Bodybuilding To Look More Like A Grown Man Instead Of An Adolescent Boy

[Tristyn]

Yeah I been at it for maybe a month or two with slightly desirable results. I mean, I know without even a drop of T, I will never look like the next Arnold Schwarzenegger or anything. But damn, there are female cis body builders who achieve a more masculine build than what I currently possess! >.< I hate that.

I also think part of the reason why I'm struggling in this area of my ftm transition and barely making any dent of progress is because I do not eat much. Its very challenging, almost impossible to eat six small protein, nutrient-rich meals around the clock each and every single day when you live with someone in their house who will kick you out of the kitchen that you do pay the rent for to live there, every time you wanna eat but that person wants to juice from 3am to 5pm and then expect me to just be "ok" with a pj sandwich for the whole entire day!

There are times where I feel like I am on the verge of starvation and personal famine because of this insanity. I can barely even eat three times a day, let alone six, because of my dad's juicing obsession. There are days where I do not eat at all. So sometimes I hide processed, pre-packaged, ready-to-eat snacks in my room just to be able to eat something! This is even a huge concern to my social worker at dialysis and some of my techs.

Does anyone on here have any actual advice on how I can escape this scarcity of meal times? Other than getting a job, saving up money, and moving out, I can't think of anything I can do right now in the mean time to meet the diet demands of a true male bodybuilder or even just as a healthy human being in general!

Sorry if this has turned into an obviously, ugly rant. In a way, I really hope to be validated here and know that there are other FTMs who also struggle with this and feel the way I do.....

~Nixy~

[Deborah]

If you have access to a gym then doing a program like Stronglifts or Starting Strength will benefit you a lot more than a general bodybuilding routine.  It will build raw strength, T or not.  After doing something like that for a few years you will build the strength to bodybuild.

You also do need to eat enough or you won't get stronger.  One easy way is just to drink a lot of milk.


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[jlaframboise]

Use the app "pump up" for strength building workouts. You can adjust them to your schedule. It helped me gain a lot of muscle before I realized I needed to lose weight. Look into getting "raw meal" it's on Amazon, etc. it might take awhile to save up for but if you want to gain muscle, it's the healthiest "protein" powder imo. It can replace any meal. In the finding enough to eat in the day, just eat as much as you possibly can until your living situation can change. Good luck man.


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[Tristyn]

If you have access to a gym then doing a program like Stronglifts or Starting Strength will benefit you a lot more than a general bodybuilding routine.  It will build raw strength, T or not.  After doing something like that for a few years you will build the strength to bodybuild.

You also do need to eat enough or you won't get stronger.  One easy way is just to drink a lot of milk.


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Not sure what you're thoughts on this would be, but what do you think about DVD workout videos? Because I am on a severely low budget of $50.00 a month, I rely on those to meet my exercising needs. There is one that I am seriously engaging in called Body Beast by Sagi.

Body Beast also comes with a nicely detailed meal plan aimed to beef you up. Another issue with this that I should mention is that because I am a dialysis patient, I have to eat on a special renal diet. So, with that in mind, I have to heavily modify the Body Beast recipes. Also, dialysis drains your protein. Sigh...maybe I just wasn't meant to look like Zangief from Street Fighter, you know? But I still wanna try and I don't know why I just don't give it up cause it ain't gonna happen anyway.

That milk idea is nice, but I have to be careful with this too because milk is loaded with phosphorus. This is an electrolyte/mineral most people don't even have to think twice about a day in their lives. Too much phosphorus for me could be bad and lead to bone disease. >.<

I do, however, drink almond milk. Can almond milk be an ok substitute for cow's milk? I am assuming that is the type of milk you are talkin' about consuming, right? Or do you mean goat milk? Rice milk? Chocolate? Soy(Sagi hates soy cause soy has been proven to actually increase estrogen and be counterproductive to any male bodybuilding efforts), or just milk in general?

I drink protein drinks after every workout, unless my pops is in the kitchen and stops me. Maybe that will help too. I mean, the protein drinks. But like I said before, these demands are almost impossible to meet because of my old man's juicing obsession.

~Nixy~

Use the app "pump up" for strength building workouts. You can adjust them to your schedule. It helped me gain a lot of muscle before I realized I needed to lose weight. Look into getting "raw meal" it's on Amazon, etc. it might take awhile to save up for but if you want to gain muscle, it's the healthiest "protein" powder imo. It can replace any meal. In the finding enough to eat in the day, just eat as much as you possibly can until your living situation can change. Good luck man.


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I'll have to look into that.

Thanks!^^

~Nixy~

[Deborah]

I have heard that Body Beast is a good program so it will do you good.  Later on though when you have resources available heavy barbell moves like deadlifts, squats, bench press, overhead press, and rows is all you need for the best results.

There is nothing special about milk other than its high in protein and easy to consume a lot of.  As long as you get adequate protein and calories from any source you can get stronger.  Protein drinks are good too but there is nothing special about them either.

For protein you should be consuming about 1.5 grams per kg of body weight each day when trying to build.  Eating a lot more than that won't really help anything.


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[Tristyn]

I have heard that Body Beast is a good program so it will do you good.  Later on though when you have resources available heavy barbell moves like deadlifts, squats, bench press, overhead press, and rows is all you need for the best results.

There is nothing special about milk other than its high in protein and easy to consume a lot of.  As long as you get adequate protein and calories from any source you can get stronger.  Protein drinks are good too but there is nothing special about them either.

For protein you should be consuming about 1.5 grams per kg of body weight each day when trying to build.  Eating a lot more than that won't really help anything.


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Body Beast has all of those exercises you mentioned. So, I guess that's a huge plus. And I agree with you there. The issue too is that I can hardly even afford the equipment necessary to get those results. Not only that, but I do not even have the room for it. The last time I bought some dumbbells, which only weigh about 15lbs, my pops screamed at me to not get anymore weights because I do not have room for them and just to ask him to use his weight set when he is home.

Well, one day I decided to do that and he screamed at me again and said that he is not ready for me to use his weights yet because his private weight room isn't setup and well-organized yet. He offered to take me along with him to the gym, which I blatantly refused because I know how much more narcissistic he gets when I go to places with him. Plus, the gym he goes to doesn't like people to grunt as they weight lift, which I like to do now all the time, even if its free hand workouts like push ups or pull ups. 

I know how much calories I am supposed to consume to bulk up. I know how much weight I need to lift. I know which exercises I need to do. I know the types of food I need to eat and stay away from. The problem is my dad and unemployment. There is no damn way around this. I should have been more specific about that.

~Nixy~

[Alexthecat]

There are ways to get Body Beast for free if you want it.

[Tristyn]

There are ways to get Body Beast for free if you want it.

I'm sure there are. But its best you don't mention how here. Piracy is a crime.

I should have been clearer, I guess, but I already own a copy of it...legally.

~Nixy~

[LaneD]

It kinda makes me angry at your Dad if he doesn't allow you access to the kitchen to eat.....especially when you have health issues diet and nutrition is important.  When you do have access you could make a bunch of meals to either freeze or keep in the fridge.  That way on days where you aren't allowed to cook you can just grab a premade meal.

[FTMax]

Bodybuilding gets a lot easier with T. I agree with Lane as far as fixing your meal issue. Find a time when dad isn't around and cook up a bunch of food that you can store in the fridge or freezer. Then you just have to take it out, pop it into the microwave for a minute or so, and you're good to go. I do this once a week for myself because I'm so crunched for time during the week. I can usually make 14 meals in about an hour.

Protein shakes are good as long as they aren't adding a lot of sugar. With anything that doesn't have fiber, you run the risk of it being turned into fat if you aren't using the energy that the sugar creates right away. I drink a Premier Protein shake for breakfast everyday. It's got 30g of protein, 1g of sugar, and it's only 160 calories so I can still eat something solid as well. I don't think it's specifically geared towards bodybuilding, but the higher than usual protein content is nice and they're all bottled, so you don't have to mix anything.

I'd make a big deal out of this to your social worker. Is he at least sharing the juice he's making with you? Most people should be getting anywhere from 1400-2000 calories a day without doing any strenuous exercise. A peanut butter and jelly sandwich only has around 350. If that's all you're getting, that's a problem.

[AeroZeppelin92]

First things first: bodybuilding take a long time. Do not let the advertisements that are all over the place that state you can make drastic physique changes in 8 weeks or less. Bodybuilding is all about patience and perseverance. This picture is intended to give you a better idea of time, I have been lifting 5 days a week for a bit over a year now. And it's taken that long to see this sort of change, even with testosterone.



Also, don't compare yourself to anyone, and especially cis female bodybuilders. A lot of female pros (the especially large ones) take some sort of steroid. I'm not saying anything bad about that, because they still work har and don't magically get big from steroids, but their physique is not "natural".

In terms of nutrition, to get bigger you have to eat at a caloric surplus. It's that simple. (Well obviously you have to work out hard too). But your body cannot create something from nothing. There are plenty of online tools out there to help you figure out what your daily caloric needs are, so that. Then try to achieve eating 250-500 calories more than that each day.
I can definitely understand the struggle, it is actually very difficult for me to eat a lot, I literally have to force myself sometimes. There are even some days that I'm not hungry at all but I need to hit my calories and eating is not enjoyable at all.

An easy way to eat more calories is shakes. Everyday when I get home from the gym, I make this shake and it yields about 650 calories.
-1 cup of 2% milk (you can substitute almond milk)
-1/2 cup raw oats
-2 tablespoons of peanut butter
-2 tablespoons of nesquik
-1 scoop of protein powder
Sometimes I'll even throw in half a banana. Tastes awesome and an easy way to hit those calories.

If you're truly looking to build more muscle to your physique, I definitely recommend an actual gym.