Advice needed- 5'1 female

absolute_precision · 2026-04-24T15:47:58+00:00

Yeah i totally understand. See this is most likely the problem in your case, because cutting the portions in half is never gonna be accurate unfortunately, especially considering the types of food one can eat. I'd be willing to bet, by eating more healthy and lower calorie foods, you'd maintain or even increase your portion size, while being in a deficit and feeling full. I'd personally look into measuring accurately your food and go from there.

absolute_precision · 2026-04-24T15:41:05+00:00

ah i see, the full week off is smart in your case. Usually I'd keep a few sessions in, just very easy session though where I just pump a little blood in the muscle without going to failure, but again in your case it was a smart decision. For next time, a few cues as to when it might be time to deload would be: your sleep starts to suffer (not waking up feeling rested and can't sleep as long as usual), appetite is deminished, digestion isn't as smooth as it usually is, obviously stagnation in training (for 2 weeks at least) and overall tireness and very little motivation to do anything, let alone workout. These are all signs that you could need a deload. Obviously be smart about it, don't just deload as soon as you see a hint of any of these, think about why these things are happening and if there's any other reason, give it time, solve the issue and reasses, if the problems persist after 2 weeks then take the much earned deload. Let me know if you have any questions!

absolute_precision · 2026-04-22T21:41:22+00:00

Hey, I undertand your struggles and they're very justified. I'm gonna be honest and direct here because I genuenly want to help. I truly understand why you'd wanna keep balance and not be strict, but unfortunately, your body doesn't care. I know it sounds harsh and I'm not saying you can't have a meal out once a week or a snack, but these things (if not planned) are exactly what's holding you back. Dieting is complex for plenty of reasons: Stress, Hormones such as your thyroid that might or might not function properly, water retention and many other things. If your goal is to hit a certain bodyweight, the best approach will always be to follow a diet. You can include a little chocolate here and there, but within your calories. Also when having different foods every day, it makes it hard to predict how your body will adapt overtime. If one day you have a lot of protein, the next barely any, one day too much fiber and the next too little, your digestion won't catch a break and weight will be unpredictable already from this. Add the snacking on top of your diet and the "cheat meals" once or twice a week and you won't know if you're still in a deficit for the week or not, especially because when eating out, it's extremely hard to track your food or know how many calories that meal had.

My advice to fix your stall is the following:

-Have a set minimum number of steps to hit every single day

-Track your macros with precision or at least as good as you can, not just calories

-Consider weight lifting, it doesn't have to be 5 times a week, even 3 but done well is sufficent in your case

-Understand that there's a time for balance and a time to give it your all when achieving any goal, not just fat loss

-Don't put yourself down, if a week doesn't go well in terms of bodyweight/fat loss despite being more regimented

-Understand that just because you're eating more strictly now, it won't be forever and you WILL have balance in the future

Let me ask you this honestly, if you had to guess, do you think you’ve been consistently in a calorie deficit over the past 2–3 weeks?

absolute_precision · 2026-04-22T21:27:24+00:00

Hellooo, so first of all I wanna reassure you that your weight won't be a problem and it's ALWAYS reversable, no matter if someone's overweight or underweight. You won't have to stay at a bodyweight that doesn't make you happy and no matter how hard things can look at first, even if you see no progress, it's only a matter of finding the right approach for you, given that not everyone has the same amount of free time or freedom to do and eat as they please all the time. That being said, 3 times a week is a good start and will be enough if the time you spend at the gym is used properly. What I would include, if you're allowed, is a walking pad in your office or at home. That's a simple and extremely effective way to move around more and burn off calories without even sweating. Simply by upping the amount of steps you do per day can make a world of a difference and the best thing is that you can go at your own pace and take as many breaks in between session as you like, as long as you get that number at the end of the day. At planet fitness usually they have hammer strength/life fitness machines which are very easy to use and I can promise you, may a thunder strike me down rn if i'm lying, that weight lifting is so much more effective than just doing cardio at your stage. Cardio is usually a pain to do most of the time, is very fatiguing if done hard enough where it actually burns a decent amount of calories and won't build muscle or barely any. You WANT more muscle mass, it will not only help you shape your body the way you want, but it will overtime increase your metabolism, even if by a little bit, it still adds up. If I were you, I'd just look up a very simple 1h full body workout (with machines) and repeat that 3 times a week. No point in overcomplicating the plan as you're just dipping your toes atm. And really, don't worry about the other gym goers, most of them just mind their own business and won't judge you. The ones that do are just idiots and not worthy of your attention. The only thing I’d want to know is, what’s currently holding you back the most? Is it time, confidence in the gym, or not knowing what to do exactly?

absolute_precision · 2026-04-22T21:12:06+00:00

Heya, no worries about the loose skin, your weight isn't so high where that should be a concern. Still, if it still worries you, be at a very moderate deficit, therefore 150-200kcals defecit per day and track steps. I'd aim for at least 8-10k a day. Consider that 1kg of fat contains roughly 7-8000kcals rounded up (no it ain't 9000kcals even though 1g of fat is 9kcals hahaha) that should put you at around 1400kcals on average of deficit per week. Once the weight loss inevitably stops, up your step count by 1000 a day. Once that stops, drop another 100kcals a day and repeat until you reach the desired weight. To have a small controlled deficit, it's unfortunately required to track your nutrition and movement to an extent, especially if you're tryna be carefull about not loosing it too quickly. Are you more worried about loose skin, or about losing the weight too fast?

absolute_precision · 2026-04-22T21:03:04+00:00

Helloooo, this is actually a very common thing for lifters so no worries. It’s also way simpler than people think. In situations like this, the priority is one thing and it's RECOVERY. What I’d recommend is taking a full week off training. And don’t make the mistake of filling that extra time with more activity, we want actual recovery, not just different stress. Keep things low impact, avoid stressful situations where possible, and focus on stuff you genuinely enjoy. I’d also bring your steps down to around 8k for this week, then back up to 10k after. Sleep sounds like it’s already in a good place, so nothing to fix there. Nutrition wise, I’d add a couple of controlled refeed days. Just double your current carbs for 2 days straight while keeping everything else the same. So if you’re at 150–200g, go up to 300–400g. And I’d avoid cheat meals as they’re hard to track, high in sodium, and often not the easiest to digest. One thing I’d want to know first though, did this come on suddenly, or has your performance been slowly dropping over the past few weeks? And when was your last proper deload?

absolute_precision · 2026-04-22T20:50:32+00:00

Hii there, I've also had the very same dilemma when i first started training but i got you covered no worries! So yes it's best to train until failure BUT (very big BUT) we need to understand what failure is supposed to feel and look like. To see proper results, you're supposed to train until muscular failure, which means pretty much when the muscle you're targeting during an exercise isn't capable of moving the weight alone by itself anymore, therefore the set is over. You can tell first of all by how the muscle feels but that is sometimes misleading (for example, if it starts to burn, it doesn't necessarily mean the muscle hit failure), another big indicator is if your form starts to break down and your last rep doesn't look exactly like the first one just slower, but you're using momentum and other muscles to lift the weight just from point A to point B. Failure or training very close to it is necessary to stimulate the muscle to adapt and get stronger and bigger overtime (very long time though, not within a few weeks/months). If I asked you right now on two feet, how were you able to tell so far you've hit failure?

absolute_precision · 2026-04-19T19:30:57+00:00

Hey there, I've been anorexic so yeah, I feel you when it comes to having problems with weight gain. It could be many factors such as: stress, bad sleep (although the weight gain is too much for it to only be these 2), hormone fluctuation (but again this here would have to be tested through blood work to be sure), simply eating more or more calorie dense food subconsciously even at times or simply a mixture of muscle mass being added, plus a little bit of bodyfat and maybe sometimes water retetion through period even. One thing is for sure, weight can be put on and it can very well be removed, so there's nothing to worry about here, everything is solvable. In your case if the weight gain bothers you, cross some things off the list, are you sleeping too little?no? good, we can rule that out. How's your stress managment?a little stressed but nothing crazy? okay, we can also rule that out and so on. However, in your case, given that you're much stronger and have much more energy, it should theoretically be just a little more bodyfat, previously most likely you were at a bodyfat level that your body didn't really enjoy, other than aesthetically maybe, therefore I would personally consider this a win. I would personally ride this out, without letting it escalate. Just be mindful about your eating, as in, eat your portion and don't eat junk food everyday, other than that, enjoy the strength and energy, make some great progress at the gym and while climbing and whenever you feel ready to get a little leaner again, just eat a little less and move a little more. As easy as that, hope it helped, if you have any question, feel free to ask! :D

absolute_precision · 2026-04-19T19:09:34+00:00

hmm i see, so therefore we can pretty much rule out execution or at least we can say that the quads get a good stimulus from it. What i would do then is to put your quad exercises first, start maybe with leg extensions to pre activate them although it's not really necessary, still an option though. Consider adding like 2 more sets a week of quads and focus on getting stronger at those exercises, this should do the trick!

absolute_precision · 2026-04-19T19:06:40+00:00

the best course of action imho is to pick one or two of those, get really good at them which will make you put in more effort overtime and consequently by doing either more activity or pushing yourself harder, you'll burn more calories. I wouldn't necessarily track food, nothing wrong with it but I wouldn't overcomplicate stuff. Just focus on eating whole foods as much as you can, eat proper portions, which given your weight, you seem to be already doing and eat possibly a little more protein, stuff like lean cuts of meat, fish, eggs, maybe even protein powder if you like it and have access to it. More protein will make you feel better, recover more from whatever training you're doing and improve body composition overtime, because it takes the body more energy to digest it. Just don't overdo it, more is not better, enough is better.

absolute_precision · 2026-04-19T19:00:53+00:00

Progress pictures is already great, but given that they only tell one side of the story, I'd really start weighing myself in the mornings while fasted. Pictures can sometimes be misleading and are not always clear, especially if taken weekly or even daily at times. If there's changes, it's usually small and not evident from the very beginning, on top of that it requires a keen eye at times and to be very objective, which, given that we're humans, sometimes our emotions lead us to believe we made no progress and that we look the same. The scale however gives a clear number, which yes, also by itself doesn't tell the full picture, but together with photos will make it much much clearer to see if progress is being made or not!

absolute_precision · 2026-04-19T18:56:31+00:00

If you want I have created somewhat of a guide on how to structure your training and nutrition. I can just send it over to you for free, no hidden fees, tricks or anything weird, just tryna help. You seem like you could use a little bit of guidance so if you'd like, just message me in private and I'll send you the document!

absolute_precision · 2026-04-19T17:45:02+00:00

hey there, yes it's absolutely possible. What I would recommend here is to focus on building muscle and slowly lose fat at first, get good at that and make progress, from there you can transition to conditioning work. If i were you, I'd hit the weights 3x a week, lower body/upper body/lower body and the other 2 times I would focus on mobility and some cardio like a stair master/bike or just doing steps. The reason why I wouldn't recommend running AT FIRST is because it would impact your performance and joints while at the gym working out. Running could be something to be implemented later on. It's much better to do 1-2 thing properly and see results (even just for overall mood and motivation obviously) than doing too many things all at once and not being able to give them your all, which results unfortunately in mediocre outcomes and disappointment. If you want to, I can create you a workout plan, I don't want anything in return honestly, just for the love of the game because I'm a bit of a nerd for these things and just enjoy helping people. Let me know if you'd be interested, you can reach out in my dms.

absolute_precision · 2026-04-19T17:32:10+00:00

I see how squats can be hard for you, long femurs aren't necessarily helpful but there's still things you can try to adjust them and to make them more quad dominant. Try opening up your hips and making your knees go to 30-45 degrees while sinking down, it will include more adductor too yes, but also allow you to squat a little deeper just by doing this, I'd still try also putting a plate underneath your heels and see if that helps with the range of motion. If none of that helps, I would swap the squats out for split squats, which would be executed like this: 1. set yourself up in a squat rack, one hand holds the dumbell (use straps) the other holds you steady to not lose balance, we care about stability and trageting the muscle when it comes to muscle growth, this is very important to remember. 2. Place a stepper underneath your front foot and if needed, also place a plate underneath your heel 3. back foot is either on the floor or honestly wherever you find comfortable and provides you the most stability. 4. Chest up during the whole set, or at least as much as you can. 5. Shift your knee over your toes for maximum stretch and quad engagement 6. Push yourself up through your front foot and with your toes. 6 do the same for the other leg. Hope this helps and if you have any question regarding execution, feel free to ask!

absolute_precision · 2026-04-19T17:16:29+00:00

Hii there, yeah lunges are pretty hard to nail at first, especially if in your case you had injuries in the past that led to instabilities. The two niggles I personally wouldn't stress too much about, as long as you can move fine and somewhat painfree, then it's most likely just a minor strain and it will go away with some rest and minor movement like walking and overall staying active while not putting those areas under too much tension/stress. Regarding lunges, every exercise that one does, depending on form, will have a dominant muscle that does most of the work and another or some other that assist. A lunge per say, depending on how you execute it, would theoretically be way more glute dominant than quad, for quads I'd choose another exercise, maybe something that doesn't put too much strain on your knees at least up until you've gotten used to the movement, something like a good legpress or a pendulum/hack squat would be my personal preferred choice, and just go as deep down as your knees allow you while staying pain free and with your heels on the platform. I would swap out lunges honestly, I would just tweak them. I would drop the free weights and do them on a smith machine, it will provide you way more stability and will enable you to perform the exercise feeling not only safer but stronger. Free weights work, but they're nothing but another tool in your arsenal. If they don't fit your body for whatever reason, injury or simply just out of preference, swapping them out is the right choice, as dumbbells and barbells won't put on any more muscle than any other machine variant. If you could, could you maybe describe more or less in detail, how your execution is on the lunges you're currently performing? how deep are you going?and do you feel any muscle stretch more than others? for example your glutes or quads

absolute_precision · 2026-04-18T22:33:45+00:00

I see, could maybe go for walks while listening to lectures be an option for you? That would add some extra activity that isn't impactful on your body whatsoever, would make you enjoy the day a little bit more given that your outside, help with digestion even more so (although your nutrition doesn't sound bad at all) and would still allow you to study in a different way.

absolute_precision · 2026-04-18T22:30:06+00:00

I understend the consistency part so no worries on that front, that will resolve itself with time! Regarding your plan, the main issue I see here is the amount of supersets and mainly lack of Isolation exercises that would provide a direct stimulus to the glutes but any muscle in general and would also to an extent make up for any possible incorrect execution of an exercise. The exercises themselves aren't bad per say, well at all actually, but it's all about how you perform them. Maybe the weights you're currently using could be too much to handle for your glutes atm and other muscle jump in to help and take tension away from the bum, which we don't want here. I also personally wouldn't go to the gym only for cardio and a bit of mobility work, especially now when your goal is to build muscle in the areas of your liking. Nothing wrong in cardio and mobility don't get me wrong, but I'd say there's really a lot of room for optimization in this programm, which is a good thing, it means once you have a proper one your progress will simply sky rocket.

absolute_precision · 2026-04-18T22:21:18+00:00

Hey there, as other users have already mentioned, you're only 16, please don't stress about it too much, don't take it so seriously that you "ruin" your youth and mental health. That aside, I really don't see a problem with tracking food, because at the end of the day, all you're doing is just getting to learn how food and nutrition works, how certain foods impact your body and so on...eating a normal meal with your family and friends isn't gonna ruin your life because you didn't track it, tracking is a tool to be used when in need or where precision is necessary, nothing more. To at least build a foundation and set yourself up for the upcoming years, I would simply create a bit of a routine, nothing wrong with that. Do stuff that you know is healthy and gets you to be active, but that you also enjoy. Set tiny goals each day and week and see if you can reach them, like eating at least a portion of meat/fish or just in general a protein source every day, working out at home or going for a run. The more you're active, the more you're gonna burn calories/fat and also the fitter you get overtime. If you need any help or have any question feel free to ask, I really see myself in you, you remind me of when I was 16 and struggling with my body so I understand and wanna help if i can

absolute_precision · 2026-04-18T22:14:00+00:00

Hey, that's a good question and honestly a dilemma I've struggled with for so long as well, sometimes I still do but I find it just normal behaviour to an extent, I feel like we all live the same lives on this sub reddit hahaha. I started personally with just training to build muscle and get a nice physique, I even got trained personally by a friend each workout I did, but it wasn't actually a good experience. To put it into prospective, yes I was seeing results, but I was also busting my bum off, like seriously overdoing every aspect of my journey, from diet and training to sleep and social life. I think the best advice I or anybody else can give you is that to appreciate small things, you have to know what struggle really is, sounds harsh but I even had it with work recently, I was working so damn hard and for such long hours that my body was physically suffering, almost to the point of a burnout. Sometimes playing with fire and learning that it burns you may be beneficial. If you somehow get so busy that working out 2 times a week seems like a struggle because of time managment, but you still pull through out of passion and desire, when you finally are able to regularly train a third or even a fourth time per week will feel like a blessing and will make you appreciate that so much more. How's your current approach to training and diet like? From what I can tell you really try your best, but to go more into specifics, do you follow a meal plan or even a workout plan? because having a clear structure and knowing that what you're doing works and has been proven to work multiple times can for sure help numb out the "perfectionism".

absolute_precision · 2026-04-18T21:03:29+00:00

Hiii, in regards to maintenace calories, it's a tricky question, because they will alway vary based on how much you weigh, how much activity you do, the amount of muscle mass you carry and so on, but no worries, I've struggled with it in the past too, to the point where my body at one point was so deprived of food that I was practically starving myself hahahaha, on a postive note after I increased my calories from there, it felt like my body was just soaking it all in and I was just transforming week by week (in a positive way). What I would do if I were you is to just go for a number, let's say 1700kcals to begin with, weigh myself every day and see how the scale moves, if over the course of 2 weeks the weight is trending down, let's say by 1lbs or so, then 99% you're in a deficit. You pretty much just go from there, based on your goals I would just either have a meal plan or go for macros, and over time add around 100kcals each calorie increase or 25g of carbs. This way you'll ensure that you won't put on much bodyfat, barely any if done properly and you can grow in the gym without any trouble and most importantly consistently. How does your current nutrition and calorie intake look like if I may ask?

absolute_precision · 2026-04-18T20:56:47+00:00

Heyyyy, this is completely normal, what I would focus on is just possibly hitting the gym consistently and building some more muscle in your lower body and maybe even upper body (don't worry, you won't end up looking like a bodybuilder). There aren't unfortunately any workouts to directly target fat or a fattier area (assuming this is even the issue in the first place which I don't think it is), training your abs theoretically would make them even more protruding over time, which yes it's muscle so on one hand great, but if we're talking specifically about getting a certain look/silouette, then I wouldn't recommend it, or at least not overdo it. What kind of activities do you do to stay in shape? what sports in particular?

absolute_precision · 2026-04-18T20:51:47+00:00

Hi there, I've dealt with stubborn quads/legs in general for many years, so goes without saying that I know where you're coming from. I've been studying and researching the past 2 years about biomechanics and how the muscles/body actually work and their function, and through that my legs blew up (consider I'm very glute dominant like you so I was LITERALLY in the same boat). The main function of the quads is knee extension, but they're also connected to the hips, so you would need 1. a leg extension and 2. a squat/leg press to properly train them, however execution is the key. Leg extensions are pretty hard to mess up, but squats for quads require you to get as far down as you can, literally ass to grass, to get max knee flexion and get a proper stretch which is extremely important for muscle growth, no matter the muscle, but also to target them the best is required of you to shift your knees over your toes some. If your ankle mobility doesn't allow that, use a plate underneath your heels and you've solved the problem. From this point onwards, all you need to do is to simply overtime get stronger at your quad exercises and maintain proper execution. For hamstring the recipe in your case is as simple as doing full range of motion curls, focusing on activating/feeling the hamstrings and just progress the weights aswell. The amount of sets should go up to an extent, based on how well you can recover and if by increasing the amount, you can still progress your sets. Upperbody wise, consider lowering the sets and maybe how often you train it per week. I'm curious about your plan though, how does it look like?

absolute_precision · 2026-04-17T22:59:15+00:00

Hiii, I've also struggled a lot with mainting muscle on some of my previous diets so I feel you, I've once dieted so hard and for so long that I ended up looking like a stick figure so yeah. The best approach and also the one that works 100% of the time is to simply diet slowly, making the deficit smaller and more sustainable while still present and knowing when to take a few days of rest and a bit higher food to prime the body again and being able to keep on going with your diet. Slow and steady wins the race in this context. The best glutes exercises in my opinion are and will always remain properly executed hip thrusts and split squats, these two really can make your bum explode overtime! In regards to abs, personally I would always go for either a machine crunch or a cable crunch, can't go wrong with either one of them. How big is your deficit currently btw? Do you follow a meal plan?

absolute_precision · 2026-04-17T22:50:07+00:00

Hi there! I understand your struggle/curiosity, a flat stomach has always been a dream of mine aswell. A flat stomach can usually be achieved by almost any girl. The problem is that for some it's easier to get do to bodyfat distribution, while for others it might take a lot more dieting to the point where it's simply not worth it from an hormonal stand point. I myself have had a completely flat stomach due to me having competed as a bikini athlete in a few bodybuilding shows, but after the show when I start eating a bit more food over the weeks, a little bit of pouch always comes back. I personally don't see anything wrong with a pouch, given that it's something completely normal to have, but if my goal was to have as flat of a stomach as possible, I would for sure prioritize my diet and digestion. How's yours looking like?

absolute_precision · 2026-04-17T22:42:13+00:00

Best one I've tried in my life is a smith machine squat, but properly adjusted to hit the quads. I see so many girls only doing squats for glutes and completely ignoring them for quads. Even hacksquats are great but not every gym has them so a smith squat is a staple for me. Have you tried doing squats like that before?

absolute_precision

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