Tell me what you eat, and I will tell you who you are. — Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin
What do you think has more effect on your physique: Dieting or working out? If you guessed working out, you couldn’t be more wrong!
Referring back to the previous research [1, 2], a reduction of body fat has a much bigger impact on attractiveness than an increase in muscle mass. Additionally, eating the correct amount of macronutrients (protein, carbs, and fats) is vital to maximizing muscle growth [1].
Planning your nutrition is of utmost importance if you want to reach the ideal physique in the least amount of time. If you want to take years to get there, no worries. The fun is usually found in the journey rather than the destination.
If you'd rather achieve the ideal female body in the shortest amount of time, then compiled in this section are the equipment and supplements that reduce the time it takes to reach the ideal from years to months.
Step 1: Get your supplies
Not everyone can afford to purchase supplements/equipment, so stick to the ones listed under “things you need”. They’re the only items absolutely necessary to make sure you can reach ideal in months, not years.
The items listed under "highly recommended" have been shown in the scientific literature to help speed up your progress noticeably, but they are not necessary. The effectiveness of each supplement is listed below it so you can decide whether or not to get it.
Besides the research done on each of these supplements and equipment devices, the beta-testers made sure that all the products linked below were vetted for quality, effectiveness, and price-to-performance ratio.
The details on each supplement like when to take them, how to use them, and how much of each one you need will be covered in the not-so-far future. For now, just make sure you have (or ordered) them before you start lifting.
Please note that all the recommended products are Amazon associate links that help pay for this website. And lastly, if you don't have an Amazon account, look up the product name in your web browser to locate and/or purchase it.
Things you need:
Although pretty obvious, this will be used to weigh yourself every day. The recommended scale below calculates your muscle mass and body fat, both of which we will use later on.
If you already have a smart scale, there’s no need to buy the one above. If you have a dumb scale, it's highly suggested you upgrade to the one above or any other smart scale. You'll be using it to measure your body fat percentage, muscle mass, and more later on!
A food scale is vital for accurately measuring the quantity of food that you’ll be eating on your cut. Although we will go over this later under the nutrition section, using a food scale to count calories is one of the best ways to lose fat effectively.
If you already have a food scale, there's no need to purchase this one!
Creatine is an organic compound found naturally in many of the meats we eat. But, because it is near impossible to get the minimum effective dose through normal eating (the effective dose means eating about 2½ lbs of red meat every day!), we supplement for both the environment’s sake and our wallets.
Creatine has been tested in the scientific community thousands of times and been shown to potentially double muscle growth after working out [1, 2, 3]. Creatine doesn't work for everybody [1], but it's so cheap that it's worth a shot.
This creatine product is vegan if that concerns you!
Highly recommended:
Whey protein is a byproduct of the cheese-making process and has been proven extensively to be highly effective in building muscle, more so than other sources like chicken, fish, or tofu [1, 2, 3, 4].
If you are highly lactose intolerant or vegan, choose the pea alternatives as they are just as effective [1, 2].
You can choose to purchase either protein powder or protein bars but experiment with both to see which fits your lifestyle better.
The average individual on this program goes through about 1 to 1.5lbs of protein powder per month, but try out different flavors before going all-in on one!
Citrulline Malate (CM) is an organic compound found naturally in many fruits, but like creatine, is it extremely difficult to intake the optimal amount on a normal diet.
CM has been shown to increase training volume by up to 80% in multiple studies [1, 2, 3] and serves to boost stamina throughout your workouts.
Caffeine is derived from 60+ plant species and you’ve probably had it before in your tea, coffee, or energy drinks. It serves as a central nervous system stimulant, increasing your strength by as much as 30% [1, 2, 3]!
But since drinking coffee isn’t the most accurate or fastest way of intaking caffeine, supplementation is needed in order to accurately gauge how much you need to take.
This caffeine supplement is flavored, which most people find enjoyable and can be mixed with your other pre-workout supplements to make a tasty energy drink.
Optional:
This is the last supplement is optional as the evidence behind it is messy, to say the least [1, 2, 3]. If there’s one supplement on this list to skip for financial reasons, it would be this one!
With that said, many people lack several key vitamins and micronutrients [1], so taking them in the appropriate amount will only benefit you. The micronutrients (vitamins and minerals) that have the most impact on muscle growth seem to be Vitamin D and B12 [1], both of which are in the multivitamin recommended below.
But if you have bought the caffeine recommended earlier, you don’t need to supplement with these as it already has vitamin D and B12 in it!
Supplement Criteria
All these supplements have passed these four checks:
- Proven to be safe in the short and long term ✓
- Have corroborated, peer-reviewed data to support them ✓
- Are easy to acquire ✓
- And are relatively cheap ✓
Additionally, these specific recommendations were made to work together!
Step 2: Download a calorie-counting app
In the nutrition section coming up, you'll be using a calorie counting app to make sure your progress is as fast as possible. If you want, you can track your calories on paper but that's a ton of work.
For this guide, it's recommended that you track your calories through a free app called "Nutrionix Track" (not sponsored or affiliated, it just worked the best). Click one of the links below to get it:
To setup your Nutritionix account, follow these steps:
- Open Nutritionix on your phone after downloading it
- Create your account
- Then click on "Notifications" and turn on all options
- Make sure you allow notifications for Nutrionix
You can also use MyFitnessPal if you already have an account or any other preferred calorie counting app. Just make sure that you have one of these apps on your phone!
Step 3: Get your smart scale app
The recommended smart scale above comes with a handy app that shows you tons of useful information like your muscle mass, body fat percentage, and of course, your body weight change over time.
To download Renpho (the app that comes with the recommended scale), click either link below:
Like "Nutrionix Track", this guide isn't affiliated with this app or any other recommended app. After a few hundred rounds of feedback from previous users—as well as the beta-testers input—we pick the best apps to use without any connection to the parent company.
To setup your Renpho account, follow these steps:
- Open the Renpho app after downloading it
- Set up your account
- Then, under the “My Account” tab, click settings
- Find “Measurement Reminders” and create one at the time that you wake up
- Make sure notifications are allowed for Renpho
If you already have a smart scale, use the app that comes with it. If for whatever reason you cannot purchase a smart scale, know that you can still reach the ideal physique! Do not stop just because you don't have one.