How To Avoid Bulking Up and Losing Your Femininity

Myth: Lifting weights is not good to do if you want to lose weight, because it will make you “bulk up.”

Fact: Lifting weights or doing strengthening activities like push-ups and crunches on a regular basis can actually help you maintain or lose weight.

These activities can help you build muscle, and muscle burns more calories than body fat. So if you have more muscle, you burn more calories—even sitting still. The more lean body mass, or muscle you have, the higher your metabolism will be.

Lean body mass weighs less than body fat. That is why when you lose weight, or weigh yourself, you should only be concerned with the amount of fat pounds. Lean body pounds are good because they increase your metabolic rate and help you burn calories and stored energy in the form of fat cells.

Today, it is more "fashionable" or desirable to have a fit body. That is, lean and toned. This implies a certain amount of musculature in one's appearance. However, many women are afraid of looking like a professional body builder if they do resistance training exercises because to most women, having muscles is a masculine feature and therefore takes away from their feeling of being and looking feminine and attractive.

It is very difficult for the average woman to gain enough lean body mass to appear less than feminine. The hardest part is losing the fat because women have more subcutaneous body fat compared to men. Women must not only develop their muscles, but reduce their body fat sufficiently enough to reveal those muscles below the fat.

Another misunderstanding is that having muscles (below your fat) is bad because it just adds to your overall body weight and takes away your perceived gains in losing weight when you get on the scale. That is why you should not weigh yourself and look at your combined weight of lean body mass and body fat. At the very least, get a scale that measures body fat as well as overall weight, or get your body fat measured before you start weighing yourself everyday over the course of your weight loss endeavor.

Doing strengthening activities 2 or 3 days a week will not “bulk you up.” Only intense strength training, combined with a certain genetic background, can build very large muscles.

Tip: In addition to doing moderate-intensity physical activity (like walking 2 miles in 30 minutes) on most days of the week, try to do strengthening activities 2 to 3 days a week. You can lift weights, use large rubber bands (resistance bands), do push-ups or sit-ups, or do household or garden tasks that make you lift or dig. Strength training helps keep your bones strong while building muscle, which can help burn calories.

For more information about the benefits of physical activity and suggestions on how to be more active, read the 2008 Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans, available online at http://www.health.gov/PAguidelines.

John & Lana Leslie are partners and franchise owners with Unicity International. Together they will help get you off to a fast start using the 90-day Fast Start System, tailored to your unique situation. Get the sponsor you never had with these two dynamic leaders. 480-239-8049.