I've been an athlete my whole life with most of it being spent on the soccer field or the track. My body type is small and it's easy to see my bones, especially my collarbone and shoulders. I was always self-conscious of it, so my freshmen year of college I decided to start hitting the gym regularly.
I'm in the blue romper on the right hand side and this is about 4 weeks before college.
I started going to the gym 5-6 times a week but I found that I was losing weight and not gaining muscle. I began to look at how much I was eating versus what I was burning. Well, I was burning 2x the amount I was consuming, so of course I wasn't gaining anything! I began eating more grilled chicken salads and using veggies as a filler for my mid-day snacks. Again, I wasn't gaining the weight I wanted in my arms or lower body, until I talked to my friend who was bulking. After talking to her, I realized I was doing way too much cardio (thanks Taylor!). I was running on the treadmill for 30-40 minutes 5-6 times a week and only lifting about 2-3 times a week. No wonder I wasn't putting on any muscle! After that, I started cutting cardio and only doing it 1-2 times a week and lifting 4-5 times a week. I noticed a major difference in the span of a year and now four years later, I have no thigh gap and have put on a total of 20 pounds of muscle. In the last year, I put on 10 pounds of muscle by lifting heavily, cutting out cardio, and eating more high-protein foods like chicken, yogurt, and eggs.
I am by no means a personal trainer, but if you have questions about what I did for the last year, feel free to reach out to me! I'm always up for helping people :)
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