Worth the Weight

Photo Credit: Brian Finke

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When my cousin told me she wanted to drop 3 pounds before her wedding, I told her the first weight-loss trick that popped into my head: "Three pounds? You could spit that out, easy."

I wasn't your typical eating-disordered athlete whose dexterity relied on maintaining a whisper-weight frame. In high school, I was a competitive weight lifter who was seen as strong and solid as a rock — little did people know what was really going on.

I was a study in contrasts — dressing up for class, but at practice, throwing chalk on my hands and thrusting at least 100 pounds over my head. But look at George Clooney's girlfriend, Stacy Keibler, who used to wrestle for World Wrestling Entertainment and now rocks her toned legs on the red carpet. Heavy-lifters can be ladylike, too. And judging from all the females getting involved in lifting — in 2010 the National Sporting Goods Association found that more than 10 million women worked with weights of some sort compared with just about 6 million who played tennis — it's not as rare as you'd think.

I joined the varsity weight-lifting team when my older sister brought me along to her practice my freshman year. As a gymnast since age 4, I had natural strength and a small frame — the perfect combination for winning meets. When competing, my teammates and I lifted in weight classes broken down by 10-pound increments. If two girls in the same class lifted the same amount but one weighed just 2 ounces less, the lighter one would win.

This encouraged my coach to push me into a lighter-weight division. Sure, I thought, I could drop 6 pounds in a week, and then I'd win the meet. His advice? Sleep with the AC on low to shiver overnight and burn extra calories. But I didn't realize that my 115-pound, size-2 body had no extra weight to lose.

It started with a diet: only celery and grilled chicken, limited salt, and very little water. When that didn't work, I moved on to sticking my finger down my throat (with little results, since I had hardly any food in my stomach); jogging in heavy layers; sitting in saunas for hours despite a school regulation against it; and popping green-tea pills to speed up my metabolism. I'd stick Skittles gum in my cheek (my teammates and I endlessly experimented with tart-flavored gum and candy to find which would make us salivate the most), then spit into water bottles to lose 3 pounds in just a few hours. I even skipped school to chug Phospho soda, a laxative used on colonoscopy patients, that I'd mix with Mountain Dew to cut its horrible taste.

The coaches gave me three chances to weigh in under 110 pounds before a meet or I'd be disqualified. If I didn't hit that target weight the first time, I'd get naked, take my hair out of its French-braid pigtails, fluff up my curls to air out the density of my hair, and do a headstand for a minute to shift my water weight around so I could come in a few ounces less. Our instructors were aware — they joked about the saunas and the spitting — but they turned a blind eye. And though I felt weak from deprivation, I managed to lift more than my body weight above my head at every meet.

In college I gave up lifting and could barely set foot in a gym, afraid I'd fall back into my old ways. I'd tell my doctor not to read my weight on the scale out loud and trigger my old anxieties about making my weight class. After graduation, my waistline stretched and I bought a scale. Soon enough, the habits returned. I binged and purged, counted calories, and finally realized I had a serious problem. This was no longer something I did for a high school sport; it was real and it wasn't going away.

Over a tear-filled brunch and many mimosas, I confided in two friends. They advised me to find a therapist, admitting that they each had seen counselors for family issues and broken hearts. When I finally got to therapy, it felt liberating to vent in a judge-free space. Thanks to food diaries and weekly therapy sessions, I came out on the other side, trimmed down, and found my jeans slipping on easily. When I get on a scale, my heart still beats with anxiety before the number pops up, but now I can eat a doughnut without worrying that each bite will make or break me.

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Some Fantastic Easy Ways to Gain Weight Fast (Mike Krugger)

Advanced SearchHomeSubmit ArticlesTop AuthorsLatest ArticlesTop ArticlesLoginHome » Health » Alternative MedicineSome Fantastic Easy Ways to Gain Weight FastBy Mike KruggerMay 27, 2012Some people are able to eat just a few meals a day and gain several pounds in a week. If you are someone who is desperately trying to lose weight, then gaining weight easily is a very bad thing. But, if you are one of the millions of weight lifters who is working hard to gain weight and therefore muscle mass, eating frequently and gaining little if any weight is a major obstacle to progress. In reality, if you happen to be one of these individuals you are actually blessed with very good metabolism. Tips on how to gain weight quickly are priceless to skinny people who struggle to put on some extra pounds. The world we live in is a contradictory one. There are folks who put on weight rather effortlessly and yearn to lose their weight and fats through unhealthy diets.

Yet on the other end of the spectrum, thin people find it tremendously challenging to gain that extra few pounds to enhance their physical appearance and regain some masculine appeal in the case of men. Skinny ladies also dream of fitting nicely into beautiful clothes that look so fabulous on those svelte and voluptuous models. But do not envy those who put on weight too easily, especially those through unhealthy diets. It is better to understand the fundamentals behind healthy weight gain. This is where you can learn more on how to gain weight quickly and healthily.

Again, you must cook the ingredients in a healthy way. For instance, you can readily marinate chicken breasts and put them in the oven to get cooked instead of going for fried chicken legs and wings. It should be pointed out that you should not hesitate to combine carbohydrate-rich foods with protein-rich ones. In fact, this should help you gain weight much faster. Serve fish with oven baked potatoes and beef meatballs in tomato sauce with pasta. Vegetables and fruits are the best sources of vitamins and minerals so you should have plenty of these in your diet. Just remember that it is best not to stuff yourself with vegetables before you get to eat the dishes richer in calories. You can readily have a salad as a side dish. Just avoid fat-rich dressings. Some fruits such as bananas, papayas, mangos and apricots are more nutritious than others so you may include them in your diet more often. Get smaller portions of sugar-rich dried fruits such as raisins and dried figs and dates.

What nutrient ratio is optimal for fast weight gain? You need to find the right balance between carbohydrates, protein and healthy fats. It is true that protein contains amino acids, the building blocks of tissues. However, this does not mean that you should consume only high amounts of protein to put some pounds on. Carbs are the main sources of calories which will help you do the trick. Doctors recommend that you should consume 60 per cent to 70 per cent healthy carbohydrates and 10 to 15 per cent protein. It is a good idea to keep even healthy fats to the very minimum.

Do I need exercise to put some extra pounds on? Exercise will help you build muscle mass. Muscle tissue weighs more than fat. Besides, everyone would love to have a nice relief. Strength training is recommended for building muscle mass. You can readily adopt a complete training plan that allows you to work on all of your muscle groups. Building a curvy body is more than just working out in the gym and counting reps and sets; a lot more. Working out is intense, the mental aspect of lifting weights is equally intense, and there is a host of information that you absolutely need to know if you plan to succeed. The best thing is to learn it from someone who's been there. Visit Skinny To Muscles and check out No-Nonsense Muscle Building by Canadian Fitness Model Champion, Vince DelMonte. No-Nonsense Muscle Building will teach you everything there is to know about building a curvy body for skinny women inside and out and you won't find a better resource to give yourself an edge.About the AuthorFor more information about Gain weight fast browse our website today and know How to gain weight fast without having heavy exercise.Rating:Please Rate:

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