lift like a girl

So quite honestly, I’ve been doing a bad job of being healthy for the past two days. Yesterday I drank a lot and ate three huge fatty (I say that literally, the food was very fattening) meals and today I had pad see eiw and fried rice with curry. Drinking lots of water and going to clean up my act again tomorrow. Sodium and carbs make me retain water like a MOFO. I went up 4 pounds in the past 2 days.

10 / 05

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Thirty minutes on the elliptical! Such a good workout.
I HATE squats.
Crunches literally blast belly fat away!
Oh god, fruit has so much sugar.
I hate eating post-workout meals.
Barbells are for curling.
I have sooo much protein powder.
Ew, oatmeal. Disgusting.
This peanut butter has been sitting in my cupboard for so long, it already expired!

02 / 08

841 notes

// I realized recently how far I’ve come in my fitblr journey.//

I started out as a weight loss blog, focusing purely on calorie counting and the number on the scale. I tagged my posts as ‘thinspo,’ talked about hipbones and thigh gaps, and did an hour of cardio every day. I hated myself everytime I saw that number go up, and I loved myself when I saw it go down.

Then as I started exploring the world of ‘fitspo’ on tumblr and I discovered this whole new world of body acceptance and promoting HEALTH and MUSCLE instead of pure weight loss. I learned about how lifting could change my body comp, and how I could stay the same on the scale but look different in person because of muscle gain and fat loss. I stopped caring about hip bones, and I started loving how dense and strong my quads were.

When I was calorie counting and doing cardio, I hated it. I lost some weight but looked flabby. It was unrewarding for me. I started doing olympic lifts, and guess what?

Now, going to the gym is like a treat. I sweat just as much benching 70 lbs (I’m still a newbie!) as I did on the treadmill. I weigh almost the same as when I started, but I’m going to need to buy new pants soon, I have muscle definition in my arms, and I ENJOY MYSELF.

Tumblr has been a constant source of motivation for me through my FITNESS journey. It has taught me how to make working out a habit, and how to eat clean without missing out on delicious, delicious food. THANK YOU FITBLR COMMUNITY <3

06 / 05

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(Source: philyra-dreamhouse, via letsjuststart0ver)

12 / 04

3,260 notes

// been a little MIA. quick update on my progress://

When I sit down, if I have good posture + suck in the tiniest bit, I almost have a flat belly O_O no sit down muffin top!!!

Also, when I flex, I have the tiniest hint of definition in my biceps :D :D

20 / 03

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muffintop-less:

Some girls still fret about this…
Lifting heavy weights will NOT make you manly or bulky! Women do not have the levels of testosterone necessary to gain muscle the way men do. The women you see who are extremely muscular take STEROIDS and train for years upon years to develop that much bulk and mass. Picking up a heavy dumbbell will not result in you waking up the next morning looking like the incredible Hulk. If it were that easy to build muscle (muscle = tone) don’t you think more women would be tone and in shape?

Lifting heavy weights creates curves in all the right places! Things like heavy squats, deadlifts, lunges and leg presses give you tone, shapely legs and glutes. Things like rows, pull downs, chin ups and hyperextensions gives you a sleek, tone back. Curls, kickbacks and push downs give you tone arms and helps reduce “jiggle”. Lateral raises, presses and upright rows gives you little caps on your shoulders that can make your waist appear smaller! And those are just a few example exercises! There are SO MANY benefits to building muscle!

Did you know.. the more lean muscle mass you have on your body, the more calories you burn, just by being alive?? That means if you and your hypothetical “identical twin” sat on a couch all day watching tv, but you were more muscular than your identical twin… YOU would actually burn more calories doing the exact same thing?? Muscle tissue is metabolically active, it requires more calories to maintain than fatty tissue. To add to this fact, the more lean muscle mass you have, the faster your metabolism! This means you can eat more than your identical twin, and it is less likely to be converted to fat and more likely to be used by the body for energy! Having more muscle on your frame also makes it easier to lose body fat!

The lesson to take from all of this? If you are physically able to, lift heavy weights! You will be glad you did =)

(via melanie-is-healthy)

18 / 03

431 notes

// wow, today’s workout made me feel fucking awesome.//

my arms and back are going to be SO SORE tomorrow. it was amazing. I want to hold on to this feeling and remind myself of it every time i feel like not working out.

02 / 03

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