Today Ciara dives into a topic that she covered in her most widely viewed and shared Facebook video; muscle mass in women and understanding what the meaning of “skinny fat” is. She dispels the myths about heavy weight training and discusses why it’s so essential to women’s body composition and health. She also discusses in more detail how dieting, calorie restriction and even cardio may do more harm than good to your body composition goals. Finally, Ciara explains the reasons we should never focus on that number on a scale and more on your body composition.
Listen On:
In this episode, you will learn more about:
- Ciara is a firm believer in using the DUTCH Test to really understand your metrics
- How lean muscle to body fat ratio relates to health and why a slender person isn’t always “healthier”. Your body composition, not your weight, is the most important factor!
- Ciara is stronger today at 44 than she was at 40 or even 25 because of muscle mass.
- So many women shy away from building muscle because they are afraid of looking bulky.
- Many people gain back the weight after a diet because they didn’t adopt the lifestyle.
- Any time you use calorie deficit to lose weight, you will also lose muscle mass.
- When you are stressed and severely dieting, it’s self-sabotage and will make it nearly impossible to lose fat.
- It’s important to have a lifestyle you know you can maintain. Extremes are not sustainable.
- Your body actually stores body fat because it wants to protect you.
- Nutrition is a vital part of changing your body composition, but it won’t work alone without building muscle.
- Steady state cardio can actually be detrimental to building muscle. HIIT workouts can preserve muscle mass, but it will not build it. Incorporating weight training is the best way to build muscle and focus on body composition (NOT the weight on the scale).
- Weight training also contributes to aging more gracefully along with a healthy diet.
- Protein will be most important to building and maintaining muscle. Approximately 1 g per 1 pound that you weigh is a good rule of thumb.
- A high percentage of body fat will put you at more risk for cancer and other diseases.
- Thyroid dysfunction is linked to stress and extreme dieting, but the thyroid responds well to weight training.
- Check out the inspiring story and transformation at Train With Joan!
Say Hi To Ciara At:
