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One of the many good things to come out of the body positivity movement is the complete rejection of any boundaries or fixed ideas about what defines a beautiful body.
As moulds that tried forcing women into being curvy or skinny were shattered, we also saw a blurring of traditional, gendered ideas pertaining to physical appearance.
Muscle, be it lean or bulky, is no longer confined to only men as more and more women turn to building mass, along with strength. However, the path to muscle building for women is paved with more obstacles than their male counterparts.
The exact same diet and workout regime would lead to far more noticeable results for a man as compared to the former, proportionality and other factors taken into account.
Here’s why!
One of the primary reasons why women find it harder to build muscle is hormones.
Mumbai-based celebrity nutritionist Smitha Shetty breaks it down further.
This brings us to the next aspect of fitness for women which, unfortunately, can sometimes become an unhealthy fixation for some - the rising number on the weighing scale.
Muscle is denser than fat. This means that even though it will be more compact and take less space, it will weigh more.
This explains why even though you might feel and appear leaner once you start strength training, with your clothes getting looser, the number on the weighing scale might either remain the same, or rise, if you continue with the regime.
This is precisely how a female body builds muscle.
While you may not look as ripped as your male counterpart, your body has already started achieving the goal of building muscle mass you had set out with.
While it is important to track your progress, simply to make an informed judgment, if nothing else, about your body and fitness routine, you should stop if it becomes a fixation.
The numbers are not a measure of your fitness.
Instead, focus on strength, how the body feels and how you fare in your workouts as compared to when you had started.
Dr Verma adds to it in the following manner:
Basically, Dr Verma and Ms Shetty conclude that numbers don’t matter, and the only end goal of fitness is to feel your best.
Anything that gets in the way of deriving joy out of it, be it an imagined number or an idea of how the body should look should simply be tossed out of the window.
Don’t take my word for it, listen to the experts.
(At The Quint, we question everything. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member today.)
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