What weight training and flexible dieting has given me

Well it has been another long stint between blog posts. I like to write when I know I have something meaningful to write about and while this happens sporadically it is only occasionally I actually get a chance to jot down my thoughts. I have two things that I find mentally challenging but at the same time also therapeutic in life and they are 1. Weight training and 2. Writing. Being that today is a rest day, it was time to do some writing J

Today I want to continue to share with you where I am at on my journey with food, training and life I guess as they all intertwine. My post is another personal one as are most of my posts because I believe people relate with personal. I could sit here and rattle off facts and figures and statistics and you would probably scan over it and feel like you have wasted 10 minutes of your life. Whereas hopefully you will read this and feel like you have gotten something from it, even if that something I just learning a little more about me J

I want to share with you why I advocate weight training and tracking your macros for specific goals. I know, I know there are many critics of both of these things and if you are one you are probably thinking “here we go, another spiel about weights, flexible dieting and the benefits blah blah” but bare with me as I said I am not here to share stats and figures I am just here to tell you about what weight training and flexible dieting has given me in this past few months.

My journey into the fitness industry and where I stand today has been a bit of a rollercoaster.  I never pictured myself working as a personal trainer. My years of weight struggles when I was younger didn’t give me much body positivity. When I first started exercising  I was doing a lot of cardio and my initial focus was to be “skinny” I had never in my life been skinny and when you are growing up you are sadly pretty much put into one of two ‘classes’- skinny or fat. Most of my friends were in that skinny class and so that’s what I wanted to be too. When I got “skinny” though I decided I didn’t really like it. Skinny actually became as much of a derogatory way of describing me as fat did. 

 When I started doing the occasional weight training with no real idea my focus initially was to be super lean. I wanted  the 6 pack abs. I still did lots of cardio and lifted some weights. I watched pretty much everything I ate during the week, was a "clean eater" and I binged on the weekends a fair bit too.

After a while, thanks to the magazines/social media I decided I wanted to be ‘more muscly.’ I still wanted abs but I wanted popping delts and quads and the whole package. I researched and started eating a little bit more (still clean and binge) and lifting heavier. I kept up the cardio though because I was sure this way the key to staying lean :/

 When I made the decision to compete I was searching again for that “perfect physique.”  Yeah I got pretty lean, I had delts, I had quads but there was still something missing .  After I competed I was trying to stay lean, but build muscle and it just wasn’t happening. I ended up so confused with what my actual goals were that I just wasn’t happy at all. I figured out what was missing in the whole picture was me being happy. Don’t get me wrong I wasn’t miserable with my life by any means but I was still deep down thinking that my happiness depended upon how I looked in the mirror.

This I believe comes from years of being solely judged on my appearance. People who wouldn’t have paid a second of attention to me in my “fat” days all of a sudden looked twice when I leaned down. Sadly though that is how society has become and no one can say they haven’t been guilty of judging someone by how they look rather than who they are. I know I have.

This year I started flexible dieting or macro tracking if you will. I had always thought about doing it but like many people out there was convinced it was just another “fad”. But when I actually bothered to research it and read up on it I thought otherwise. I decided I really didn’t have much to lose so why not give it a go. That was January and 4 months later I haven’t looked back once. I am the heaviest I have been EVER and eating more food than some guys I know. I’m doing probably the least amount of cardio I have ever done (which was initially a huge challenge mentally) and I am lifting the heaviest I have ever done before.  And when I thought about doing this post the thing that pushed me to do it is that I am probably the happiest and most body confident I have ever been.

 I know I’m not the leanest I have been and no I’m certainly not to a point where anyone could call me fat. I have muscle yes but I know I’m not the most ripped chick getting around.  But I do know I  am strong. And let me tell you that is one thing that makes you feel REALLY GOOD. Something no one can take from you. Ask anyone who has pushed themselves to lift heavy weights and they will tell you the same thing.

 It’s also something no one can tell by simply looking at you. I know I’m a pretty “petite” person sitting at 155cm tall and people are often shocked when they realise I eat and train the way that I do!

I was reading a post of a girl I follow on instagram the other day about the difference she found in doing a powerlifting comp as opposed to bodybuilding and I really liked what she wrote so I am going to share it.

"What I loved about competing in the top lifter powerlifting comp on Sunday:
1. Everyone in the room legitimately wanted everyone else to get their lifts. Refs, competitors, coaches, audience we all were egging for each other, no agenda.
2. I wasn't judged on my hair or nails or outfit or random crap that doesn't really matter to anyone. I was judged on my lift. Can you lift that? Yes or no. Level playing field.
3. The work I had done, the hours in the gym was a direct reflection of my result.
4. My attitude the next day. There was zero 'post comp blues' or 'what now?' unlike when I did my body building shows. I wasn't deprived for months (dropped 1.5-2kg in the last week to hit weight) I wasn't exhausted. All I wanted immediately was to get back to work."

I know this is a comparison to the competition world but it can also be related back to everyday life. When you FEEL strong you FEEL good and you really don’t worry AS much about how you look. The strength that comes from weight training I believe is a true inner satisfaction that can’t be taken from you. And chances are eating adequate food and lifting heavy weights are doing more for your body shape than anything else ever has or will! (I know this is the case for me)

Sure I used to count calories back in my cardio/uneducated weight days all the time. But I was eating a diet low in calories and that didn’t contain a lot of fat carbs or even protein. A calorie is not just a calorie. Each calorie we eat is made up of macronutrients and it DOES MATTER.

So many people say to me “but isn’t it annoying tracking every single thing you eat” and I say “isn’t it annoying eating supposedly healthy and training hard and never seeing the results you want?”. Think about it.

People also say to me “but I don’t want to lift heavy weights and get all muscly (gross)” and I say “do you want to lose body fat and shape your body?” “Yes” “Then considering you can’t change genetics, weight training is the best shot you have got!”

And while doing weights sporadically (kind of like my blog posts) will account for something it won’t be the same as doing them consistently. I’m not saying you have to be in the gym 7 days a week, two hours a day. I am there 5 days a week for no longer than 30-40 mins (sometimes longer if training with a partner but still no more than maximum 1 hour). 3 or 4 days even would suffice.

And of course you can do weights and still continue to eat “healthy” or clean all week, binge on the weekends but it won’t see the same results as if you track your macros, account for everything you eat whether it be chocolate, pizza, vegetables, chicken, fruit or even alcohol. It’s possible to enjoy every single food in moderation as long as you are staying accountable for it. This doesn't mean you are going to have to track forever but tracking for a period of time does give you the knowledge to understand what your body requires and what the foods you are eating actually contain. Knowledge=power!

I know that people will still continue to jump on board the quick fixes, the magic pills and shakes etc. rather than actually following an approach that relies solely upon actual science and consistency. And in a year’s time they will most likely be jumping on a different bandwagon. I know that people will continue to eat "clean" and binge when it becomes too mentally challenging to withstand. I know people will continue to do the same cardio an hour a day 5 days a week. One thing I have found in the past few years is people refuse to hear the truth. They seek it but they really don’t want to hear it.

I don’t expect to change the world (even though I would like to) but I still wanted to share what this change in approach has done for me in hope that I can change even just a few peoples outlooks

Weight training and eating to train heavy has given me something that I never found when I was training for aesthetics alone. It has allowed me to look at things differently. It has allowed me to look in the mirror or on the scales differently.  I’m not defined as fat, skinny, lean or muscly.

 I’m HAPPY. I’m HEALTHY. I’m STRONG. I’m ME :)