Week 9 - The body is a construction site

Sorry for the late post this week! I got a sinus infection and have been trying to catch up since.

I wanted to talk about the body today in the context of a construction site to dispel a few myths about nutrition, strength training and weight loss.

Myth #1: I should focus more on cardio when losing weight because it burns more calories.

- Cardio may burn more calories in an hour but only for that hour. You will be burning fat that you have already stored from food you have already eaten.

Now to the construction site analogy: I want you to think of your body as a Wreck It Ralph game. You build and repair tissues and cells constantly (and the materials used in your repairs comes from your nutrition). When you take in more nutrition than is needed for repairs, it is stored as body fat. When you lift weights properly, you unleash Wreck It Ralph on your muscles. He breaks them down and they need to be repaired by Fix If Felix. Felix gets his hammer and some proteins, carbs, and fats and goes to work over the next few days to make those muscles, not only withstand the weights you just put them through but also makes a few improvements so Ralph has to work harder next time to break them down (you get stronger).

When you lift weights and break down muscle, you send a work order for nutrients to go to repairing that tissue. You can't store something that is being used. Then, with denser (not necessarily bigger) muscles on your bones, your basal metabolic rate increases so you burn more calories simply by existing than you did before. In the long run, you will stay at your goal longer with a focus on strength training rather than cardio (but still do cardio! I am definitely NOT against cardio!).

Myth #2: Weight lifting will make me bigger.

- I have tried to explain this one until I have become blue in the face and I feel that the construction site analogy is most helpful in trying to dispel this silly myth.

If you try to build a 20 story building and you only provide 15 stories-worth of materials, how much of a building can you construct? This is not a trick question. The answer is only 15 stories. What if you pay your workers more (by lifting weights)? It doesn't matter. YOU CAN'T MAKE SOMETHING BIGGER WITHOUT GIVING IT MATERIAL TO GROW! So, ladies, if you are eating at a calorie deficit (you eat less than you burn), you CANNOT get bigger. (It also takes AT LEAST six weeks for any MEASURABLE muscle gain. Most strength gains in your first six weeks are neurological, not structural. Your body gets better at lifting, not bigger.)

If you have experienced a slight increase in circumference after lifting weights it is probably just water. Weight lifters often refer to that phenomenon as 'getting swole', referring to getting swollen. If you have caused tiny tears in your muscle you have essentially injured it. Any time you injure a body part, fluid rushes to the site to bring nutrients to repair the tissue. The bloating will subside in a day or so and will not happen every time you lift weights because your body will adapt.

Myth #3: It doesn't matter what I eat as long as I eat less of it

- Calories are key in losing fat. However, you probably want to keep the fat off long term which means that you probably want to keep as much muscle as possible. When you eat a low carb, high junk food, or any type of diet that is deficient in one or more of the macronutrients or too high in others, you will lose weight but it might not all be from the right source.

Last building analogy: You want to build a 20 story building. You have enough of all the materials except nails. You only have enough nails for 15 stories. How much of that building can you complete? You've got it! Only 15. What if you give your workers more wood? Still doesn't fix the problem. So your workers will do what they can and they will build you your 15 story building and put the rest of the materials into storage. Where is that on your body? Fat. So Wreck It Ralph will continue to beat your building down and you will continue to build up as much as you can (though Ralph will probably break it faster than your limited materials can repair it) and you keep storing the excess. You lose more pounds of muscle than of fat.

See how that is working against yourself? I would rather lose weight more slowly if it means that I am keeping the lean body mass if the weight that I am losing is coming straight from body fat. Last time I worked on this goal, I did it right. I focused on getting the right macronutrient balance and lifted weights. When I lost my first six pounds it looked like I had lost 15. That's because I was losing cleanly.

My next nutrition post will be on macronutrients but I encourage anyone who wants to start treating their bodies like the construction site to ask a knowledgeable trainer (or email me for help with this) to start seeing where they can improve.

My Progress: 

Weight: 175 lbs (There was a typo last week. I was actually 180.2 lbs. I am down this week, not up). I have measurements tomorrow afternoon so we will get an official verdict on how my last month has gone. 

Successes: I logged everything and stayed under my calorie burn all week despite my sinus infection and lack of workouts. I had family dinners, a trip to Burgerville, and a coupon for an unexpected free dinner for two at Chipotle (including chips and guacamole) and I STILL managed to stay at a deficit. To anyone who does not yet believe in food logging I must testify, LOGGING MAKES YOU FREE! You can enjoy so much more food if you know what you are eating and simply plan for it. 

Confession: I got a GREAT leg day in on Monday... and that was it.