Losing Fat, Gaining Muscle, Losing Pounds, ...Gaining Food...?

We actually have handstand holds today...up against the wall of course.

While working a shift at the Locker yesterday, one of the other girls there said at some point "man I wish my ab's looked like that mannequin's".  To which I responded with "yeah me too, but I'm not willing to sacrifice ice cream, cheese, cake or biscuits to get there".

First off she thought it was funny that I said biscuits, but its true.  About 2 times a week I have a biscuit with my usual breakfast of 2 hard boiled eggs.

With butter and strawberry jam.

She then said something or other about how its the exercise she isn't willing to do.

Ugh.

 Don't you know that muscle, especially ab's are made in the kitchen not in the gym.

She did not.

And actually wanted to argue with me about it, but I made it so that the conversation was changed to something else.  Or I walked off.  One of those.

More than likely the latter.

Sorry folks, but you just can't exercise your way out of a bad diet.

As far as getting ab's?  YOU ALREADY HAVE THEM! We all do, anatomically speaking. It’s just a matter of making them visible. As evidence to this, just spend a little time at your local municipal pool and you will see droves of kids walking around with perfect 6-pack abs who have never done a crunch in their life! So often in training sessions you will hear a person say, while clutching a piece of their belly fat, “Can we do a lot of abs today, because I gotta get rid of this”.  This is a misnomer, though common to all trainers, which has persisted in the public eye for years.

The majority of the reason for this is that whenever we are shown someone in a fitness magazine or TV spot discussing how to get those ripped abs, they are typically doing some sort of abdominal exercise or using some type of equipment they want to sell you. The marketing process is simple. Show someone with great abs using a product and the consumer ties the image of great abs to the use of that product. And it works.

The sales of ab equipment is a multi-million dollar business. But the truth lies in your refrigerator.

This certainly isn’t meant to devalue the benefits of abdominal or core training but let’s be honest here. The overwhelming majority of people busting their butts doing hundreds of crunches are doing them primarily for aesthetic purposes.

Heck, I’d bet looking better is a close second only to health for the main reason most people work out at all, and in an honest survey it may be #1! Although this may hint that our priorities are slightly out of line, the fact is, when we look better we feel better and our health is likely to follow.

And double heck, because this just doesn't apply to ab's in my opinion.  It applies to muscle no matter where. 

Body dysmorphia is my enemy..I wish I could quit it!

And most people will tell you that to gain muscle you have to eat more (of the right foods/proportions etc.) and to lose weight you need to eat less...counter productive.  That is why it is so hard to lose weight (pounds) when strength training.

Especially as women, we are conditioned to pay more attention to a number on a scale.  But when you go into something like strength training or CrossFit, one would be highly advised to stay off the scale.

I know I am not getting on there. 

At some point, sure if you are eating a certain way, and doing CF etc., you will lose some pounds that will show up on the scale, but it won't be anything like a cardio rich/food restriction type of situation.  And eventually that won't work either...either due to one screwing up their metabolism or...age.

If there is one thing I have noticed its that in some ways, I appear to be 'larger'.  Not in a bad way, not at all.

But then I also look smaller.

Aaaaaaaaaaand then again, I have body dysmorphia (at some times more severe than at others), so honestly I don't know.

Its weird really.  I don't know if my body is adjusting and its confused (its actually very common especially when you first start 'growing' muscles).

Which brings me to my last point about 'gaining food'.  I already know that I haven't been eating enough.  I try.  I really do.  However, sometimes the restriction in me wins and I go into this 'eat less to lose faster' thing when in reality I know that based on what I am doing, I am not eating enough and its counter-productive.

I struggle more than many I think because of age and my hypothyroidism I have to be uber-sensitive since I don't burn as much even with all the activity.

That really sucks by the way...

But at the end of the day, I need to eat more, maybe, just maaaaybe knock out a few of my indulgences (and there aren't many)...I am not paying out all this money for CF and running, plus my time and hard work, not to reap the best benefits right?  I mean the point is to be strong...not skinny...

Just remember....

p.s. This goes for the guys too.  Keep eating crap and you're going to continue to look like crap.  In the past week, 2 just today, that have either written on blogs or told me personally how they are fed up with how they look and feel due to eating too much, gaining weight and not exercising.  Here's a hint...you don't even have to exercise that much if you would just keep the fast food, sodas, and other processed foods out of your effing piehole.  And then there are some that are just hopeless due to their picky ways and only eat crap to begin with, and (more than likely) always will.