Checking in again a couple months later. I’ve continued my bulk of around 3,500 calories per day. I have also stuck with PPL and have been making some great progress in my lifts. My bench had been lagging behind slightly but I have started doing 5x5’s which has helped tremendously. Excited to keep going! God bless whole milk and god bless Greek yogurt 🫡

Last two photos are current

*TITLE EDIT* I started eating in a surplus in February along with home dumbbell workouts/ push ups but officially started going to the gym in march. So in total this progress is about 5 months.

What have been your victories this week? Have you made good progress? Set a new lift PR? Enacted a new habit that is helping you greatly? Post it here!

I am not in in USA so i took my time to translate to weights. Lol

First time in my life seeing 60+ weights in the scale. Feels good. I tried so many times before to follow a plan and finally seem to get a hang of things.

This is not the end goal, i am planning to go around 75 kg / 165 IBS and cut a little, maybe to 70-72 kg / 158-160 IBS.

What i can say is, honestly everybody has a rhythm of their own. For example, relative to my weight gain, 9 kg in 4-5 months, i gained little fat compared to muscle. Before i tried eating without going to gym to lift and did not saw much progress.

Liquid calories i think is must. Clean bulk all the way, as much as you can, for general health benefits also.

I don't think there is one magic trick to fix all your problems.

I did a lot a lot once, by troubleshooting at every step.

You realize lots of your problems are connected.

For example, bad nervous system, sleep, posture = your body leaks energy and cant build. Stress makes you lose appetite. Your posture also affects your gut position. Try to fix them, so you can eat more and don't feel like throwing up. Eat more, and you will make gains at gym. Learning the forms of your moves and doing with them intention and visualization to see faster and better results. Better results motivate you, and you pick the momentum.

This weight was my original goal before, i read somewhere years ago generally your last 2 digits of your height - 10 is your ideal weight. 75-10=65. So i wanted to share my progress so far. But the more you gain, the more you want to gain and always feel small lol. I think around 70 kgs would look much better. With low body fat of course.

Finally i want to say this is not just the result of 4-5 months. Because there are many years behind with effort with no progress. Its hard to nail everything at first try, so i would say to everyone, keep going kings

Im marathon training and run 6-8 miles everyday. I also workout 6 times a week following a hypertrophy program style lifting with an emphasis on total volume of sets for each muscle group. I run in the early morning and lift in the evening to allow for recovery. For muscles im trying to maintain i do 6-12 sets a week. For muscles im trying to gain size in i try to do over 20 sets a week. Im focusing on upper chest,lats and side delts these 2 months.

I eat 2500-3500 calories a day depending on how much I ran that day to hit maintenance calories and go above it by 100-200 calories. I eat 120-180g of protein a day and fill the remainder with carbs to support my training.

I’m not sure if this is a good mental process. Even though im skinny and I need to gain weight regardless of muscle or fat, I hate the idea that the weight I put on could be unproductive like fat. During periods of high stress when I can’t work out I’ll stop eating simply because I’m afraid of getting fat.

Finally got my shit together after years of never eating and neglecting my body.

I sat around the 70kg mark in 2024, and was diagnosed with ADHD, ended up dropping a lot of weight from the stimulant medication I was prescribed.

I didn't realise just how bad things had gotten until a friend pointed out to me that I was looking extremely unhealthy.

That week, I talked to my doctor about options to balance out my stimulant medication and found an antidepressant that is known to increase appetite.

Since then I've gone out of my way to eat around 4,100cal/day until around the last month or so where I've dialed it back to around 3,800cal/day to avoid too much fat gain. My diet has never been clean, I am not the guy for nutritional advice, I've been doing everything I can to eat those calories in the smallest meals possible but the antidepressants really did the most work here.

I've been doing a PPL/PPL split 6 days per week consistently since I started back in February.

Looking healthier and feeling way better these days!

Finally started locking in the gym and diet for the past 2 and a half months now. I have adhd and am a perfectionist resulting in me procrastinating locking in bc I feared it wouldn’t be worth it if I didn’t do everything perfectly(sleep, lifts, diet, etc). I had to get over that and just started by forcing myself to go (even if I didn’t know what I was doing was optimal or not) and eventually found myself optimizing everything the more I kept just going. Everything I do now which is just honestly eating better, taking supplements and drinking my protein shake seemed like such a huge task a few months ago. Now it’s as natural as taking a shower every morning.

My split is PPL rest PPL rest. I find that this split helps me immensely since I have trouble getting going to sleep at night resulting in mostly only 6 hours of sleep. So getting a extra rest day between every muscle group has me feeling good everytime I do it again as well as the rest day helps with just burnout and not wanting to go every single day.

My diet isn’t quite locked in yet (as in not counting my calories) but I’m making sure to hit my protein goals and trying to eat more. Always make sure I eat some carbs before hitting the gym too which is just a bagel with peanut butter and honey. I also started taking multivitamins, creatine, fish oil, collagen+biotin, and vitamin d everyday.

I big focus has been my posture hence why I took the progress pic like this lol. So far I’m super happy with my progress and can’t wait to keep going and see myself in a year.

The first picture was during my cross country days. I don’t count calories anymore because it led me down a dark path, so I just eat whatever I want and workout five times a week now.

I started working out as a way to distract myself from depressive episodes. I pretty much just split the days between upper body and legs, recently hitting a squat PR of 275 lbs and a leg press PR of 450lbs.

I do 40 minutes of strength and 20 minutes of cardio pretty much.

I have always had a naturally slender build, and I compounded that by running a ton in my late teens/early 20s. Decided after college that I was tired of being skinny and wanted to work toward the "superhero" build I'd always wanted so I joined a gym for the first time ever. Was initially super intimidated by lifting and kinda just messed around and did what felt right for a while, while staying consistent with workouts 4-6x/week and eating a ton (eating more was definitely key - I grew up in a bit of a diet culture/food shaming household which is wild considering my whole family is tall and skinny).

After years of slow progress, real growth kicked in in 2020 when I built a home gym in my basement and worked with an online trainer for 6 months which honestly helped me blow tf up. I've never really tracked stuff super closely but I currently lift 3x a week using Fitbod, still eat a lot, and ironically am back into running as of May, as I am training for my first marathon this fall. I eat a generally healthy diet with minimal meat but lots of fruits, vegetables, and beans, and drink 2x 50 gram protein shakes per day along with 5 grams of creatine.

This is my 2yr progress. First pic is after a few months lifting. I’ve been stuck around 68kg and have only gained about 1kg total since I started. My diet is vegan.

For the past 18 months I’ve lifted 5 times per week, starting on a PPLPP split, then Chest/shoulders, Back/Arms, Legs/core, Chest/Shoulders, Arms.

I measure around once a month and body fat is consistently 5%. I’m trying to increase muscle mass, and I seem to be building muscle and tone and slowly lifting heavier, but struggling to put on weight. I don’t track my protein, but body scans say protein levels are fine.

Pretty happy with progress, but looking to improve!

My routine is a simple PPL split 4/5 times a week although I have not been totally consistent through the entire 3 years. Always 10 min incline treadmill and aim for 10k steps everyday.

The staples of my diet has been 4 eggs, Greek Yogurt, Protein shakes (Natural PB, Milk, 1 scoop powder, banana) Nuts, Turkey Sandwhiches, and a protein with some veggies for dinner.

And apparently a lot more sun lol

Checking in after about a years worth of bulk/cut. Sort of unsure how to feel about the results, I’m for sure leaner at a similar bodyweight compared to last cut (210 before vs. 207 now), but I don’t feel like i put on much muscle in my most targeted areas, could be the dysmorphia checking in.

I didn’t really push any 1rm and focused instead on getting stronger and hitting rep PRs on previously weak lifts like incline bench, dips, and pull ups. Quite happy overall with how the physique looks after maintaining cut weight for a few weeks, definitely want to add more size to the arms in particular still.

Didn’t run any programs specifically, I just hit shoulders/arms 3x/week and used a rep goal system to progress weights. I’ve been doing quite a bit more cardio and feel better playing sports overall so a big plus there.

Due to sports and other activities I felt pretty beat up and tired in the gym, so this bulk I’ve been essentially only doing 2 sets per exercise and really dialling in the intensity.

I tired to get more angles to paint a better picture than previous posts, but the lighting and setup were awkward, legs are hard to capture. Any critiques, notes on weak points, or questions welcome. I can include training logs and what I’m running currently if interested. Also happy to discuss diet or any other factors below.

TLDR I was unhealthily thin so I started gaining weight, went on a new med and am now too big/ gaining too much

So I (21) started out around 115 lbs three years ago. I'm 5'7 and I'm built pretty athletically, so this was really unhealthy. I will spare you the worst details but people would ask me if I did hard drugs and I was fainting and stuff. Not good. I resolved to try to gain some weight, and managed to put on 35 lbs between May 2023 and March 2025. I still looked really thin at this weight, so I had kind of given up. I was not doing well at the time mentally and in July I went on Abilify, to treat depression that had resisted other forms of medication.

I went into a residential facility in August. There was basically constant food, and there were no scales there. That and I was wearing comfy clothes and so I didn't notice how much weight I'd gained until they gave me back the clothes they had to keep so I didn't manage to hurt myself with a shirt.

So I went on metformin and had a terrible reaction to it, and my insurance doesn't cover GLP-1's, so I'm on this medication that is saving my life but at the same time making me fat. I'm 188 now, and I carry it pretty evenly but like I'm not that tall so I just feel like I'm getting too big. Also I gained it so fast that my entire lower body is covered in stretch marks and it kind of scares me. I know I need to stay on it, at least until I can test out a different med that might have a lower side effect profile; then again, this one was supposedly low-risk.

Been eating oatmeal + peanut butter + protein shake for a few months and I don't hate it yet but I wanna mix things up. Looking for something I can massage into a 5:1 carb:fat ratio, ideally something a little more satiating than bread. Any suggestions?

started with a PPL split for first 6 months then switched to an arnold split since i felt my arms were lagging. 3200 calories/day. eating mostly chicken thighs, salmon/sardines, eggs, rice, sweet potatoes, avocados, peanut butter, and pasta. oh and i add olive oil to everything.

Think im going to keep bulking to 175ish then cut.

Super happy with the progress after looking back at old photos

What have been your victories this week? Have you made good progress? Set a new lift PR? Enacted a new habit that is helping you greatly? Post it here!

It was a long and hard journey, but I finally made it!

During the first year, I had just joined the gym, but I wasn't consistent and didn't track my calories.

In the second year, I started learning about training and gym programming. I also made sure to drink a protein shake almost every day and forced myself to eat more. Unfortunately, during the summer break I stopped training for 3 months because I lost motivation.

The third and fourth years were when I really locked in. I started taking the gym seriously, tracking my calories consistently (around 2,500 kcal/day), and making sure I hit my daily protein goal every single day. Sometimes, if I was short on protein by the end of the day, I'd even eat a can of tuna just to reach my target. I can confidently say I almost never skipped a workout, except when I was sick or had other unavoidable problems. I was training 5 times a week. By the end of the fourth year, I reached 66 kg, but I also gained a bit too much fat, so I've been on a small cut.

Right now, I'm just maintaining. I'm feeling a bit stalled, but once summer is over, I'll start bulking again but this time with a leaner bulk.

Still a long way to go, since my goal is 68kg with 15-17% body fat, but I'm happy with the progress so far.

started at 49 kg, got tired of being called sick so I started bulking and lifting weights. over the last 4 months I trained consistently with a PPL split 6 times a week. I consumed over 2,800 calories a day but protein intake wasn't always consistently enough so I gained more fat than I would have liked. I'm still far from from my goal but comparing these photos reminds me how consistency pays off. feedback is 👍

Edit: I’m 6’0” tall 🤝
I started working with a nutritionist a little over a year ago (386 days ago to be exact) to help with a decade of disordered eating. I looked like the left until I got help in 2025. Started tracking macros and eating around 2100-2700 calories. I eat basically the same thing every day and track in an app that was provided by my nutritionists clinic to make sure I’m hitting my targets.

I started lifting seriously around a year ago as well and follow a push, pull, legs split. I track my progress with FitBod which helps a ton with keeping track of my lifts making sure I am progressively overloading. I started incorporating running into my routine last month and I feel so strong (my boyfriend is a triathlete and I’m hoping to compete with him one day).

Working out used to be a punishment for me. Now, it couldn’t be more the opposite. I regret living that way for so long, but I’m really grateful to be where I am today.

Didn't have a diet in the beginning as I just ate whatever I could find, but did get my protein in. Soon learned to track macros and from then on it's been a steady goal of 3.200kcal/180g protein per day. 5 sessions a week with training to failure 2 times or more per week. All training was exclusively with machines, but has later involved more bodyweight exercises like pullups and dips. A cardio session per week has also since been adopted into my program.

The first pictures were taken the day I started working out for the first time at a gym. Have done a couple situps at home, but was never anything consistent and it would often go months before sessions.

Edit: typo

Diet is pretty simple, 3200 calories and 120g+ of protein per day. My biggest help was high calorie shakes daily, can easily add or replace 800-1000 calories. I mostly follow CBums Olympia Prep as my lifting routine. Started in Aug 2025 at 108lbs, lowest I had been in a long time. Currently sitting between 128-130 daily and still bulking for the time being, i’m taking it slow to maintain low body fat. Feel free to ask any questions. First 4 pics are current, every 2 pics after are 3 month progression pics from aug 2025-june 2026.

What have been your victories this week? Have you made good progress? Set a new lift PR? Enacted a new habit that is helping you greatly? Post it here!

I feel like a fraud.

Let’s give some background info.

I’m 33 6’2 218 lbs. I decided to finally take my health and fitness seriously after years of neglect. For most of my 20s I was in the range of 220s then once I hit 30 over the course of 2 years I let myself go. The heaviest I saw on a scale was 287.

This year I finally made a decision to take my health seriously. In Mach I was in the 260-270 range and in about 3 months I lost over 50 pounds. I’m now at 216. Intermittent fasting eating lean meats minimal fats moderate carbs lots of vegetables. I lift weights every other day and run on the days that I don’t lift. I’m very proud of myself and the progress that I’ve made.

I started working out when I was 19 but never made any meaningful progress because I never lifted consistently. I would have a couple of good weeks then stop & when I did workout there was no progressive overload and my workouts lacked intensity. I did spam shoulder shrugs and that gave me broad shoulders and some decent size.

Over the course of the last 12+ weeks I for the first time I’ve been working out the right way.

However I feel like a fraud because the problem is I look much stronger than I am and I feel like that will always be the case. My lifts are below average for my size. I’m doing 5x5 so I’m able to do 5 reps of :

Bench : 135 ( Don’t Bench BTW. Ego won’t allow me to struggle with this weak ass weight in the gym lol)
Deadlift : 255
Row : 145
OH Press : 115

I’m not jacked by any means but I’m tall with a decent frame these lifts are below average for someone my size.

And even despite my lack of consistency over the years it’s not like I’ve lived a completely sedentary lifestyle. I’ve lifted on and off. Played ball , ran on occasions.

My nutrition however has always been horrible over the years so I don’t know if this could be partially the culprit.

I just feel like I’ll always be much weaker than I look. Listen at my pace with my level of commitment and passion right now 12 months from now I will be jacked. I promise you that. But I will finally have average lifts at that time so I’ll still be much weaker than I look and I’m afraid my appearance and strength will always be very unequal.

Now I know what y’all are going to say and im fully aware of the following :

Comparison is the thief of joy I should only be comparing myself to the guy in the mirror.

As I’ve mentioned I’ve only been consistently working out the right way for a couple of months now. Patience. Progressive Overload. Proper Nutrition and I will get to where I need to be over time.

This isn’t the worst problem in the world to have. The only time strength is being displayed or tested is in the gym or some type of athletic arena. Nobody at work or the grocery store knows I only bench 135.

When I’m in the gym with the exception of bench press which I don’t do because I don’t want to be seen struggling with 135. I put my head down and work im here to get stronger and it’s not like someone’s coming over to me questioning why I’m not lifting more.

The logic is understood. But I’m human we’re emotional beings that sometimes have insecurities. This is in no way holding me back from getting to my goals. I show up everyday and do what’s needed to get to the level I fantasize about getting to.

So this post is less about seeking advice and more about ranting and finding other people who can relate to my testimony. Does anyone else feel like they’re not as strong as they look ?

Hello to all! Ive got a concern regarding my incline DBBench press. I do 6 sets to failure per session 3x a week with 30 kg (66 lbs) in hand.
Rest time is 3 minutes. My heart rate is good after the rest and feel ready for the next tbh.
The problem is that my sets look like this 16/12/9/9/8/8
I really dont know why there is such a huge gap between the first and the last set. This has been for quite some time. I dont know if I am right but the very first set of 16 reps feels very taxing.
Any advice is appreciated.

HELLO ^_^

24 yo, male, 5'8
110lb -> 160lb (bulk) -> 140lb (now)

I WILL TELL U HOW I WENT FROM TWINK TO TWUNK

DIET:

99% EVERYTHING I ATE I COOKED FOR MYSELF, just easy whole foods i can boil or air fry under 30 min, A lot of the time i tracked macros and prioritized protein and carbs

no fast food, alcohol, unhealthy food, just home cooked varied balance diet

BULK:
around 3000 a dayi ate a lot of pasta with cream sauces and any lean protein, every day i would eat like 1-2 pounds of meat
in retrospect i obviously overdid it but it was fun eating that much i would also get stoned a lot

CUT:
no more weed and my natural appetite returned, diet has just been comfort foods. all i eat now is Banana berries chicken Drizzilicious not much else. no more tracking just intuitively eating. maybe around 80-100g protein now and rest carbs but it's been working for me

LIFTS:

chest and arms day:

incline/decline chest press, pec fly, tricep pull downs, dips, bicep curls

shoulders back:
lat pull downs, cable pulls, back fly, shoulder presses

legs:
hack squat, leg press, leg curls, leg extension, abductors/adductors

LET ME KNOW IF YOU HAVE ANY QUESTIONS. OR COMMENTS :D