A fitness influencer has detailed her journey to getting slender and toned arms after struggling to see any difference while lifting heavy weights and following a calorie deficit diet.
In a TikTok video, Sivi expressed that she struggled with her insecurity of having ‘a lot of fat’ on her arms.
She explained that she had tried lifting heavy weights and going on a calorie deficit, but she got bulkier arms instead of slender ones.
After failing to reach her fitness goal, she claims turning to Pilates changed the game for her and she got finally got the results she desired.
A fitness influencer has detailed her journey to getting slender and toned arms after struggling with lifting heavy weights and following a calorie deficit diet
She tried lifting heavy weights and going on a calorie deficit, but she got bulkier arms. After failing to reach her fitness goal, she claims turning to Pilates changed the game for her
Sivi started off her video by saying: ‘My journey on getting slim and “toned” arms was not an easy one but I’m gonna show you what you did.
‘My arms held a lot of fat in there. So it was really tough for me to know what I had to do.’
She explained that while she scrolled through social media, she got fitness suggestions to ‘lift heavy in your upper body and eat more.’
The fitness gurus would say: ‘It’s super hard for women to gain mass up there.’
She said that during her workout journey she ‘had to do almost the opposite’ of what ‘gym rats’ were saying to get this look of the slim and toned arms.
‘[These are] my results and it worked for me and it might work for a lot of people.
‘I truly believe one of the biggest factors in my arms getting smaller was doing low weight high-reps and I really feel like just lifting heavy was just not doing it for me.’
Siva said she forewent hitting her upper body at the gym, but replaced it with Pilates.
‘When I tell you, it is the best thing I’ve ever done for myself to get smaller anywhere,’ she gushed.
After lifting heavy and being on a calorie deficit Siva’s arms got bulky (L). When she did Pilates consistently, she got slimmer arms (R)
‘You do have to have a good diet but I have felt like lifting heavy made me hungry all the time so lifting lighter really did a difference for me.
‘Not just in my looks but my appetite as well. That’s why I saw lifting lighter can definitely help your super big appetite.
‘That came from lifting heavy ultimately. I’m not trying to discourage people who have different gold or lift heavy.
‘This is just my experience and I hope this helps some of you guys too.’
The fitness influencer’s video got 581,200 views and 118,900 likes on TikTok.
After she shared her personal fitness journey, she was flooded by comments from people who also faced the same obstacle of wanting slimmer not bulkier arms.
One person wrote: ‘Yep you’re 100 per cent right!!! Lower weight, higher reps!’
‘This is deff (definitely) true. I did heavy upper for so long and just got bulkier instead of slim. Had to let go and do cardio based on low-weight high-rep upper body,’ another added.
Her video got 581,200 views and 118,900 likes on TikTok and lots of women could relate to her
A third follower was already a fan of the workout writing: ‘I only do Pilates for my upper body too. So happy to see other fit girlies opening up about this!!!’
‘THANK YOU OMFG I HAVE BEEN NEEDING THIS,’ a thankful fan said.
One person shared: ‘This is EXACTLY what happened to me and when I told people about it at the gym they were TRIGGERED…’
After receiving some comments from people arguing ‘that simply going on a calorie deficit would give her slimmer results,’ Siva posted a follow-up video to explain ‘that wasn’t the case’ for her.
‘I think a lot of people are failing to understand my results,’ she said.
The fitness influencer said that she used to lift heavy and go hard at the gym consistently.
Siva learned over time that her ‘cortisol levels as a woman’ were raised and she was hungrier due to her intense workouts, which caused her to eat more.
In conclusion she got bulkier arms which lead her to desperately try out Pilates, in hopes of achieving a slimmer look.
‘I had to be able to help my cortisol levels, to lose some of that muscle and be able to stay in a calorie deficit without it being so harsh on me,’ she said.
‘If you’re really trying to slim your arms as fast as possible, the fastest way to do that is to do a way lighter weight or barely work out your arms like that and to be in a calorie deficit.
‘I just feel like in any diet you have, if you don’t want your arm to get bigger, just don’t go higher-up in weight. That’s just the end of it.
‘Even when I was in a calorie deficit and I went heavy, it was still hard to shrink my arms. That’s what I’m trying to get with this.’
Siva’s conclusion is backup up by science. Pilates focuses on building lean muscle instead of getting bulky.
‘The difference mainly lies in the fat content around the muscle. When you compare lean vs bulk, the former contains less fat around the muscle tissue,’ according to HealthKart.
‘So, the body looks slimmer and the muscles seem rock-solid.
‘When you do weight training and are lifting heavy your bulk muscles add to the overall body mass, giving you a bigger appearance.’
Pilates guru Keri O’Meara believes ‘Pilates is a great way to achieve toned arms and shoulders because it helps create long, lean, sleek muscles.’
‘It focuses on using specific fibers of the muscles and working them in a shortened and lengthened position,’ she told HuffPost.
‘As you are working with the bio-mechanics of the body it also helps to lubricate the shoulder joint and assists with relieving neck and shoulder tension.’
‘If you’re really trying to slim your arms as fast as possible, the fastest way to do that is to do a way lighter weight or barely work out your arms like that and to be in a calorie deficit,’ she said
In Siva’s other videos she documents her Pilates fitness routines.
One of the videos features her sweating it out in a workout class with her writing: ‘Reminder: If you start Pilates today, you will feel the difference in six sessions.
‘You’ll see a difference in 10 sessions and you’ll have a whole new body in 30 sessions.
‘No excuses. Start today and have a new body by New Year’s.’
For one of her ‘what I eat in a day’ videos she documented her meals.
For breakfast she ate an egg omelet on toast with avocado and a side of kiwi.
Her drink of choice was matcha with almond milk.
Siva had ground beef with vegetables and cauliflower for lunch.
She had one tablespoon of almond butter and a handful of carrots dipped in tahini for dinner.
Last but not least, she has a Mexican watermelon salad, known as sandia, with chamoy sauce as an end-of-day snack.
