Text Box: Bikini Abs: Better Late Than Never! By Sarah McLellan I’m a belly girl and I don’t mean that in a flattering way – I’m referring to where I hold my excess…which is in my belly! We all have our “place” and, if you don’t know yours, think about the place you gain weight first and lose weight last. To give you a hint – it tends to be your middle section (apple) or hips & thighs (pear). As an apple, I’ve always been envious of the girls with naturally flat stomachs and tiny waistlines. It seemed I could get ultra-lean everywhere but my stomach. I attributed it to stress, an office job, poor digestion, genes....a sad fact of life. However, at the age of 34, I cracked the code…more strength training and more “fat”. [READ ON!] Rule#1 Pump More Iron Many of us want to find that balance of toned but not bulky. We think we can achieve it via cardio, but cardio alone will leave us skinny in the places our body finds it easy to get skinny. Strength training helps us replace fat with muscle and achieve a more toned shapely physique. Building muscle also fires up our calorie-burning capacity since only muscle burns calories while we’re not at the gym. ..I don’t know about you, but that’s an important 23 hours of my day! The post-workout calorie burning effect should be noticeable. Try it. After strength training, I need to eat! My metabolism is rev’ed up. I’ll eat lunch and then an hour or two later, I am hungry again. That’s how you know. In contrast, during the hour that you do cardio, you are burning more calories, but that calorie-burning is pretty much over when you stop. Strength training leads to calorie-burning well beyond the workout and will build as your fat-muscle composition changes. This is particularly important for us ladies in our 30’s and beyond. We are on an uphill battle with lean muscle that is deteriorating and the resulting metabolism slow-down. Women in this age group approach me all the time with the same story -- they are eating less but gaining weight. Are they lying? No! Their muscle-vs.-fat composition is changing and along with it, their metabolism is slowing. Weight-bearing exercise (note: body weight exercise ala yoga counts) is the only way to reverse this. It also improves our posture and builds bone density, which helps us stand taller, preserve our bone health, and appear leaner and younger. Better posture means we are engaging the core muscles more actively throughout the day, which reinforces tighter abs and smaller waistlines. #2 Not all fat is evil! Boy did this take a leap of faith for me! I remember when my skating coach gave me the “talk” at age twelve. It went something like this: “Sarah, now that you are entering your teens, you need to be careful about what you eat. A moment on the lips, a lifetime on the…” What?! Just girls have to worry about this? Life is NOT fair! I was appalled to learn that not just the obvious culprits like candy, but my favorite snack bar foods like pizza and bagels with peanut butter were going to make my hips and thighs grow. OK, yes and no. Yes, fat has a higher caloric content than protein and carbs, so gram for gram, you consume more calories with fat. Therefore, when trying to create a calorie deficit to lose weight, fat is the first and easiest place to cut. But, that doesn’t mean we should eliminate all fat. Again, back to my cardio story about losing weight where it is easiest to take off. Cutting calories alone is not the right approach. Although true, some types of fat should be avoided, we are referring to the artery-clogging types of saturated fats found in butter, greasy fast food, etc. Good monounsaturated fat – think Mediterranean diet with extra virgin olive oil – and heart healthy Omega 3’s found in foods like salmon and avocado, are part of a well-balanced diet. They help us feel full and promote digestion while providing important nutrients for healthy skin tone and hair. Adding a tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil to my otherwise healthy diet truly made a big difference for both my physique and hunger levels. To be clear, I am not advocating no cardio or diet neglect. In order to see your abs, you need to reduce the layer of body fat covering them. To reduce body fat, however, strength training and a well-balanced diet – including healthy fats – are important and oft-overlooked.

Me & my bikini abs – placing 2nd in the Bikini Division at the Nevada State Bodybuilding, Figure, and Bikini Championships in Reno, June 5th, 2010.

 

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