[mochaccino]

Ever since I put the stupid supermarket women's "fitness" mags down, and gained some real knowledge about nutrition, I have been of the opinion that dietary fat, and even moderate amounts of cholesterol are mainly a good thing. If my trainer sides with the major personal trainer organizations, and recommends a very low fat diet we're gonna fight! Lol. Although this article is aimed primarily at male athletes, if you read between the lines, you should be able to understand why very low fat diets are a bad idea for women, especially if you're doing BE.
http://www.weightrainer.net/nutrition/fats3.html

[mochaccino]

Just in case any newbies read this and are confused about why I would link to an article mainly about testerone, I should point out that the strongest and most abundant form of estrogen in the body, estradiol, is essentially made from testosterone and aromatase. The other forms of estrogen are produced in a different way, but that is a whole different topic.

If anyone wants to delve even deeper into this topic, this article is part of a three part series at the end of the "Casey Butt" section here: http://www.weightrainer.net/articles.html#Casey_Butt

[lled34aa]

thanks for sharing that link! i've known to use coconut oil for my cooking, but didn't know that frying with garlic and onions helps in combating the oxidization.

and i'm glad you put the supermarket fitness mags down! although, i think Details magazine is one of the very few that will write about including fats in your diet and dietary cholesterol doesn't lead to high blood cholesterol.

so anyways, back to NBE. if estradiol is converted from testosterone, can we raise our estradiol level by lifting weights? but why then, do female body builders have none existence boobs (unless they get implants)?

oh, and one note regarding that article on weightrainer.net ... i would limit your intake of nuts in general because of their high omega-6 contents. the exception is coconut, which seems to be healthy all around.

[mochaccino]

It makes sense that you'd be able to raise estradiol by lifting weights, but I would like to see studies. Right now all I can say is that I don't see why it wouldn't.

About female bodybuilders, the main reason that some of them do not have breasts, is that their body fat percentage is too low. During competition season a typical female competitor has around 10-12% body fat. If this doesn't sound insanely low, trust me, it is. It's virtually impossible to maintain breast tissue at that bfp whether you are a body builder or an anorexic catwalk model. My point is that it's not the muscle that causes their boobs to dissapear, it's the lack of body fat. A women who manages to win a top tier title, like Ms Olympia, usually has 6-8% bfp. Generally the biggest female bodybuilders also have the lowest bfp, and that probably leads some people to believe that the more muscle you have the smaller you're boobs will be, but thats just not true. Of course, I should point out that if woman has an obviously masculinized face and bone structure, she has taken extremely strong illegal androgens. She did not get that way just by working out, no matter what you hear.

About nuts, Casey Butt is not against eating nuts, and neither are any of other major nutritional experts that Im aware of. Coconut oil is good and all, but if there's one main thing I gleaned from this article, it's that there's no one best fat, and other than possibly Trans fat, there are no unquestionably bad fats either. Omega 6's are essential fats! You're body can not produce them, and has to get them through the diet, either from nuts, or some other source. After reading this article I decided I'll try to get a balance of all the major kinds of fat into my diet.

[mochaccino]

Wow, I just saw that tempestuous had a similar thread about exercise just a little while ago. Maybe it's because of all the New years resolutions

[mochaccino]

Apparently exercise of any kind does not raise testosterone in women. Im gonna start a more detailed thread about exercise and hormones for whoever is interested.

[lled34aa]

where did you read that exercise of any kind does not raise testosterone in women? i thought testosterones need to be present in order to build muscles?

[Pansy-Mae]

Apparently exercise of any kind does not raise testosterone in women. Im gonna start a more detailed thread about exercise and hormones for whoever is interested.

For women to spike exercise-related testosterone levels, they must train hard using compound exercises, moderate reps of 8 - 12, and rest periods of 30 - 180 seconds between sets---similarly to men overall. However, women generally train longer than is required for men to boost testosterone levels . Simply stated, women increase T-levels through participation in grueling workouts and require more time to yield exercise-related T-levels sufficient enough to increase their libido.

A report by Aeron Life Cycles Clinical Laboratory, which studied male and female weight trainees found elevated levels of testosterone in men after six weeks and after eight weeks for women. Perhaps the difference is due to the more complex physiology involved in producing and converting chemicals into testosterone within women's bodies.

The full article is at http://de-stanelli.suite101.com/how-exer...sex-a23795

[lled34aa]

thanks. that makes more sense to me. it's not that exercise doesn't raise testosterone in women, but that it is harder and takes longer for women to raise testosterone level than men.

[Pansy-Mae]

thanks. that makes more sense to me. it's not that exercise doesn't raise testosterone in women, but that it is harder and takes longer for women to raise testosterone level than men.

A bit like its hard work for guys to grow boobs!!