The Digit Fight

We all do it. I don't care who you are, how much muscle you do or don't have, we all do or have done the same thing. Fight with what I call those little *midget digits* on the scale. That's right, the one's that depict how we'll start our day each morning. The ones that have you enclosed by 3 walls and an open door that's inviting you to walk away but instead we choose to curse it out, step off and back on a hundred times, suck in as much as we can & blow all the air out of us in hopes for it to move down by .2 pounds. Or maybe its 3 walls and a closed door so no one or thing with ears can hear you scream and cry, or eyes that can see those teeny tiny numbers that have us scared to consume even a pill because it will add more numbers to the scale. The fight we have with something that doesn't even know we exist. That thing. 

  

I've been there. I've spun circles over the fact that the scale said one thing but I felt something different. I didn't feel what the scale said and I looked better than it told me I did. Those numbers are JUST NUMBERS. They can't see how we look, can't feel how we feel, can't fit in our clothes the way we do and can't criticize us in the mirror. We bring those negative emotions onto ourselves after we voluntarily step on it for a reading. Its us who start to feel like we're doing something wrong or whatever our regime is stopped working. We need to remember what we're doing, think about the progress we've made, remember where we started & consider the muscle we've built which in turn has been burning the fat we hate. Period. Its a journey and a glorious one at that. We should be happy everyday because although we may stumble, we know exactly what to do to pick ourselves back up & continue going. We know there are friends out there willing and waiting to reach out to support and help us when we need it. 

Of course we all want to be at that "goal weight" we set for ourselves when we began, but consider this, would you rather weigh what you set as your goal with more fat than muscle? Or would you rather weigh in a little more than you wanted & have more muscle & fine definition in your body than fat? Um, I'll take #2 please!! I know what it feels like to be lean with no 6 pack & I know what it feels like to gain muscle without the infamous 6 pack. But I still have a flat stomach & somewhere under there is a nice set of muscles waiting to be exposed... AT THE RIGHT TIME. Some people just can't bring those abs out & some do. We are all different. But to be unhealthy with a 6 pack is just not worth it! Fat sits in different places in our bodies and we all burn it off at different rates. I was fortunate to surpass my goal I set in the beginning, but what it gave me was incentive to make new goals & achieve new things with the understanding that the SCALE does NOT know what I look like, how I feel & whether I've lost fat or gained muscle. All it tells me is what the human body I live in weighs and THAT IS IT.

No longer do the numbers bother me. I admit sometimes I'll question it, sure. But I'm not upset over it, I'm not screaming at something that can't even put up a good fight back to make it worth while & I know that whatever that scale says, I am still moving in the direction I need to be every single day to achieve my goals. And I WILL reach them. You can do that too. Don't get discouraged & remember that this is a journey to be enjoyed. Screw the numbers!!! Its the inches in the britches

You Only Live Once

My entire life has been backed up by this phrase no matter what journey I was on. For instance, eating what I want, going where I want, seeing what I want, listening to what I want and so on. You get the picture. YOU ONLY LIVE ONCE resounding in your mind as you embark on your journey of how you choose to live your life. But lets say your life comes to a screeching halt. Not lifeless, but lets say something serious happens to you. Can't walk anymore, lose your memory, have a heart attack, go blind.... sure everything happens for a reason. Let's say you could have prevented it. Meaning listening to your parents when they said "No" or "I'm just looking out for you" or maybe it was "I don't think its a good idea." Intuition is sometimes the best instinct to go with. It gives you the feeling that something is or isn't right and you should pay attention to what you feel or what it is tugging on your heart. The same goes for your health. The reason I'm presenting this issue, is because I am in an industry where I help people and sometimes I help people who have waited too long and it takes more effort, more work, more time out of their day just to get back to healthy. It takes more dedication to quit bad habits and really lean on the support of people outside of your friends and family. That's where I come in. The role I play and have a passion for is support. Its letting my people know that they ARE COMPLETELY CAPABLE of accomplishing absolutely ANYTHING they want, but they have to STICK WITH IT. In fact I named this blog STICK WITH IT because I know I can always resort back to this & remember that I DID & STILL stick with it because of what it has enabled me to do. What I have become is a better person. The one I was searching for all those years but couldn't find her because I was surrounded by negative influences. Why? Because I chose to ignore what was really important and what really mattered; my health. 

This is who I am now. This girl you see above is the happy, healthy, vibrant, full of life person I was always searching for. I decided that YES, I do only live once and it was time I started caring about myself form the inside out. It was time to put away the bad habits and the carelessness of what I ate or drank on a daily basis. Believe it or not, I've been immersed in a TON of things people cannot see me doing today because that IS NOT the person I was meant to be. I have many a times screwed up, tried things no one should & missed being killed numerous times. I woke up. I was sick and tired of being SICK and TIRED and I needed a change. We all need change. Its what keeps this ONE and ONLY life adventurous. We grow when we change. We learn new things we can pass onto others and maybe impact them enough to want to change too. You can always have a new beginning but you can never have a new past. What's been done is done and in some circumstances, there is no reversing it. There is always one thing you can change of the many things we wish we could. Its called your health. I reversed mine. I was TOO IMPORTANT to ME not to want to live a fuller life and enjoy myself. I cannot explain how good it feels to know I can do the things and wear the things I always wanted to when I saw them on other people or saw other people doing the things I wanted to do. Doors have flung open for me and I am fulfilled! 

It is beyond time to stop taking for granted the only life you are given here on earth. It is time to step up to the plate and take control of your health, your body and your mentality. It is hard work and its not easy. What it is, is worth it. Who you become when you feel good about yourself is life changing. You are more vibrant, more positive, energetic, uplifting and its contagious. People WANT to be around you and feel the way you do. Bringing life back to you and finding inside of you what's been there is the transformation everyone wants even if they don't or can't admit it. Don't wait until its too late to live. Start now & you will find you will be surrounded by people who only want the best for you, because they care enough to take care of themselves to enable their ability to be here for you. Take control, change your bad habits and start brand new. Don't wait for a doctor to tell you down the road what you need to do when you've known all along. Looking for confirmation from someone you only have to see when something is wrong should not be the route you wait to take. There are many people looking to help you and be your support system. Its available if you just look for it and seek the help you need. Remember, you ARE capable of doing what you set your mind to. Just Do It! YOU ONLY LIVE ONCE.

I'm Saving Me NOW

One thing that always gets the best of me, and keeps me awake at night as I am now, is the fact that people everywhere are willing to sacrifice their health for a pack of cigarettes, fast food, soda, candy, chips, sugar loaded coffee beverages, alcohol and the list goes on. Its NON STOP. One of the reasons I get so annoyed, as do so many of us, is because the people who choose these things over their health are usually the ones complaining about health care and the cost of it along with what health insurance they can afford because they choose to abuse their bodies with poison infested foods, beverages and chemicals as opposed to taking action and starting a healthy lifestyle by eating right and working out. I don't know about any of you, but I sure as hell won't pay a doctor thousands upon thousands of dollars to tell me what I ALREADY knew but chose not to do. EAT RIGHT, WORKOUT. Period. 

I work with A LOT of people. I am a very compassionate person and understand that not everyone will give up their indulgences or their habits to be SUPER SONIC health fanatics. The people who WANT to become healthy though understand the concept of removing the crap from their lives, whether its junk food, junk beverages or chemical intake (and let's face it, most of our foods these days are chemically treated/infested) to become healthy before its too late or before you have Dr.NObama telling you how you will be paying for your health and decide how much help you will actually get from the "system" 

I'm sorry to break it to those of you who may like him and his "idea" of what a health care system should be, but I have no intention of letting myself become so ill that I have to be placed under his "health care reform plan." NO WAY. I choose to take care of my health because what seems like a lot of work, effort and money is actually very little next to the hospital, prescription and doctor bills a majority of America will be seeing in the future because they chose NOT to start paying attention to their health while they STILL HAD the chance. My life, the people in it and the people I have yet to meet, encourage through positive motivation and help, is why I take care of me. I want the people in my life to know I care enough about me, that I'm willing to always take care of myself so I have the ability to take care of them and they can in turn help people in their lives become healthy, fit & happy during this one life we are blessed to have. The knowledge and tools that have been given to me are a gift to be shared with people who really need it and want to make a change. You will not catch me abusing this gift given to me by keeping it to myself. Whats life if its not shared with people you love or don't even know? There is a HUGE ripple effect that carries out WAY beyond the people you know and its beneficial for everyone! From adults to children, everyone is involved and should be helped in one way or another. Planting seeds doesn't mean people will respond right away. Somewhere down the line, it may grow, be passed on to someone who will use it, or maybe it will die with the one selfish person who chose NOT to share it and could have maybe saved a life. Knowledge is precious and that's why you cannot put a pricetag on it.

Support is critical when it comes to making a decision like quitting drinking, smoking, eating junk, etc. There are always negatives to anything we choose to do whether its being made fun of, being told we can't do it or we'll never amount to anything. Mostly coming from the people who mock us yet they sit at home with bags of Doritos's, Hostess Cupcakes, Snickers Bars and 24 cans of empty Pepsi while they play video games or watch TV & just let everything they consume on a DAILY basis kill them right before every one's eyes. My question is: Who in their right mind takes advice from these rocket scientists??? I'm just sayin. 

What you can do is find someone willing to encourage you on the journey you choose to embark on so you do have someone you can turn to when you are tempted or struggling. Its important to remember that yes, once in a while its ok to indulge. But when you are beginning a new lifestyle change, you shouldn't even think about putting crap in your body. Take one month to focus strictly on clean habits and when you do have a bowl of ice cream, a slice of pizza, a piece of cake or whatever, you feel ok about it because it has become a distant relative in your life and you can control the want of having it everyday. 

Its important. To take care of it now, to take care of it for as long as you live. To save YOUR life, to be around for your family, friends and people who you will impact in the future. Its dedication, willingness, determination, being committed to YOUR OWN HEALTH and persistence to everyday do at least ONE thing to escalate your health. Its one step at a time. This doesn't happen overnight...but I guarantee this: If you start today, you'll be much healthier tomorrow. 

Bigger Mentally, Faster Physically & Stronger As A Whole

Health and fitness scare a majority of the world. Why? Because its something you actually have to put work into in order to get the results you want. Its a job, but its a job that pays off for you in a positive way many times over. Its a gift to be able to realize the importance of taking care of yourself & treating your body the way you want it to treat you back. Developing yourself mentally and physically to become healthy and reach your OWN fitness level means you will take many different roads. They will twist, turn, stop, rewind and steer you off course. Your goal is to find your path and stay on it. Becoming better at anything requires you to sometimes take many steps back or completely stop and really look at what you're doing and where you're going if you continue the path you're on. Its YOUR decisions that determine where you will go & who you will become. Your attitude, the people you associate with and your own mental set all play a role in who you are. 

Everyone starts somewhere. We have to. No one is born with everything they need to know or all the equipment necessary to become healthy and fit. If it were that easy you wouldn't see me sitting behind a computer everyday. I would be traveling the world, meeting new people & spending as much time as I can with the people I love. It doesn't work that way however and we DO have to work for what we want to become. Its starts inside. What you put into your body helps develop what your outer physical physique will look like. The muscles that encompass our bodies are the true shape we are meant to have. All the extra fat around our waist lines, butts, legs, arms, back & everywhere imaginable have been added on by our eating habits and our CHOICE to be lazy. A majority of America alone is obese & its become accepted by far too many people. The sad thing is, our children have picked up on this comfortable habit and are now becoming obese at an age exceedingly too young these days. I remember a conversation with my Grandma who told me she wouldn't change the era she was raised in for the life of her because she was so active it helped get her to 90 years of age being capable of many things all the way up to her last breath. Sedentary is the problem. When I was growing up I was always told "Go play outside." I had NO problem with that what so ever. My best friend and I ALWAYS had something to do. Now don't get me wrong, I wasn't the skinniest of kids, but I wasn't caring about what I was eating at the time because it wasn't an issue to me & I had no clue what being overweight could do to someone no matter what age they are. I ate more than I needed when it was time to eat & had to learn that I didn't NEED so much food. But my mom & dad DID CARE & made sure I was eating home made breakfast, lunches & dinners, and helped teach me I don't need so much to eat. Take out wasn't ever on the menu because when you have a mom who knows what to do in the kitchen & enjoys making her family home made meals, thats the food you get. Its a blessing & I'm grateful.

One of the biggest problems I come across is people are constantly comparing themselves to other people. Whether its their looks or knowledge, there is too much focus on comparison as opposed to what YOU are capable of. Stop wishing you could be like other people. You have your own level of fitness & mental strength and it could very well be stronger than that of the person you "idolize" & wish to be like. You underestimate your ability to do what you consider impossible by dwelling on what someone else has done or looks like. Set your own goals, keep the end in mind & remember to keep it fresh daily. The end is what you are aiming for so once you reach it you can set a new goal. The end doesn't mean its over. Done. Stops completely & have nothing else to achieve. The end means you've accomplished one thing & its time to move onto something else. There is an unlimited number of opportunities & windows open for you to reach your goals. Paradise awaits us in many different forms. Its not just a distant island. Paradise can be created with your body and mind. Don't be afraid to create it. 

I want to help many people as long as I'm living. My paradise doesn't just include me. My paradise includes helping as many people as I can, using my passion for what I do to drive me physically and mentally, become better at things I currently struggle with and pass my knowledge from personal experience onto other people who need and want it. I am the type of girl who has been told over and over "YOU CAN'T DO IT!" I laugh in the face of ignorance because I AM doing it. Don't let anyone tell you what you are capable of doing. Usually the ones telling you these things are the ones who are too afraid to try anything at all. Be above the negativity, find your own path & STICK WITH IT. When you experience things for yourself and make it a point to learn and work your body, you become BIGGER MENTALLY, FASTER PHYSICALLY and STRONGER AS A WHOLE. Once you realize you are capable of more than you thought, you become role models for people who are in your previous set of shoes. You CAN do this! Believe in yourself & know you deserve the best from your body physically and mentally.

Temporary Fix

"I get it from my parents. Its in our genes so I'm stuck with it." Absolutely one of the most excuses used when it comes to people and what they look like. You've heard the saying "She got it from her momma!" In all cases, of course she did. Because genes are passed down to offspring from parents. However, when it comes to changing your body, people are always looking for an excuse to NOT do it because there's hard work involved or because its just easier not to have to deal with it. You aren't STUCK with what you've got. You can control what your physical appearance looks like. Being miserable throughout life because of poor choices made by what we consume or what we do to temporarily "fix" a problem with our bodies, whether its inside or out, is not worth the value of any dollar amount.

From botox, to tylenol, to baggy clothes, to white out on a typo, people everywhere are looking at the WRONG solutions to SOLVE the issue at hand. Sorry, but......ITS STILL THERE! Its like candy coating on M&M's or too much make up on a woman. These temporary fixes give you a false impression that whatever the problem you have, whether on the inside or out, is fixed.................NOT! These cover ups are a temporary fix, or what I call PURE LAZY. Instead of going to the CORE of the problem and solving it, you are creating an artificial cover up that wastes time and money. Especially when it comes to health and fitness.

I've been there. I've been the one in baggy clothes, too much make up and lots of over the counter drugs to cure what ailed me for "the time being." Worth it? Not at all. I look back at everything I put myself through before I decided to really take control of my life and put in the hard work to get myself in shape physically inside and out. The road I've taken to get myself to where I am today was not easy, it was long and I'm still on it. I plan to stay on this road as long as I live, taking with me as many people as I can so they in turn can change their lives and stop these temporary cover ups! Why sugar or candy coat something when you know its not going to last? Why go out of your way to spend hundreds to thousands of dollars on synthetic diet pills, botox, spandex body shapers to thin you out for a day, cheap butt boosters, padded bras and more?? From Pepto Bismol to Botox, its all a COVER UP to avoid actually going to the core of the problem and fixing it. Not one of these things is a permanent solution. If you get botox, you have to keep it up because eventually the wrinkles start to show up again, when you have indigestion you buy crap to drink, that will, for the time being, stop the irritation but you'll eventually have to ingest more when it happens again or invest countless amounts of dollars into weight loss pills thinking all you have to do is swallow them everyday, not workout because it requires too much effort on your behalf, and you'll lose weight. All of these things are crap used to cover up the problem instead of solve it. 

We have one of the laziest nations in the world. We refuse to cook meals at home because its time consuming, therefore we will go out of our way to fill our bodies with junk from a drive thru or make a phone call to a pizza company in town & have garbage delivered right to our doorstep. We spend more and more money each year on doctors because of the poor choices we have made to make life "easier" on ourselves, but in the long run, we're killing us. We are creating a nation where AVERAGE means LAZY. I mean let's get right down to it. There is no cover up here. I'm just addressing what's really going on & what people don't want to acknowledge because its always been easier to blame it on the genes, not enough time or too much work. We have gone out of control letting fast food and the synthetic diet market replace the true value of what it requires to dedicate yourself to become healthy and fit by working out and eating right to solve the problem from the inside. Blaming it on your mom or dad because they passed the genes down to you is downright lazy and another lame excuse to escape having to put any effort in at all to better yourself. 

If you want any benefits of being healthy, becoming physically fit from the INSIDE is where it starts. It begins when you decide to take control of your life and becoming cautious about what you consume on a daily basis. What it is you do to FIX the problem instead of temporarily cover it up. There is no respectable value behind the temporary fix. All it says about someone is they're lazy. Who wants to be known for that? I'm sure it doesn't bother a lot of people, but for those out there complaining that "nothing works" & "I've tried everything," I have a little insight for you: YOU HAVEN'T TRIED HARD ENOUGH AND YOU CERTAINLY HAVEN'T TRIED EVERYTHING. You don't try, YOU DO IT. Let go of the excuses everyone uses. Its not the DNA because there isn't one of us who has the same strand, it isn't because you don't have enough time, its because you haven't created the time. Its all a personal decision to take time out FOR YOU and you alone to become healthier & start to get rid of all these problems you've been covering up for years on end. Its time to remove the candy coated excuses and get right down to old fashioned, ass kicking hard work. No, its not easy, yes it takes dedication, but with the combination of drive, support, willingness to do it and motivation from the right people including yourself, you can achieve anything. You've gotta REALLY want it. I have lost all my weight on my own. I didn't expect someone else to do it for me & I learned for myself I was wasting my time and money on things I would never see TRUE results from. Figure out what works for you and start somewhere. Everyone has the same amount of one thing in a day, time. Its up to YOU to finally realize you're worth it and how to use it.

Complete Burnout

Being completely rational about any fitness routine you desire to begin should require one to completely understand why working out for a limited amount of time is imperative. A simple approach would be personal research starting with reading articles, talking with professionals including doctors and personal trainers, or even someone who has been working out for years and has experimented almost everything to do with working out. The issue I'm here to address is what I call "the beginners ignorance of research." Ultimately I can address a number of things that I refer to as that, but this one however is extremely important to those who haven't the slightest clue about what too much cardio can do to the human body.

Chronic Cardio, as Mark Sisson, Author of The Primal Blueprint, calls it, is a former triathlete who for years put wear and tear on his body, to, in his mental set, "become better." He was used to running & training for hours on end daily, but when it was over, he was tired & had created within himself a "catabolic burn out." There was no energy left to give for anything else and as he says "When I looked like a picture of health, I was really one of overstress and inflammation. I was the fittest guy my friends knew, yet I suffered from recurring bouts of fatigue, osteoarthritis in both my feet, severe tendinitis in my hip joints, stress-related gastrointestinal maladies, and six or more upper respiratory tract infections each year."

A catabolic burn out is simply this, when you workout for an extended or long period of time, your body starts to use up its preferred sources of energy which are glycogen and glucose, 2 things necessary to ensure you a great workout with enough energy to walk afterwards. When you "burn out" it starts breaking down the muscle tissue in order to burn the PROTEIN found in the muscle and not the FAT you want to burn in your body.The same thing happens when you let your body go into starvation mode by not feeding it every 3 hours. The stress hormone CORTISOL is released and causes your body to believe you are starving so it begins to eat your muscles. 

Consider this, when we eat meat, we aren't eating fat, we're consuming muscle because that meat contains the protein our bodies desire to be properly nourished. Hence the infamous "Protein Shakes" people drink. Chronic Cardio or Over Exertion is the cause of the overlooked catabolic breakdown. In believing you need to run for miles upon miles everyday or complete a crazy workout like INSANITY then move onto something else after that, you are burning yourself out and you ARE WORKING AGAINST YOUR BODY.       

 If you fall into this category of people, you are most likely seeing NO RESULTS after about 6 weeks, hurting inside but refuse to address it or have it checked out, hungrier and consume more carbohydrates as they are the energy source for one's body to be productive throughout the day, losing strength so putting you in charge of a dumbbell or weight machine is out of the question. Chronic cardio causes increased production of cortisol. You are significantly stressing your body out inside if this is the training you are immersed in. Your CNS (Central Nervous System) is in retardation mode and not functioning at the capacity is was created to do. From fatigue, immune suppression (i.e. creates inability to fight off sickness) loss of bone density (which is critical to have if you're a fan of keeping your bones intact) and fat metabolism changes. Everything is working against you & there will be no further changes for the betterment of your body if you continue to stay where you are. You have more of a chance becoming sick or breaking bones than those of us who make sure all areas of fitness are incorporated in our daily routines. A 20 minute High Intensity Interval Training (better known as HIIT Training) can be done in place of chronic cardio & burn 9 times MORE fat throughout your day than your normal routine of cardio routine after cardio routine after cardio routine. 

You need a delicate balance in your routine. Combining every area of fitness is what will enable you to reach your goals. You will create a stronger body by avoiding over exertion with too much cardio. Your insides are not visible to you, but just because you can't see whats going on, doesn't mean something couldn't be wrong. You may not feel it now, you may never feel it or you could feel it but be trying to avoid it because of your mentality & disregard for slowing down, but you have to take into consideration that its proven science, not a myth, and slowing down should be mandatory starting now. Your egotistical mentality needs to be swept under the carpet, stop thinking about what everyone else will think about you. Just because you slow down doesn't make you any less of a person, it means you have taken the time to actually CARE about whats going on with your body and you've made the decision to do what you now KNOW is right for it. I hope this message reaches you beyond your mental set, I hope you pass this along to anyone and everyone you know and I know you will begin to feel better inside and out knowing you don't have to obliterate yourself during a workout session. 

Women and Weights

"I want muscle, but I don't want to bulk up, so I don't lift weights." WHAT???? Do you honestly think her physique came from cardio alone???

If that's the case someone has clearly misguided you. Lifting weights WILL NOT bulk you up if you are doing it the right way. Most women have the misconception that weight lifting is for men and bodybuilders. It is far from true. That myth needs a stop put to it & I'm here to help you understand that lifting weights, the proper way will not bulk you up.

I started working out 4 1/2 years ago. I began by becoming a cardio junkie & becoming accustomed to the rush of adrenaline I got from a nice 45-60 minute, workout that had me breathing hard and my heart rate high enough where I could feel the blood flowing through my body. Were weights a part of my routine? Nope. Was I wondering why I wasn't seeing muscle develop in my body? Yep. Better believe it. I wasn't satisfied. I was burning myself out daily believing that all I needed to incorporate into my workout routine was proper nutrition & cardio. Boy was I wrong, but so very elated that I took time to research what I was doing wrong in order to get what I wanted. 

Turbo Jam was great for me. When I found it, I began to not only keep cardio as a part of my routine, but also get strength training in as well. Chalene Johnson, the celebrity trainer who got me to enjoy my workouts, finally helped me realize what I was missing from my workouts for so very long. By tuning in and listening to her advice, I was finally on the track I wanted to be on instead of constantly burning myself out & wondering why I wasn't getting the results I wanted. 

For years I have heard from so many women "if you lift weights, you'll bulk up & look like a man." Goodness if I could kick the old me in the ass for not realizing the truth when I should have! No joke. However, I won't say I'd take it back. It was a learning process for me. Not only did I discover for myself that I wouldn't bulk up lifting weights, but I was finally able to slow way down & build the lean muscle mass I wanted.

In 2009 Beachbody released a program called ChaLEAN Extreme, the creator of course being Chalene Johnson, whom I looked to as a hero and still do. I of course was all over this program, considering Chalene had taught me that is it necessary to strength train if I was going to develop the arms, legs, glutes & back I wanted to get. I started using the program the day it arrived at my door on March 27, 2009. I had close to 40 pounds to lose & was not going to let anything stand in my way. Not only did I start a new exercise routine but I also began a new chapter in my life learning about nutrition and what kind of foods I needed to be eating to get me through the weight routines. No longer was a drive thru going to cut it. This was simple steps to cut out ALL the crap I had occasionally been eating & really focus on what was going to build my muscles.

I did it. After the first round of ChaLEAN Extreme (or as some call CLX) including 3 months of the Lean For Life phase where I put together workouts that would alternate with each other to get me into the best shape of my life, I lost 38 pounds and gained lean muscle mass. I was NOT bulky. In fact, by listening to Chalene, I learned and realized that FAT is bulky, not muscle. If you are building it the right way, you will develop LEAN muscle definition in your body and you will NOT look like a man. 

I have continued to lift weights. I will never stop lifting weights. If you are lifting heavy, slow & doing the right amount of reps, you will not bulk up. What a lot of women fail to realize is its MUSCLE that burns fat & you CANNOT properly gain muscle by doing cardio alone. You HAVE TO incorporate weights into your routine. From ChaLEAN Extreme to P90X, I have learned many different ways to build my muscle. I have more definition in my body than ever before. The clean, lean foods I consume help me make it through the tough workouts I do on a daily basis. My routine consists of weights, cardio, stretch, yoga, ab routines and rest. By incorporating all the components of fitness together, you will develop the body you have always wanted to develop. You will still get your adrenaline rush by lifting weights and you will also escalate your strength to help maintain a strong core which is what everyone needs to help prevent back injuries. Our core is what holds us together. Without the strength of it, you are weak & susceptible to injury. Learn to add weights into your workout regimen. You will be glad you did and finally realize that its ok to slow down with the cardio, stop working against your body by too much of it and enjoy the process of creating a strong and beautiful physique!