Have realistic expectations and try to understand that it’s not like on the YouTube. If you are in a caloric deficit, it is normal for the change to appear earlier, but the ones that are really visible from a general muscular point of view would be like this:
• From 14 to 30 years you grow much faster in muscle mass due to the level of testosterones. The earlier you start, the better. Real expectations approx. start from 8 months depending on genetics, how many days of training per week you perform, your diet or lean bulk, etc.
• At 30-40 years we have a weaker increase in muscle mass. At this age expect to see the first results in approx. 1-2 years or over.
• At 40-50 years muscle growth decreases even more and you have to work much harder for decent growth. Real results may come up in 1-2 years plus.
• At 60-70 years it is becomes harder and harder, but even though you are still able making progress.
Healthy lifestyle tips
It's not a diet, it's a lifestyle
YouTube influencers who changed my life
Every Youtuber mentioned here has extensive experience in his field.
Track your calories
• It helps you understand the macronutrients and micronutrients in your diet throughout your life. It lasts at least 3-4 months and believe me you will not die if you weigh a large part of the food you eat. You do this for yourself.
• On this occasion you will realize what “2000kj” means.
• You will understand the difference between diet, maintenance and bulking is not as great as you think when it comes to calories.
- Eat at least 1.4gr protein / kg body weight
- the first 1-2 years are considered newbie gain and you have to focus a lot on the execution technique.
- Eliminate stress and try to sleep at least 7 hours. Recovery plays one of the most important roles when it comes to muscle mass growth
- Find a workout / cardio plan that will make you happy. Without consistency / pleasure in training you would not continue this journey.
Track Your Body Weight on the scale in the morning after using the toilet.
• The scale should be on a flat surface and placed in the same position each time.
• Do not eat anything before you weigh yourself.
• Even if you are deficient, the weight will not be in a continuous decreasing line but as a descending graph with ups and downs.
• 1 gr of carbohydrate retains 4 of water. This is one of the factors why often the weight differs even if we are in deficit.
Don’t overdo it
• Breathe, because this is not the first time you face something new. Think of the first kiss, the first handshake, the first car in this range and you wanted everything to be perfect.
If one day you DON’T:
- measure food,
- reach 2gr / kg protein
- train or you eat at least 3 meals etc.
Nothing bad happens. The next day you just continue as if nothing happened.
I recommend a personal trainer who knows what he is doing and is dedicated to your plan and not in selling supplements and his nutritional plan .
Get a gym membership. Motivate yourself because you pay and so you can spend a month in the gym to try the training machines and easily adapt your body in the new routine. Follow up a training program that meets your requirements. It can be 3x, 4x, 5x, or 6 days of training.
Spend time on YouTube and learn to perform correctly each exercise. It is much easier to learn to train properly from the beginning than to spend more time trying to adjust your position after you have already done it wrong for some time. Moreover a bad training increases the risk of injury when you start to add more weight.
In order to reduce the risk of injuries, I highly recommend to slightly lower your weights at the beginning of your training, for the first 12-15 repetitions.
Include exercises to improve posture into your warm up exercises and never skip the warm up routine even if you feel tired during doing it. Since you haven’t exercised for a long time, it is normal for you to feel the warm-up like a workout.
Choose a training plan that also has compound exercises. If at the beginning you can’t do the exercises correctly, then don’t worry, it’s no problem. Start doing the auxiliary exercises until you reach the correct form of the main exercise. Avoiding to exercise is not a solution, it is an excuse.
When you are in caloric deficit phase you will not be able to lift the same weight that you lifted when you were bulking. When you lose weight, you also lose weight and the amount of muscle mass depends on how long and how much the caloric deficit is.
Food supplements help, but they don’t do wonders. Personally, I use protein powder and creatine monohydrate but I use protein in cooking when I feel the need for something sweet: protein bars, pancakes, ice cream, etc.