So me and my GF train together and I have a question I want to ask for her. So we are pretty hardcore in the gym and with our diets. I can pretty much manipulate my physique w/ in reason any way I want pretty decently considering I am and always have been drug free. My GF on the other hand cannot. We lift every other day and do cardio in between we count our macros weigh our food and diet pretty clean- tho she does like a glass or two of wine every now and again lol. She has a lot of muscle mass and is fairly strong (which I absolutely love) but unfortunately she has a layer of BF covering it all and we just cant seem to eliminate it. What’s weird is that even though the scale and BF%'s do not change much, in pics (we chart our progress when we try different things) you can see differences so what we are trying is having some effect but the numbers don’t change hardly at all. Bottom line she is 5’8" 175-180lbs. at roughly 20-22%BF. she would like to get to between 145-155 and at that weight she’d look pretty big and solid. She has pretty muscular thighs so she may even be good at 155-160 IMO. I mean we are not looking for competition BF #s here just to be clear. She takes in about 1200 to 1500 cals a day at 50p/30c/20f. we do a full body split EOD with cardio on non weight days. 4 sets 6-10 reps big movements with some iso movements. Any suggestions on how she can lower that BF%? she is open to anything i.e. a different diet, different training program, supps, what ever has worked for any of you. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks!!
I think something is off. For someone to maintain that size and activity level, no way those are the calorie numbers for a sustained period of time. Also, 50% protein would be very hard to achieve day in and day out.
she does. she tracks her food on myfitness pal. she has like 1 egg and egg whites and a slice of turkey bacon in morn then a shake w fruit and almond milk then lean turkey and veggies for lunch then either chx and white rice or a BP and some olive oil for dinner then a shake b4 bed with water. that’s basically a rough sample of her daily meals give or take.
I personally thought a 40p/40c/20f would be the best. but you think perhaps 2k cals at a 30p/50c/20f? I mean I give up trying to fig her macros out I know what works for me but after so much trial and error I just don’t know what would be the best macro split for her.
cool. thanks so much for the reply. ive kinda always felt she should eat more tho the macro split I didn’t know. but its always tuff to tell someone who wants to shead BF to eat more lol even tho I kinda knew it. thanks!!
I agree whole heartedly but its not an everyday thing and when she does its only a glass or two. not much I can do there she likes what she likes and you have to enjoy life too I guess. shes a great girl and I like when shes happy so I’m not gonna rain on her very few if not only vice lol.
@ Diet in a muscular woman who is 5’8"? Please read the conversation here, including analysis and advice from @mertdawg, @BrickHead, @brute_fury, and me.
All of the observations apply. I think mertdawg’s plan is solid advice.
That’s tough…all I can say is I personally would and have had a LOT of displeasure hearing diet or training advice from a significant other. To me its NOT COOL!!!
Not all women are like me, but personally my advice for a bf who wants his girl to lift would just to be supportive of whatever form of active lifestyle that makes her happy. Supportive, not a coach. Coaches and trainers have a place, I don’t think bfs or even gf’s should be each others coaches!
Lifting is not for everyone, and there are scads of ways to be healthy and active. I would direct her to websites ( like this one!) where she can learn on her own things that might work for her. Or she can find fellow women who she can feel comfortable talking to and asking advice.
Any man who has tried ( and failed ) to direct or be some kind of coach for my own health and fitness goals …it was NOT appreciated on my part!!! AT ALL. They may have had good intentions however for me its entirely too personal for a significant other to tell me to do and in a way crosses the line.
Advice from outsiders-yes. From a boyfriend- HELL NO. Be crystal clear that your girl requests you to do this before offering a meal plan, training program, etc. It can be quite offensive if she is not on board with this!
I also think the best way for her to succeed in a lifestyle change is for her to go for it on her own. Give resources and be supportive!! Encourage and root her on…but be very careful pushing other things!
EDIT: I see you listed that she is open to suggestions …I just want to advocate for her looking on her own!! I’d be pissed if a bf shared stuff on my behalf ! Not that you have bad intentions, just be careful! Men sometimes do not understand this!
I can see how a significant other trying to provide advice to be helpful would be construed as them judging you in a sense, but its so frustrating from our perspective. I have had multiple girlfriends who would rather listen to some hack “trainer” at a local chain gym who looks like a bag of ass themselves instead of me who knows what I’m talking about. Taking their word as gospel and disregarding my actual practical knowledge. For that reason I know to just stay out of it
My gf was lifting looooong b4 I came along that’s how we met. we both support and feed off each other and give each other constructive feedback and collaborate of various ideas and programs and diets. neither one of us has a coaches mentality and I am certainly not forcing her to lift bec its something I want a partner of mine to do. as a matter of fact she was emailing me all sorts of stuff today wanting my opinion on it from supps to diets to training splits to see if I thought it would work. and before I answered her I figured id post here because this is a great place to bounce ideas off and get feedback. moreover when I told her I posted here to get some ideas, she that that was nice that I took the time to care enough to take time out of my day to help her out.
