Stop Chasing Skinny

Now, you might not like everything you are about to read but I can assure you if you are willing to make the necessary changes you will see results. 

Okay, so you own a scale and step on it every morning. I’m here to tell you that the scale is a dirty, little liar and hopefully by the end of this article you will understand why. Let me reiterate, the scale is a little beotch and it’s time to ignore what it has to say and throw it away.

So, you’d do anything to achieve your skinny weight. You eat less than 1,500 calories a day, yet you are still unhappy with the way you look. Sound familiar?

That was me for as long as I can remember. I felt “skinny” on the scale, however, I was still very unhappy with the way my body looked. I couldn’t find clothes that fit right and I thought that that was acceptable. Long story short, I was unhappy and couldn’t figure out why I didn’t look like this.

I mean I was eating less, I was working out at least 30 minutes a day and yet, I still didn’t look like this.

We’ve all been there and eventually we just give up or do some stupid cayenne pepper, lemon juice, maple syrup fat flush because celebrities do it and then eat a gallon of ice cream because you’re starvingggg and it’s just “not working”. Sound familiar? Ya, that’s what I thought.

Okay, for those of you who don’t know me, after getting engaged in September of last year, I decided to do whatever it took to look my absolute best on my wedding day. After years of crash dieting, low calorie, non-fat bullshit. I decided to take a new approach. I was no longer going to repeat the same thing everyday in the gym and expect new results. That’s the definition of insanity, people. So with my sanity in mind, I started to cut back on cardio and incorporate lifting into my workout routine.

To all you cardio bunnies out there, it is time to stop! I hate to say it but your body is not going to magically transform into a lean, mean, fat burning machine if you are able to text and Facebook stalk during your workout. Sorry, I’m not sorry, we’ve all been there.

The truth of the matter is, steady pace cardio is just not going to cut it. This is not to say that cardio is bad because it’s not, its just most effective when incorporated into a balanced workout routine. The rule of thumb here is to always have an elevated heart rate, you know, like when you see Ryan Gosling without a shirt on, elevated.

Cardio will help you lose weight, sure, but it will burn both your muscle and fat. And trust me  you don’t want that. At the end of the day, you need to realize that your main objective while at the gym is to burn fat, not just lose weight. And just incase you need another visual reminder, this is what burning fat can do for your body.

Okay, so what am I supposed to do at the gym then? So happy you asked. Lift them weights, gurl. So many of you ladies are scared to lift weights. Bitch, please. I’ve heard it all. You’re going to look soooo manly. Don’t get too muscle-y. I don’t want to have bigger arms and legs than I already do. STOP! Let me ask you something. Do you want to see a change? Do you want to have a toned ass that makes Ryan Gosling’s heart rate elevate? If you answered yes to either of those questions then throw your preconceived bullshit out the window and listen here.

Lifting weights has changed my life and believe it or not weight training is one of the best forms of exercise for a woman. Now I’m going to throw down some cold hard facts here because unfortunately that’s the only thing you scrawny little bitches are going to listen to.

A little school called Penn State (ever heard of it?) conducted a study where they put dieters into three groups, no exercise, aerobic exercise only and weight training. Each group lost 21 pounds, however, the lifers shed six more pounds of pure fat than the other two groups. Why you ask? Now this might seem cray cray but lifting burns fat. And when you burn fat you look like this. 

And if that’s not enough for you, here are some pictures of “skinny” celebrities that… LIFT WEIGHTS. Because let’s be honest, we all know you’ll do anything the celebrities do.

And if WWE Divas aren’t good enough for you, ever wonder how Snooki made the transformation she did?

Three weeks ago, I walked down the aisle and got married to the most supportive guy ever. I’ll be honest, I’m no Beyonce but I was very happy with the progress I saw just after 5 months of steady strength training. I should also note that these results are also due to my diet but lets focus on one thing at a time.

Okay, so you look like you have more definition, but I bet it’s because you weigh less now. Wrong.

In December 2012 (left), I weighed 130 pounds and in October 2014 (right), I weighed 137 pounds. Wait what? Yes, that’s 7 extra pounds. 7 extra pounds of muscle, which makes me look leaner. Funny how that works. Remember what I said about the scale. Dirty. Little. Liar.

The long and short of it is, once you stop fixating on what the scale says you’ll understand that your actual weight doesn’t matter. So, please stop focusing on chasing your skinny weight. Your new focus should be burning fat and gaining lean muscle.  How do I do that again? By lifting some damn weights. Now, go hit the gym!