Is Being Lean The Best Version Of You?
I recently achieved the lowest body fat I have ever been (post eating disorder) at 12.5%. It was achieved over 14 weeks dropping nearly 10kg on the scales and 7% body fat.
I worked damned hard for it and I was proud of what I had achieved. There were times when it was really tough and I wanted to give up, but then someone would make a comment about how awesome I looked and it gave me the motivation to keep pushing and striving for more.
Towards the end I was constantly getting compliments like:
‘You look so good!’
‘Wow you are so lean you look incredible!’
‘Look at your abs you look amazing!’
‘I want your body!’’
‘You look like a model’
‘I want to be that lean!’
And I loved it….who wouldn’t like receiving compliments especially for something that they have worked so hard for? But as time went on and I got leaner and leaner and the compliments increased I became acutely aware just how much emphasis we attach to being lean and the correlation we think it has to living a better life, being more successful, being happier and most importantly being healthier.
But here’s the thing, I haven’t spoken to one girl who has prepped for any kind of serious body comp goal, be it a photo-shoot or body building comp, who would say their life was significantly enhanced for being lean.
Is your life better being leaner or having abs?
No. Nothing changes, you don’t suddenly get a better job, or become a better partner, or have lots more money. You might feel more confident in your own skin but if taken too far (which is usually what has to be done in order to get the ‘look’ women desire) - you are too drained, tired or focused on the next training session or meal to even notice.
Are you happier?
Hardly, in fact most of the time you are miserable. You are hungry, tired, stressed, and most importantly your every waking thought is consumed with your goal in mind (that’s not a relaxed state of mind to be in by the way).
Are you more successful?
Probably not. Because when you have such a specific goal in mind this becomes your priority above all else, your career, your partner, your friends, your family.
In fact, your relationships and career are likely to suffer as you have no time or energy for them, and this makes you feel constantly guilty and selfish.
And finally, and probably the most important; are you healthier?
This is the biggest misconception with being super lean; we think it means a super healthy body. But the truth is to get to a point where body fat is low, you have to take your body somewhere it doesn’t want to go. You have to push it to its absolute limits, and anything done to any extreme is never going to be healthy. You are tired, you have zero energy, you are cold, you get sick, you get injured, the list goes on.
Abs and Red Flags
In the pursuit for abs and a lean body and when we eat a restricted diet and/or exercise excessively over a prolonged period of time we are essentially putting our bodies into a negative energy balance in order to shed fat. When we finally manage to get the desired result it can result in us losing our cycles (something I have achieved on many occasions). The problem is because it happens to so many girls it can be seen as no big deal. In fact it is a massive red flag from our bodies telling us to sort our s**t out…..
You see our bodies see lack of food and excessive exercise as a threat to survival (it doesn’t know if we are starving through lack of available food or out of choice; it also doesn’t know whether we are doing so much exercise because we have to keep fleeing from predators or because we are choosing to). It therefore shuts down all ‘non-essential’ processes in the body such as reproduction for two reasons:
1. Energy resources are better used elsewhere in the body for more important essential processes needed for survival. Reproduction is non essential therefore can be ‘spared’ when times are tough.
2. If survival is so hard in the current environment then bringing another human being into the word is the last thing that it should be doing
Our bodies are essentially making us infertile. And for any women this has happened to this should be a wakeup call that all is not good with your body and your hormones are out of whack.
Abs or a Life?
And aside from the physical, health and mental negativities associated with being so lean, the social impacts are just as tough. You might look awesome but you can rarely go out and show it off. You are too tired, have too many training sessions to do and your diet doesn’t allow it. You can’t actually live, you just exist in this never-ending cycle of training, eating and (hopefully) sleeping.
So No More Abs?
Even with all that said I couldn’t help but thrive off the comments I got and relish in my newly re-found abs. Mentally being so lean is a massive challenge, because you can get so caught up in the comments from people telling you how amazing you look that you start to value yourself only on your image. You are therefore desperate to keep your body as long as you can and develop a fear people will look poorly on you if you don’t maintain the same physique. It’s a terrible cycle and one that, unless you are 100% self aware of your reasons, goals and own body perception you should not enter into lightly.
This is not to say I will never prep again because there are a lot of elements I love about it; the challenge both mental and physical, the goal it gives you with your training, the things you learn about yourself as you go for example. But I will never present myself at my leanest without giving an honest accountability of what it took to get there and the consequences of your actions. Nor will I prep a client for a shoot without making sure I am 100% sure they are going in with their eyes wide open and doing it for the right reasons.
By all means have a goal to be the best version of yourself, but please don’t assume this is you at your leanest with a six-pack popping.
Kylie
xoxo