"You don't have to be beautiful/To be understood/You don't have to be rich and famous/To be good/You just gotta give more more more/Than you ever have before." Madonna, "Dance Tonight"
You know, I've drank the Kool-Aid, along with I'm sure millions of other people across America! I honestly thought this hackneyed old saw was true, and the most recent time I had it rolled out TO me was by a dear friend at the Mahopac-Mahopac Falls Volunteer Fire Department picnic. I mean, I've polished this old chestnut up to other people myself, in my day. Nodded my head when I heard someone tell it to someone else in m presence. And it's all a wicked, horrible lie! [Gasp!]
Muscle is really NOT heavier than fat!
So, you're like, WTF, but bear with me here: Everyone says, "Oh, you can't work out with weights when you're first engaging in weight loss because you'll just bulk up and get all fat. The scale will lie to you because of all of that bulk; your weight will go up." LIES, ALL LIES!
Do a search on the Internet on this issue. Go ahead, do it. I'll wait here. [Elevator music for approximately five minutes] Oh, you're back? See!!! There's a plethora of web sites and Internet articles that actually denude this myth! A pound of muscle weighs exactly the same as a pound of fat. There is no difference in weight...but there IS a difference in terms of what you'll look like if you are more muscular than fat. According to One More Bite, a web site dedicated to weight loss, a woman weighing 150 pounds with 19% fat will look much smaller (and be much healthier) than a woman weighing 150 pounds with 35% fat. There's a great (but kinda yucky) graphic which illustrates what a pound of fat looks like as compared to a pound of muscle. It tells the story right then and there. "Simply seeing how much you weigh isn't that helpful," the article concludes.
So all of those people who have put off working out with weights because they think they have to keep wrestling some number on the scale are just fooling themselves. Like I did. Now I'm going to incorporate a great deal more exercises involving weights into my daily routine. I'd rather look trim and be more healthy, and perhaps (someday!) fit back into those size 8 jeans. Size 12 looks so gigantic next to my beloved old denim. I've done the side by side comparison and blown through a box of Kleenex while bawling my eyes out in grief. But that's OK. I'm a 12, not a 14 or 16 or worse, like I'm sure I was at 203 pounds giving birth to my son. I will return to a size that's normal for me. I'm sure there are folks out there who wouldn't mind being a size 12 because they're, say, a size 22 right now. I feel for them, but the bottom line is, most of America needs to get smaller, and abstaining from anaerobic exercise (workouts with weights, y'all) isn't going to help you. It's going to hinder you. Pick up that iron and start PUMPING! Even if you're just starting out with one pound weights, which they DO sell, start somewhere and build from there!
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