Things I learned while researching Women Fitness and the common misconceptions

That's one long title, I know. I wanted to make it clear what I'll be writing about.

About 4 months ago my gym-savvy friends finally convinced me to start working out and looking into what's best for me. I though 'Hey, I'm in my early 20s, I'll need to do this sooner or later, so why not create good habits sooner?'

I went to the gym, the first few times were quite confusing and really not helpful at all, so naturally I decided to do my research, starting from my usual resource - reddit. I found the wonderful ladies of /r/xxfitness and their extremely detailed and resourceful help guide.

What they directed me towards is a book called 'New Rules of Lifting for Women'.

Now, I'm sitting there thinking about the idea of me, lifting weights.... 

First of all, I've never done any serious exercising in my entire life. I've gone only as far as dancing classes for fun and stopped after a month. I'm one of those girls who skipped PE classes and used to pass out a lot due to anaemia in High School, so I've been really good at avoiding any exercise, even lifting my own grocery bags.  

So there I am, sitting and thinking 'how is lifting going to help me? isn't it just going to make me bulky?' - that's the least I want to achieve. There's a lot of 'bulky' women out there who look amazing and rock that, but I really don't see myself being that hardcore.

I kept reading the book and after finishing it, the things I learned about working out and how all those things that fashion magazines and pop culture has been feeding our minds with is more or less bullshit. 

1. Cardio. That was my biggest shocker. Cardio doesn't have the effect most people think it does. It doesn't help you lose weight in the long run, in fact all it does is make you happy if you enjoy it, help you lose that extra weight before an event (if you're keeping a strict diet) and helps your blood circulation. The moment you leave the cardio or eat bad foods, it has minimal to no effect. The calories you burn while doing cardio is the calories you gain back when you eat after. It has a lot less permanent effect than lifting and takes 5x the amount ot time to achieve a desired shape. 

2. "Dieting". Dieting in pop culture is seen as 'starvation for a few days to look great on that one special day'. If that's what you're aiming for - go for it. If you want a more permanent effect it's not a diet anymore - it's a lifestyle. You have to change your mind about food completely. 4 months ago I used to eat at least one chocolate bar every day. Right now I eat one small chocolate treat a week. I've cut off fizzy drinks completely, no junk food at all. And, surprisingly, I love it. I don't feel the need for any of these things anymore. I can happily survive on nice meat, veggies, salads, fruits and yoghurt. And loads of water. I only crave sugary stuff once in a while 

 Also count your calories. I highly recommend the myfitnesspal app, but keep in mind the suggested daily calories in the app are not correct, so you'll have to calculate those online. Don't obsess over calories, but be aware. You'd be surprised what kind of foods are high-calorie. I know I was! Sushi is actually quite high in calories - I had a hard time accepting that. 

3. Lifting and Women Lifting. Here's the science-y explanation of what happen to your body when you life weights: Your muscles and bones get damaged over and over again and you put your entire body under a lot of stress and pressure. Then you eat proteins to recover the damage from the workout and do it again. We all know what that does to your body, right? Yeah - it makes it stronger, more immune to damage and ready to take on a lot more pressure than it used to. Not to mention what it does to your blood circulation. And what that does to the fat in your body? It burns it, even when you're sleeping. Your entire stomach is on fire and burns all the fat and grows the muscle instead of the fat. 

Does lifting make you bulky? Hell no. In fact, for women it's a lot harder to become 'bulky', because we lack the testosterone in our bodies. It burns the fat and over time defines the muscles, which is what we call 'toning' (and most people's definition of 'fit' and 'sexy' body). 

4. Overweight people are at an advantage. When working out, especially with lifts - the bigger you are > the more you can lift > the more you burn. In layman terms - the more fat you have to burn, the easier it will be for you to burn it with lifting. Bigger people actually have big advantage. I've seen smaller women take 5-6+ months to lose a small amount of weight, while larger people would lost 2x the amount for that time. It's extremely motivating for someone who's looking to lose a lot of weight, not to mention it's rewarding and boost the ego 

5. Know what you're doing in the gym. Just like anything else in life - the more you know about what you're doing, the more pleasure you'll take in doing it. That's why I research things constantly. I end up being full of the most random information you can think of, but hey - you never know when it'll be useful and it's a great ice-breaker. I mean, this is what we have the internet for - think about the endless amounts of useful information out there! 

And this is long enough already, people don't really read that much nowadays, so let me know if you'd like a video of it, or a video of something else! Recommendations welcome. 

Hope you're all having a great weekend~