BEHIND THE BODY

Diet • Fitness • Lifestyle for Women 40+

I have a photo of myself at 36 that I've shown on YouTube, social media, and I think even in one of my past newsletters.

In it, I look relatively skinny. But I was skinny fat. I had zero muscle, I had cellulite, and I was soft and smushy. I hated my body.

What's crazy about that photo is how hard I was working at the time. And by working, I mean trying everything to be smaller: eating as little as possible, exercising my butt off, literally trying to shrink myself. I looked (and felt) absolutely terrible.

My body today at 45 is drastically different. I'm 10 pounds heavier than back then, and I love my body so much more now. The main reason is because of the muscle. Muscle gave me shape. It made me look strong. It fills out my clothes better. It makes me look better naked!

The lesson learned is that you cannot spot-reduce fat. You can't lose it off your stomach, you can't lose it off the back of your arms, and you can't lose it off your butt or your thighs if that's where you hold it. I can't decide where I lose fat. But I can absolutely decide where I gain muscle, which gives me the illusion of a body shaped completely differently.

Muscle sets your proportions, and your proportions are what you see in the mirror and in your clothes. It created shape where I needed it most.

My shoulders are broader than my waist now, so my waist looks smaller, even though it barely changed. My quads fill out my legs, so every time I take a step, there's muscle there instead of loose, jiggly skin. The backs of my legs and triceps are where I normally carry fat, and I still carry it there. There's still cellulite, because I'm a woman 🤷🏻‍♀️. But there's muscle underneath all of it now, and it changes how it looks.

I spent my 30s trying to shrink specific parts of myself, which was fighting an uphill battle day in and day out. And I spent exactly none of that time building anything that would have changed my shape.

Weight loss doesn't automatically mean you love your body. Women can hit their goal weight and still not like what they see. But when you build muscle, you see yourself as more than just a number on the scale.

When you look good, you just feel good. You carry yourself differently. You wear your clothes differently. You walk into a room differently. That's the part I didn't expect, and it's most of the reason getting older doesn't scare me.

My Suggestion For You

Here's what I want you to take from this, because it took me the better part of a decade to work it out on my own: the roadmap I train from.

These are the 4 areas I train for shape, and what each one does:

Shoulders. Building them widens the top of you, which I know sounds scary, but you don’t have to look like a linebacker. A little side deltoid muscle can make a huge difference. A slightly wider top makes your waist look smaller. If you only ever picked one, I'd pick this.

Glutes. Building them lifts and rounds the back of your body, which makes your legs look longer and slimmer from behind and also helps your clothes fit better.

Upper back. It pulls your shoulders back, helps your waist look tapered, and stands you up straighter. This changes how you look more than another 5 pounds would.

Quads and hamstrings. They add muscle to your legs, making them look strong and powerful when you walk and move.

If you’re wondering why I didn’t mention arms, it’s because they get enough muscle-building during my shoulder and back workouts, and I don’t want them to get too big.

If you've never been excited about the way your body looks but you've also never wanted to lift weights, this is the incentive I eventually found. I can't decide where the fat comes off, but I can decide where I put muscle, and so can you. That's how you change your proportions.

What I'm Loving This Week

If you're new here, I am a basic bitch who loves pumpkin spice EVERYTHING. So when ALOHA brought back their Pumpkin Spice protein bars, I bought a box. 14 grams of protein, 3 grams of sugar, and it tastes like pumpkin pie 😋. When I want something sweet in the afternoon, this is what I reach for. They're limited edition, so get them while they're around!

Because You Didn't Ask...

We're in a heat wave in San Diego, and it's been in the mid-80s with high humidity 😥. I know that may not sound like much depending on where you are, but it's a lot for us here!

And despite that, I picked up pumpkin spice creamer at the grocery store this weekend anyway, and I'm drinking it right now, even as I start to sweat. 😂 I can't be the only crazy one drinking it in August in the middle of a heat wave. Who's with me?

Great chat! Let's do it again next Tuesday.

Xx,

Andrea