Anonymous wrote:No, creatine does not lead to hair loss or baldness. To people even bother to do basic research before repeating dumbness?

In summary, the current body of evidence does not indicate that creatine supplementation increases total testosterone, free testosterone, DHT or causes hair loss/baldness.
https://www.ncbi.nl
m.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7871530/

LOL. Talk to my DS who stopped taking it due to hair loss.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What program are you doing? As a beginner, you should be getting stronger every week in the beginning, and then at least bi-weekly or monthly after a few months.

I think your trainer sucks.

Not really - muscle for a 50 year old female needs the diet to enable building muscle.

Women are not genetically predisposed for muscle development at this age. Your body needs the proper fuel with training.

This is ridiculous. First of all, every body needs the proper fuel for training. Second of all, women can build muscle, even if they're old. Look at this lady, https://iexaminer.org/for-alma-kimura-powerlifting-a-way-to-connect-with-generations/, she started squatting in 2013 and two years later, she squatted 253 lbs.

Anonymous wrote:What program are you doing? As a beginner, you should be getting stronger every week in the beginning, and then at least bi-weekly or monthly after a few months.

I think your trainer sucks.

Not really - muscle for a 50 year old female needs the diet to enable building muscle.

Women are not genetically predisposed for muscle development at this age. Your body needs the proper fuel with training.

What program are you doing? As a beginner, you should be getting stronger every week in the beginning, and then at least bi-weekly or monthly after a few months.

I think your trainer sucks.

Have you ever had any muscle? Like were you an athlete or anything when younger?

50 year old female is more like a year or so (if ever) to build muscle from nothing.

If you had muscle and have muscle memory it would be shorter.

Either way, you need to really get a great diet together and probably supplements (like creatine) was mentioned. You want to spend the cash on dietician.

Anonymous wrote:Lift heavy is not going to give you the long and lean physique you want...especially at 50. Look into reformer pilates, pilates mat classes, barre, and power/vinyasa yoga.

Also take a hard look at your diet. You cannot outrun the fork at 50. At that age almost all adults need to slow down to 2 meals a day and 2 healthy snack. C'est la vie.

The OP said nothing about a "long and lean physique". She said she wanted to gain muscle, but seems to have only gained body fat.

OP -- I think you are just seeing the beginning of what will be slow progress. If you have upped your calories, it makes sense that you have put on a bit of fat. The gaining muscle part is just going to take more time. 4 months is nothing, especially at 50. Stay consistent. Keep on top of your diet (plenty of protein, but don't need to go crazy), light on the carbs (but not none), lots of veg and fruit. Plenty of water. When you lift, make sure that the weight is heavy enough for you to reach exhaustion after 6-12 reps. Do sets of 3-5. SLOWLY increase weight over time. Make sure you take rest days. I suspect you will start to see some small changes at the 8-10 month mark.

Lift heavy is not going to give you the long and lean physique you want...especially at 50. Look into reformer pilates, pilates mat classes, barre, and power/vinyasa yoga.

Also take a hard look at your diet. You cannot outrun the fork at 50. At that age almost all adults need to slow down to 2 meals a day and 2 healthy snack. C'est la vie.

Gaining muscle is like gaining fat, in that you need to eat more calories to gain muscle or fat. The exercises you do while doing so dictates whether you gain fat or muscle.

Not don't confuse getting stronger with gaining muscle. You can get stronger while not seeing huge muscles.

There are two ways to add muscle. One is a "clean bulk" where you eat more on days you lift and less on days you don't. This keeps the scale relatively the same while you gain muscle. There is also more of a body builder approach where you go through bulk and cutting cycles. This approach tends to get faster results. So for a defined period, say 3-6 months you bulk. That is eating in a calorie surplus while lifting heavy to put on muscle. You will gain both fat and muscle. To limit fat gain you want to aim to only gain 1-2 lbs a month. After the defined period you cut calories to create a small deficit so you can lose fat while maintaining the muscle you have built. You don't want to cut to fast/create too big of a deficit, that is losing more than 0.5-1 lbs a week or you resk also losing a lot of muscle.

No, creatine does not lead to hair loss or baldness. To people even bother to do basic research before repeating dumbness?

In summary, the current body of evidence does not indicate that creatine supplementation increases total testosterone, free testosterone, DHT or causes hair loss/baldness.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7871530/

Anonymous wrote:You need creatine. Males have been taking it for decades and for some reason women (who actually need it more as they produce less) other than athletes seem to overlook this basic essential for muscle building,

Unless you are eating a 16oz ny strip 4x a week building muscle is very hard without it.

Ironically it is also essential for cognitive functions. It is also really cheap and has been around forever and well established.

Sure if she wants to go bald.

Lifting does not make you lose weight, so not sure what are you looking for here? And if you are bulking up, your clothes will not fit if you are getting bigger. I am confused about clothes not fitting, are they too big or too small for you?

Are you hoping to look slimmer to bulkier?

A) it takes a LOT of time to build muscle. A LOT

B) at your age you are at a disadvantage. You lose muscle mass every year starting at 40. Without a strong foundation of muscle to begin with, you’re not building as much as you’re preventing further loss.

It takes a really long time at 50. Just keep doing what you are doing, and maybe eat a little more.

I bet it’s the protein intake causing bloating. But also, 4 months is nothing in terms of lifting. Body recomp can take years for women. I would dial back the protein to something in the mid range and see if that helps.

You need creatine. Males have been taking it for decades and for some reason women (who actually need it more as they produce less) other than athletes seem to overlook this basic essential for muscle building,

Unless you are eating a 16oz ny strip 4x a week building muscle is very hard without it.

Ironically it is also essential for cognitive functions. It is also really cheap and has been around forever and well established.