How do I know if I eat too little to build muscles? Can I know this without counting calories?
Counting calories is something that everyone will benefit from.Regardless if you want to build muscle, lose weight or just want to eat healthy and maintain your body weight.Counting calories and having better understanding of macros (protein, carbs and fat) is something that if you learn and get used to understanding will get you a lot of better insight to what food really is.Back in the days I used to joke that I don’t see food — I see numbers; calories, protein, carbs, fat etc. I used, and still do, judge the food not by taste but by what it offers to my body.But I digress.In the very beginning of my training what I used to do is; I bought a scale. I used to weigh myself multiple times during the day and keep track of my weight and how it changes.One of the best ways is to just pay really close attention to your weight.Be careful though. Your weight will change depending on, say, you weighing yourself before and after you’ve eaten.There a multiple things that can make your weight seemingly change. (but this is not a real change in the weight)Dehydration.Eating food.Drinking water (or not drinking water).Going to the WC.Make sure you weigh yourself at the same time during each day. Having a routine is beneficial.For example — if you weigh yourself today after eating and you weight yourself tomorrow before eating there will be difference because of the food you’ve eaten — this will not mean you’ve gained or lost any real weight.Of course you can be losing weight and gaining muscle in which case there might be no real difference on the scale but this is not such a big concern at this point.Stay Positive!Miro
Am I able to diet for a flatter stomach (weight loss) and build muscle for bigger glutes?
It is absolutely possible. Even if you are on a reduced calorie consumption plan, you can still build muscle. There are a few things to understand. 1. Fat is fat and muscle is muscle. One doesn't turn into the other. 2. When you diet, your body burns stored fat as fuel so you are still feeding your cell what they need. 3. Most people only need about 6 ounces of protein a day. If you are working out, you can eat a little more, but your don't need to power load on protein. 4. It takes time to lose fat and to build muscle, but if your follow a good plan you absolutely can do both. Still, not every person has the same build. Two women who are both lean and toned can have very different glutes, thighs, hip-to-waist ratio, etc.
Can you gain muscle mass without counting your calories?
Short answer? Most definitely.Long answer? Still yes but counting is a tool that helps you, well, keep track.Just like how you are able to lose weight without counting your calories also.Counting your calories only does one thing. It gives you an idea of what your actually doing.Let’s say you are strength training for a month and aren’t gaining weight, what do you change? How do you know if you are actually eating more food? If you don’t track your weights and volume during lifting it will be challenging to remember exactly what you did. Tracking simply is a tool to help you understand what your doing.Lost weight this week? Why? Oh I ate way less than last week. But I wasn’t hungry this week, why? Oh I barely worked out and wasn’t nearly as active.See what I’m saying?Without counting you’ll still be able to gain muscle, assuming you are eating enough calories and protein. But when you start to get stuck you won’t know if you are actually eating more. You will also run the risk of eating too many calories and gaining a lot of fat.Hope this answers your questions. Best of luck!