Strong is better than skinny
If you want to lose weight stop focusing on the fat and start building muscle. Women are worried that they will get bulky if they lift weight. This is factually untrue for a couple of reasons which I will explain.
1. The idea that women that have defined muscles are masculine! This is quite a patriarchal concept, who says this and why? I will leave that one with you to reflect upon.
2. Women are not built to easily develop bulky muscles, any muscle that you can develop needs to be encouraged and cherished because this is your metabolic fire house, your energy access as well as ability to achieve dietary balance.
3. A woman's hormones are not a mans, a mans hormones specifically testosterone will allow him to develop muscle growth with dedication and application i.e - an on point diet and exercise program - he will build a body that can be high in muscle mass achieving his goals of a muscular body.
A woman though she does produce and require the hormone testosterone along with her own female hormones, however her testosterone is not in the same quantities as a male and she will not achieve such mass gains, at least with diet and exercise alone and unless she takes synthetic male hormones, which women do in figure competition - thats where you see a woman on stage in a bikini with a competitive muscular body which is an official sport. Or Masculinizing or -gender affirming hormone therapy.
A female can develop muscle, lose weight and look very toned, which can be mistaken for bulky, but really what she has achieved is fat loss and muscle definition.
When women say to me they have exercised in the past and it made them bulky there are 2 reasons, either she didn't loose weight and did develop muscle under the excess weight or she didn't like the actual shape of her new defined muscle-tone part of her body.
The answer to this is to make sure that the diet and the exercise program relate - and to accept your actual body shape as that wont change, but what will change with correct training and diet is the amount of fat you are carrying on the shape of your body and the muscle definition this should be the difference that makes you feel and look different.
4. Not only does a woman's weight fluctuate through her life, effected by her monthly cycle and through the hormonal changes of menopause. As well as a woman holds on to weight in areas of her body that men don't, this is naturally programmed for child baring whether you have a child or not in your life time. What works for a man, -some new diet for example, may not work for a woman.
5. Your age matters, what works for you in your twenties and thirties wont work in your forties. I have clients wanting to achieve what they have in their younger self past, they can't understand why it does not work any more? What they forget is that our younger-self may not have eaten for a day, two or more, gone on some kind of crash diet, a weekend of heavy partying worked wonders for the figure, but life has inevitably changed with the passing of time, a night out leaves you recovering for a week, which means diet and exercise are not on form and as well as that your job has you sat at a desk, your life has endless chores, responsibilities and you often come last when it comes to self care. That on top of hormonal changes (men and women) makes everything very different and that means training and diet have to change accordingly too.
The key to losing excess weight (age and health issue depending) and to maintaining the body and shape you like is strength training, lifting weights, going heavy and keeping workouts short, consistent and matching your diet to support your goals.
I offer virtual and in person consultations to set you up, support and hold you accountable on your health and wellness journey. Send me an email and lets chat and see if we are on the same page.
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