[font size="1" color="#FF0000"]LAST EDITED ON Jan-01-03 AT 08:51AM (Est)[/font][p]Strength training is one of the best things I've ever discovered. being 5'2 and around 110--120lbs, I had a low basal metabolic rate compared to the average human being just by virtue of my small stature. before I discovered strength training, I struggled to maintain my weight, and to my horror, if I ate "like everyone else", I started piling on the kilos.(and would end up weighing 55kg, which was to me, absolutely horribly obese.) I found that I had to eat hardly anything and exercise a lot, just to maintain a weight I was happy with. The most distressing fact was that even when I put on weight, I wasn't eating that badly or all that much, I was, as I said, just eating 'like an average teenager', but somehow other teenagers could eat a bit of junk here and there yet still manage their weight whereas I had to be ultra-restrictive just to maintain a normal figure. I developed a minor eating disorder.
Well, since I've discovered weight training, I have put on muscle mass, and now I have experienced great rewards. Firstly, I can manage my weight without being ultra-restrictive about eating. I am still careful, but I no longer have to be fanatical. My body manages weight better and I don't put on weight from occasional treats. Secondly, my body shape has changed, and whereas I used to think I was an unconditional, classic 'endomorph', I now think I am a meso/endo mixture. The secret to a flat stomach? I found that no matter how much cardio I did, I seemed to have unbudgeable fat on my stomach unless I starved my self down a few kilograms. Since I started weight lifting, the overall increase in lean body mass has indirectly, somehow, made it easier for fat to fall off my stomach and other parts of my body so that I have now even received comments from a girl who "envied my waistline" and a boy who is "absolutely in love with my butt" (!)
I would basically say that by exploiting strength training and exposing my body to intense, and/or novel forms of cardio (running, rowing machine) to keep my body challenged on a regular basis, my body is not that much less slender than when it was when I was killing myself to achieve my figure, only the difference is, I don't hurt myself anymore to achieve it. I am still not happy with my body, unfortunately, and sometimes I still think I must have distorted perception since other people say I'm thin/lean (in a good way, not too thin), but in the mirror sometimes I can't stand how I look, it causes me pain that all of my body EXCEPT MY LEGS looks fantastic. but it is nevertheless great that I have progressed to the extent that I have; and I credit strength training with helping my overcome an eating disorder.
my body may not look all that different to people who know me. the major benefit for me is not the visible changes to my muscle (even though that is great), but rather, the fact that it boosted my metabolism so much that I can finally, after so long of restricting my eating, actually be slender AND eat decent meals at the same time. This has been my goal for so long, to somehow master nutrition and exercise so that I could one day find out the secret to having a body I was content with YET simultaneously eat lots of nutriious food in order to be *bursting* with life and vitality. Strength training allowed me to in part achieve that, though I'm still on the journey towards satisfaction, with lots to go.
(heather, who just discovered this forum)
Well, since I've discovered weight training, I have put on muscle mass, and now I have experienced great rewards. Firstly, I can manage my weight without being ultra-restrictive about eating. I am still careful, but I no longer have to be fanatical. My body manages weight better and I don't put on weight from occasional treats. Secondly, my body shape has changed, and whereas I used to think I was an unconditional, classic 'endomorph', I now think I am a meso/endo mixture. The secret to a flat stomach? I found that no matter how much cardio I did, I seemed to have unbudgeable fat on my stomach unless I starved my self down a few kilograms. Since I started weight lifting, the overall increase in lean body mass has indirectly, somehow, made it easier for fat to fall off my stomach and other parts of my body so that I have now even received comments from a girl who "envied my waistline" and a boy who is "absolutely in love with my butt" (!)
I would basically say that by exploiting strength training and exposing my body to intense, and/or novel forms of cardio (running, rowing machine) to keep my body challenged on a regular basis, my body is not that much less slender than when it was when I was killing myself to achieve my figure, only the difference is, I don't hurt myself anymore to achieve it. I am still not happy with my body, unfortunately, and sometimes I still think I must have distorted perception since other people say I'm thin/lean (in a good way, not too thin), but in the mirror sometimes I can't stand how I look, it causes me pain that all of my body EXCEPT MY LEGS looks fantastic. but it is nevertheless great that I have progressed to the extent that I have; and I credit strength training with helping my overcome an eating disorder.
my body may not look all that different to people who know me. the major benefit for me is not the visible changes to my muscle (even though that is great), but rather, the fact that it boosted my metabolism so much that I can finally, after so long of restricting my eating, actually be slender AND eat decent meals at the same time. This has been my goal for so long, to somehow master nutrition and exercise so that I could one day find out the secret to having a body I was content with YET simultaneously eat lots of nutriious food in order to be *bursting* with life and vitality. Strength training allowed me to in part achieve that, though I'm still on the journey towards satisfaction, with lots to go.
(heather, who just discovered this forum)
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