Over the past three years I’ve committed to regularly strength and weight training. For years I did endless cardio and running but being mid 40s I understand the health benefits of having more muscle and while I do still run (can do 10k comfortably) and use other cardio equipment, weight and strength training now takes up the bulk of my workouts. I’m working towards being able to do unassisted pull ups and have added things like deadlifting etc to my workouts and love being able to challenge myself with heavier weights and training to failure.
I feel great, my clothes all still fit well (size 8-10) and I don’t have any wobbly bits. I have visible abs and quite sculpted, strong looking shoulders. Solid legs. I feel healthy, fit and strong and my diet is good. I’m hardly ever ill, I ensure I get enough protein, have tried to reduce UPFs and generally eat good nutritious foods (although I’m not massively strict and do eat ‘unhealthy’ foods and drink wine at weekends etc. because life is short and I’ve suffered with disordered eating in the past and don’t want my mind to go into a place where I’m counting every calorie and then endlessly trying to exercise off ‘naughty’ food.) Plus I have kids and want to role model healthy habits.
The issue is my weight has gone up by about half a stone in the past 6 months (now 9 stone 7lbs / 60kg). I’m 5 foot 5 ins so well within healthy BMI range, and I know the increase is probably down to gaining muscle which takes up more space than fat, but being female I’m conditioned to want the number on the scales go down not up! I used to weigh myself regularly and have been around 9 stone all my adult life bar pregnancies, but as it’s started to creep up, I stopped weighing regularly as it was making me unhappy to see it creeping up. I weighed myself this morning and seeing 9 stone 7lbs on the scales has triggered something in my brain making me think I need to get rid of that half a stone.
But if I’m training regularly, my clothes fit well and I have a lean body, should my weight matter? I’d honestly like to chuck my scales away, because I’m not training to be skinny (which was my motivation in my 20s) I’m training to be strong and hopefully to live a long healthy life.
Has this happened to any other ladies who weight train and if so how did you lose the chimp in your brain that says we must be light and weigh as little as possible?