More Than A Woman Blog

For as long as I can remember, I’ve always been slim.

Although I truly believe we should learn to love and appreciate the body we have, I also believe there can be a chapter in your life where you look at yourself differently. A moment where you realise you want to feel different, become stronger or build confidence in a new way.

For me, that moment came when I started looking at my body differently.

Growing up I was always called “skinny”. I would hear things like, “You need to eat more,” or people would assume I wasn’t eating enough.

But what people didn’t understand was that gaining weight had always been a struggle for me.

It wasn’t because I didn’t try.

I could eat more than some of my friends and still see no difference in my weight. My body would stay the same, and honestly it became frustrating because I never really understood why.

There is so much focus in today’s society around losing weight, but there isn’t always the same understanding or support for the women who are trying to gain weight, build shape or put on muscle.

A lot of the advice you hear is simply, “Just eat more.”

But for me, it was never that simple.

I needed to understand my body.

That was when I started educating myself and realised something important…

Every bodies are different.

For years, I compared myself to other women without understanding that we all have different starting points. Genetics, lifestyle, nutrition and the way our bodies respond to food and exercise can all play a part in how we look and how we build.

When learning about body types, I discovered the three commonly known categories:

An ectomorph body type is often associated with a naturally slimmer frame, a faster metabolism and someone who may find it more challenging to gain weight and build muscle.

A mesomorph body type is often associated with a naturally athletic build, where someone may find building muscle comes more easily.

An endomorph body type is often associated with a body that naturally stores more energy, where gaining weight may happen more easily.

Of course, we are all unique and no one fits perfectly into one category. These labels don’t define what someone can or cannot achieve, but understanding them helped me understand myself.

I realised my body was closer to an ectomorph build.

My body naturally stayed slim. Gaining weight wasn’t easy for me, and building the shape I wanted was going to require patience, consistency and a completely different approach.

But learning this changed my mindset.

Because I realised genetics may influence where we start, but they don’t decide where we finish.

I didn’t have to accept that my body would always look the same.

I could work with my body.

I could build muscle.

I could become stronger.

That realisation gave me the courage to finally step into the gym.

When I first started, my goal was simple.

I wanted to focus on my lower body. I wanted more shape. I wanted to build my glutes, build muscle and feel stronger within myself.

My mindset at the beginning was basically:

Go gym.

Eat more.

Repeat.

But what I didn’t realise at the time was that this was only the beginning.

Because my fitness journey was never just about changing my body.

It became about learning discipline, understanding nutrition, building confidence and proving to myself that I was capable of more than I thought.

The gym became a place where I stopped fighting against the body I was given and started learning how to build with it.

This was the beginning of becoming the strongest version of myself.

And this was only chapter one.

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