How Much to Eat

If you don't know the number that keeps your weight steady, eat normally for one week, weigh yourself at the start and end, and you have it. For most women it's between 1,800 and 2,400 calories a day.

• Fat to lose over the muscle: about 15% below that number, roughly 250 to 350 calories. A bigger deficit takes away the muscle you're building and leaves the same shape in a smaller size.
• Already lean, want more size: about 10% above it, roughly 200 calories. The scale drifting up half a pound a week is the plan working.
• Been eating 1,200: the first change is eating more. The scale may tick up a pound or two of water in the first two weeks. It's not fat. It's your body finally having something to build with.

Protein: Your Building Material

Every hip thrust and deadlift breaks muscle fibers down. Protein is what rebuilds them rounder and firmer. It's also what keeps you full while the layer on top comes off.

What it does for you:

• Turns the work into muscle
• Keeps you full and cuts cravings
• Protects the muscle you've built on lower-calorie days

1 palm of protein per meal. That's roughly 25 to 40 g (0.8 to 1 g per pound of your goal bodyweight per day, 110 to 150 g for most women). Spread across 4 meals so your body always has material to build with.

Top Protein Sources: Chicken, lean beef, eggs, Greek yogurt, cottage cheese, salmon, tuna, tofu, protein powder

Carbs: Your Training Fuel

Carbs are not the enemy. They're the fuel for every heavy set, and the reason a hip thrust feels strong one day and flat the next.

What it does for you:

• Fuels the main lifts
• Speeds up recovery between glute days
• Keeps your cycle and your hormones steady

1 cupped hand of carbs per meal, 1.5 to 2 around training. That's roughly 1 to 1.5 g per pound of bodyweight on training days and a little less on rest days. Put the biggest portions in the meal before you train and the meal after.

Top Carb Sources: Rice, potatoes, oats, fruit, whole grain bread, sweet potato, quinoa

Healthy Fats: Hormones and Recovery

Fats don't make you fat. Excess calories do. Fat is where your hormones come from, and your hormones are what let you build muscle, recover and keep a regular cycle.

What it does for you:

• Supports estrogen, recovery and a regular cycle
• Improves brain and joint health
• Helps absorb fat-soluble vitamins (A, D, E, K)

1 thumb of fats per meal. That's roughly 10 to 15 g (0.3 g per pound of bodyweight per day minimum, 45 to 60 g for most women). If your cycle goes irregular while you're dieting, your fat or your total food is too low. Eat more.

Top Fat Sources: Olive oil, avocado, nuts, nut butter, eggs, salmon, full-fat dairy

Hydration: The Overlooked Performance Booster

Even 1 to 2% dehydration affects strength and recovery, and it's the most common reason a session feels weak for no reason.

Aim for 2.5 to 3.5 liters per day (85 to 120 oz). More on training days, more in hot weather. If your urine is dark yellow, you're behind.

Tips:

• A glass of water with every meal
• Don't fear salt; you sweat it out, and low salt makes lifts feel weak
• Carry a bottle and finish it by the end of the session

Meal Timing: 3 Meals + 2 Snacks

Consistency matters. Instead of under-eating all day and bingeing at night, aim for:

• 3 balanced meals (breakfast, lunch, dinner)
• 2 smart snacks (pre-training, post-training, or evening)

Sample Structure:

• Meal 1: Breakfast, protein and carbs
• Snack 1: Pre-training, 1 to 3 hours before, carbs and some protein
• Meal 2: Lunch, a real plate
• Snack 2: Post-training, protein and carbs within a couple of hours
• Meal 3: Dinner, protein and vegetables, carbs if you have room

Snack Ideas: Greek yogurt, a protein shake, a banana with almond butter, hard-boiled eggs, jerky, trail mix

Your Cycle

This matters and nobody puts it in a program. In the week before your period, most women hold 2 to 4 extra pounds of water, feel hungrier, and feel weaker on the heavy lifts. None of that is fat and none of it is lost progress. Don't read the scale that week. If a weight that was yours suddenly isn't, keep the same weight and get what reps you can, or drop one step and come back the next week. Eat a little more if you're hungry; that's the week to do it. The week after your period is usually your strongest. Add weight then.

Weekends and Real Life

Eighty percent of your meals on plan is enough. Dinners out, birthdays, a glass of wine: fine. What undoes a week isn't one meal, it's Friday to Sunday eating like the plan doesn't exist. Keep protein up on the weekends and the rest takes care of itself. Alcohol is the honest exception: it stops muscle building for about a day each time, so two drinks on Saturday is a small cost and five is a lost weekend.

Measure More Than the Scale

Muscle is denser than fat, so the scale can stay flat while your body changes. Once a week, same morning, after the bathroom, before food: weight, a tape around the widest point of your hips and around one thigh, and a photo from the back and side in the same light. Over eight weeks the hips should hold or grow, the waist should come in, and the photo will show what the scale can't.

When It Stalls

• Lifts going up, scale flat: you're building. Nothing to change.
• Hips measuring more, waist the same: you're building and the layer on top hasn't moved yet. Give it two weeks; if nothing, take 100 to 150 calories out of rest days.
• Lifts stuck for two weeks: you're not eating enough. Add 150 calories, mostly carbs around training, and check your sleep.
• Everything stuck and you're tired: under-eating and under-sleeping. Eat at your steady number for a week, sleep, then start again.

Supplements

Two are worth it. A protein powder, because it makes the protein number easy. And creatine, 5 g a day, which adds a pound or two of water inside the muscle and helps you lift a little more; that water is part of the shape, not a reason to stop. Everything sold for toning, fat burning or detox is money you could spend on food.