The Unexpected Way Muscle Growth Improves Your Relationship With Eating

Hey loves,

Many women experience the cycle of restriction, bingeing, feeling guilty and restarting this vicious cycle.

This cycle is a byproduct of diet culture, an industry predicated off of encouraging us to be as small as possible.

Diet culture teaches women to fear food instead of understanding it. It teaches us to fear taking up space and gaining weight, both of which in healthy doses can build a machine of a physique and an impenetrable self concept.

I would like to introduce the idea that building muscle changes not only your body, but your relationship with what fuels it.

It changes your relationship to food and this in turn can create a better, more comfortable and relaxed experience with it.

Yes, it is possible. You are never too stuck in diet culture propaganda that this type of freedom can’t be accessed.

When Your Goal Changes, Your Relationship With Food Changes

Going from “how little can I eat?” to “how well can I fuel my body?” is a fundamental switch to make along our fitness journeys.

Firstly, what is a fat loss mindset vs a muscle building mindset? When you want to lose fat, you want to be consuming less calories over time and remain at a calorie deficit.

When you want to build muscle, however, you need to be consuming more food and calories in order to build a physique.

Calories therefore go from something to be minimized to something that needs to be increased.

Someone focused on building strength starts seeing food as a tool. This tool can enhance our lives in numerous ways and help us reach our goals. What a positive mindset shift that it!

The shift goes from punishment to performance. And as survivors of diet culture, this can transform how we start to interact with food socially and the body type we choose to have and embrace.

For instance, a woman who wants to build stronger glutes doesn’t see chicken, rice, and carbohydrates as enemies rather she sees them as building materials.

I know that my grandmother for instance who is deeply embedded in diet culture respects how my high rice and chicken consumption fuels my body and doesn’t object to me eating it constantly for that reason.

Muscle Requires You to Respect Your Body

Muscle cannot be built from constantly under-eating. Your body needs protein, carbohydrates, healthy fats and enough calories.

Lifting teaches women that their bodies deserve support and this changes everything. From trying to shrink and be as small as possible to taking up space and actually consuming life, building muscle gives us permission to grow.

The “I Earned My Food” Mentality Starts to Disappear

Excessive cardio and restriction can create a reward/punishment relationship with eating. You start to undo the eating you did by performing more cardio or skipping a meal. This is neither healthy nor sustainable.

Strength training, on the other hand, creates a different mindset: you start to eat because you train, not you train because you ate.

You start to eat for growth, for health and vitality.

Strength Training Improves Body Image in a Different Way

Weight loss often focuses on shrinking whereas strength training focuses on capability.

Simply by seeing yourself lift heavier, improve your form, build curves and become physically stronger, you can start appreciating your body rather than criticize it.

The Protein Effect: Learning to Prioritize Nourishment

Increasing protein changes eating habits. When you eat more protein, you get fuller and more satisfied.

Focusing on your protein consumption also means you become more intentional with your meals. You know what you need to eat to get to your goals and you choose your meals accordingly.

Many women discover they were simply under-fueling, they notice it in their performance and in the way their bodies respond to their training.

Easy examples of protein sources

Animal protein

• Chicken breast
• Turkey breast
• Lean beef
• Tuna
• Salmon
• Shrimp
• Eggs
• Egg whites
• Greek yogurt
• Cottage cheese
• Skyr
• Low-fat cheese

Plant protein

• Tofu
• Tempeh
• Edamame
• Lentils
• Chickpeas
• Black beans
• Kidney beans
• Pea protein powder
• Soy milk
• Quinoa

Convenient protein snacks

• Protein shakes
• Protein bars
• Beef or turkey jerky
• Roasted edamame
• Roasted chickpeas
• String cheese
• Hard-boiled eggs

Approximate protein per serving

• 100 g chicken breast: 31 g
• 1 can tuna: 25–30 g
• 170 g Greek yogurt: 17–20 g
• 2 eggs: 12–13 g
• 100 g cottage cheese: 11–13 g
• 100 g salmon: 22–25 g
• 100 g tofu: 8–15 g (varies by type)
• 1 cup cooked lentils: 18 g
• 1 scoop protein powder: 20–30 g

Make sure you build your meals around any of the protein sources on the list.

Building Muscle Teaches Patience

Muscle growth is slow, it takes time to actually reap the rewards of the work you put in at the gym.

Results come from consistency and when you stop chasing quick fixes.

Through this process, you finally learn that one meal doesn’t change your body.

The Confidence Loop

The confidence loop goes like this:

You train consistently, then you truer yourself more, you make better choices, feel prouder of your body and have a less desire to punish it.

The Reality: You Can Build Muscle Without Losing Femininity

Many women fear becoming “too bulky”. The truth however is that curves often come from muscle, building the:

• Glutes
• Shoulders
• Back

Simply, a strong body can still be feminine.

Conclusion:

The goal isn’t to control your body through deprivation, the goal is to build a body you respect. Muscle teaches women that their bodies are worth investing in.

I hope that you enjoyed this blog post on The Unexpected Way Muscle Growth Improves Your Relationship With Eating, please let me know what you thought about it in the comments section below!