Last Season's Clothes

I'm a graduate student and a stay-at-home mom.  Neither of these life stations give me the luxury of a new wardrobe every season.  So last year's clothes better freaking fit.  I was nervous this year as I brought out my fall and winter clothes.  Since May I have gained about 15 pounds.  I  made a lot of shifts since May:  eating meat, really going heavy on the weights, and training really hard. 

At first, the weight gain was a bit of a struggle for me.  I was really upset by it and felt enormously insecure.  I'm not sure when things started to shift for me, but wham, all of a sudden I realized that the gain wasn't hurting me.  In fact, I made a lot of strength gains from it and my cardio didn't suffer too much either.  I found it to be a little unreal.  I also started craving healthier foods, having more energy, and having fewer snack attacks. I have been eating like a horse, don't get me wrong, but eating healthfully. 

I kept asking the people in my life- "Do I look huge????"  I mean, I've freaking gained 15 pounds!  I must look like a beast compared to what I looked like before.  I kept being annoyed at the lack of negative feedback- "Yeah, your shoulders look bigger; Your arms aren't as freaking gross and veiny, Your thighs are more muscular, Your boobs look bigger, etc." 

Now, the people in my life are very kind.  I attributed it to that.  They didn't want to hurt my feelings and my husband wants to get laid.  But last season's clothes cannot lie and I've been shocked to find that most of them fit.  Yeah, a few of my pants were a little tight in the thighs and God forbid I had to upgrade my 4's to 6's, but other than that, I did not have to go buy a whole new wardrobe.

I never thought that old saying "muscle weighs more than fat" applied to me.  Not sure why, but I guess getting wrapped up in all of that girl bullshit for years and years and years had taken its toll on my intelligence.   After spending two years with some of the most body positive male and female athletes EVER, I think I am finally starting to get my brains back.

Lesson learned.  When you lift heavy weights, you are going to gain muscle.  Muscle weighs more than fat, but is smaller than fat.  Putting on 10 pounds of muscle and 5 pounds of fat is going to look WAY different than 15 pounds of nachos.  It might also make you a better athlete, produce a beautiful baby, or fill out those nasty, veiny arms your sister was so grossed out about ;0)  Weight isn't always the enemy, sometimes, it can be a very good friend. 
xoxo
J