It's not that women should never train heavy; however, women should train differently than men. Our bodies are hormonally different, and we need to consider this when we choose our workouts. All of us should work out according to what our goals are versus what our fear tells us. Replace your fear with faith and watch what happens next.
When fear leads the way, we tend to work out too hard, making us even hungrier and sabotaging our need to eat less. We end up growing/bulking our bodies instead. That was my story!
You’ve probably noticed an uptick in different styles of workouts. It's worse than a food buffet (which I suggest avoiding when trying to lose weight) — from CrossFit to Pilates. Sadly, we end up overtired and overdone and often injured. The solution is a lot easier and much less time consuming, yet it delivers better results (unless you want to grow or bulk, which most women don't).
Most workouts are oversold and designed to scare you and play into your guilt and fear in order to sell more gym memberships versus making it easier for you to accomplish so you reach your goals and see results faster, which is the best way to motivate ... NOT!
The question I'm asked almost every day from women is, "how should I work out to lose weight while trying to lose weight?" Unfortunately, the internet isn’t going to provide you with the advice you need to reach your goals because the information is not specifically directed for our body's individual differences, leaving us even more frustrated, hurt, and very discouraged.
Also, they don't take a woman's hormonal or their goal differences into consideration. A long-term perspective is also left out, which is important if you want to maintain those results. When I write about health, fitness, and wellness topics, I always make it a point to write from a woman's perspective with a weight loss and long-term perspective in mind. This is what I needed to learn when I was trying to get into shape and made all the mistakes from overtraining, which led me to overeat. I'm hoping that by sharing my story, it helps you avoid the mistakes I made in the gym.
I assumed a hard workout could make up for a bad diet, or help me lose weight. I bulked myself up, which was never my intention. I worked out too long and too hard, driving my appetite and making my hunger and cravings so bad I couldn’t stop overeating. All this negated every minute I spent working out, not to mention all that excessive wear and tear on my joints that can cause permanent damage. Added to that was the wasted time I should have been spending living my life, defeating the entire purpose of staying healthy, especially when it came to my goal, which was weight loss. I was 40 pounds overweight and despised my body.
I draw from own experience, objective research, the data, and the evidence. I've also helped thousands of other women, just like you, take back control of their bodies and improve health. I hope that sharing my story helps inspire you to take better care of your body. I've made all of the mistakes, so if you're female and trying to lose weight, I'd like to help you! That’s why I’ve made health and fitness my life and have lived it for five decades now. I find that what I did at 20 doesn’t work anymore. Or at least, it doesn’t work the same way as before.
I believe that as long as you know the rules of the game, you can win a losing. The fact is, women’s health is more complicated, complex, and involved. Women almost always have a harder time losing weight than men. Women like to and need to train differently than men. We almost always have different goals and different health issues that affect how we feel and how we lose compared to men. Women have completely different hormonal profiles compared to men. Bulking up is usually easier for women, especially when it comes to legs, but it’s harder for us to lose weight.
Here are the five facts you need to know if you’re a woman and you are trying to get in shape and lose weight:
- You won't lose more weight if you work out harder and longer.
- Women do not and should not work out and train hard like men to get in shape.
- Women should not do the same exercises as men (unless they want to look like a man).
- Women lose weight very differently. Therefore, they should eat very differently than men do.
- Not all workouts are created equal.
If the twenty-something at the gym is reprimanding you, telling you to work out, despite the fact that they never struggled with their weight, keep in mind that weight loss is 90 percent diet. Focus on that first. Get it clean and watch the pounds begin to melt off and then start moving. We do need to get in those 10,000 steps daily!
Please watch the video segment above and let me know if I can help you in any way.