Bulking up

Sticking to my "manly deltoid" from yesterday's post:

I've never been "slender." I've never known what it's like to be "rail thin." My body just wasn't built for that business. Like I've said before, I was built to survive harsh winters and to be able to wrestle cattle.
I had tiny muscles... and a booty (this no cussing thing is KILLING ME), even in my toddlerhood... up until about third grade, which was my absolute thinnest time:

Thunder-thighs didn't phase me at 2.5 years of age.

I might have been 7 here, and that was the thinest my legs have ever been.
And my brother was being a dummy on purpose

I was sort of lanky, with long arms and legs, but I wasn't frail (except for my wrists. They're such a joke of a body part).
Of course, since being "built" has never been popular for girls, I was always, always, ALWAYS told I "could be thinner."
Even during my anorexic phase of 8th-10th grade, I wasn't a sliver. I wouldn't eat a single thing all day, and I still had meat on my bones. Always.
Obviously it affected me, a lot, to not be the freakin' bone people wanted me to be.
I look back at pictures of my teen years and think "Dude, I wasn't fat at all! I was a developing child with big cheekbones... boobs and a butt... and all that time I let others convince me I was a tub."
It bums me out to know I wasted so much of my time trying to be something I was obviously never meant to be. When I think back to... any time, really, I've always had a distorted image of what I look like. All thanks to those backhanded compliments like "Oh man, AnoMALIE! The other day I saw a girl who looked JUST LIKE YOU... and she... well, let's just say, if you were to lose a little more weight, you would be SO GORGEOUS!" or "You know what would make you look even PRETTIER? A girdle!" ??? Whoa, are you serious?! (she was)

I'm not saying that I was never enormous... no, no, no! I was a f'ing heifer from like... '06 to like... '08... although I REALLY let myself go in '07, which was my ABSOLUTE worst phase. I agree with people who went out of their way to say "Uh... AnoMALIE... you're uh... putting on a little weight there, aren't you?" 'cause I totally was. And it was that which finally got me off my butt and back on a work out regime.
Now, while I'm still NOT a rail... and my thighs are thick enough to feed a person for months if they had to resort to cannibalism, I realize... I got some sweet muscle. Muscle that has taken me YEARS to build.
I'm not a skinny girl... I'm not a monster... I'm just... a beast (who turns into a monster when she doesn't watch what she eats or works out).

I mention this because I've been dealing with an issue for the last few months.
My little sister gained a good amount of weight after coming home from her semester abroad, three years ago.
She had always been the thin pretty girl of the family... I had always been the bulky nerdy one.
People were noticing her new body, and weren't shy in pointing it out.
I'd encourage her to join me at the gym, but she has little patience. She wanted to see results immediately.
So she would skip out on the work outs to go eat with Twiggy.

Well, she has a friend who is a personal trainer... and he got her to try this popular diet.
You eat 500 calories a day. And you don't work out. At all.
What was the result?
She lost weight. A lot of it.

Family is once again noticing, and now they're getting on my case.
Oh man! Look at D! You lost all that weight in a month?! (oh yeah, it was 38 days of this strict diet) AnoMALIE! You should try it!
This of course, only brings about my death-stare.
It makes me furious.

My family wants me to be a twig. NOT GONNA HAPPEN.
It frustrates me how they don't appreciate the beauty of muscle.
Muscle is GORGEOUS.
I'd rather have muscles than the mush your body turns into after a month of eating 500 calories and NOT working out.

I'm further irritated because D has gained this... obnoxious attitude about her weight-loss.
And she's getting delusional.
She started working out TWO DAYS ago.
Yesterday, she was sore and complaining.
What does she tell me?
D: *Trainer* told me I had to lay-off the weighted squats. He said my legs are bulking up and that's why they're so sore now.
Me: What? You're like that because YOU BARELY started your workout regiment again. I get like that when I miss two weeks of gym time.
D: Well... he told me I have massive thighs, and if I keep doing leg presses and heavy squats I'm going to get an excess amount of muscle.
I scoffed by now.
D: AnoMALIE, he's a personal trainer! He knows more than you do!

Woooooop! Wrong thing to say!
Me: First off, this kid was a BUSINESS MAJOR. DON'T come at me with that BULL. SECOND: You need to eat a RIDICULOUS amount of calories to build muscles. "Bulking up" requires a ton of effort and dedication. A weak little diet and a DAY of leg pressing 80 pounds is NOT going to get you bulky. CALM DOWN, Arnold!

As angry and irritated as I have been... D is still walking around like a peacock and thinking she's a gym buff (she tells people she's now a "diet and gym junkie." I nearly choke on my spit when I hear her say this. She might be a diet junkie... but gym? HAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!).
Then I have to stand there and listen to my aunts suggest I try this wack diet.

I hate people.