Know Your Shapes

Know Your Shapes 

Are you an apple, pear, hourglass, banana, rectangle, triangle, or a footlong? 

Do you have a spare tyre, rubber ring, tree trunks, bingo wings, pooch or are you bow legged? 

These are some names that women & the media use to define & stereotype women's body shapes & parts, these multiple names that are given to our bodies, some of them actually belong to the same group of body shapes, we as women just call them a million different things as what they look like, who knows why?
These names all stem from the original works of William Sheldon (1940) on the somatotype's people's body shapes, there are three categories which you can fall into. 
Mesomorph, ectomorph & endomorph, from this you can see what shape your body falls into & now you can find workouts & exercises plans for your goals based on your body type. 

Mesomorph

Mesomorph's are naturally gifted athletes, they can gain muscle & fat easily, they can also lose it easily. Naturally lean & muscular with wider shoulders than hips. They have an efficient metabolism.

Ectomorph 

Ectomorph's are life's natural skinny bitches, lovely long limbs, small shoulders, low body fat percentage & a fast metabolism; which means they can get away with eating what they like. 

Endomorph 

Endomorph's have high muscle & fat mass, meaning they are solidly built short & stocky but struggle to lose fat. They also have sluggish metabolisms, which they should watch what they eat, & if they go off track they'll find they gain fat easily. 

Unfortunately, I'm in the endomorph group, which means you must sweat like a pig & work like a horse, if you want to look like a fox! I have lost a lot of fat, but it's always easier to lose excess fat in the beginning of any lifestyle change. Now, I wish to progress my body & shape further become fitter & more toned, I'm now struggling with losing fat, this is where my hard work begins. 

As now I have to compete against my own body, as everyone a has a natural fat storage level, I have plateaued around the same weight for a while now because I think my body has reached its natural fat storage level, but because I want to lose more fat I need to make sure I eat right & exercise well to be able to achieve this. 

I have done some research for myself using my somatotype to find eating plans & exercise ideas which have helped, I'm naturally not going to be great at cardio, however, my short yet stocky build means I can lift heavy, which is great because being able to lift will help burn the fat so I will get leaner & more toned whilst keeping my endomorphic softness & curves. 

So my lovely audience, I ask you to take the brave step & look in the mirror & really look to see what shape you see. Take your measurements as this is also a good indication of what shape you have. You can put your measurements into a website (see the link) & it can tell you what shape you are. Once you have your shape, do some research about foods & exercise for the body shape you'll probably be surprised on what is good for you! http://www.calculator.net/body-type-calculator.html

The other night I completed a questionnaire online on body shapes, which told me I was more endomorphic but I was also mesomorphic, it was quite fun filling it in, apart from when I asked my parents whether my forearms where big, average or small, my dad who thought he was being hilarious kindly replied that they were big like Popeye's, I replied that I would get anchors tattooed on them so I looked the part! (I always thought I had average forearms & I do love eating spinach). Here's the link if you fancy doing it. http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/becker3.htm

Pass The Brown Paper Bag Please...

Your Skin

Throughout my teens I had quite good skin; not too many break outs which is quite a relief compared to some girls I know. 

However, when I started losing weight weight my skin became terrible, blemishes & breakouts I'd never experienced anything like it. Hence, the title, pass the brown paper bag I seriously just wanted to hide away my skin was awful, couldn't image what it would've been like if I was in my teens but now I'm an adult in my mid-twenties with acne of someone who should be 10 years younger. Each month the condition of my skin would be different & different patches on face, one part dry, another really oily I just felt like I couldn't win. 

This was something the slimming groups obviously don't tell you when you sign up. I figured out that unfortunately our skin doesn't hide all of our sins. From all the years I had been eating god knows what full of chemicals & harmful substances then stored away in my fat cells for a long time. I was now breaking these down & these radicals that been stored in my fat were now making there way to face, unfortunately there's not enough concealer to hide them. Having the skin of a 17 year old does make you quite depressed, when your 27 & getting ID'd in Asda for a bottle of voddy, when your going out later that night. 

Some months my skin, would back to its usual normal self, and I would feel great, but then it would go funny again. My mum has always taught my sister & I the importance of looking after your skin. So, I've always practised a cleanse, tone & moisturise routine, with the added in exfoliation & face mask. I found its important to try lots of different products to find the best ones that work for you. I currently use a combination of Liz Earle & Ren Skincare.

So I started to do a little research online about what else I could do, to try and help my acne/blemish problem. I found this handy little website, which uses Chinese medicine & reflexology approach to skin mapping for acne. I thought I'd try this first before going to the doctors, because as we all know the condition of someone's skin is usually a representation of what they've put inside the body. 

http://www.skinacea.com/acne/acne-face-map.html#.VODVUmIgGSM

When I returned from travelling last year my skin was bloody awful, literally the day I landed my sister made me an appointment at the doctors. It was really bad, and she didn't want me to end up like her; having just finished 6 months on Accutane & having to wait for treatment for scarring. I've been using Duac cream since November, which has worked well also now I have got my food back to normal, unlike when I was travelling it was extremely carb heavy. 

A lot of my blemishes & acne breakouts were on my chin, with a combination of my skin routine, the Duac cream from the doctors, and with help from the skin map, I've finally got my skin under control. I've realised that I probably wasn't having enough omega 3's in my diet to regulate my hormones properly. As I make sure I have oily fish a couple of times a week, and I also have a flax seed mix I put in my porridge most mornings, this has helped my skin improve considerably. 

(Gorgeous, Aren't I?)