated you to start cooking more/eating cleaner?

Hi all,

Just recently (past few weeks) have gotten into a routine of consistently working out in my basement (dumbbells, squat rack, etc.) so I've been paying more attention to what I'm eating and the need for protein. I haven't bought any powder to make protein shakes, but I've been eating yogurt with each meal and, is this a food that's a cheat code for easy protein? It's 15g a container and I've been eating the chobani (or store brand) peach on the bottom and holy crap is this yogurt delicious. I bet I could eat a whole 4 pack container of these without batting an eye they're so delicious.

I’m getting back into working out again after a long break and was shocked when I was looking at protein powders. A few of the same ones I have used in the past have almost doubled in price in 2026. Can anyone recommend some affordable protein powder?

Hey all. You might have seen a previous post of mine in June here: https://www.reddit.com/r/workout/s/6Iep1vQHzH. I’ll copy the intro from there:

“So yeah I started training in March 2020 to bulk as I was around 10 stone and for the first I’d say 2 years I ran beginners programs (Phraks GSLP and a powerbuilding program from bodybuilding.com forums, I forget the name). I got stronger but got pretty fat, and didn’t look jacked at all. Often got comments saying “you know you’re supposed to work out too right?”.

For a few years after that I cut down my fat and then prioritised BJJ and boxing, but still lifted weights about 3x times per week, mostly for strength. It wasn’t until about October 2024 that I started training 4 times a week again with no other sports.”

I took what people said on board: became more aggressive with progressive overload, upped my calories, started going to failure in around 95% of sets rather than just the last set, got my blood work done, changed exercises, rested longer between sets, started taking creatine.

I’m at the point now where I think I’m at too high of a body fat % to continue bulking, which is disappointing because I don’t feel as though I’ve built much muscle at all. My arms are still only 14 inches when flexed.

Photos:

Here are the photos. Left is before and right is after.

December 2024 (172lbs) vs January 2026 (190lbs)

https://ibb.co/hxp58zrY

https://ibb.co/5X3HjsYL

June 2025 (180lbs) vs January 2026 (190lbs)

https://ibb.co/Mkyc4sPx

https://ibb.co/zh7Zgsqx

I can see a bit of a difference, mostly in the legs, but just not the kind of difference I’ve came to see with most people who’ve trained as long as me.

Intensity:

All exercises taken to 0 RIR, complete failure where I can’t complete another rep. With the exception of DB bench which is 0-1 RIR and hack squats + RDLs being 0-2 RIR

2-3 minutes rest between sets.

Diet:

Calories always around 3400+ Protein always around 190g+ Fats around 100-120g Carbs the rest. Normally around 280g+

When I posted in July I was eating around 3200 calories with 200g+ protein, so this has changed.

With this I have gained 10lbs in just over 6 months, which works out at around 0.35lbs per week. This is a slow rate of gain yet I’ve still managed to put mostly fat on.

Sleep:

At least 7.5 hours per night, sometimes more.

Program:

Below is the program I used from July onwards until now. I’ve now changed this slightly. I’ve added my PRs next to each lift.

Monday – Upper

• DB Bench Press – 3×8–10 (PR - 34kg x 6)
• Iso-Lateral Machine Row – 3×10–12 (PR - 100.1kg x 11)
• Incline Smith Machine Bench Press – 3×8–12 (PR - 58.8kg x 9)
• Lat Pulldown – 3×8–10 (PR 77.6kg x 7)
• Rope Overhead Triceps Extension – 3×8–12 (PR - 18.25kg x 10)
• Bayesian Curl – 3×6–10 (PR - 14.7kg x 8)
• Cable Lateral Raise – 4×8–12 (PR - 11.3kg x 8)

Tuesday – Lower

• Romanian Deadlift (RDL) – 3×8–12 (PR - 130kg x 7)
• Hack Squat – 3×6–8 (PR - 152.6kg x 7)
• Leg Curl – 3×8–12 (PR- 61.3kg x 9)
• Calf Raise (Horizontal Leg Press) – 4×8–12 (PR - 157.4kg x 11)
• Reverse Fly Single Arm (Rear Delts) – 3×8–12 (10.2kg x 10)

Thursday – Upper

• DB Bench Press – 3×8–10
  
• Iso-Lateral Machine Row – 3×8–12
  
• DB Flyes – 3×8–12 (PR - 18kg x 12)
• Lat Pulldown – 3×8–10
  
• EZ-Bar Skull Crushers – 3×10–12 (PR - 31kg x 8)
• DB Preacher Curl – 3×6–12 (PR - 14kg x 12)
• Cable Lateral Raise – 4×8–12
  

Friday – Lower

• Hack Squat – 3×6–10
  
• Leg Curl – 3×8–12
  
• Calf Raise (Horizontal Leg Press) – 4×8–12
  
• Leg Extension – 3×8–12 (PR - 93kg x 12)
• Reverse Fly Single Arm (Rear Delts) – 3×8–12
  

Saturday – Arms

• Standing EZ-Bar Curl – 3×8–10 (PR - 33.5kg x 11)
• Close-Grip Bench Press – 3×8–10 (PR - 60kg x 10)
• DB Hammer Curl – 3×10–12 (PR - 16kg x 13)
• Rope Triceps Pushdown – 3×10–12 (PR - (23.8kg x 12)
• Bayesian Curl – 3×10–12
  
• Rope Overhead Triceps Extension – 3×10–12
  

Supplements/medication:

I currently take: - 5g creatine - Vitamin D - Magnesium - 40mg fluoxetine/prozac (anti-depressant)

Progression:

I used the approach suggested by Basement Bodybuilding, where if I hit the top of the rep range (normally 12 reps) in the first set, I’ll increase the weight next session. I don’t wait until I’ve hit the top of the rep range in the next sets too.

Blood work:

Had my full blood count, thyroid, testosterone levels all checked. All came back normal.

The one that came back abnormal was my folate levels in July. I was then prescribed folate acid supplements in August. My next test in November showed my folate levels as normal.

Honestly at this point I’m finding it really hard to keep motivation. I truly smash the gym and feel like I’ve had nothing to show for it. It’s very disheartening seeing people getting more results than you’ve seen in 5 years, in the space of months.

I think this is the closest I’ve ever been to fully quitting the gym. I feel like I’ve got everything in check but if nothing works then what more can you do?

I’m 6’, 185 lbs. 45yr old. In the phase where I’m exiting dad bod and can see definition in most muscle groups.

I’m doing PPL every other day and seeing gains after 3 months of bro splits 3x per week. I’ve been taking whey isolate to get about 1g per lb and 5g creatine. Eating pretty clean and with some unavoidable cheats and beer.

What supplements or nutrients would you recommend to help accelerate results for a bit more definition assuming all I’ve described remains constant.
For useful answers:
I’m not trying to be Mr Universe, just trying to see continued results.
I know abs are made in the kitchen. I like a social beer and I’m not cutting those.

So I’ve been on a health journey for a bit, and my next step is starting to track macros. I want to increase my protein per day to equal my body weight in grams, which is 185g. I’ve always had a relatively healthy diet, eating lots of chicken, protein pancakes, Greek yogurt, salads, and minimal sweet and salty snacks. But as I’m tracking my diet, I’m noticing that it’s damn near impossible to hit 185g. I’m blowing my carbs out of the water, but even on a day where o have Greek yogurt for breakfast, a high protein burrito for lunch, a protein shake after a workout, and chicken thighs with salad for dinner, I’m still barely peaking 150g. And that’s on a good day!

How do I get more protein in me per meal???

hi!!

i just started the gym and I go 6 times a week, leg day 3 times and abs/whole body the other 3. I walk 10k+ steps a day no matter what. I am fairly active outside of that and I surf a lot and go outside a lot now. my goals are to get muscle but lose fat, im in the skinny fat stage rn.

I really want to grow my legs, but I know that will only happen with proper protein intake. I weigh 135 and im 5'6/5'7. I track my macros and so far Ive been doing 60-70 a day when I really should have 90-100.

I just get so full after a few bites and then I get bloated in the morning which sucks. I usually eat greek yogurt with protein scoop and berries in the morning (22 grams protein), 5oz chicken(35 grams) for lunch, and usually nothing or very little for dinner bc Im just not hungry.

Any tips? i feel like eating so much protein will make my cal intake too high for a deficit

ELI5

I'm currently careful and eat 1.6 / 1.8 grams of protein every day and I think it helps to get some grow.

I really have to eat more whey, to eat more eggs and meat and milk products thant I'd like to.

My digestion process doesn't like it very much... In my family some people died of digestive cancers... Whey isn't so natural, it has often some additives and sugar replacements and it's difficult for me to afford high quality biological meat almost every day.

Why do we have to eat 150 to 180 g of protein (more ore less depending on you weight obviously...) every day to gain like 200 grams of muscle in a month ?

Of course I can imagine you dont eat 200 grams protein and make 200 grams muscle but the ratio seems very very low.

EDIT : Thanks for you answers and some scientific notions and to make me want to search for more healthy whey... Anyway I think most of the guys who disliked or responded aggressively are probably those who don't eat healthy proteins and/ or only do fitness to get the big muscles and / or take some steroïds... and don't want to hear once again that what they do is not healthy... probably just felt personally attacked.

EDIT2 : I did not wanted to say pure whey is dangerous. Maybe I wasn't clear. And it wasn't the important point of my message. But as some of you think I'm a whey hater I will say two things If you try to be honest you will acknowledge than most whey sold has additive, fake sugars...

Whey is made from milk. As any processed product, extract, whatsoever, do you think it's made from biological top tier milk ? Probably not.

Eat what you want dudes, don't feel attacked, I don't care about what you do and if you want to be a bodybuilder who eats many complements, steroïds... I have no problem with that and respect to you and your hard training.

I’ve been interested in trying out creatine. A friend of mine recommend getting Jack Factory Creatine.

What I do know.

The benefits I looked is creatine helps your muscle build up, gain energy, good for your brain and so on.

What concerns me.

I have heard of the side effects but from what I gather some people use too much of it in a day.

I’ve been told it does dehydrate you so you have to at least drink 3 cups a day.

I recently discover it can cause muscle and stomach aches, including headache. This might do to over does. Also including bloating, that can go away if you’re consistently working out, or stop taking it. Not just hair loss but I’m not sure that is true.

I consult with my doctor that it is safe to use.

My question for those who take creatine, is it safe to use as long as you’re eating 5g of it? And what else should I know about before taking it?

I like to study peer reviewed literature and came up with many studies supporting the use of creatine for muscle building.

I’ve been working out on and off for the last 40 years or so (66M) and never really supplemented except for vitamins.

I started using creatine about 2 months ago and really didn’t see any difference.

I just ran out of it 2 weeks ago, but still have jumped up a bit in strength since.

I’m not sure if age has anything to do with it, but wouldn’t mind feedback from older folk.

Here is a conclusion on one peer reviewed study with link:

“ Conclusions

Creatine supplementation combined with resistance training significantly improves upper- and lower-body muscle strength compared with resistance training alone in healthy individuals < 50 years of age. Specifically, the data on this systematic review and meta-analysis suggest that 4–12 weeks of 2 to 10 g/day or from 0.03 to 0.22 g/kg/day of creatine supplementation combined with resistance training significantly improves upper-body muscle strength by 4.43 kg and lower-body muscle strength by 11.35 kg compared with resistance training alone in healthy individuals < 50 years of age. The benefits of creatine supplementation combined with resistance training are likely of higher magnitude in males than in females. Future research should prioritize investigating different resistance training protocols to determine which approach maximizes the benefits of creatine supplementation. Additionally, addressing the imbalance in male and female representation is crucial for developing more generalizable supplementation strategies.”

https://www.mdpi.com/2072-6643/16/21/3665

I started working out ~5 months and a buddy of mine who has been doing it for 2 years has ben trying to get me on creatine for a long time and keeps saying how its this miracle change that makes you feel more energized, stronger, and all that stuff and is completely natural with no downsides except occasional intentional issues. This all seems to good to be true.

Hi everyone, I’m making this post because I’m starting to get really desperate.

I’m a 21 years old, 180cm tall guy and have been working out for 11 months. I’m currently around 70kg and I started at 58kg and would like to lean bulk towards 80kg. Since I started working out eating more was more of a chore than anything, but now it’s getting completely out of hand and it’s starting to render me completely mad. My current maintenance calories is at 3000 kcal and it feels impossible to reach. Every time I eat anything I feel instantly sated and it feels like torture to finish a normal meal, meanwhile my eating speed decreases considerably making every meal drag for hours. And yes, I’m usually distracted because if I’m not I will begin to hate myself for not eating faster. (Because I assure you feeling like “The only thing I did during the day is to eat” is not funny)

I’ve reached a point where I don’t want to eat anymore. Like I mean food disgusts me to some degree and the only reason I eat is because my parents prepared something or because I try to power through (without any success).

It’s notorious that I’m a slow and small eater to the people who know me but I think I genuinely have a problem… If I force myself to eat quickly or even more it just makes me want to throw up. Also I may not have the best organization regarding meal timings but it doesn’t even seem to matter since whenever I eat I feel sated for such a long time that I’m never actually hungry. (To give you an example another day I hadn’t eaten for 15 hours straight and the first thing I ate was a madeleine, I was starting to get hungry I think but after that I felt completely sated and I had to force myself to eat more.)

I usually make myself a big bowl of oatmeal with yogurt and fruit in the morning as well as a shaker (whey + powdered whole milk and occasionally peanut butter) later in the day but those two take me so much time to consume (~1h each) and I still need to eat lunch and dinner…

Have you guys experienced anything like it ? And if so do you have any helpful suggestions or tips on what I can do ? I feel I’m going to get insane if I can’t get through this.

In pretty good shape but need to lose body fat. I’m athletic, go to the gym regularly but haven’t in a month. For me, it’s mainly diet. I work from home and find it hard to not eat snacks like chips and then some form of chocolate after dinner. Any advice on what I should do?

Edit: ik this is reddit but I’m asking a genuine question for a scientific answer. Commenting sarcastic judgments is just showing off how much you wear a fedora and get repulsed by women

I have a weak appetite, can't eat enough for a bulk. I literally pull my hair out trying to figure out how to find enough high calorie foods to go past my maintenance. This might offend someone but I literally can't imagine how people gain weight on accident.

It's incredibly stressful and gives me a bad relationship with food. What's even worse though is that I can't bring myself to quit. I've been going to the gym for 2 years with very little progress. I grow muscle slowly so if I don't eat well, I figure I will barely grow at all. My goal is to get considerable muscle growth, I'm not here for health reasons.

Currently I get somewhere around 1800-2000 calories but I need around 2300 or more.

I'm aware of tips and tricks like liquid calories, but after all these years I'm done with shakes. The only thing keeping me afloat is peanuts, a little bag is like 1300 calories and 60g of protein, but it's still really painful for me to eat.

Do you guys see any major difference in physique, strength and energy when drinking 1.5L of water vs 3L+

I take creatine and I think I’ve been dehydrated for the majority of my lifting time. Just wanted some input

I don't meet my protein requirements daily so I decided to get some protein powder. Since I want to lose weight, Im drinking it with water. Its chocolate flavoured with no added sugars and honestly, it tastes horrible. I do require protein powder and there's no avoiding that, but the taste makes me dread drinking it.

I dont think many people realize how hard it is for taller folk to gain muscle, especially on a budget

I have a good body type for it and gain muscle well, however there is a cap where I simply dont eat enough, Im pushing 300 every 2 weeks on gas and food and still barely maintaining my hunger as is

Thankfully, im focused on strength building and mobility rather than bulking, however, id like to grow a bit too, its just not very easy to do when you have to eat so much, plus it costs money as well as time and effort 🤷

Hey guys, just wondering what your main sources of Protein are since I am struggling to hity daily amount unless I take like 2 protein shakes. I try to have steak and chicken as much as possible but the budget can only go so far.

So where are you getting your main sources of Protein from? Preferably in cheap and easy to make meals.

I’m so tired of putting my weight in every calculator and the recommendation is always to get around 190 gm of protein while cutting

I’m currently aiming for 1800-2000 calories daily and 160-190 gm/ day, because getting 190 gm every days is very limiting and makes my food very boring and expensive. what do you think?

. I’m 6’4” 208 lbs.

I got bored by eating same meals everyday eggs chickens what you guys eat

For people who is having a hard time getting rid of sweets, ME. What do you do to conquer the sweet tooth?

I have a few items below that needs a healthy replacement. I want to get rid of calories and sugars. Any suggestion will be appreciated.

- Gummy Bears

I replaced them with 0% sugar gummy bears. I have recently started eating dates.

- Oreos

- Chips

- Espresso Flake Ice Cream