Renaissance Woman

Fun! Inspiring! I'm pumped! Or maybe my biceps are.

In 2013, while living in Tanzania, I decided to lose some weight. I don't know how I ended up doing it this way, but I made a Google spreadsheet, inputting how much a pound was in calories (3,500), calculated my likely daily caloric needs using some online calculator, tried to eat under that, and tracked the cumulative calorie deficit. I kept the spreadsheet to remind myself that losing weight is slow. Like, VERY slow. Anyway, in doing this, I (a) lost weight (more than intended), but, more importantly, I (b) discovered macros. OH, MACROS! Let me sing thy praises! PROTEIN, CARB AND FAT, HOW I LOVE THEEEEE.

I also discovered, from experience, that protein + caffeine can really help with keeping you full, but that your brain can die if you under-carb it (there was one day when I had to rush out to find a pastry - ANY PASTRY - before I brain-deathed all over my laptop at work). I also discovered protein gets you shredded (who knew). I also discovered r/fitness, the bro lifting community, deadlifts (my love!!!), and, actually, Reddit overall? Wow, what a time to be alive that was.

So this book included a lot of THAT stuff (minus Reddit). One thing from r/fitness/the lifting world is that you must “bulk” (eat above maintenance calories) to gain muscle and then you must “cut” (eat below) to remove fat and, voila, reveal your 6 pack. As a woman who grew up in the late 20th century, where a very thin, androgynous, under-fed body type was lauded as super model-worthy, I have never (!) had the courage to bulk. Eat MORE than I need, are you mad?! That said, I think I'm approaching the time to do that. I have had some refreshing brainwaves where I started to value a different body type (in myself and others), and also I had a REAL big nirvana last year about “health at every size” - like, my post-pregnancy body was just a blob of aches and pains. I started running. I didn't lose any weight (indeed, gained some!), but I felt MUCH MUCH BETTER. Health at every size, bitches!!! I also discovered some body-diverse athletes like the Slow AF run club guy, who's just great. This has really dislodged a lot of my adolescent body image BS programming.

OK. All that to say! The big takeaways from this book, some of which were new to me:
- Bulking and cutting are the yin and yang of your fitness journey
- CICO is the main way
- Macros are the second most important thing (PROTEINNNNN)
- Caffeine helps you feel sated. Cocaine or amphetamines would probably help even more KIDDING KIDDING
- You can't endlessly cut (or bulk, for that matter), you need “maintenance periods” to reset your body and mind. Namely: Cut for 3 months, maintenance for 1-3 months, etc. This was a real nirvana moment for me.
- You probably need to bulk. JUST BULK. Put on that muscle! As lovely Casey Johnston/Swole Woman says, you must eat like a big beautiful horse. Do you want a horse butt? What is more beautiful than a juicy zebra butt? Nothing, people! Anyway, given how the Exercised guy scared me about muscle wasting during our advancing years, I'm now like, oh shit, I gotta bulk up like Arnold. It is time!
- You cannot, alas, do everything at the same time (you cannot bulk + cut, obviously, but you also, sigh, cannot excel athletically in ALL your fields (endurance, strength, etc)... I am running up against this now and it is saddening me OH SO MUCH, maybe a lament for another review. Are there any good “hybrid athletics” books out there?!)

There was also some discussion of, like, being a woman in this culture and eating disorders and so on. Tbh I found that stuff kinda ham-fisted? It was well-meaning. I don't know if people who suffer from EDs would find it helpful? I also found the motivating pep talk “you can do it” stuff like meh, whatever. Much more motivating/inspiring were the many many pics of various women of various ages and body sizes doing various athletic things (wow that deadlift, lady! ooh, you ski?!).