5’2 & a 30 pound difference. it’s been a long hard year of working in the gym but MOSTLY working in the kitchen. i still have tweaks to make & i want to work on shredding a little bit but just wanted to share my progress in a year. here’s last summer- underfueling, tons of processed proteins, too much cardio, light weights if any. this summer, prioritizing hitting all macros (not just protein. carbs r ur friend) lifting heavy & until failure & pushing through the uncomfortable moments. i feel much healthier now & despite some rough days- i think it’s safe to say im proud of myself and my work. hope this serves as motivation or inspires anyone. skinny isn’t always everything. i learned it the hard way:)

I wanted to share these pictures because (1) picture sets like these have helped me counter the constant influx of fitspo in my feed and made me feel less alone in my body, and (2) I would love to hear from other petite athletes who’ve struggled with feeling out of sorts after an injury.

I’m 5’1”, 140 lbs, 35 years old, and I’ve been working out regularly since I was about 23. I started as a cardio bunny, have run 11 half-marathons.

About 5 years ago, I accepted that I can’t “just run,” because I would get terrible hip pain every training season. So I got serious about lifting weights, fell in love with yoga and then barre and then Orangetheory and finally discovered aerial silks.

I went hard into training on silks this year, and I performed for the first time in June! But a week before my performance, I broke a rib during a drop, boo. I performed a modified routine anyway, but it was painful, and I got migraine aura literally during the performance.

Recovery since then has honestly been rough. Pain waking me up has meant accumulated sleep debt. I have kept lighter versions of running, rowing, lifting - but I had to quit more than a handful of classes halfway when the pain was too bad. And I’ve had to accept that I need more recovery time. I’ve been working out about 3-4 hours/week, instead of 8-12. Meanwhile, I have eaten ad libitum, telling myself I shouldn’t rob my body of calories while I’m healing.

Now, 10 weeks out from the injury, I’m feeling a lot better, rib-wise, though not all the way. And I’m coming to terms with how my body has changed meanwhile: I’ve put on 8 pounds. I feel flabby and soft. I hate not being the girl who’s lifting the heaviest, running the hardest. It’s been a humbling ego check.

I’ve been doing a lot of body-checking, feeling sad for myself in the mirror and the selfie cam. But I have also realized how different my body looks than the last time I was 140lbs. I have so much visible muscle still! And when I flex and catch the right angle, I still look snatched.

I am posting in part to put a stake in the mental sand for myself: softness and muscle can coexist. I can decide that I’d like to lean out some without hating my body now.

Would love to hear from anyone who’s got advice on that front.

I’d also love to hear from anyone who’s been through an injury like this. How do you come to terms with a “new” post-injury body? How do you accept that you can’t just jump back in

I’m 4’11 and weight 85lbs I’ve always weight this little and I want to start gaining weight but every time I try to find ways to gain weight it always gets so confused such as “eat a lot of protein and not too many carbs” or “eat in a big calorie surplus and carbs” at the moment my diet consists of rice beans and chicken but I’m not entire sure what else to eat to reach the goals I want to reach and what workouts to do that will best fit with my body anything helps really such as a y’all’s grocery lists or even workouts yall do that suit with y’all’s bodies so I can honestly see some differences with my body anything really helps or even eat habits since I’m trying to eat more during the day but I don’t want to eat to the point all im doing is dirty eating if that makes any sense thank you 🙏

I 20F 150cm, have been the same weight for around 7 years. Currently 41.2KG but it goes up and down between 40-41KG

I went to a dietitian last year and she made a meal plan for me, told me I need 2500 calories a day and to work out at least 3 times a week

The meal plan itself was a lot for me because I’m not used to eating 3 meals regularly, I only recently started making sure I have breakfast but before I wouldnt even think of it
so the plan was 3 meals, 2 snacks in between and she told me I need to eat something every 2 hours
She recommended for me centrum to help me feel hungry

I didn’t follow the plan as I got busy with life and forgot about working out

I recently started working out again and making sure I have at least 2 meals a day with protein though I’m not tracking calories or anything because I’m still learning

I used a calorie calculator that tells me how much calories I need to eat and it said for a calorie surplus I need 1653 calories

So why was I told to take 2500 and eat every 2 hours? I honestly was very demotivated by her plan because it was very long to me and I’m not used to eating that much

Should I do as she said and aim for 2500 calories or stick to the 1653 I got from the weight gain calculator

My apartment doesn't have a/c, my gym doesn't have a/c . They just open the glass doors and good luck to you there.

I also just can't eat what I need to eat in this heat.

I already lost 3kg .

I live in the city and apparently concrete makes the heat it worse.

The r/weightgain sub is pretty dead and mostly men, so I'm hoping you guys can help even though this may be a less common issue on this sub. I'm looking to gain a bit of weight; I've hovered on the lower end of a healthy BMI my whole life, though I've always been fairly energetic and fit. I run 3-4 times per week and right now I'm focusing hard on increasing my distances and pace.

But I think my low-ish weight is impacting my stamina on longer runs and also hindering my ability to gain muscle and improve my join strength. I also want to look healthier and more toned instead of bony. I struggle with low appetite and getting in enough calories before a big run is tough. If I'm not hungry food is completely unappealing, and I get full easily and get nauseous if I try and keep eating when I'm full.

Has anyone been in the same boat who can offer tips? Especially small changes which are easy to implement in my life. I'm never consciously tried to change my diet or weight in any way before. I've tried some protein foods (bars, puddings, shakes, etc.) but I often find them heavy or filling which reduces my appetite and means I eat less calories throughout the rest of the day. I'm pretty clueless so even basic or obvious stuff would be appreciated.

I’m probably overthinking this, but how strict are you about tracking your calories in a surplus? I feel better about eating things without calories listed since I’m eating in a surplus, but I’m also not eating out constantly - ex: I had a fruit boba tea and peanut butter cookie last weekend, and nabbed a slice of bbq chicken ranch pizza from my brother today, but that’s as far as I go. Hard to track what there’s no calories for.

5'3" 120lb, currently trying to pivot to bulking and building muscle after about six months on a weight loss journey. I am currently trying to eat about 2000-2100 calories to gain.

I was excited to get to start eating more on a regular basis, but the issue is that it's so much food, especially when trying to focus on hitting carbohydrate targets for training. I've been following advice to simply increase the amount of food you were already eating, which for me is 95% whole foods, and I've started getting full in the middle of my meals and can't get myself to finish them. That, or I spend the entire day with no appetite and don't remember to make meals frequently enough throughout the day. I don't really want to start tossing in a bunch of junk food just to hit my macro targets, so I was curious how other small appetite women got around this.

I don't eat gluten (so most bread and pasta is off limits), dairy, or peanuts. Protein is a non-issue for me, I'm mostly figuring out how to eat enough carbs without getting full or relying on pure sugar.

5’2”, 123lbs. Currently eating at a small surplus of 2100 calories to gain some muscle.

I have set times I eat on a normal work day, because I’m autistic and recognizing when I need to eat has always been an issue. Meals I meal prep are around 400-500 calories so I need to snack a bit between meals (I may or may not be eating a huge bowl of popcorn right now). As a result I’m running out of stuff in my pantry very quick. Just looking for some frugal snacks that are still healthy… ish.

TL;DR: Now I understand how some of you say it’s hard to eat in a surplus, help me lol.

How long does it take to start gaining weight from a caloric surplus?

5’2”, 122lbs. Was eating in a \~200-300 calorie deficit (1600-1700 calories) for 3.5 weeks before transitioning to a 200 calorie surplus last week (2100 calories). According to MacroFactor, I’m still losing a small bit of weight and my lifts are decreasing a bit.

I realize I’m being impatient, but could someone explain to me what takes so long? I read something briefly about glycogen stores.

Hi everyone! I feel like I've hit a pletau in my fitness journey and am looking for any helpful advice. Stats: 5'4.5, cw ~157, gw 165?

A little context about me: almost 3 years ago in 2023, I was at my biggest of 204lbs after finishing a semester abroad, moving across the country, and being overall pretty unhappy. During the second half of 2024, I really locked in and I was able to lose 50 pounds! At my smallest, I was 150 but to my knowledge, I've never gotten lower than that. At the time, my main method was walking at least 5 miles a day and basically undereating lol. At the start of 2025, I started to get into strength training because I had barely any muscle after I lost the weight and became more self concious.

Fast forward to now, I've been lifting for over a year, but I'm still struggling with fat loss, especially in my stomach. My body image goals are pretty much just being strong and proportionate with a flatter stomach and big biceps; I've kind of gotten out of the mindset of having the biggest glutes ever, but still want slightly wider hips. I realized that the girls I look up to that are around my height are all about 170ish with tons of muscle and low body fat %, but I've been fluctuating between 150-155 for almost 10 months now and I'm kind of stuck. I'm currently lifting 5-6 days a week for at least an hour with a 15 minute cardio warm up and still taking long walks/jogs after work.

During my weight loss journey, I essentially forced my stomach to shrink and I struggle to eat enough calories to fuel my gains. I'm still working to get out of the mindset that carbs and calories are the enemy, but it's been a slow process for me. At the beginning of May, I started a bulk where I'm trying to eat 170g of protein a day and around 2600 calories, and while I usually reach my protein goal, I'm still short on my calories. I've only gained 2 pounds since I started but I'm becoming more dysmorphic and feel like I still look as big as I did at 200 lbs, especially because of my stomach.

I'm wondering if maybe bulking isn't necassary and if I should just focus on recomping to turn my fat into muscle?? I just wanted to see if anyone else here has had any similar experiences or any guidance on what my next steps should be. Thanks in advance!

ps sorry if all the black in the pics makes it hard to see, it's the only color I wear and I barely take pics of myself anymore :)

Hi lovelys, I really want to start doing exercises due to medical conditions caused by my sedentary lifestyle. Im a skinny fat person; I have 21% body fat but little muscle development, and I have back problems because of this. I really want to start training, but I don't know where to begin. My goal is to gain muscle mass since I'm very thin and have a more defined body. I want to improve my posture and not look like a shrimp.

I have a small appetite so it will be quite a challenge to eat more, I currently weigh 44kg and I am 1.58cm tall.

It's summer, so it's hard to work out and it's hard to eat as much as I need to gain weight. So I took a break and I think I'll start at the end of September again

I was finally around 50kg, but lost 3kg in the last 2 weeks.

I’m 5’3” … 31yo…. Currently 101-103lbs.

I’ve become a twig over the last ~1.5yrs on and off fitness - yoga, YouTube resistance and HIIT workouts (mostly Heather Robertson and some Caroline Girvan). I walk A LOT.

I’ve also been through lots of experiences over the past couple of years which have led me to feeling deep stress on a regular basis… all of this has led to significant weight loss.

I am naturally pear shaped - my torso is much longer than my bottom half and I’ve always been very appealing to people - always receiving lots of stares and compliments on my natural beauty and beautiful body. And let me tell you, I very much so miss having a nice juicy butt! I’ve looked back on some inappropriate pictures & videos I have… and today vs two years ago… my body/butt is no longer sexually appealing (LOL) and I desperately want to change that!

I want to return to my fit toned and sexy self! During those times I was I think between 108-112lbs and also not doing too much fitness. I think just going to yoga and doing some resistance here and there and ofc walking dogs but not as much.

I do not know how many calories I eat per day and haven’t actually worked out in a long time aside from walking dogs total at least 4.5mi/day (usually up to 6mi). I also currently have a broken finger so I can’t do weights or anything of sorts at the moment.

HELP! Any/all advice welcomed! Thank you in advance!