Because of my training, my clothes are starting to no longer fit

[countrygurl32]

@twinmama That body was until I was about 24 or so. Then I graduated college, got married, and started a new desk job all at once (plus COVID happened soon after), so maybe I could stand to be a little more lenient on myself for all the changes I had to endure all at once.

I think it's more that I'm struggling with my own expectations of what my body "should" be and the only basis I have for that is what it used to be.

 

[allipalli]

@countrygurl32 Your last sentence hits hard. I had to do some mind shifting about that. Up until my early twenties, I was pretty consistent in how I looked but suddenly now in my late 20's I have gained more fat, but also my entire body is shaped differently. My hips widened and boobs have grown. That on top of the muscle I have gained, I feel like I have more shape and frame now. I have heard of a second puberty for women in late 20's but I don't know the science behind that. However, I am working on *liking* this new body. And actually, I do. I feel more sexy. It's just that my old clothes keep telling me otherwise. Time for a new wardrobe, one that suits your new body.

 

[dawn16]

@allipalli yes! i've also heard about the second puberty and at 25 I'm so in love with it

 

[kyracer7r]

@countrygurl32 I’ve had 3 children and even at the same weight before and after each one my body is shaped differently.

 

[jamventojosef]

@countrygurl32 I was similar! I was size 0 sometimes 2 through early 20s. In my 30s I’m a solid 6 now. Our bodies are constantly changing

I think regarding different types of fitness (eg weightlifting vs yoga) i think the body definitely optimizes for the kind of stress you place on it and depending on how far you want to advance in one disciple will dictate how much other things will detract from that.

For instance, I play hockey which is a sport of short but super high intensity bursts of energy and strength. And i enjoy doing it really competitively. That said, for me, doing long runs (over a cpl miles) it any sort of long endurance thing actually deteriorates my sport-specific performance.

So the way I think about it is 1) what fitness thing am i most passionate about and wanting to continuously improve with? 2) how do i optimize my other fitness/nutrition interests to best serve #1

 

[eddycharles]

@countrygurl32 I feel this. My rear and thighs are way bigger than two years ago. My Dexa scan (yearly) shows over 5 years, my 10lb gain is half muscle and half fat. I’m early 60s, so where fat is going is age driven. I’m working on cutting the 5 lbs of fat. Although I LOVE being strong and am proud of my gains, I don’t like my thigh size which is not the body I had for half a century. And we feel like we can’t say that, bc it’s heresy to not like the muscle gains. I lift for strength AND aesthetics. If I can lift to improve my look, I can also lift less to improve it, as long as both come from a positive place.

 

[velvety777]

@countrygurl32 A someone who also used to be a size 0 and has always been 'small', it takes time to shift away from the idea that smaller is better. Adding muscle is good for your health

 

[betania510]

@velvety777 At the same time, I understand OP's financial concern. Buying new clothes constantly, and eating more calories due to how it raises your metabolism, can get expensive quickly. Especially if you are trying to eat healthy at the same time

 

[dawn16]

@countrygurl32 Why focus on being small? Building and maintaining muscle is important for long-term health, being able to stay active as we age, avoiding pain and injury, and avoiding osteoporosis. Strong glutes help stabilize other muscles. They are literally what allow humans to walk upright. There are so many benefits to strength training, and no benefits to having a specific number on your pants.

 

[countrygurl32]

@dawn16 That's all true!

It's not so much about having a specific number on my pants. It was more so lamenting on the realization of change I wasn't expecting, in a direction I had never previously considered a positive thing. I just kind of felt defeated when I ordered a pant size bigger than I was used to (already a mental shift) only to have that also still be too small.

 

[blesslee]

@countrygurl32 I think you’re getting a lot of downvotes and a lot of advice to “get therapy” and whatever but tbh I think you’re allowed to feel discouraged about your results from weight lifting if you’re unhappy and it’s a lot of work just to get a ohysique you’re not happy with. I felt the same a while ago when I was working really hard weight lifting and eating clean but getting bigger and feeling less and less like myself.

With that in mind, it was helpful for me to focus on cardio more (with some LIGHT resistance training (Pilates) to keep the muscle mass) which helped me lose weight, get smaller and really see what my physique looked like smaller. From there I was able to actually put muscle mass back on and have a physique I’m actually thrilled with. I always suggest others do the same.
It’s literally just the cutting-bulking style HOWEVER cutting while lifting heavy weights has neverrrr worked for me. I had to cut by prioritizing cardio for sometime first. Just a new perspective

 

[countrygurl32]

@blesslee

I think you’re getting a lot of downvotes and a lot of advice to “get therapy” and whatever

This post has a 83% upvote rate and I've been reading every single comment; I'd have to disagree. It's been mostly encouraging (or at worst, dismissed as a non-issue). Only 1/96 comments thus far explicitly mentioned something about "needing to unpack that" and it was in reference to a specific comment I made rather than the post itself.

I think you’re allowed to feel discouraged about your results from weight lifting if you’re unhappy and it’s a lot of work just to get a ohysique you’re not happy with.

It totally agree! I figure others might feel the same, which is why I wanted to share.

 

[dawn16]

@countrygurl32 I hear that. It's so hard to deprogram ourselves from the "women must take up as little space as possible" mindset! And to figure out how what we want for our bodies and our lives might change as we get older. Best of luck achieving your goals

 

[heavenlyboheme]

@countrygurl32 You're not "too heavy" this idea that women need to be "small" is patriarchal and full of shit. Your muscles are growing because you USE THEM. They're getting the the size necessary to LIFT YOUR BODY OFF THE GROUND. I want you to watch someone in your sport, and notice how much muscle mass it requires to actually hold yourself up. Look at for example aerial artists, look at yogis, gymnasts etc. A LOT of them are NOT tiny some are but most are not. There is a fine balancing line yes between strength and hypertrophy, there's also a balance between flexibility and strength.

I bet your ass men don't feel bad about their clothes not fitting. Buy clothes that fit you don't make yourself fit the clothes. Clothing is supposed to be flexible because bodies change over time. Historically you made clothing to be expandable and contractable but now the stuff is so cheap we just buy it to fit the body. Thrift or clothes swap if its getting expensive.

Comparing yourself to "some guy" on youtube is just gonna lead to innacurate results. The physiology of someone on testosterone dominance is simply not the same as someone on estrogen dominance. And even with someone on estrogen dominance its not the same per person because every individual's hormone cycle is different depending on genetics and external factors (so even if you're taking external estrogen your individual physiology will react different than another person taking E). So unless you're taking T supplementation or have naturally high T levels your muscularity is probably not what's impinging on your movements.

I personally am training both for health and also b/c i'm dying to get into aerial silks starting next month. I need to hold myself up and also have flexibility and balance. I train all over my body but my next round is not focused on power but rather on maintenance of lower body strength increase of upper body strength increase of core stability and increased stretch in the ligaments while maintaining muscle engagement. The side effect is yes my clothes don't fit the same in places, yes I am technically "overweight by bmi standards" but I FEEL amazing my spine is straighter my core is more engaged I have better coordination and i'm happier. so yeah I bought more clothes and i'm bigger in the legs and shoulders but shit. I like it a lot! You will one day loose "attractiveness" privelege. But your training will always be with you.

Train for your sport. if your sport requires stability then train stability. Focus on improving the technique of your lifts rather than the volume. If your sport requires more mass in specific areas to lift yourself then chances are you just need more mass. If you're finding it hard to invert then focus on increasing upper mass rather than lower but don't NOT train your legs or you'll experience imbalance.

 

[countrygurl32]

@heavenlyboheme I think you went a little hard on this response. I was just asking a question about what someone said on YouTube, not continuously comparing myself to him in any matter of depth you describe.