Asherlee10 posted...
Sure! Honestly, I think my diet is the problem, but it could be my weight training too.
1. I don't think my macros are right (I don't know what they should be) to slightly increase my muscle tone from what it is right now, but then lean out more. I know you have to do bulk and then lean. I try to get about 70 grams of protein a day.
2. I don't know if I should be doing heavy weights to near-failure or failure or lighter weights with more reps (also to near failure).
This is mostly a problem in my upper body. I can gain muscle tone very easily in my legs, so genetics is probably playing a role here. I feel like my upper body gains are just unchanging at this point, yet I still feel stronger than I did 1 year ago.
I'm 5'4" and 115 pounds.
part 1:
Aside from protein (which you're getting enough of, just*) I think fat and carb macros are very individual. You can make academic arguments about what's "optimal" but ultimately what dictates diet success is adherence and what dictates adherence is how much you don't hate your diet. That's why people can a lot of success with a range of diets (vegan, paleo, mediterranean, keto, etc etc). If you try a diet type that people swear by and you hate every second of it, try something else. As long as it adheres to basic principles of nutrition you're good.
Small caveat. "eat whatever if it fits your calorie amount") is easy for bulking. For cutting, you're sort of bound to have to cut fat at some point simply because it's so calorie dense. If you try and eat a small amount of calories while keeping fat high, your meals will be miserably small.
Are you actually trying to bulk and then cut to a reasonable degree in either direction? People tend to plateau early if they aren't actually gaining a reasonable amount of weight for a reasonable amount of time. As far as women are concerned, the principle is still the same, but just scaled down slightly (so instead of 2lbs of gain per week, maybe 1lb per week) and it's harder to track week on week (because your cycle makes water retention kinda fucky).
Basically what I'm saying is, if you set the goal of putting on 20lbs over the course of say 5 months, you'd definitely be stronger and you'd develop a lot of muscle. Even 5lbs of muscle on your frame would be look really significantly different. Then set a goal to cut whatever extra fat you gained in like 6 weeks of dieting (because you can cut much faster than bulk). Caveat here is you sort of have to be ok with being heavier than you'd like, for a time. But if you did it this way you'd absolutely make gains I think.
*This is one area where it seems like women don't actually need less protein per lb than men. They just tend to be a lot lighter in general. 0.6grams to 0.8grams per lb of bodyweight is about right, so your 70grams seems ok there.