Every day is a Skinny Jeans day!
Day Eight of the 100 Reps Challenge
For the trunk rotations, the suggestion is to use a medicine ball but because I don’t have one I use an 8 lbs dumbbell and that works just fine as well. You can even use two to step it up a notch! With those side lunges, feel free to hold a dumbbell (or medicine ball) at chest height for added resistance.
20 Trunk Rotations (do 20 on each side)
20 Side lunges (do 20 on each side)
Repeat 5 times for a total of 100 trunk rotations and 100 side lunges!
Fitness Tip: Between each lunge, pause at the starting position to regain your balance and ensure that you are maintaining good posture throughout. Otherwise you might overbalance and fall over. Take my word for it.
Maintain that Healthy Weight
I have found that over the past couple months, I have become stronger and my weight on the scale hasn’t changed, but my waist measurements have- by going up! I find this a strange sort of paradox. If I’m gaining strength, and muscle weighs more than fat, and the scale isn’t budging, you’d think that my measurements wouldn’t change either, right? At least, if they’re going to go anywhere, they’d go down. Apparently not.
I don’t have too much of an issue with the fact that my body fat must be increasing because right now my body image is doing pretty good, and it wasn’t as though I was actively trying to lose inches anyways (even if the intention sure wasn’t to gain!) But it does lead me to wonder, have these positive changes in my outlook been the cause of the higher waist measurements? The other day I sat down with a good body image book, and was so filled with a “ra ra let’s love ourselves” moment that I proceeded to eat a large amount of popcorn and cookies because “I want to and I shouldn’t feel as though I need to deprive myself to achieve a ridiculous societal ideal.”
It reminded me of how in junior high and high school I “defied” social standards of perfection by indulging when I chose to prove that our ideals are stupid and that we need to have a good time. (Then a couple years later I shed a good 20 lbs of salted sunflower seeds, Aero bars, lemonade, and hot chocolate. Hm, perhaps that super positive outlook wasn’t doing my body good after all?)
I think that this post is an interesting one. It suggests the possibility that waist-to-hip ratios aren’t all they’re cracked up to be. My math is pretty terrible, but every time I’ve ever calculated my own waist-to-hip ratio, it’s been about 0.8. Everything I’ve ever read has suggested that this is the absolute highest a person should be; otherwise, they’ll be at an increased risk of health problems. But at a 19-something BMI, with a respectable amount of muscle, I know that I’m at a healthy weight. It’s just fact that I’ve got no hips and very little waist. Some of us happen to have boyish figures, that’s all! So I was pleased to have found this over at Elastic Waist, as it really confirms what I think we can all agree with: most of those health tools- the scale, the BMI system, the waist-to-hip ratio etc- they all have their own inconsistencies and problems. The definition of a “healthy weight” is different for everyone. Having that coveted hourglass figure doesn’t necessarily correlate to being at a healthy weight.
Anyway, waist measurements aside, I am buckling down and taking charge so that my healthy body image doesn’t sabotage my healthy weight. It’s time to pull out the skinny jeans and turn every day into a skinny jeans day. Those pants won’t let me munch mindlessly because they, at least, are painfully aware when I get lazy, don’t exercise enough, and am filling my belly with too much good food. To maintain a healthy weight, I really believe that clothes play a big part of it. If you are wearing clothes that are fitted, you are going to be more aware of your body. This has two very positive aspects: 1) the awareness of your body will lead to being more understanding of it, and thereby the comfort level between you and your body increases and your love and respect for it will increase; and 2) those clothes are going to be a wonderful signal to stop the mindless munching and do those 100 reps!
Besides all that, I look best in my skinny jeans. So why wouldn’t I want to wear them every day?
Make every day a skinny jeans day. It feels damn good.
Have you also found a paradoxical correlation between body image and waist measurements? Got any other tips to maintain that weight in a similarly sneaky fashion of just changing the clothes you wear? Voice your thoughts!
Interesting thought! I can def. see a relation between “healthy body image” and increased snacking. I find that when I feel happy about myself, I eat more junk too – I’ve just never actually connected the two before! Must think on this more…
As for your inches problem, you sure you aren’t bloated a la PMS or excess salt?
I tend not to read the “healthy body image” stuff because it tends to (subtly) put down eating healthily and exercising.
And I’m a huge fan of the wearing your skinny jeans.
Sounds like you are getting very strong!! Bet you can’t do those high karate kicks in the skinny jeans though, lol Need the “relaxed fit” for those 🙂
Charlotte- no to the PMS (amenorrhea- of which I keep meaning to get around to writing a post about), although the excess salt IS a possibility. How do you know if you’ve got too much salt?
Tricia- it’s so strange how having a good body image can have a negative effect on your body! And skinny jeans just make you feel good, don’t they?
Dr. J- that’s why I exercise at home in my pajama pants:)
This is interesting…I pretty much agree with what Charlotte says.
Keep rocking the skinny jeans!
Ha Ha!! And that’s why I work in mine 🙂
Wow, you are one strong girl. Keep it up!
Great for you keep it up! My body is trained to respond to very intense workouts which can be a problem when I take extended breaks due to injury, vacation etc. When my workouts are less intense and less often I cut back on my carbohydrate intake to maintain a healthy weight. Works for me. 🙂
so interesting to me as well and makes a lot of sense…the I feel good I love me Im gonna and be happy.
need to read the elastic waist piece as well.
now. Im waiting for the pic of your bad self in your skinny jeans!
From what you described I think your body type is similar to mine (no hips, not much waist definition). I know that I can gain bulgey stomach muscles (for example, I can see ab definition, even though I’ve got significant fat on top of them). I particularly notice this when I do exercises targetting obliques. I get OBLIQUES! My lack of waist becomes even more apparent. It does make sense when you think about it, when you do bicept curls, your bicepts get stronger and they get bigger, why would your abs be different? Just a thought.
Oh also, that hip waist ratio. While I agree the 0.8 number can be misleading when you’re not overweight. But body types like ours, (well mine at least) basically are what they’re targetting with that ratio. When I gain weight it goes to my stomach, not my butt. This is the kind that increases heart disease risk. So a much more out of shape person who carries their weight in their thighs would have a better ratio than me, but that’s because their risk really is lower. does that make sense?
Mark- that’s interesting! I experience a similar thing when I cut back on cardio. Like right now because of the weather. Man I miss excessive walking…
MizFit- oh I’m sure a picture will come up one of these days:) heart Elastic Waist.
Randi- yep, sounds like we’ve got the same body type! Thanks for your thoughts on that; very helpful and makes complete sense.
I definitely use the skinny jeans method too. as well as stepping on the scale every morning
Hooray for skinny jeans!! 🙂
I despise scales because they create unhealthy thoughts in my head… I don’t like the idea of a number telling me if I’m doing “well” or not. I am however a HUGE fan of the skinny jeans rule of thumb. If I can’t fit into my skinny jeans or feel like my clothes are fitting a bit snug I amp up the exercising a bit (mainly because lowering my caloric intake would involve tracking calories in the first place and I dont like doing that).
i dont have skinny jeans but i have fat day jeans- which i only wear about oone week out of the month 😉
Kelly Turner
http://www.groundedfitness.com
Today is “skinny jeans are in the wash day“. Simply because I only have one pair, and I’ve been wearing them a lot. Their not “skinny” jeans like the ones that are great for wearing with winter boots, but just snug and fitting.
I did a post a while back “Baggy is Just Saggy, and Tight is Alright” and took a bunch of pictures in my baggy jeans and in my old skinny jeans that I finally fit into. Every day should be skinny jean day. Thanks for the great comments, and thanks for the great post.
Since I don’t use a scale anymore, the way my pants fit is my only accountability tool. And I hate to shop, so my pants getting too tight is a definite sign it’s time to go easier on the treats!
love that “make every day a skinny jeans day”
Wow, that’s a great post! I have found that when I wear tighter clothing, I tend to not run for the munchies. When I wear loose clothing, such as sweaters, I will munch like crazy (way more than I need) and not care. I love the idea of making every day skinny jean day! Good for you!
Rhodeygirl- clothes are such a great indicator. I like to step on the scale once every couple days because its a good way to make sure I’m maintaining and not letting myself fall off track!
Catherine- I think you are VERY right about the scale; it can have horrible effects. The reason I use it is because it simply isn’t a trigger for unhealthy thoughts for me. Funny how different things will be major triggers for different people, isn’t it?
Kelly- pajama pants. I am ALL ABOUT the pj pants.
Fitness Surfer- Just found and read that post- its great! And SO true. I think the wash of jeans also makes a big difference as well as the fit. Dark washes make me happy.
Crabby- ah yes, things like not wanting to go shopping are such good motivators:)
Stongandhealthy- skinny jeans were made for the munchers among us! (I’m SUCH a muncher too. I’m always so impressed by people who will go for hours and hours at a time without eating.)
I love the idea of making every day a skinny jeans day! There’s always one item of clothing that fits you just so when you’re at a healthy weight, and whenever you put it on you KNOW you look good.
We should make it a shopping mission to fill our wardrobe with clothes like these!
TA x
TA- agreed! It’s a pact. That way we feel good, look awesome, and will be healthy.