Fit Villains: Selfish, Shameless, Sassy, Fitness.

To those of you with 5-15lbs to “lose”: it’s not all about the weight or the number on the scale. In most circumstances, it’s actually body composition that needs to change - losing fat and losing weight can be two different things.

Many of you contact me asking how to lose 5lbs, or tell me that you don’t necessarily want to lose weight, but just “tone” up. “Toning” is a buzz word for building strength and muscle: because some women tend to balk at the idea of gaining muscle, a new word was required to get them to on board

“Toning”, “Tightening”, “Flattening” “Leaning”, “Sculpting”, “Firming”, “Targeting”, “Defining”, = ALL “female friendly” buzzwords for gaining strength and building muscle. ALL of them.

The answer is, and will always be, resistance training and a cleaner diet. If you’re at a normal and healthy weight, it’s not about cutting calories or restricting: it’s about putting the right nutrients in your body, cutting processed & chemical foods OUT and filling up on loads of veggies & lean protein. You don’t have to eat less per se: you need to eat smarter and fuel your body. Your body LOVES it, trust me!

For your workouts, your priority should shift away from steady state cardio, which can burn away the “toning” if you over-do it (see how I swapped toning for muscle?). Strength, resistance and challenging intervals are your ticket, and should be the focus. Steady state cardio isn’t bad, but it’s not something you should be doing every workout. H.I.I.T training, and cardio intervals during your workouts are short quick ways to burn fat while preserving muscle.

Focus on workouts that challenge your body: strength training, resistance training, weight lifting, balance work, yoga, etc. Don’t stick to the same old thing, and work a bit smarter: use more than one muscle group at a time, take minimal breaks when doing circuits, and push yourself: the harder you push, the shorter your workout can be. To get the body you want, AND KEEP IT, you need to lift & lift heavier than you’re used to. And once you get used to that amount of weight, you need to increase the challenge.

Train smarter and towards your goals!

xo

(via skinnyforskinnys)